Started rewatching breaking bad after over a decade and I still hate Skylar

I first watched the show as a teenager and, like a lot of fans, I hated Skylar. Recently I came across a lot of discussion saying most of the hate toward her is just misogyny in disguise, which made me want to rewatch the show as an adult.

Now, I see the characters with a lot more nuance. Walter is clearly an egotistical maniac who does terrible things to feel important. I don’t condone anything he does. And I do think Skylar was put into a situation she never chose. But I still struggle with her character for one main reason: she doesn’t respect Walter.

From the beginning, she often puts him down. The disinterested handjob, criticizing his spending, going over his head to ask Elliot to pay for his treatment. I believe she loved him, but she didn’t really treat him as an equal or respect his perspective.

Yes, getting into the drug business was Walt’s choice. But it also feels like he was pushed to a breaking point. He didn’t want to go through chemo just to suffer through the last years of his life and leave his family in debt. He also didn’t want to accept help from Elliot. That may come from ego, but it was also about dignity, and Skylar didn’t seem to value that.

Her sense of morality also feels inconsistent at times. She lashes out at Jesse when Walt admits to smoking weed, even though he’s a cancer patient. She dismisses Hank when he tries to help Marie with her stealing. But then she smokes while pregnant. That contradiction stood out more to me on rewatch.

This time around, her sleeping with Ted didn’t feel like the worst thing, especially since their relationship was already falling apart and Walt was forcing himself back into the house. But even then, she never really gave Walt a chance to talk. She shuts him out, keeps him from the kids, and when he finally forces a conversation, she sleeps with Ted almost as a power move. To me, it’s less about cheating and more about the ongoing lack of respect and the way she chips away at his confidence.

Skylar is definitely a complex character, and Anna Gunn plays her incredibly well. But I can also see why people hate her.