Hazel Peters

Choice and Consequence in Breaking Bad

*Bolded points indicate Walt’s major/repeated decisions

- Walt freaks out at the Car Wash

- Alienates Bogdan
- Loses a source of income
- Walt goes on the drug bust with Hank to do research
- Sees that Jesse is a drug dealer
- Emilio recognizes him later
- Walt blackmails Jesse into being his partner
- Becomes a meth cook
- Jesse decides he would rather work with Walt than get ratted out (barely a choice)
- Walt uses chemistry equipment from the school to cook meth
- Suspicions are raised at the high school he works at
- Ends up getting Hugo in trouble :(
- Walt makes poisonous gas in the RV to kill Emilio and Krazy-8, but gives Jesse
(unconscious) a gas mask.
- Jesse survives, Emilio dies, and Krazy-8 just barely hangs on
- Jesse chooses to dispose of Emilio’s body rather than kill Krazy 8
- He fails to use the acid correctly and burns a gorey hole through his ceiling
- Walt tries to shoot himself, but fails
- Learns the true danger, but also the thrill that comes with being a meth cook.
- Walt captures Krazy 8
- Walt has to kill him
- Walt feeds Krazy 8 and shows him compassion
- Walt lies to Skylar about Jesse
- She now thinks he’s smoking weed rather than dealing in meth
- Marie hears about it out of context and thinks it’s about Walt Jr.
- Marie asks Hank to scare Jr. straight
- Hank takes Jr. out to scare him and finds out that it’s not him.
- Walt decides he has to kill Krazy 8, but he wants to be humane
- Krazy 8 takes a shattered plate piece from Walt while he’s passed out/vulnerable
- Walt goes to unlock Krazy 8 before revealing that he knows about the plate,
sending Krazy 8 into a frenzy
- Walt strangles Krazy 8 with the bike lock.
- Walt tells Skylar about his diagnosis after seeing how his “pothead” lie and distance from
home have been hurting her.
- Walt ends up telling the whole family about his cancer
 - Walt uses his drug money to pay for his initial oncology appointment.
- Jesse goes home
- Agrees to go to support group in exchange for a roof over his head.
- Jesse drops off $ at Walt’s house even though he told his parents he’d stop and
that he wouldn’t stop by Walt’s house.
- Jesse takes responsibility for Jake’s joint.
- Gets kicked out of his house
- Walt refuses to take a job or money from Eliott
- He has now decided that his machismo and his pride are worth more than his
financial/physical wellbeing
- This is the first of many times he chooses the thrill of making drugs over the
resolution of his own conflicts.
- Jr. goes to Hank about getting in trouble for alcohol, not Walt.
- The family decides to hold an intervention for Walt
- This solidifies Walt’s decision to remain treatment free
- Walt changes his mind about treatment after reconsidering his love for his family
and realizing that being in debt again means that he gets to keep cooking meth.
- Walt tells Skyler that he did receive a check from Elliott (This gives Walt yet another
excuse to keep cooking)
- Walt decides to start selling meth “wholesale” as it were.
- He now has to deal with much more dangerous people.
- Walt chooses to intimidate Tuco with explosive minerals
- He strikes a deal on the condition that he has 2lb ready for the next time they
meet.
- That’s more meth than he can realistically produce in that amount of time. He
short-pours Tuco, putting himself in a bad position.
- Walt ups the ante, owing Tuco more money, meth, and interest.
- Walt and Jesse decide to steal components themselves instead of hiring a professional to
do it.
- They’re able to make more product for Tuco, striking a solid deal.

When I look at everybody’s choices laid out, a couple of patterns emerge. The most
prominent trend for me is Walt’s repeated choice to choose to cook meth. Upon the discovery of
his cancer, he could’ve gone any number of directions to try and support his family, but it was
meth that he chose because chemistry is what makes the most sense to him. This also shows an
early drive to work on his own terms rather than on anybody else’s. If it was truly just chemistry
that he wanted to pursue, he would be qualified to work at any number of labs or chem
engineering companies. But that’s not all he needed. As much as he needed money, he wanted
agency and excitement, both things a lab job could never provide. He has his first little adventure
and first influx of money when he gets into the kerfuffle with Jesse, Emilio, and Krazy-8. After
that, he’s presented with an opportunity to get a lab job or to straight up have his treatment paid
for, but he chooses to keep cooking meth instead. If he wasn’t in debt anymore, he’d have no
“logical” reason to be involved in the drug world, so he begins doing what he can to receive
treatment for his cancer, putting himself further into debt to justify his choice.
While Walt chooses to put obstacles in his own way to live this life, it often seems like
Jesse is in the opposite situation. Jesse has been funneled into this world since he was young and
has just gone with the current. He is particularly passive in that he tends to avoid choices or be
influenced into making them, rather than making them himself. He doesn’t choose to seek
sobriety or rehabilitation, but he doesn’t specifically choose to be a drug dealer either. He’s in a
situation where dealing drugs is the default more than it is an active choice. When Walt comes
along, he’s forced into a slightly different path. He is blackmailed into having a more active role
in the production and distribution of meth than he initially had. He’s put into a position of higher
responsibility than he’s ever been in before, and he begins dipping his toes into self inquiry and
self exploration as he has to do more work. This eventually leads to his only major choices of his
own in this season; going home to his family and taking the fall for his little brother’s joint. He
could’ve told the truth and insisted that it wasn’t his, but he didn’t, sacrificing his relationship
with his parents for his relationship with Jake. While this is the only choice of that kind he makes
in season 1, this is the first moment that shows that when Jesse gets to make his own choices for
himself, he tends to choose to support others.