Breaking Bad: How Walter White became each of his enemies

From his first encounter with Krazy-8 to his climatic battle with the Nazis, Walter White has always wanted what his opponents have

Gus and Walter, "Breaking Bad"
(Image credit: (Ursula Coyote/ AMC))

So much has happened since the first episode of Breaking Bad that it's easy to forget just how unmotivated Walter White was when the series began. We met him on his 50th birthday as a meek high school chemistry teacher who had taken a second job at a car wash due to his wife's pregnancy. As he's reminded us several thousand times since the beginning of the series, he was trying to protect his family — but personally, there was little more to his life than surviving each mundane day. It took a cancer diagnosis to give him a more concrete purpose: Making a ton of money that he could leave his family when he inevitably died.

Since that inciting incident, Walt has always had a clear motivation — but what he wants at any given time is less a reflection of who he is than it is a reflection of who his enemies are. Much has been made of the fact that Walt takes on the characteristics of his victims — Krazy-8's preference for sandwiches without crusts, Mike's preference for whiskey on the rocks.

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John Hanlon is a contributing editor at Townhall Magazine and a freelance film critic. He has written for CNN.com, USAToday.com, Big Hollywood, the Daily Caller, and Townhall.com as well as numerous other outlets. His movie reviews appear on Big Hollywood, RottenTomatoes.com, and JohnHanlonReviews.com. Hanlon has also appeared on "The Dennis Miller Show," "The Hugh Hewitt Show," and the Reelz television program "Mark at the Movies." A native of Massachusetts, Hanlon now lives in the D.C. suburbs.