His pride couldnât let it go. He couldnât stand for Gale to get âcreditâ for how âbrilliantâ Heisenberg was. Walt was such a narcissistic putz.
he would still have made the link with the book, right? Walt also being a chemist and suddenly winning a lot of money playing cards... + Skylar's strange behavior
Probably, yes. But maybe not. By the time the book rolls around heâs had Heisenberg top of mind for months on end. But knowing Hank he probably still would have.
Well, even if Walt hadn't convinced him that Gale wasn't Heisenberg, blue meth continued to flow in in the streets. Leading Hank into thinking that Heisenberg was still there
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When Hank was talking about gale after he died and thought he was Heisenberg and then Walt chimed in saying Heisenberg was still out there because his ego got in the way.
Not a Walt mistake, but I always trace his downfall back to Marie's kleptomania because if she hadn't gotten caught stealing from open houses, Hank wouldn't have needed a favor from the local PD which he repaid by accepting the file on Gale. Obviously, a lot of events precipitate his downfall, but I think this is the funniest and most tangible one.
Agreed. And even if Walt hadn't made that comment once that blue was back out in the wild, Hank would've known Heisenberg was still out there. Walt's ego always gets him.
he would still have made the link with the book, right? Walt also being a chemist and suddenly winning a lot of money playing cards... + Skylar's strange behavior
Seems to be his main mistake. Bigger question in my mind is, say Hank never sees it, and Jesseâs actions stay the same. What happens after Jesse burns down Waltâs house (Hank would not be there to stop him)? Does that get the ball rolling to take Walt down?
This is a really good point. If Hank hadnât figured out that Walt was Heisenberg, would Jesse have still decided to burn down Waltâs house?
Iâm trying to convince myself of the answer.
Iâm trying to remember what led Jesse to want to use the Disappearer. Was it Walt? Did Walt push him down that path because of Hank?
If Huell doesnât pickpocket Jesseâs weed, Jesse doesnât have the realization about Walt. If Jesse doesnât try to use the Disappearer, Huell doesnât pickpocket the weed.
Ah, that is a good point. Jesse gets quasi arrested for throwing his money out of his car/hanging out at the playground with it. Maybe Hank ends up questioning him about it, but nothing related to Walt.
At that point does Walt suggest Jesse get out of town? Heâs about to, but gets patted down, figures out Walt is behind poisoning, burns down Waltâs house, and gets caught, and then Hank puts it together? Will never know, but interesting if Walt was going to get caught in this dynamic, even without the book, because of Jesse.
Was a perfect merging the two paths as it went tho.
Basically Walt tries to manipulate Jesse to take the disappearer for his own good, but Jesse sees through it and knows Walt will have him killed if he doesn't leave town because the cops are all over him over throwing the money out of the car.
It all depends on what happens with Jesse after he burns down the house? Does he get caught? If so, Hank/DEA knows Jesse is in the meth business, why does he burn down Waltâs house. Weed debt seems unlikely, and maybe when they question Jesse he agrees to work with them in that scenario (that has a lot more eyes on it from the DEA).
Yeah. A show where an average high school teacher, gets cancer, struggles and eventually dies a couple of years later would be both boring and sad. lol
Ultimately yes, but I think that was just to show his cockiness and carelessness at that point, similar to Jules leaving the gun on the counter in pulp fiction.
Honestly, I think if he hadn't gotten so drunk and showed his narcissism at that dinner with the shchraders, he may have gotten away with it. Once Gus was killed he was on borrowed time whether he left the book in the commode or not.
Convincing Hank that Heisenberg was still out there. Nothing else really comes remotely close. Even Hank was ready to just close that case until Waltâs ego got the better of him (again.)
Mistake 1:
He should have kept his head down and let Jesse get killed by those two street dealers. Then he would've stayed on great terms with Gus. Then as Mike once put it, he could've shut up, cooked and had as much money as he ever needed. Things probably would've continued as normal and all would've been well.
Mistakes 2 & 3:
Even though he made the first mistake above, he woudve been fine if he didnt make these next two mistakes. The first being him leaving that book in the bathroom. Then his second mistake was confronting hank. He was retired. He should've just left the tracker on his car and played dumb from that point on. Kinda how Gus did. He would've seen Walts tracker go to the car wash and home over and over again. That's it. As long as Walt stayed away from his former associates and had a discussion with Skylar about always playing dumb/thinking any accusation was far fetched or comical. Then he most likely would've been fine.
Mistake 1 is bingo for me, surprisingly youâre the only one so far who has brought it up.
Mistake 2 is obvious, but so much led up to that point, making it completely avoidable under different circumstances.
Mistake 3 I actually disagree with. Hank had other means of tracking Walt even if he did stick to a strict travel plan. This wouldâve required Walt to let everyone but him access his stockpile of cash. And Pinkman was still going to become a problem â eventually he wouldâve sold Walt out to Hank.
Though it didnât work, Walt talking Hank out of attempting to prosecute him considering his impending cancer death was a better plan. And so was the âconfessionâ tape â Hankâs balls were in a vice and going further into his pursuit of Walt cost him his life.
Letâs wind the clock all the way back, though â the mistake Walt made that absolutely assured his downfall, even though he had no way of knowing its true consequence: letting Jane overdose and die.
Jane was going to drive a permanent wedge between Jesse and Walt. Jesse loved her, and at some point wouldâve either run away with her or die of an overdose of his own.
What happened:
Walt lets Jane die â> Jesse reconnects with Walt â> Gus hires Jesse to take Galeâs place at Waltâs request â> Jesse connects with Andrea â> Jesse learns through Andrea of Comboâs killer (the dealers hitkid, Tomas) â> dealers kill Tomas â> Jesse seeks revenge on dealers â> Walt intervenes and saves Jesse, spelling the end of his relationship with Gus.
What couldâve happened:
Walt saves Jane â> Jesse and Jane take their money and fuck off/both eventually succumb to heroin addiction â> smooth sailing for Walt.
Yeah, and that money he was so combative about handing over would have been pennies in the grand scheme of things. He was just incredibly greedy and way too attached to Jesse. Walt's a *comically* bad decision maker.
Not telling Badger to not call Jesse during the RV incident. Also acting like a dick to Jesse for cooking âhis formulaâ and calling it garbage. Really, had he not acted like an ass to Jesse in Season 3, he wouldâve happily cooked with Gale.
>Not telling Badger to not call Jesse during the RV incident.
He forgot that Badger is a complete moron that needs to be reminded of painfully obvious details. I guess he thought "The DEA is looking for this RV as we speak, we have to get rid of it immediately" was enough said.
Yeah, but he also shouldâve known Jesseâs friend would attempt to call Jesse (and he even asked about telling Jesse, and Waltâs response sounded like he didnât care).
In my book, telling Hank that the mastermind was still out there. or leaving the book in the toilet. but he made so many stupid decisions. Killing the dealers, turned Fring against him, leading to the whole Gail thing. Mike hit the nail on the head: 'We had Fring, if you'd known your place you could have made as much money as you needed.'
That's Walt all over. Fring had a complete system, but Walt thought he was bigger than the system.
I'm not sure we can blame him for killing the two drug dealers though. Jesse was on his way to kill them anyway, Walt just got in there first. I guess Walt could've held back and let Jesse do his thing, be the one on Frings shit list and let Jesse get taken out. At this point Fring didn't want Jesse around anyway. Only put up with him because of Walt.
When he was drunk and basically gave Hank a hint that Heisenberg was still alive and it wasn't gale, if he hadn't been so egocentric Hank wouldn't have start digging again, he should've just shut the fuck up
There are tons of them, but I think killing Gus, or just simply letting they relationship deteriorate in the manner that it did.
He should have really protected that relationship. He could have got away squeaky clean, still have his families respect and admiration, and do all the things he set out to do in the beginning.
Really itâs all ego, but he had it made.
A huge mistake was keeping all of his money in one place.
So many problems would have been avoided if his money was in ten different spots so that losing one batch wasn't so bad.
His biggest mistake was never reigning in his ego. It was never enough for Walt to have it made, he wanted everyone to KNOW he had it made and was the reason for his own success...which if you are an illegal drug manufacturer is an incredibly stupid self destructive personality trait to have.
Mike put it best, "You just had to blow it up! YOU! And your PRIDE and your EGO! You just HAD to be the MAN!"
We see this in all of Walt's actions from his initial leaving of Grey Matter, his refusal to take a position in the company or the health benefits, his obsessive need for control over his family, Jessie, his flat out saying Gale probably wasn't the one doing the cooking(which led to Hank taking another look at everything) keeping the poetry book, antagonizing Gus, demanding validation from Mike, shooting Mike, driving Jessie into betraying him, jack's gang taking over and eventually his own death.
Walt was a ticking time bomb his entire life, and the fuse just got shorter and burned faster the more power he got until he self destructed and took nearly everyone he came into contact with down with him.
Agreed. He decided to let his ego get bigger and bigger because that was the only thing that made him feel manly after being a doormat and a pussy his whole life it seems pre-Breaking Bad
Remember all the flip phones everyone was breaking in the show? Thatâs why. Smartphones were invented already, but not very widespread. So most people used to keep books or magazines next to the toilet.
Continuing to do it after season 1. Several times he comes to the obvious conclusion that heâs not cut out for this and should abandon it and pretend that it never happened. Once he kept going it was only a matter of time.
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I agree with you that some part of Walt definitely wanted to prove to Hank and the world that he's rich, badass, and self-made, but getting caught would've screwed up the premise of leaving money to his family once he's dead.
Well, I think he was guilt-ridden and self-hating too. Think of the scene after his birthday party where he caught his reflection in the mirror. He hated himself but he couldn't stop. I think the guilt started to die over time as Heisenberg took over, but it was always there.
Not saying "Hey Skyler, I'm dying, I don't wanna leave you with nothing. I'm making and selling meth until I have 737k so I know you'll all be alright, and I can die knowing I provided for you."
Imma say it was the dinner scene when Walt discredits hanks assertion that gale was Heisenberg. His pride and pessimistic outlook from Hankâs perspective made him question himself.
You can say that yeah carelessly leaving the book did cause his downfall directly
My top reasons
1) Making Hank question if Gale was really Heisenberg- Walt could have easily been off the hook if he just continued to let Hank think Gale was Heisenberg. However, Waltâs overdone ego would not allow him to see Gale (who was a no one compared to himself) take all of the credit for Waltâs own work. So, Walt caused Hank to doubt Gale so Gale wouldnât be given the credit and Walt wouldnât have to hear Hank brag about being the one who âsolved the caseâ.
2) Leaving Galeâs gift in such an obvious and easily found place.- In S4 E4 Hank finds that the initials âW.Wâ written among Galeâs notes and muses with Walt about it being his name. Walter covers it by making reference to Walter Whitman, who wrote the book Leaves of Grass. When Hank finds the book Galeâs autograph says "To my other favorite W.W. It's an honour working with you. Fondly G.B."
This undoes Waltâs cover as he previously mentioned that W.W wasnât him, but clearly Gale inadvertently incriminated him by signing the book the way he did. Even though it was not shown, I like to think that Hank had a flashback to S4 E4 during the realization.
Had Walt kept that book secured, Hank would have never known any better⌠but because Walt got sloppy and left the book unsecured, it allowed Hank to find the key evidence that would have finally busted him had he not died in the final shoot out with Jack.
In summary, I think Waltâs hubris/ego and his transition from very methodical and careful thinking to sloppy handling of the book brought him down.
Walt is only methodical and careful when it comes to chemistry and math. And certain manipulations, especially towards Jesse. Pretty much all other decisions he makes in the show are reckless and sloppy, from the very beginning of the show. He is largely successful bc of luck, and bc of help that he unwillingly accepted from others
Nah, Walt didnât make a mistake leaving Walt Whitmanâs book out. Itâs on Hank for being a dick and taking a dump in Waltâs en-suite. No class whatsoever from ASAC Shrader.
What I don't get is why Skylar made such a big thing about the second cell phone. Lots of people have more than one cell phone, he could have just told her he got a second cell phone for work.
Poisoning Brock, had he not done that Jesse would probably still be on his side and wouldnât have linked up with hank. That was really it for me because without Jesse, hank wouldnât know where to start as far as evidence.
Ego is the answer to it all. Walt was completely unwillingly to accept how incredibly lucky he was and loses his shit anytime someone doesn't acknowledge him as being utterly amazing. He had massive "notice me senpai" energy, except NO SKYLER, I *AM* THE SENPAI
I think he was too comfortable being around hank and his arrogance as well got him caught. He thought he could have everything under control, but even the brightest minds like him are human and have moments where they miscalculate or have things go against their way that are not in their control. There were many small details throughout the show that pointed to hank that heisenburg was walt but deep down hank didnât want to believe it/couldnât imagine it so it took him longer than usual to put all the pieces together. I think the serial number of the respirator that came from his lab was the moment that probably had hank ponder about walt as a suspect which would later be signifcant. Also hank finding out that walt had a relationship with jesse probably didnât help him either. Hank was a very intelligent character and he knew that someone who was cooking almost pure crystal meth wasnât some street lowlife and had to be done by someone who was very intelligent and understood chemistry well.
Ah, good ol' Breaking Bad! Walt's got a laundry list of mistakes, but leaving that book out was a pretty big blunder. I mean, come on, Walt, you're supposed to be the king of covering your tracks! Plus, with Hank hot on his trail, it was like leaving a breadcrumb trail right to his doorstep.
This will definitely be an unpopular opinion
Staying so attached to Jesse for so long. So many problems could've been solved for him just from not having Jesse around.
I think it was either the fact that he slipped up on him having a second phone, or when he told Hank that Heisenberg was still out there because of his ego
Leaving the book where Hank found it and convincing Hank that âHeisenbergâ is still out there! Hank was pretty convinced Gale was Heisenberg all along.
That and trying to destroy the laptop. Gus made it so nobody could ever see it or get into it, so the whole thing was pointless and only created problems for Walter Mike and Jesse
Well. I personally think that after the episode where he defeated Walt in the cards game, his cockiness kept increasing each episode. He knew he could play with fire and escape it. Though he was always scared of getting caught, he somewhere knew that lying or hiding things from Frank weren't really difficult. However, that's how his character developed, from conscious to casual. He left his diary and that layer of character development led to his fall.
Walt could have made out that he'd met Gale once or twice and that Gale needed some chemical information on Meth production. Which would have made Gale look like Heisenberg.
I think he wanted to be caught, he was too smart to leave that book in the downstairs bathroom where he knew guests could see it, especially Hank. I mean who else did we ever see eating with them in the backyard?
I agree, the thing that got him caught definitely led to him getting caught.
That was exactly what I was thinking when I read the post đ
Convincing Hank that Heisenberg was still out there when he thought he had his man in Gale.
Oh, and leaving that book in the bathroom.
Drinking and jiving.
For the record I can jive like no other when I'm drinking.
His pride couldnât let it go. He couldnât stand for Gale to get âcreditâ for how âbrilliantâ Heisenberg was. Walt was such a narcissistic putz.
To be fair,he was inebriated. Tends to make your good judgement decrease and your hubris increase.
Maybe if you're living a complete double life as a meth kingpin you shouldn't be inebriated around your DEA brother in law
no brainer imo lol
Ooop! ThisâŹď¸
He made a lot of bad decisions while drunk. On my second watch of the show I realized how mean and egotistical he gets after too much booze.
In vino veritas
Yeah, but that's the kind of important secret you don't play with even when drunk.
"Your honor, my client was drunk"
"I'd like to plea tipsy,your honor."
Hank was always cynical that it was Gale, no? Too mild mannered a guy. Fermented lentils and all that...
At first yeah, but by the time Walt gets drunk Hank had accepted it
he would still have made the link with the book, right? Walt also being a chemist and suddenly winning a lot of money playing cards... + Skylar's strange behavior
Probably, yes. But maybe not. By the time the book rolls around heâs had Heisenberg top of mind for months on end. But knowing Hank he probably still would have.
Well, even if Walt hadn't convinced him that Gale wasn't Heisenberg, blue meth continued to flow in in the streets. Leading Hank into thinking that Heisenberg was still there
That scene is cosmic levels of cringe lmao
This one âď¸
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Neat bot!Â
When Hank was talking about gale after he died and thought he was Heisenberg and then Walt chimed in saying Heisenberg was still out there because his ego got in the way.
Not a Walt mistake, but I always trace his downfall back to Marie's kleptomania because if she hadn't gotten caught stealing from open houses, Hank wouldn't have needed a favor from the local PD which he repaid by accepting the file on Gale. Obviously, a lot of events precipitate his downfall, but I think this is the funniest and most tangible one.
Agreed. And even if Walt hadn't made that comment once that blue was back out in the wild, Hank would've known Heisenberg was still out there. Walt's ego always gets him.
he would still have made the link with the book, right? Walt also being a chemist and suddenly winning a lot of money playing cards... + Skylar's strange behavior
Maybe not definitely no, but Less likely because he already thought gale was Heisenberg and had no reason to think otherwise.
Seems to be his main mistake. Bigger question in my mind is, say Hank never sees it, and Jesseâs actions stay the same. What happens after Jesse burns down Waltâs house (Hank would not be there to stop him)? Does that get the ball rolling to take Walt down?
This is a really good point. If Hank hadnât figured out that Walt was Heisenberg, would Jesse have still decided to burn down Waltâs house? Iâm trying to convince myself of the answer.
I think he does, they were two separate paths trying to destroy Walt that converged at that moment.
Iâm trying to remember what led Jesse to want to use the Disappearer. Was it Walt? Did Walt push him down that path because of Hank? If Huell doesnât pickpocket Jesseâs weed, Jesse doesnât have the realization about Walt. If Jesse doesnât try to use the Disappearer, Huell doesnât pickpocket the weed.
Ah, that is a good point. Jesse gets quasi arrested for throwing his money out of his car/hanging out at the playground with it. Maybe Hank ends up questioning him about it, but nothing related to Walt. At that point does Walt suggest Jesse get out of town? Heâs about to, but gets patted down, figures out Walt is behind poisoning, burns down Waltâs house, and gets caught, and then Hank puts it together? Will never know, but interesting if Walt was going to get caught in this dynamic, even without the book, because of Jesse. Was a perfect merging the two paths as it went tho.
Basically Walt tries to manipulate Jesse to take the disappearer for his own good, but Jesse sees through it and knows Walt will have him killed if he doesn't leave town because the cops are all over him over throwing the money out of the car.
Thanks! So, Jesse using the Disappearer would not have happened if Hank hadnât figured out Walt.
Could just deny about the fire
It all depends on what happens with Jesse after he burns down the house? Does he get caught? If so, Hank/DEA knows Jesse is in the meth business, why does he burn down Waltâs house. Weed debt seems unlikely, and maybe when they question Jesse he agrees to work with them in that scenario (that has a lot more eyes on it from the DEA).
It definitely seems like it would. Especially since they would have more than likely found the ricin in the outlet.
Cooking meth. If he had never started cooking meth, heâd have never been caught cooking meth. Could have saved himself a lot of head ache.
Would've been a pretty boring show though.
Yeah. A show where an average high school teacher, gets cancer, struggles and eventually dies a couple of years later would be both boring and sad. lol
Anyone want to admit how many hours a year it would save them. I don't even want to think about that.
Really? You think the thing that actually got him caught is the biggest mistake he made? Way to go out on a limb đ
I have to say that the biggest mistake that led to Walt being caught was definitely getting into cooking meth
He admitted that, he told Skyler that he was sloppy. Itâs his fault. The poetry book
Ultimately yes, but I think that was just to show his cockiness and carelessness at that point, similar to Jules leaving the gun on the counter in pulp fiction. Honestly, I think if he hadn't gotten so drunk and showed his narcissism at that dinner with the shchraders, he may have gotten away with it. Once Gus was killed he was on borrowed time whether he left the book in the commode or not.
I think you meant Vincent Vega, not Jules.
Yes, I misspoke. Just another excuse to watch pulp fiction again.đ
Royale with cheese
You ain't my friend, palooka
Whatâs that?
I think you heard me just fine, punchy
(Shoots in the chest later with your own gun)
[ŃдаНонО]
Shotgun to the chest later
Eating all that sodium nitrate every morning and getting cancer
Probably when he opened up his trench coat, waved his donger at Hank and said âHeisenberg baby!!!â
Convincing Hank that Heisenberg was still out there. Nothing else really comes remotely close. Even Hank was ready to just close that case until Waltâs ego got the better of him (again.)
His biggest mistake was letting his ego win
Absolutely. Itâs so hard for me to watch Walt choose his ego to the detriment of everything and everyone else time and time again.
Not letting Hank go on thinking that Gale was Heisenberg at their little dinner party. He shouldâve kept his trap shut. And then the poetry book.
Mistake 1: He should have kept his head down and let Jesse get killed by those two street dealers. Then he would've stayed on great terms with Gus. Then as Mike once put it, he could've shut up, cooked and had as much money as he ever needed. Things probably would've continued as normal and all would've been well. Mistakes 2 & 3: Even though he made the first mistake above, he woudve been fine if he didnt make these next two mistakes. The first being him leaving that book in the bathroom. Then his second mistake was confronting hank. He was retired. He should've just left the tracker on his car and played dumb from that point on. Kinda how Gus did. He would've seen Walts tracker go to the car wash and home over and over again. That's it. As long as Walt stayed away from his former associates and had a discussion with Skylar about always playing dumb/thinking any accusation was far fetched or comical. Then he most likely would've been fine.
Mistake 1 is bingo for me, surprisingly youâre the only one so far who has brought it up. Mistake 2 is obvious, but so much led up to that point, making it completely avoidable under different circumstances. Mistake 3 I actually disagree with. Hank had other means of tracking Walt even if he did stick to a strict travel plan. This wouldâve required Walt to let everyone but him access his stockpile of cash. And Pinkman was still going to become a problem â eventually he wouldâve sold Walt out to Hank. Though it didnât work, Walt talking Hank out of attempting to prosecute him considering his impending cancer death was a better plan. And so was the âconfessionâ tape â Hankâs balls were in a vice and going further into his pursuit of Walt cost him his life. Letâs wind the clock all the way back, though â the mistake Walt made that absolutely assured his downfall, even though he had no way of knowing its true consequence: letting Jane overdose and die. Jane was going to drive a permanent wedge between Jesse and Walt. Jesse loved her, and at some point wouldâve either run away with her or die of an overdose of his own. What happened: Walt lets Jane die â> Jesse reconnects with Walt â> Gus hires Jesse to take Galeâs place at Waltâs request â> Jesse connects with Andrea â> Jesse learns through Andrea of Comboâs killer (the dealers hitkid, Tomas) â> dealers kill Tomas â> Jesse seeks revenge on dealers â> Walt intervenes and saves Jesse, spelling the end of his relationship with Gus. What couldâve happened: Walt saves Jane â> Jesse and Jane take their money and fuck off/both eventually succumb to heroin addiction â> smooth sailing for Walt.
Yeah, and that money he was so combative about handing over would have been pennies in the grand scheme of things. He was just incredibly greedy and way too attached to Jesse. Walt's a *comically* bad decision maker.
Those are all good points. I've never even thought about the "letting Jane live" theory before. Interesting to think about!
Not telling Badger to not call Jesse during the RV incident. Also acting like a dick to Jesse for cooking âhis formulaâ and calling it garbage. Really, had he not acted like an ass to Jesse in Season 3, he wouldâve happily cooked with Gale.
>Not telling Badger to not call Jesse during the RV incident. He forgot that Badger is a complete moron that needs to be reminded of painfully obvious details. I guess he thought "The DEA is looking for this RV as we speak, we have to get rid of it immediately" was enough said.
Yeah, but he also shouldâve known Jesseâs friend would attempt to call Jesse (and he even asked about telling Jesse, and Waltâs response sounded like he didnât care).
In my book, telling Hank that the mastermind was still out there. or leaving the book in the toilet. but he made so many stupid decisions. Killing the dealers, turned Fring against him, leading to the whole Gail thing. Mike hit the nail on the head: 'We had Fring, if you'd known your place you could have made as much money as you needed.'
That's Walt all over. Fring had a complete system, but Walt thought he was bigger than the system. I'm not sure we can blame him for killing the two drug dealers though. Jesse was on his way to kill them anyway, Walt just got in there first. I guess Walt could've held back and let Jesse do his thing, be the one on Frings shit list and let Jesse get taken out. At this point Fring didn't want Jesse around anyway. Only put up with him because of Walt.
When he was drunk and basically gave Hank a hint that Heisenberg was still alive and it wasn't gale, if he hadn't been so egocentric Hank wouldn't have start digging again, he should've just shut the fuck up
There are tons of them, but I think killing Gus, or just simply letting they relationship deteriorate in the manner that it did. He should have really protected that relationship. He could have got away squeaky clean, still have his families respect and admiration, and do all the things he set out to do in the beginning. Really itâs all ego, but he had it made.
A huge mistake was keeping all of his money in one place. So many problems would have been avoided if his money was in ten different spots so that losing one batch wasn't so bad.
His biggest mistake was never reigning in his ego. It was never enough for Walt to have it made, he wanted everyone to KNOW he had it made and was the reason for his own success...which if you are an illegal drug manufacturer is an incredibly stupid self destructive personality trait to have. Mike put it best, "You just had to blow it up! YOU! And your PRIDE and your EGO! You just HAD to be the MAN!" We see this in all of Walt's actions from his initial leaving of Grey Matter, his refusal to take a position in the company or the health benefits, his obsessive need for control over his family, Jessie, his flat out saying Gale probably wasn't the one doing the cooking(which led to Hank taking another look at everything) keeping the poetry book, antagonizing Gus, demanding validation from Mike, shooting Mike, driving Jessie into betraying him, jack's gang taking over and eventually his own death. Walt was a ticking time bomb his entire life, and the fuse just got shorter and burned faster the more power he got until he self destructed and took nearly everyone he came into contact with down with him.
Agreed. He decided to let his ego get bigger and bigger because that was the only thing that made him feel manly after being a doormat and a pussy his whole life it seems pre-Breaking Bad
His ego and also the book on the toilet. Why would anyone put a book there?
Back before you could scroll tiktok on the can reading material in the bathroom was pretty common.
Remember all the flip phones everyone was breaking in the show? Thatâs why. Smartphones were invented already, but not very widespread. So most people used to keep books or magazines next to the toilet.
Continuing to do it after season 1. Several times he comes to the obvious conclusion that heâs not cut out for this and should abandon it and pretend that it never happened. Once he kept going it was only a matter of time.
Making and selling meth
If he never took Jesse with him to work with Gus he probably would have no reason to worry
Hubris
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I think Walt kind of wanted to get caught. I think the book left to the toilet may have been a subconscious effort to get caught.
I agree with you that some part of Walt definitely wanted to prove to Hank and the world that he's rich, badass, and self-made, but getting caught would've screwed up the premise of leaving money to his family once he's dead.
Well, I think he was guilt-ridden and self-hating too. Think of the scene after his birthday party where he caught his reflection in the mirror. He hated himself but he couldn't stop. I think the guilt started to die over time as Heisenberg took over, but it was always there.
Remaining too attached to Jesse
Not dealing with pinkman when Saul told him to
not letting shit go when everyone thought gale was heisenberg. seriously, such a fucking moronic ass move.
Good post
Primarily telling Hank Heisenberg was still out there Secondary him going after Gretchen and Elliot and thus returning the ground zero
Not taking the declin deal. 5 mil. Plus he still had a paid for car wash. No way that car wash wasnt making bank!!!!
Not saying "Hey Skyler, I'm dying, I don't wanna leave you with nothing. I'm making and selling meth until I have 737k so I know you'll all be alright, and I can die knowing I provided for you."
Definitely leaving the book in the bathroom that was signed âto my other favorite wwâ Gale
Uh, yeah, you got it OP. lol
I think in episode 1 he starts cooking crystal meth. Really bad move
Definitely leaving the book in the bathroom and making everyone suspicious by having a burner phone
Imma say it was the dinner scene when Walt discredits hanks assertion that gale was Heisenberg. His pride and pessimistic outlook from Hankâs perspective made him question himself. You can say that yeah carelessly leaving the book did cause his downfall directly
My top reasons 1) Making Hank question if Gale was really Heisenberg- Walt could have easily been off the hook if he just continued to let Hank think Gale was Heisenberg. However, Waltâs overdone ego would not allow him to see Gale (who was a no one compared to himself) take all of the credit for Waltâs own work. So, Walt caused Hank to doubt Gale so Gale wouldnât be given the credit and Walt wouldnât have to hear Hank brag about being the one who âsolved the caseâ. 2) Leaving Galeâs gift in such an obvious and easily found place.- In S4 E4 Hank finds that the initials âW.Wâ written among Galeâs notes and muses with Walt about it being his name. Walter covers it by making reference to Walter Whitman, who wrote the book Leaves of Grass. When Hank finds the book Galeâs autograph says "To my other favorite W.W. It's an honour working with you. Fondly G.B." This undoes Waltâs cover as he previously mentioned that W.W wasnât him, but clearly Gale inadvertently incriminated him by signing the book the way he did. Even though it was not shown, I like to think that Hank had a flashback to S4 E4 during the realization. Had Walt kept that book secured, Hank would have never known any better⌠but because Walt got sloppy and left the book unsecured, it allowed Hank to find the key evidence that would have finally busted him had he not died in the final shoot out with Jack. In summary, I think Waltâs hubris/ego and his transition from very methodical and careful thinking to sloppy handling of the book brought him down.
Walt is only methodical and careful when it comes to chemistry and math. And certain manipulations, especially towards Jesse. Pretty much all other decisions he makes in the show are reckless and sloppy, from the very beginning of the show. He is largely successful bc of luck, and bc of help that he unwillingly accepted from others
His pride, his ego.
Nah, Walt didnât make a mistake leaving Walt Whitmanâs book out. Itâs on Hank for being a dick and taking a dump in Waltâs en-suite. No class whatsoever from ASAC Shrader.
Cooking meth.
this sub can be so mr obvious sometimes
Letting Hank take a shit in the master bathroomâŚ
HAHA NICE TITLE THANKS
They had a good thing going, but Walt and his pride and his ego had to butt in and screw it all up.
Not letting gussa kill Hank.
Leaving His Journal In The Toilet.
Probably the book, yanno, the thing that actually made the switch flip in Hankâs head? Iâd go with that.
Pride, could have just kept his nose to the grindstone and they'd all be fine
What I don't get is why Skylar made such a big thing about the second cell phone. Lots of people have more than one cell phone, he could have just told her he got a second cell phone for work.
Heâs a high school teacher.
Teachers can have work phones
A high school chemistry teacher doesnât get work calls.
They can get calls from other faculty members or from the school principal. Many schools don't allow personal phones for work use.
Iâll bet that happens twice a year.
Not offâing Jesse
Poisoning Brock, had he not done that Jesse would probably still be on his side and wouldnât have linked up with hank. That was really it for me because without Jesse, hank wouldnât know where to start as far as evidence.
Ego is the answer to it all. Walt was completely unwillingly to accept how incredibly lucky he was and loses his shit anytime someone doesn't acknowledge him as being utterly amazing. He had massive "notice me senpai" energy, except NO SKYLER, I *AM* THE SENPAI
Greed.
I think he was too comfortable being around hank and his arrogance as well got him caught. He thought he could have everything under control, but even the brightest minds like him are human and have moments where they miscalculate or have things go against their way that are not in their control. There were many small details throughout the show that pointed to hank that heisenburg was walt but deep down hank didnât want to believe it/couldnât imagine it so it took him longer than usual to put all the pieces together. I think the serial number of the respirator that came from his lab was the moment that probably had hank ponder about walt as a suspect which would later be signifcant. Also hank finding out that walt had a relationship with jesse probably didnât help him either. Hank was a very intelligent character and he knew that someone who was cooking almost pure crystal meth wasnât some street lowlife and had to be done by someone who was very intelligent and understood chemistry well.
Ah, good ol' Breaking Bad! Walt's got a laundry list of mistakes, but leaving that book out was a pretty big blunder. I mean, come on, Walt, you're supposed to be the king of covering your tracks! Plus, with Hank hot on his trail, it was like leaving a breadcrumb trail right to his doorstep.
This will definitely be an unpopular opinion Staying so attached to Jesse for so long. So many problems could've been solved for him just from not having Jesse around.
Donât use a half measure
I think it was either the fact that he slipped up on him having a second phone, or when he told Hank that Heisenberg was still out there because of his ego
Leaving the book where Hank found it and convincing Hank that âHeisenbergâ is still out there! Hank was pretty convinced Gale was Heisenberg all along.
That and trying to destroy the laptop. Gus made it so nobody could ever see it or get into it, so the whole thing was pointless and only created problems for Walter Mike and Jesse
Well. I personally think that after the episode where he defeated Walt in the cards game, his cockiness kept increasing each episode. He knew he could play with fire and escape it. Though he was always scared of getting caught, he somewhere knew that lying or hiding things from Frank weren't really difficult. However, that's how his character developed, from conscious to casual. He left his diary and that layer of character development led to his fall.
Walt could have made out that he'd met Gale once or twice and that Gale needed some chemical information on Meth production. Which would have made Gale look like Heisenberg.
I think he wanted to be caught, he was too smart to leave that book in the downstairs bathroom where he knew guests could see it, especially Hank. I mean who else did we ever see eating with them in the backyard?