This Sunday, AMC's Breaking Bad begins a final run of eight episodes, bringing the tale of Walter White to its inexorable conclusion. The show has become one of the great running masterpieces of the last half-decade of television, bringing the post-Sopranos model of antiheroic TV drama to new critical highs (and terrifying new moral lows). What makes it even more impressive is that — in an era defined by ever-more-gigantic ensembles — Breaking Bad has unfurled its epic American tale with a relatively small cast of characters.
While other shows opt for cast breadth, Bad has explored each character's depth, sending them on fascinating byzantine journeys into the interior of their souls. This week, we'll be taking a close look at all the show's main characters and presenting a suggested viewing list for the five episodes that best define their arc. We started with alpha-male DEA agent Hank yesterday. Today: Skyler White (Anna Gunn), Walter's wife and sometime accomplice, who went from unwitting victim to money-laundering queenpin — and is now seriously reconsidering that choice.
"ABQ" (Season 2, Episode 13)
While Skyler had some great moments in season 1 — "Gray Matter" is the honorary No. 6 on this list for that intervention scene alone — she didn't truly come into her own until the season 2 finale, when she stopped believing everything Walt (Bryan Cranston) told her and started calling him on his increasingly hard-to-swallow B.S.
It all started to unravel when Walt groggily admitted to having two cell phones before his surgery, and, from there, Skyler questioned every strange event from the previous months, especially her husband's "fugue state" story ("I had to believe that, didn't I?"). While Walt offered to tell her the full truth to keep her from leaving him, she said she was "afraid to know" — for now, at least.
"Kafkaesque" (Season 3, Episode 9)
Skyler was now fully aware of her husband's double life, and in this episode, she showed her own flashes of criminal genius. Hank was in the hospital after the Cousins' not-so-surprise attack, and the medical bills were mounting. The Whites had the money to help out, but not without raising the suspicion of their DEA agent brother-in-law.
Enter Skyler, who concocted a complicated-but-believable story about Walt using a blackjack card-counting system to make millions in underground games and offered to cover Hank's medical costs with the winnings. After Walt marveled at the brilliance of Skyler's lie, she replied, "I learned from the best."
"Open House" (Season 4, Episode 3)
The gambling story was just the start of Skyler's schemes. As an accountant, she realized Walt's earnings were not going to go unnoticed and decided the perfect cover story would be to buy the car wash her husband used to work at. The only problem? The car-wash owner was not so fond of his former employee and hiked up the asking price out of spite.
So, Skyler came up with yet another devious plan: With Saul's (Bob Odenkirk) help, she staged a fake environmental inspection that turned up contaminated water samples, and all of a sudden the owner was pleading with her to buy the car wash. Was this really the same woman from season 1?
"Bug" (Season 4, Episode 9)
We'd seen the hapless wife. We'd seen the gifted fabulist. We'd seen the underhanded negotiator. But in this episode, we met Skyler's most amusing alter ego yet: The dumb blonde. When Ted (Christopher Cousins), Skyler's former boss (and lover), informed her that his business was being audited, she realized this would bring unwanted attention her way.
So, she busted out the Aqua Net and her lowest-cut dress for a meeting with the IRS and made them believe Ted fell victim to a clueless accountant. This was hardly the end of the audit saga (Ted really should have taken Skyler's advice that day), but we got to see yet another shade of, well, shadiness from Mrs. White.
"Fifty-One" (Season 5, Episode 4)
In the end, Skyler might not be cut out for the underworld. The death of Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) — at her husband's hands — really drove home how dangerous Walt's business was, and she was beginning to realize how deeply that could affect her family. In Anna Gunn's best episode, Skyler began to break down, but the line was blurred between how much she was really losing it and how much was an act to protect herself and her children. Her blank facial expression as she walked into the pool (video below) was especially chilling.
But the episode's real kicker was when Walt asked Skyler what her big plan was to keep him from their kids. "All I can do is wait. That's it. That's the only good option. Hold on. Bide my time and wait." Walt wondered: Wait for what? "For the cancer to come back." Possibly the most ice-cold line ever uttered on TV, but it perfectly displayed how desperate Skyler's situation has become.
