Season 1 in Review: Skyler
Re-watching S1 in prep for tonight.
People used to call Skyler a "bitch" a lot, and I think it mainly stems from her behavior in two key episodes:
1. In the first two episodes, her suspicio-meter rockets off into high gear and she threatens Jesse in a way that shows she's trying to basically work behind Walter's back to control him and his behavior - as evidenced by the way Walter later bluntly tells her to "crawl back down out of his ass".
2. She convenes the "family gathering" and it becomes obvious quite soon that she didn't intend it as a legitimate airing of feelings; she wanted to use it as a way to emotionally bludgeon Walter into doing what she wanted him to do, rather than trying to understand the hidden depths that lurked under his insistent refusal to accept Elliott's monetary aid.
In retrospect, it's clear that one aspect of Walter's interactions vis-a-vis Skyler has been about asserting his dominance in his household, and it's rather telling that the sexual dimension of their relationship takes on the same shades as Walter's evolution to "Heisenberg".
It's also clear that Skyler does love her family; it's just that in the early stages of the series, she tends to express it in ways that could be interpreted as stifling to others. As she loses control to Walter, it becomes increasingly clear, though, that given Walter or Skyler as a parent, Skyler is the better of a pair of less than ideal choices.
People used to call Skyler a "bitch" a lot, and I think it mainly stems from her behavior in two key episodes:
1. In the first two episodes, her suspicio-meter rockets off into high gear and she threatens Jesse in a way that shows she's trying to basically work behind Walter's back to control him and his behavior - as evidenced by the way Walter later bluntly tells her to "crawl back down out of his ass".
2. She convenes the "family gathering" and it becomes obvious quite soon that she didn't intend it as a legitimate airing of feelings; she wanted to use it as a way to emotionally bludgeon Walter into doing what she wanted him to do, rather than trying to understand the hidden depths that lurked under his insistent refusal to accept Elliott's monetary aid.
In retrospect, it's clear that one aspect of Walter's interactions vis-a-vis Skyler has been about asserting his dominance in his household, and it's rather telling that the sexual dimension of their relationship takes on the same shades as Walter's evolution to "Heisenberg".
It's also clear that Skyler does love her family; it's just that in the early stages of the series, she tends to express it in ways that could be interpreted as stifling to others. As she loses control to Walter, it becomes increasingly clear, though, that given Walter or Skyler as a parent, Skyler is the better of a pair of less than ideal choices.