One Of The Saddest Jesse Moments In Breaking Bad According To Fans
Created by Vince Gilligan, "Breaking Bad" follows an overqualified high school chemistry teacher, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), who begins cooking meth to make money for his family when he learns that he has Stage 3 lung cancer. Instrumental in Walt's journey into meth-making is his former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Jesse, who is already a drug dealer, introduces Walt to the business side of the illegal endeavor, while Walt uses his expertise in chemistry to make the purest product in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jesse becomes one of the most sympathetic characters over the course of the series, while Walt becomes less so as his arc takes him from protagonist to antagonist. In fact, Jesse suffers numerous tragic and heartbreaking moments — often as a result of Walt's actions. These include grieving the death of his girlfriend Jane (Krysten Ritter), then, later, breaking up with Andrea (Emily Clara Rios) in an attempt to keep her safe, only to be forced to witness her murder. Then there's the fact that he experiences many ups and downs in coping with his drug addiction. And, in one of the saddest situations, Jesse is held hostage for countless months, with Jack Welker (Michael Bowen) and his men forcing him to make Walt's product. Plus, who could forget the look on Jesse's face when he's forced to kill Gale Boetticher (David Costabile)?
Each of these moments is especially heavy and hard to watch, especially if you're a fan of Jesse. But some fans think there's another seriously heartbreaking moment that doesn't get talked about so often.
Fans' hearts break when Walt turns down hanging out with Jesse
After being forced to kill Gale, Jesse is justifiably distraught by the trauma, turning to drugs to distract himself. But, in one scene, Jesse has a different distraction in mind; after he and Walt finish up their work for the day, Jesse asks Walt if he wants to join him for some go-kart racing, only for Walt to decline. When we see Jesse racing by himself, he's clearly holding back tears. Redditor u/fullofemptiness_ called this moment one of the saddest of the entire show. They continued, "All Jesse needed at the moment was the presence of another person ... You can literally see his happiness drop because Walt said no."
In agreement, u/FacuCM wrote that Walt became even more dislikable because he knew Jesse was disturbed by the fact he had to kill someone. The original poster responded, agreeing that it emphasized how cold Walt had become by this point in the narrative. Adding on to this, u/AceAdequateC wrote, "[Walt] never even took a moment to really consider what Jesse was going through or felt about it."
Meanwhile, another fan, u/Millwalkey88, pointed out a fascinating parallel between Walt and Jesse. "Walt kinda [had] the same thing [happen to him] in the final season," they wrote. "Asking Ed to play cards with him at his cabin." This was in reference to how while in hiding from the law, Walt bribed Ed (Robert Forster) to stay and play cards with him just so he could have some company.