On Skyler White

I was watching Breaking Bad (as I often turn to when I can't think of or find anything new to watch) and was thinking about Walter White, the man in the empire business, and how often is the sentiment by viewers and fans of the series that everything would have ended better if his wife Skyler either didn't exist, had cancer, or died in some way over the course of the show. On one hand, I can understand the annoyance as she is a very nagging character who seems like she's overreacting in many ways... but is she really Then on the other hand, she did sleep with her boss and as implied former lover— almost like her what she was, for a time, suspicious of her husband with his former girlfriend, Gretchen Schwarz—Ted Beneke in this retaliation. 

All the same, the character portrayed by Anna Gunn really did do the best she could considering all the coalescing circumstances upon her as well as she was able to— and at times even (not) allowed to— understand the entire gravity of her surroundings. From Walter contracting and fighting cancer, subsequent fake fugue state, her son largely blaming her for it all, being incredibly pregnant herself, financial issues she knows of while her husband secretly makes methamphetamine behind her back; all of which combine, largely resulting from what Mike Ermantraut retorted to the man before his own death at the hands of the solipsistic chemist's messes being mostly a byproduct of his overinflated sense of self. Combined she is almost naturally sent to Ted, who himself is freshly divorced and understands this alienation from his partner similar to her.

There's a saying, how true it is I'm unsure, that proclaims 'happy wife, happy life'. With that as a result of Walter's erratic and unexplained behavior, then when learning what it was in actuality paired with his seeming refusal towards charitable actions from friends and family based on aforementioned counterproductive pride, makes sense; to reiterate more simplistically.

Obviously the scene where she redid the scene of Marilyn Monroe happy birthday singing to John F. Kennedy at Ted's birthday to him, is incredibly cringe-inducing, however it comes down mainly to reliability and honesty in its ultimate expression of her character. Her husband proved wholly unreliable, even if his initial conceptualisation of manufacturing and selling meth was a way to provide more for them financially during his battle with cancer, and after he was gone; however as he stated in the final episode of the series that he did in fact do it all to placate himself. 

On the flip side though, I am also wrong here. She first began seeking extramarital attention from Ted Beneke when things had been on an upward trend in her and Walter's relationship. Good news about the cancer in his lungs being in remission led the family to host a little party in celebration of this new turn in the battle. During this uplifted gathering Walter is sitting at a table on their patio with their son Walter Jr. and Uncle Hank, who is divulging to his captivated nephew about his brief liaison to El Paso, where he saw Danny Trejo's briefly played character, The Tortoise, beheaded on a tortoise and explode in front of him, killing and badly wounding other DEA agents in front of him. Walter gets jealous at his son's enthrallment with his uncle's character, so gives him some tequila to try winning him over; then gives him more, aggressively and against Hank's attempts at curbing the whole affair, which results in Walter Jr. becoming almost immediately ill and puking his guts out into the pool. The next day at work Skyler is seen then grabbing Teds attention by knocking over a cup of pens and pencils while her boss was on his way out so as to get his attention and 'aid' in picking it up for her, so she being incredibly pregnant wouldn't have to do it; capturing his affection to her easily...