Jesse Pinkman

Jesse Bruce Pinkman is the deuteragonist of the crime drama series , the main protagonist of its 2019 sequel film , and a minor character in its prequel/sequel series .
He is a small-time methamphetamine cook and dealer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who goes into business with his high school chemistry teacher Walter White to make and distribute an incredibly pure form of meth of Walt's creation. While Walt often treats Jesse like a foolish child in constant need of stern correction, they actually have a deep bond of loyalty for each other. Like Walt, Jesse is highly horrified by the brutality of the higher levels of the drug trade, but always does what he thinks to be necessary. He struggles with his feelings of guilt and sorrow over the deaths that result from his and Walt's crimes, especially those of both of his girlfriends, Jane Margolis and Andrea Cantillo.
As the series progresses, Jesse becomes more troubled and sympathetic, while Walt becomes more ruthless and violent. In the second half of Season 5, Jesse goes to war with Walt upon learning from Saul Goodman that Walt tricked him into helping him bring down drug kingpin Gustavo Fring by poisoning his girlfriend's son, Brock. As a result, Jesse teams up with DEA agent Hank Schrader, Walt's brother-in-law, to bring Walt down. They are almost successful in arresting Walt in a desert but are stopped by Jack Welker and his gang. Jesse is later taken prisoner by the gang and forced into slavery as their meth cook. He is freed by Walt after the latter kills off the gang, allowing Jesse to escape.
Following his escape, Jesse becomes a national fugitive while suffering PTSD from his entrapment, vowing to flee to Alaska. After killing Neil Kandy, who was involved with his enslavement, he manages to finally move on with his life with the help of Ed Galbraith, who gave him a new identity called Mr. Driscoll, as he finds peace in a new life in Alaska.
He was portrayed by .
== His Greatness and Evil Rankings ==
=== What Makes Him Great? ===
==== In General ====
* He is the definition of a cool villain who has treated with a lot of sympathy due to his tragedy, had a famous father and son bond with Walter White and he clearly gets sick of being a criminal to the point he chooses to become a full-on hero for the rest of his life. Not to mention Aaron Paul did a fantastic job at portraying Jesse's character, and while he is broken deep down, Jesse never stopped being entertaining and enjoyable for the audience to watch.
** Due to how amazing his performance of Jesse was, Aaron won three Emmy awards.
* He took care of his aunt dying from cancer by staying with her.
* He was once an experienced craftsman for having made a beautiful wooden box.
* He is a tragic character due to how the drug trade destroyed his life and caused the murders of nearly all of his friends and the loves of his life, being severely injured numerous times throughout the show, being subjected to constant emotional manipulation by Walter White, and worst of all, he got betrayed and kidnapped by Jack Welker, Todd Alquist and their gang of Neo-Nazis before being forced into slavery while being psychologically and physically tortured by them for 6 months, giving him PTSD as a result. Even though he became a drug dealer before these tragedies happened, his actions and crimes (both before and during the series) aren't nearly as heinous as what Walter has committed and did acknowledge his mistakes. Plus, the worst things that have happened to him is still portrayed with a large amount of sympathy and he doesn't truly deserve the terrible things that have happened to him.
* He cares for a good deal of people, which include:
** Walter White: Despite the difficulties in their relationship since the beginning, Jesse always had some true care to Walter White. Despite the darker attitude and increasingly tense relationship later in the series, Jesse still showed he truly cared for Walt, such as buying him a special watch for his 51st birthday, apologizing to Walt for believing Walt poisoned Brock (he did not know he was right about that at this point), and informing Gus that he would leave him if he learned Walter White was murdered. Even after he learned Walt poisoned Brock, and when Walt betrayed Jesse to Neo-Nazi's, Jesse still gave Walt a slight nod of respect before leaving, and displayed slight grief in El Camino when hearing about his passing.
** Badger, Combo, and Skinny Pete: Jesse genuinely cares for them, always willing to goof around with the three, and has displayed that show he genuinely cares for them, these include him ruling out assassination when Badger was arrested, being distraught when he learned Combo got killed and blaming Walt for expanding outside territory, and refusing the possibility of them partnering up with Heisenberg's empire with reluctance. This leads to the three looking up to Jesse, with Skinny Pete even declaring Jesse to be his "hero".
** Jane Margolis: Jesse genuinely loved Jane, and she was one of the most important influences in his character arc. Jesse showed many moments of positive affection towards her, and desired to leave with her as soon as he was able to. When she died, Jesse was heartbroken and had to go to rehab so he could recover.
** Andrea and Brock Cantillo: Jesse quickly developed feelings for her, and became an important benefactor. He got angry at her for taking meth when he knew she was a mother, knowing her priority is to take care of her son. Jesse became best friends of the Cantillo family, helping them get out of their ghetto into a good suburban neighborhood, and became a family friend of the two, only cutting off connection due to Walt's manipulation. The knowledge that Walt and Saul poisoned Brock was the factor that led to Jesse not just as trying to disassociate with Walt, but actively trying to destroy him, even willing to team up with those he detests like Hank Schrader, with this being the very reason Jesse attacked Saul and almost burnt down Walt's house. The Nazi gang used his care for the family to prevent Jesse from escaping or attacking his captors, as they would kill Andrea and Brock if Jesse tried to disobey them (Andrea was killed by the Nazi's after an escape attempt, to Jesse's horror). After Jesse fled to Alaska, he wrote a letter to Brock, presumably to comfort him.
** His family: Despite the clearly rough relationship, Jesse still showed moments of genuine care towards the three. Jesse ended up getting along with his brother Jake in the brief period they knew each other, and took the fall for Jake's use of Marijuana which resulted in him being kicked out of the house. Offscreen, Jesse also was the one who took care of his dying aunt Ginny, while his parents neglected her. Even to his parents, despite the clear bad blood between the three, deep down, Jesse wanted to end their relationship on a good note, apologizing for his behavior and tried to reassure them that his fate was not their fault, it was his.
** Mike Ehrmantraut: While suspicious at first, Jesse ended up being a student of sorts to Mike after Jesse was shown to be a competent and quick witted person in his own right, with Jesse respecting Mike due to his more honest personality. This resulted in Jesse saving Mike's life when he begged the doctors to save Mike and not focus their attention solely on Gus. When Mike was killed, Jesse mourned his death, and was furious at Walt for killing him. This was a major factor in him souring his perception of Walt and forcing him to leave the drug business for good.
* In general, he is particularly caring to children and would never, under any circumstances, ever harm one, and his relation with a person is dramatically altered when he learns how they deal with children. Some of his most notable moments include rescuing the malnourished son of Spooge and his wife and helping him enter protective custody, snapping at Gus despite the risks when he learned he was employing children, then later planning to kill them when he knew they killed Tomas Cantillo (despite the fact he killed his friend Combo), mourning the death of Drew Sharp at the hands of Todd, which was the event which lead to Jesse leaving the drug world altogether.
* He has numerous Pet the Dog moments in the show, with many of the most notable being listed above, other good acts in the series include trying to get rid of his drug money by distributing it to Drew Sharp's family and Kaylee Ehrmantraut. When he learns that would be impossible, he decides to distribute millions of dollars in poor neighborhoods, including $10,000 to a homeless man.
* His killing of Gale was done with heavy reluctance, as he was ordered to do it by Walter and upon entering Gale's house, he pulled a gun on him and caused Gale to say his pitiful last words while pointing the gun at his face and tearing up at the same time. Even Gale pointed out that Jesse could take his money and didn't have to kill him in order to do so. After killing him, Jesse underwent a personality change in Season 4 where he tried to shake the guilt away from himself by having multiple mental breakdowns throughout the season and excessive partying habits to emphasise how remorseful he is for killing Gale.
* His other murders were in self-defence (he killed Casey and Joaquin because they both tried to kill him) or had understandable reasons (he killed Todd to avenge the deaths of Drew, Andrea and Sonia and he killed Neil for playing a part in ruining his life).
* In El Camino, he fully redeemed himself as he eventually grew to despise the drug trade due to the amount of suffering involved, and he regretted his life and desired for a chance to start anew.
==== Season 1 ====
* He is first seen escaping from Hank's ambush on Emilio Koyama by throwing himself out the window.
* He tells Krazy-8 that he once adopted a attack dog and trained him to attack police officers.
* By noticing a chemotherapy mark on Walter's chest, Jesse is able to deduce that he has cancer in the lung.
* He keeps an illegal supply of marijuana in his house and smokes it.
* Left his friend Badger in the desert after their attempt to cook pure meth.
* He assisted Walt in robbing a warehouse to retrieve Methylamine.
* After Walt abandoned the drugs, he tried to get them back and even in his own home. He also throws all his money on the yard and some falls into the pool.
* He brewed meth at his aunt's house that his parents gave him, which could have incriminated them.
* He sells small portions of meth as a way to efficiently make money for himself and Walter.
* He explained to Walter on the resources needed to make meth, and how the latter can't just demand Tuco Salamanca to receive higher pounds, since it is impossible with the resources they currently have.
==== Season 2 ====
* He took his time to train himself on using the firearm, due to having no training on firing guns.
* He made up an excuse of Hector Salamanca watching porn on television to stop Tuco from finding out that he and Walter had changed the news channel of Gonzo's death being broadcasted.
* As Tuco held him on the desert floor at gunpoint, Jesse secretly dug his hand into the ground to pick up a rock and smack Tuco with it. He then took Tuco's pistol from the latter's back and shot him with it.
* He agrees to have his name used to confess to killing a drug addict, which accidentally gets Combo murdered, though Jesse clearly didn't mean for that to happen.
* He took part in the scheme to misdirect the DEA onto James Kilkelly.
* He arrives at the classroom where Walt teaches to demand his money. When the latter demands that he show that he is clean, he throws the glass at Walt, almost killing him.
* He understandably assisted Jane in blackmailing Walt so he could earn $400,000 when he refuses to give Jesse his haircut.
==== Season 3 ====
* He tries to distribute Walt's formula without his permission and accidentally drops Walt's property, which was placed on it, from his car.
* He masterfully blackmailed his family to sell Jesse his aunt's house via Saul Goodman, who threatened to sue them for possessing a meth lab in the basement (that was created by Walter and Jesse).
* He is complicit in trying to get rid of his incriminating trailer at the hands of Old Joe as well as manipulating Hank to do so. In fact it's his fault that Hank even gets to the destination of the trailer as he first tried to confront Walt about it.
* When Walt leaves him outside, he turns off the lights, calms Walt down with drugs in coffee and finally kills the fly he became obsessed with.
* After he learned that the dealers killed Tomas, he planned to kill them himself before Walt shows up and kills them.
==== Season 4 ====
* He takes Walt's job at the drug lab and treats with indifference to the fact that Gus might kill him or his family, even gloating that Gus would kill Hank (after the latter punched him in the face).
* After Brock is poisoned, he breaks into Walt's house and almost shoots him to avenge Brock, though he accepts his false version that Gus is responsible.
* After Jesse was convinced that Gus is too dangerous, Jesse assisted Walt in killing him by informing him the one place where Gus is out in the open and the latter's rivalry with Hector Salamanca, leading both of their (along with Tyrus') deaths.
* He secretly destroyed Gus' meth lab along with Walter White to tie up loose ends.
==== Season 5 ====
* Along with Walter and Mike, he used a magnet to destroy the evidence presented on Gus's laptop.
* He planned to create a new drug empire with Walter White and Mike Ehrmantraut.
* He tried to use Lydia to transport barrels of meth, although Lydia ruins the plan.
* When he learned that their Methylamine stash was running out, they decided to rob a train. Jesse assisted the group in robbing it, stealing the Methylamine from the train, as well as filling in water so nobody suspected theft.
* He punches Todd in the face when he talked about the boy he killed to make him learn that child murder is wrong.
* While he did prompt Walt to kill 10 prisoners under Mike's command with the help of the Neo-Nazis, this wasn't his intention and he felt remorse for it.
* He intends to escape from justice with the help of Ed and create a new identity, until he suspects Brock's poisoning.
* When he was tied up by handcuffs, he broke free and used them to strangle Todd Alquist to death from behind while he and Walter were witnessing a shootout. This resulted in Jesse killing Todd, who deserved it for aiding Jack and the Neo-Nazis in enslaving Jesse and killing Drew, Sonia and Andrea, and thanks to the latter's death, Brock became orphaned. Thus, Jesse's killing of him was with good intentions and it can also be seen as a logical response.
==== El Camino ====
* He asks Old Joe to get rid of his car so the police can't get to him. However, the car was already wanted, so he just swapped cars with Pete Skinny.
* He killed Neil and Casey in pure self-defence.
* He uses Ed Galbraith services to escape from the police and justice, although his intention is to leave the life of crime.
=== What Makes Him Heinous? ===
* Prior to the events of the show, he is already a criminal by becoming a small time drug dealer with Krazy-8 as the supplier.
* He causes great distress for his parents and in the past also smoked in their house, almost causing them to be arrested, until they set limits for him.
* While Walter White often emotionally abuses him, he himself is far from an innocent saint towards him, including physically assaulting him, threatening to turn him in to the police, showing indifference to Gus killing him and even spitting in Walter's face when he was caught while lying to him that he would burn all of his money up.
* Unlike Walt who started his business from a place of financial help for his family, Jesse only worked to finance himself, although Walt later does the same later in the series. Also, he still shares a lot of responsibility for the deaths of people in the series by directly killing 5 people and indirectly killing at least 190 people, despite his standards against murder. In addition to that, he was partially involved in the elimination of the Cartel, in which Walt himself was not involved.
* He agreed to cook meth with Walter White, which marked the beginning of their partnership.
* He cruelly disposed of Emilio Koyama's body by melting it with hydrofluoric acid.
* He wasted the majority of Walter’s savings on a strip club as opposed to purchasing the RV as requested.
* He pressured Walter into killing Krazy-8. Then, it was revealed that Jesse is Krazy-8's former chemistry teacher, which causes Walter to fly into a rage.
* He attempted to kill Tuco Salamanca by poisoning him, even if he undoubtedly deserved it for breaking the legs of two innocent skateboarders and brutally beating up No-Doze and unintentionally killing him just for being a nice person.
* It was his idea to form a drug organization along with Walter.
* He held two junkies hostage by pulling a gun on them, robbed both of them and then forced them to give him all of their money.
* He kidnapped Saul Goodman and threatened to kill him if Badger ended up in prison.
* He attacked Walter's Aztec with a rock and broke the window.
* He threatened to sue Hank with the stated intent to drive him to suicide, and he said that he will give Walt up if he was ever caught after the former lays a brutal beating on him. He also blackmails Walt into giving him his new job in a large drug laboratory of Gus.
* He planned to use Wendy to poison them with Ricin, which would have endangered not only him, but also Walter and Wendy.
* Even if it was unwillingly done, he killed Gale Boetticher by shooting him in the face with a gun under Walter's orders.
* He was willing to kill Gus Fring out of spite on Walt's orders.
* He was loyal to Mike Ehrmantraut, as he assisted him in bank robberies and numerous disposals.
* He assaulted Saul and tried to kill him. Then, Jesse coerced Saul into admitting his role in Brock's assassination by killing him with his gun after the assault.
* He stormed over to Walter's house, the White residence, and planned to burn it down to get his revenge on Walter.
* He is partially responsible for the forming of the biggest drug empire in the world, though he did not wish for the empire to expand as much as it did.
* He tried to sell drugs to recovering addicts in a rehabilitation centre, only stopping when he met Andrea and learned she was a teenage girl.
* He broke into his parents' house and stole two of their guns with the intention of collecting money from Neil and Kasey.
* He threatened to kill 3 men by stealing their drivers license if they tell anything about him to the police.
* He burned down Kandy's Welding Company to cover his tracks and to get more revenge on Neil by not only cremating him in the worst way possible, but also permanently destroying his legacy upon killing him, which was successful. Although, this was firmly justified as Neil played a part in ruining Jesse's life.
== External Links ==
*
*
*
*
*
*
Category:TV Show Great Baddies
Category:Live Action Great Baddies
Category:Western Great Baddies
Category:Thriller Great Baddies
Category:Movie Great Baddies
Category:Internet Great Baddies
Category:Male
Category:Protagonists
Category:Drug Dealers
Category:Tragic
Category:Affably Evil
Category:Anti-Villains
Category:Addicts
Category:Honorable
Category:Right-Hand
Category:Redeemed
Category:Scapegoat
Category:Sympathetic
Category:Traitors
Category:Thrill-Seekers
Category:Businessmen
Category:Thieves
Category:Vengeful
Category:Tricksters
Category:Enforcers
Category:Minions
Category:Pawns
Category:Villains by Proxy
Category:Evil Vs. Evil
Category:Grey Zone
Category:Crime Lords
Category:Great Baddies with Cooling-Off Periods
Category:Vigilantes
Category:Protective
Category:In Love
Category:Mass Murderers
Category:Kidnappers
Category:Arrogant
Category:Wrathful
Category:Greedy
Category:Liars
Category:Chaotic Neutral
Category:Corrupting Influences
Category:Siblings
Category:Mentally Ill
Category:Insecure
Category:Great Baddies with Standards
Category:Provokers
Category:Gangsters
Category:Assassins
Category:Mercenaries
Category:Burglars
Category:Deal Makers
Category:Blackmailers
Category:Strategic
Category:Vandals
Category:Mongers
Category:Wealthy
Category:Extravagant
Category:Paranoid
Category:Successful
Category:Outcasts
Category:Homicidal
Category:Juvenile Delinquents
Category:Mascots
Category:Rivals
Category:Betrayed
Category:Opportunists
Category:Embezzlers
Category:Necessary Evil
Category:Friend of a Hero
Category:Fighters
Category:Suicidal