How Jesse Pinkman’s Need for Acceptance Led Him Into a Dysfunctional Relationship With Walter White

As part of their ongoing series of deconstructing the rich symbolism within the sublime AMC series Breaking Bad, film and television analysis platform ScreenPrism took a look at the odd wide-eyed innocence of character Jesse Pinkman. Specifically, they look at Jesse’s tenderness when it came to kids and animals, his childlike silliness and his insatiable need for parental approval, which he eventually found in the very flawed Walter White. And in the way a child absorbs the bad behavior of adults, Jesse physically, mentally and spiritually suffered the sins of Walter White even when Walter felt he was doing nothing wrong.

He’s essentially an abandoned kid. His parents think he’s a hopeless screw-up and want nothing to do with him. Jesse needs someone to tell him what to do and so he finds a parental figure in Walt their dynamic immediately resembles a father-son relationship. ….Jesse starts out with a great deal of loyalty and respect for Walt but he ends completely disillusioned…