A major reason thatBreaking Badhas remained one of themost acclaimed TV series of all timewas that every detail contributed to the power of this show, and even the characters' hobbies added unique insight into their true nature. While much has been written aboutWalter White’s transformation into the meth kingpin Heisenberg, the small details around characters' pastimes and interests are rarely unpacked to reveal their hidden depth. However, behind each seemingly insignificant interest lay a wealth of fascinating psychological insight.
The entireBreaking Badcast gave phenomenal performances across the show’s five seasons, and it’s a testament to the powerful three-dimensional writing of this AMC series that the smallest details can say so much. Considering Mike’s love for old movies, Marie’s passion for purple, or Walt’s inscrutable poker face,the hobbies of manyBreaking Badcharacters offered an insightful glimpse into their hidden true nature. While many may have missed these details on first viewing, upon rewatch, it’s astounding just how well these seemingly insignificant hobbies serve as subtle yet profound reflections of each character’s psyche.
10Skyler White Loves Writing
Hidden Meaning: A hint toward a lost passion buried under family responsibility
While she may not hold as much resentment toward her lost opportunities as her husband Walter, Skyler White also lost out on reaching her full potential. Right from the pilot ofBreaking Bad,we heard about Skyler’s creative nature and her love for writing, which even resulted in her publishing a collection of short stories. Skyler even subtly tried to speak to her sister Marie about her suspicions that Walter was smoking marijuana in season 1 by masking the questions as research for a short story.
Despite Skyler not having totally abandoned her writing habit, it was clear that the burden of running a home and raising a disabled child meant it took a backseat to her familial responsibility. Whilewe don’t know a lot about what happened to Skyler post-Breaking Bad, one can’t help but wonder if she returned to this long-lost passion to write a tell-all memoir about being the wife of the notorious Heisenberg. However, for this to work, she’d have to severely downplay just how actively she was involved in laundering Walt’s meth earnings.
9Marie Schrader’s Passion For Decorating (And Purple)
Hidden Meaning: A desire to maintain some semblance of control in her life
Marie Schrader was one of the most fascinating characters in theBreaking Baduniversefrom a psychoanalytical perspective, as her overcompensation, materialism, kleptomania, and love for the color purple all inform her wayward sense of identity. With a husband working for the DEA, Marie lives with the constant fear that Hank could be killed in the line of duty, and she overcompensates for this lack by endlessly decorating her home and herself in the color purple.
This need for control extends beyond Marie’s stylistic choices, as she consistently tries to assert herself within the life of her sister Skyler. While Marie’s love for purple relates to the color’s association with wealth, royalty, and sophistication, her compulsive shoplifting also highlights inner turmoil as she consistently puts the stability of her carefully curated life in jeopardy. Although, unlike other characters in her life in need of psychological help, such as Walter, Hank, and Skyler, Marie does try to unpack her issues with her therapist, Dave.
8Mike Ehrmantraut Is Always Watching Old Movies
Hidden Meaning: Nostalgic for a time when loyalty and honor mattered
As an old-school principled man of discipline, honor, and loyalty, Mike Ehrmantraut’s love of old movies is an interesting window into his character. This was certainly apparent when Mike was being raided by the DEA in the season 5 episode “Say My Name,” as he quietly watched the film noirThe Big Heatwhile agents tore his home apart. This Fritz Lang classic tells the story of a morally driven cop taking on a corrupt system, and its themes of revenge, corruption, and personal loss tie directly into Mike’s life story.
Mike makes plenty of old film references throughoutBreaking Bad, and he clearly relates deeply to the codes of honor and loyalty seen in crime movies from bygone eras. Even in the midst of life-or-death situations, Mike can’t help but relate the current circumstances to films as he tells Walt and Jesse that “everyone sounds like Meryl Streep with a gun to their head” as he prepares to execute Lydia. With countless crimes and misdeeds to his name,Mike’s love for movies may also be a form of escapismto cloud the quiet moments when no one else is around.
7Skinny Pete, The Piano Virtuoso
Hidden Meaning: A hint toward a life not lived
We don’t learn a lot about the backstories of Jesse Pinkman’s close friends and low-level drug dealers, such as Badger, Combo, and Skinny Pete. However, one unexpected scene in season 5’s “Hazard Pay” suggested that Skinny Pete was far more than meets the eye and hinted at a wealth of unfulfilled potential, talent, and intelligence. This was whenSkinny Pete took the piano to play a perfect rendition of C.P.E. Bach’s Solfeggio in C minorbefore purchasing equipment cases from a music store on Jesse’s behalf.
While this scene was included because of Skinny Pete’s actor Charles Baker’s background as a classically trained pianist and music major, it resulted in a complete transformation of our perception of his character. While Skinny Pete was presented as a laid-back, streetwise drug user, it’s impossible not to wonder what happened to the version of him that trained in classical piano and how this related to his upbringing. Much in the same way that Jesse was a tragic case of unfulfilled potential, Skinny Pete’s addiction issues meant he was also capable of something greater.
6Jane Margolis Designs Tattoos
Hidden Meaning: Values self-expression and control over her own body and identity
The tragic girlfriend of Jesse Pinkman, Jane Margolis, was a deeply troubled young woman whose love for tattoo design provides insight into her rebellious spirit. When Jane was first introduced to audiences, she was a recovering drug addict, although her interactions with Jesse as his landlord and later romantic partner revealed she was struggling to stay clean, and the pair soon relapsed together. Jane and Jesse bonded over their collective love of art, and she shared examples of her work with him, which deepened their connection.
Jane’s love for tattoos highlighted her need for self-expressionand was an outlet away from her concerned father, who exerted control over her life in an attempt to ensure she remained clean. While Jane clearly had a fascination with tattoos, she did not actually have any herself and explained to Jesse that she could never commit to one. This inability to make concrete decisions, even about the things she was passionate about, highlights a character who just never quite worked out what to do with her life.
5Gus Fring, The Gourmet Chef
Hidden Meaning: A clue toward his discipline, precision, and obsessive attention to detail in crime and business
While our first introduction of Gus Fring inBreaking Badwas as the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant entrepreneur and a major narcotics distributor, the limited insight we gained into his personal life showcased a man of thoroughly refined tastes. This was seen whenGus invited Walt to his house for a home-cooked meal, and the two ate Chilean fish stew together in the season 3 episode “Abiquiú.” As Gus meticulously prepared the food, it was clear he valued precision, patience, and perfectionism in all aspects of life.
Gus’s connection to cooking and food also relates to his mysterious life story, as his Chilean recipes appear to be one of the only things from his home country that he carried forward with him. Even his fast food business was named after his relationship with his business partner, Max Arciniega. Most interestingly of all, Gus’s passion for cooking is used as a psychological tool, both when negotiating with Walt and Jesse and to project the illusion that he’s a respectable businessman to law enforcement and society in general.
4Todd Alquist’s Creepy Collecting
Hidden Meaning: A clue toward his lack of empathy and the emotionless way he treats people as objects
In a show filled with chaotic and terrifying villains, Todd Alquist stood as the most unnerving and eerie of them all. As a brutal psychopath totally detached from human emotion, Todd’s love of collecting things highlights his childlike mindset and warped sense of normalcy. This was seen in the epilogue storyEl Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, where we saw the inside of Todd’s apartment for the first time.
Among his strange assortment of collections wasDrew Sharp’s jar containing a tarantula, which implied that after murdering the young child in season 5’s “Dead Freight,” he took the jar as a souvenir. This was truly psychotic behavior that made Todd seem more like the serial killer Dexter Morgan than anyone out ofBreaking Bad, as Dexter also kept blood sample trophies to relive the feeling of his kills. Todd even collected Jesse Pinkman and treated him like a plaything as he was locked away in a cage prison.
3Jesse Pinkman Took Joy From Art and Woodworking
Hidden Meaning: A representation of unfulfilled potential
From the earliest episodes ofBreaking Bad, we were given a glimpse into the creativity of Jesse Pinkman through his love for art and even his former band, TwaüghtHammër, which he formed with Badger. Season 2 saw Jesse bonding with his landlady Jane and sharing his superhero designs, which gave a unique insight into his insecurities and character traits. However, it wasJesse’s passion for woodworkingthat most effectively showcased his unfulfilled potential and how he was consistently traipsed through life without ever truly giving things his best effort.
In season 3’s “Kafkaesque,” Jesse shared a story that provided insight into his true nature when he spoke about a high school woodworking class and the teacher who inspired him to put his genuine effort into making a wooden box. Jesse’s ability to excel when he fully applied himself was clear from his talent for meth cooking, which even Walt admitted he could do as well as him. As a clever, creative, and compassionate soul, the possibilities were endless for what Jesse could have achieved if he had applied himself instead of being drawn into a life of crime.
2Hank Schrader’s Homebrewing And Obsession With Minerals
Hidden Meaning: A mirror image of Walter White and a symbol of his search for Heisenberg
While Hank Schrader’s homebrewing may seem like a quirky hobby at first glance, Schraderbräu was also a fascinating example of his role as a mirror image of Walter White. As two men on opposite sides of the law, Hank’s job as a DEA agent was the total juxtaposition of Walt’s meth cooking, and Hank’s home-brewed beer was an example of addictive substances legally produced. While Walt has to keep everything about his life as Heisenerg a secret, Hank can brand his beer with his face as the logo, all while gaining community praise for his work as a law enforcer.
10 Breaking Bad Clues That Prove Hank Should Have Realized Walt Was Heisenberg Way Earlier
It took a long time for Hank to suspect Walter in Breaking Bad, but there were lots of hints throughout the show to tell him that Walt was Heisenberg.
However,Hank’s hobbies took a turn when he was left temporarily paralyzed, and it seemed like his search for Heisenberg had reached a dead end. With all hope lost and entering a deep depression, Hank started to collect minerals as a coping mechanism, with these crystallized chemical compositions acting as a symbol for Heisenberg himself. Much in the same way his wife Marie coped through shoplifting, in this moment of struggle, Hank shifted his focus to collecting minerals rather than confronting his anger, depression, and vulnerability.
1Walter White’s Poker Face
Hidden Meaning: A willingness to risk it all in the pursuit of money and recognition
Poker is the perfect analogy for the game that Walter White played with his life, family, and livelihood throughoutBreaking Bad. While it was a lie about a casino card counting system that was used to explain Walt’s newfound wealth, Walter was seen playing poker as far back as season 1 when he bluffs his way to victory to the shock of Hank Schrader in “Crazy Handful of Nothin'.” This early insight intoWalt’s ability to deceive those around himshould have clued Hank into the fact that Walt was far more cunning than he ever gave him credit for.
Walt’s ability to outsmart his opponents indicated his arrogant, egotistical, and deceptive nature, which only fully came to the forefront after he embraced his Heisenberg persona. As a master manipulator who hides his secret life from those around him, Walt utilized his skills in this card game right until the very end, with his ultimate “poker move" being the way he bluffed his way through his final confrontation with Jack’s gang, before revealing his hand in the form of a remote-controlled machine gun. Walt’s approach to poker perfectly highlighted his willingness to risk it all for a shot at greatness inBreaking Bad.
