Breaking Bad star Krysten Ritter recalls her reaction to watching Jane's game-changing death scene. In her breakthrough role, Ritter joined AMC's hit drama in season 2 as Jesse Pinkman's landlord and love interest, Jane Margolis, who is also a recovering drug addict. In Breaking Bad season 2's penultimate episode, Walter White watches Jane choke to death on her own vomit after overdosing on heroin, opting to not intervene. Walt's unconscionable decision was one of the most shocking moments in the show that would go on to become a massive sensation.
During a recent appearance on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Ritter recalled her reaction to watching Jane's game-changing death scene for the first time. Because of some early buzz about her performance, Ritter was invited to screen the episode ahead of time with her managers and her agent. As they watched the heart-breaking moment unfold, Ritter remembers everyone standing on their feet with their hands over their mouths in utter shock. Read what she shared or watch the video below, starting at 32:05:
That was the big episode that I was in, and my character had a lot to do, and the network started to sort of talk about the performance and people were getting excited about it, so we were invited to watch it in a room. It was me, my managers, my agent at the time is Brent Morley. I'll never forget it and we watched it. All of us were on our feet like hands over mouths. We were shocked and so moved by it and that was the coolest f**king thing I had ever done. First my agent stood at his feet and I just felt him like stand up. I was just so proud to be in something cool, it doesn't always happen.
Jane's Death In Breaking Bad Was Game-Changing For Walt & Jesse
Walt watching Jane die is one of Breaking Bad's first truly shocking scenes. There is a brief moment when Walt rushes to Jane's bedside to save her before freezing with hesitation as he makes the cold and calculated decision to let her die, knowing that will help him regain control over his partner in crime, Jesse. Before then, the amateur meth manufacturer only killed other drug dealers in self-defense. Walt's decision to let Jane die acts as the beginning of his moral decline, even though it clearly has an emotional impact on him.
Jane's death has even more of an emotional effect on Breaking Bad's deuteragonist, Jesse. Jane was one of Jesse's most formative romantic relationships throughout the series and thus, an unimaginable loss for the character. Her tragic death inspires Jesse to go to rehab, but it also brings him closer to Walt, which is ultimately responsible for his downfall. The shocking Breaking Bad scene wouldn't have been possible though without Ritter's performance, who was able to make Jane's death convincing and heartbreaking while choking on mushroom soup.