Many of the relationships on Breaking Bad are based on mutual business agreements: one person does something for another in exchange for something else. Oftentimes, the relationships are built on fear and mistrust, which makes them volatile, ready to blow up at a moments' notice.
Other relationships on the series are romantic in nature, despite the fact that there's little time for love and romance in the criminal underworld. Nonetheless, some of these relationships prevail, though most are dead in the water by the epic series finale.
While the way some relationships ended up surprised viewers, the demise of others were easy to foresee from the very start.
Walter White And Jesse Pinkman
There was no scenario where the relationship between Walter and Jesse would ever end nicely. Walter became so drunk with power that had he lived, he would never have let Jesse run off to have a happy ending. The friction between them was bound to bubble up to the surface at some point.
Their relationship did develop into a sort of friendship, but it was always based on need. With so much lying, manipulation, threats, and violence, the unlikely friendship between Walter and Jesse was doomed from the start.
Walter And Skyler White
Right from the get-go, it was obvious that Walter and Skyler's dynamic was one-sided. Skyler wore the pants in the relationship, and Walter was a shell of a man who never recovered from losing his company.
But once Walter begins to transform into Heisenberg, hid his secret life from Skyler, and became terrifyingly demanding, Skyler began to retaliate against his odd behavior, and the tension was palpable. It was clear there was no salvaging whatever bond they had. There were so many times Skyler should have left him but didn't.
Jesse Pinkman And Jane Margolis
Jane was good for Jesse in some ways but bad in others. The fact that they layed around doing drugs all day was obviously bad news. No relationship like that ever ends well, although it didn't have to end quite so badly either. The circumstances under which Jane perished were worse than anyone could have imagined.
Had Jane been able to steer clear of drugs and the pair stayed clean together, it might have worked. But realistically, as long as she was a distraction to Jesse and his work, Walter would never have allowed the relationship to continue. Thus, theirs was the least successful relationship in the show.
Jesse Pinkman And Andrea Cantillo
Jesse and Andrea had a great relationship and fans loved seeing them together. He truly loved her and she loved him. And, most importantly, he loved her young son Brock. But in a show like Breaking Bad, there was no way Jesse would be able to have a picture-perfect happy ending.
Under any other circumstances, the relationship might have succeeded. But given the position Jesse was in, Andrea would only ever be used as leverage against him. And that was exactly what happened, in the most brutal way possible.
Walter White And Saul Goodman
Saul was simply a man with the immorality and means to do things that Walter needed to be done – nothing more, nothing less. Every time Saul tried to leave the business relationship, he was sucked back in. But he never really wanted to be a part of it.
As the situation got increasingly dangerous, it was obvious that it wouldn't end well for either of them. There was no way they would both get out of the situation alive and free from one another.
Gus Fring And Mike Ehrmantraut
The development and nature of the relationship between these two is mostly seen in the prequel series Better Call Saul. By the time Breaking Bad has begun, things have already gone sour between them.
Even without seeing them working together in a positive way, it was easy to predict that it never would have lasted. Gus was too cutthroat for Mike, who tried to live by at least some moral codes. There were lines that Mike would have refused to cross. It never would have worked long-term.
Walter And Walter White Jr.
The fact that Walter White and his son and namesake were so close at the beginning made it likely that the relationship would fracture at some point, especially given the premise of the series. It was necessary to set things up to show a strong father-son bond to make the breakdown of their relationship all the more powerful.
Anyone who has seen a series of a similar genre could predict that their relationship would not have carried on in the same manner once Walter became someone that his teenage son could no longer look up to.
Marie And Hank Schrader
They had a pretty great marriage, despite the fact that Hank worked at a dangerous job and Marie was apparently dealing with problems that manifested in her stealing random objects from various places.
But when things are too comfortable on a show like this, it's predictable that it won't end well. The marriage only ended because Hank was killed. Nonetheless, would things have continued on had Hank been able to successfully take Walter down, thus potentially fracturing the bond Marie had with her sister Skyler?
Skyler White And Ted Beneke
Skyler was using Ted, and while he wanted to pursue something serious with her, she had no interest in doing so. It was obvious it was a relationship built out of anger and revenge. And eventually, it led to blackmail.
Even if Skyler decided to leave Walter, the romance would not have lasted with Ted. They weren't good together and he was a pretty universally disliked character on the show.
Mr. & Mrs. Pinkman And Jesse Pinkman
The poor Pinkmans tried desperately to connect with their son, but to no avail. They tried multiple times, but he always felt like the black sheep of the family and a bad influence on his little brother, so he stayed away. Even when Jesse pretended to want to come home, he ended up using his parents to get their gun in the spin-off movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story.
While the parent and son relationship might not have been doomed from the time Jesse was born, once he dropped out of high school and pursued a darker path, there was no going back.