Broken Characters (Breaking Bad Vs Shameless)

I finished Shameless a little more than a month ago. This was my first time watching it. It was a good show and I’ll definitely be watching it again (all 11 seasons).

I found similarities between Frank in Shameless and Walter White in Breaking Bad.

I’m not sure if I blogged about Breaking Bad before but I really disliked Walter White during the later parts of Breaking Bad (probably season 2 and on). I rooted for him to die. He turned out to be a gigantic asshole who somewhat redeemed himself (though barely) in the series finale.

I had a lot of empathy for Walter. I mean, Breaking Bad, that entire premise wouldn’t have happened in any other developed country BUT the United States. I felt really bad for him. I didn’t blame him for doing what he had to in order to take care of his family. You gotta do what you’re good at and he was good at cooking meth.

Where he lost me was his obsession with power and getting mad at everyone when things didn’t go his way (ex. him blaming Jessie and Jessie’s friends when Skinny Pete got mugged). I also hated him not doing anything to save Jane. He also should not have killed Gus. Was Gus a good guy? No. But he had a great thing going there and he had to fuck it all up.

In Shameless, yeah, Frank is a big dick to all his family. He steals from them, takes advantage of them, breaks them up, etc. He really is a bad dude. Some of the worst for me was telling Carl that he had cancer, getting the kids removed from the house, and losing Liam.

But I feel more empathy for Frank than I do Walter White. I can’t really explain it but I guess because Frank didn’t really choose his lifestyle while Walter decided to do the things he did. Also, besides deliberately denying that woman her needed heart transplant, thus killing her (that was difficult to watch), Frank really doesn’t rack up many deaths. He works really hard to just not work. I guess maybe since I’m a fan of a universal basic income, the shit that Frank does just to be drunk all the time like he isn’t seeking power like Walter was. All Frank really wanted to do was be lazy, not work, and get drunk all the time.