There's been a lot of buzz in the
Breaking Bad world today about Skyler as a strong female character and her refusal to get pushed around in last night's episode. She held her own against Hank, who came riding up on his white horse in the diner, talking about how he was going to protect the long-victimized Skyler from her husband's machinations. Color Skyler unimpressed; she hustled out of that diner and called a lawyer straightaway to avoid testifying against Walt's (and her own) operation. Next it was toe-to-toe with Marie, who tried to spirit Holly away from her crazy parents only to have Mama Bear Skyler standing and screaming in her way. If the Schraeders thought they were going to find an ally in Skyler for taking down Walt, Skyler's made it pretty clear that she's not interested in being the D.E.A.'s mole. She's in it for herself, and she's going to protect herself and her family just as she's always done.
Is Skyler the strong woman heroine that TV drama's been looking for? Sorry. I'm not buying it.
The fact that Skyler is strong does not make Skyler good. Skyler has held her own against the other players in the complicated world of
Breaking Bad, but only to keep her life together while Walt works chaos around them. She's has kept her head down while her husband has wantonly slaughtered anyone who gets in the way of Blue Sky's production. She's kept Walt's secrets, and Walt's money, while the White family's dabbling in the meth business endangered the lives of their own family members -- Schraeders and Whites alike. Sure, she didn't let Hank talk her into testifying against Walt in the diner. But now Hank is on the hunt for definitive proof of Walt's guilt, and who knows how many people will be, um, "sent to Belize" while he tries?
I'm as unimpressed by Skyler's supposed strength as I am by Lydia's. The two seem to be uncomfortable doubles, really. Lydia, like Skyler, is exacting, driven, self-preserving, and goal-oriented. While Skyler squared off against the Schraeders to keep her family intact, Lydia sent her team of sociopathic skinheads to wipe out the subpar meth-producers and set up their own shop. But like Skyler, Lydia is only as tough as her own ignorance allows her to be. Skyler doesn't know the half of what Walt's done, and she took off from the diner before Hank had a chance to tell her. Lydia, likewise, cowered in a bunker with her hands over her ears during last night's gunfight, and closed her eyes while walking past the hits she personally ordered.
There's a difference between being strong and being a hero, and Skyler is certainly not the latter. I don't know what honorable choices Skyler still can make at this point (anything that might not ruin the lives of her children, maybe, but it's probably too late for that) but I know she hasn't made them yet. Anna Gunn nailed her performance last night, and I hope she gets nominated for an Emmy this season, but I'm not ready to praise Skyler as a character or person yet. If Skyler's going to redeem herself this season, she's going to have to make some tough choices. And she'll probably have to choose against Walt, who doesn't seem interested in redemption anymore.
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