10 Worst TV Villains Of The Last 10 Years

When Jack Welker and his gang of Nazis first shows up in Breaking Bad’s fifth season, he’s an effective presence. Superbly portrayed by Michael Bowen, he immediately conveys a complete amorality and the confidence of a man with a gang of heavies behind him. He also illustrates just how far Walter has fallen, getting into bed with a gang of white supremacists.

It’s when Jack becomes the lead villain of the series’ final episodes, though, that things fall apart. Breaking Bad’s entire journey was to take Walter from frustrated milquetoast to badass to outright villain. But in turning Jack into the final enemy, it undoes so much of that hard work.

There’s no easier way to depict a character as irredeemably evil than to daub a swastika on their neck. Simply by placing Jack as the guy whose comeuppance we most eagerly want to see, Walter White gains a heroic exit to the show that spent so much time casting a light on his moral decline.

Jack feels like a lived-in character and his conflict with Walter has a logic - he’s just one more guy who underestimates the bespectacled chemist. But his whole vibe feels like shorthand for “See? This Walter guy wasn’t so bad after all!”