3. Wives - Those We Love To Hate & Those We Just Hate
How Breaking Bad Has Got It Right - For all her flaws, Skyler White is just a concerned wife who worries for her kids safety and disapproves that her husband is an up and coming Meth Kingpin. Its the beauty of the writing then, that it can manipulate the audience into pronouncing her the bad guy. What we have with Skyler is a character that is unwillingly drawn into an awful situation by her egoistic and selfish husband. All she has ever cared about is getting the best care for Walt, bending over backwards to get the best help possible with his cancer. She even puts her dignity on the line when she accepts the cash offer from Walt's ex-colleague, to fund her husband's treatment. Heaven forbid she should be a little peed off when her husband has lied, killed and ruined the lives of countless others, behind her back. The thing is, Skyler is the scapegoat - for Walt, who justifies the meth production as means to provide for her and the family. For Walt Jr, who blames her for the animosity within the household because she's 'not as cool' as Dad. But also, she's the scapegoat for the audience - who justify their sympathies for Walt, as the oppressed male figure, trapped in a life dominated by the tyrannical rule of his controlling wife. Gilligan adds flaws and back-stories to Skyler's character (sleeping with Ted, smoking whilst pregnant being the possible reason for Juniors cerebral palsy, as examples) that give the audience enough fodder with which to attack her, subtly distracting from the horrors that her fiend of a husband is committing. Its a precariously balanced relationship but one that's nailed with the trademark Breaking Bad perfection and demonstrates why we love to hate Skyler so much.
Why The Walking Dead Is Not As Good - The short answer to that is 'Lori Grimes'. Would you like to hear the long answer? It might sound like a bit of a rant! First and foremost, this is not an attack on Sarah Wayne Callies, who I thought was good in Prison Break, and did a perfectly good job in this, with the character she was written. The problem lies with the insufferable attitude of Lori Grimes - wife to Rick, mother to the one kid you wish hadn't survived the apocalypse and regular pain in the ass. Whether she's lost Carl or get herself in a sticky situation with a horde of Walkers, Lori spends her entire 2 and a half season tenure relying on everyone else to bail her out. From her blindingly obvious and pointless statements ("I know I won't be winning any mother of the year awards" - no sh*t!) to her do-gooder mentality - when she tries to prevent Beth from killing herself in the most patronizing manner ever - Lori manages to rub everyone up the wrong way. Fans hate her, even Rick hates her before she dies. Unlike Skyler, Lori doesn't bring anything to the show. She might spark a lame 'who's the Daddy?' storyline more suited to Coronation Street (or Desperate Housewives for our American readers) but apart from that, she is entirely surplus to requirement. I haven't read the Graphic Novel series so I can't comment on how she may differ, but if she's anything like she is in the show, the writers would have been better advised to drastically re-vamp the character or replace her entirely.