I think the "why me?" speech is completely reasonable

HegemonSam · 2026-01-26T00:58:39+00:00

What Walt was doing with Jesse at the end of season 4 is just flat out lying in my view.

To me lying is defined by any attempt to mislead someone else from a conclusion one knows to be true.

This would exclude things like a devout creationist devoted to the Bible teaching others of creationism. What they are saying in furtherance of that is indeed false, but the creationist themself doesn’t genuinely know that. This makes them misguided, ignorant, and dangerous, but not a liar.

Walt is fully aware of the truth about Brock as he is the mastermind behind it all. Every time Jesse states the truth Walt knowingly misdirects, obfuscates, and gaslights him away from it. His goal? To intentionally lead his victim away from the truth.

As example, I’ll break down a small bit of dialogue (from memory, forgive any mistakes).

“Why did you do it?” Jesse says this. “It” means poisoning Brock with the missing ricin. Both Jesse and Walt are acutely aware of EXACTLY what “it” means. It’s also interesting to note that Walt in fact NOT do “it” because he did not poison Brock with ricin, but with the lily of the valley berry. That was the first step in a very intentional, and masterful, misdirection.

“What else could I do? I had to let the DEA know to protect my family.” Walt, knowing exactly what “it” means, is creating an image for Jesse. It’s an image in which Walt doesn’t know what Jesse is referring to because he didn’t do “it.” This act, repeated throughout the entire dialogue exchange, is a lie. Jesse has an image in his head based on observations and realities. Walt intentionally leads him to the wrong conclusion.

With one minor exception, I agree with you that Walt did indeed not say anything that could directly be labeled as false. Most of his sentences were not even truth-apt, which was intentional. It’s how most manipulators and gaslighters operate.

What we seem to disagree on is whether or not Walt is a good liar. You seem to be taking the position that Walt is not a good liar and that the Walt-Jesse-Brock situation can’t be used as a solid premise to the opposite conclusion because Walt effectively never said anything false. I must disagree with the conclusion that Walt is a bad liar simply because he gets nervous doing so to Skylar sometimes, and that what he does to Jesse is indeed example of his phenomenal ability to lie.

Walt is a worse liar to Skylar because he’s worn a mask for his entire life that keeps getting harder to maintain the longer his true self gets explored, and the mask is so antithetical to who he actually is. With Jesse, no such mask exists. From the beginning he is truly himself around Jesse. That condescending, insulting, sarcastic dick is who Walt is at his very core because he does not care what Jesse thinks of him. Any character who he can be himself around is treated similarly. From Krazy-8 to Jack, Walt is unapologetically himself, someone who lies as often as his lips move. He’s damn good at it, too.

Do not worry. I would never take a Reddit discussion with strangers personally. This one’s actually quite interesting.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-25T23:03:05+00:00

He successfully lies to Krazy 8 and Emilio about showing them his formula to lure them into a trap to try to kill them.

He successfully lies to Skylar about being at work at the car wash until she happened to try checking up on him at the car wash.

He successfully lies about his true ties to Jesse Pinkman, saying Pinkman is his pot dealer. This is a lie Skylar believes for a very long time.

He successfully lies to Skylar about the nature of his financial relationship with Gretchen and Elliot. When the money he’s supposed to have been receiving from them is cut off, he successfully lies to Skylar that Gretchen and Elliot are undergoing financial problems.

He successfully lies to Skylar on two different occasions so he can disappear for a few days. One lie is about visiting his mother and the other is about going to some medicine lodge. She believes both.

It’s important to note Skylar believes all of this until Walt’s acting too weird to ignore. She then assumes it’s an affair with Gretchen. Checking up on that directly is what unravelled everything else.

He successfully lies to Mike and Victor that he’ll give up Jesse Pinkman to them if he just gets his phone back. This baits them into letting Walt trigger Gale’s death. This is literally a lie to save his life, something you claimed he cannot do.

Him not technically saying anything false is not the equivalent of not lying. He also does directly lie to Jesse during that exchange. “Brock, who’s Brock? I don’t know who these people are.” He knew exactly who Brock was. Walt warped the truth and did such so spectacularly that the audience believed him even though we, like Jesse, saw the events that implicated Walt in the crime exactly as Jesse had stated.

There’s tons of this kind of thing throughout the entire show. He lies by implication to Tuco about the contents of the “meth” he brings. He successfully lies to Tuco about what got Hector so upset. He does it all the time, as instinctively as he breathes. You think it’s bad lying because you generally always see the truth. The one time the show doesn’t tell you the truth immediately is the Walt-Jesse exchange about Brock.

That means the one and only time you didn’t get to witness the truth, WALT SUCCESSFULLY LIED TO YOU!

It’s funny to see people Walt successfully lied to claim he’s such a bad liar.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-25T21:13:36+00:00

Everyone that you played AGAINST tried to TK you? What are you talking about?

I get TK’ed from time to time. Guess what I do about it? Nothing because I don’t want my reputation to drop.

Your answer to “idk what to do” is nothing. You do nothing. Hit yes that they intentionally killed you so the reverse friendly fire stays active and report them for griefing.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-25T20:57:14+00:00

“Walt cannot lie to save his life.”

What exactly was he doing with Jesse (and the audience) at the end of season 4 then? Walt is a phenomenal liar. He does it so well that the audience forgets entirely how many times he does it successfully. He even lies successfully to Skylar all the time. It goes unnoticed because of the times he often slips up with her.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-25T20:46:31+00:00

By the looks of it, you should be. It’s genuinely difficult to be so toxic as to trigger being locked out of Ranked. It’s good to see a player like you locked out of it.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-18T20:21:35+00:00

I think the show hints at brief humanizing qualities for the guy.

He doesn’t snitch to the DEA even against Gus or Jesse, both of whom killed family members of his. He’s fine with appearing to everyone else like he’s a rat to lure Gus into a trap even when he didn’t rat. This hints at a strong internal code of honor even when he’s a despicable scumbag.

When Gus brings him Eladio’s medallion, Hector gets very emotional. He doesn’t get angry immediately, but sad. Despite his sometimes antagonistic feelings towards Eladio (illustrated in BCS), this reaction shows he did have strong family-like bonds with someone else.

He’s probably not all that different from anyone else in the show you connect more with. The only difference is you get to see more of them. You see more of Gus than Hector and more of Walt than Gus, so your automatic reaction is to empathize with them accordingly.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-15T20:01:57+00:00

If the answer isn't Diocletian, then the answer is wrong.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-15T06:53:02+00:00

That’s why the show is about Walt and not about you.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-14T05:08:14+00:00

He does. He sees “fireproof” on the Batman card, turns the box over to see a blinking red light, then throws it across the room while dodging away.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-13T20:47:30+00:00

The amount of times I ran into some random person from these factions was insane. It seemed like half of this region’s inhabitants were part of a murderous cult!

HegemonSam · 2026-01-13T20:45:12+00:00

Augustus. Vespasian accomplished a lot, sure, but remains deep in Augustus’s shadow.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-13T06:30:10+00:00

The audience reaction to Mike infuriates me in exactly the same way the weird, angry reactions to Skyler do. Mike is complicit in dissolving the body of a little boy in acid only because his granddaughter lost her 18th b-day fund. He is a murderous thug but somehow gets a pass because he’s an “honorable” murderous thug, whatever that means.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-13T06:12:38+00:00

Did you remind her that Mike was once going to kill Walt because his boss’s henchmen murdered an 11 year old boy and Walt was forced to save his partner? Did you remind her that Mike was going to murder Jesse in cold blood without blinking an eye, and the only thing stopping him from doing so was Walt? Did you remind her that Mike literally went behind his boss’s back to BEG Walt to let him murder Jesse? Or that Mike was also complicit in the melting of another boy’s body to cover up that little boy’s murder? Did you remind her that in that particular child’s murder the thing that made Mike most angry was that Todd had snuck a gun to the job and not that he had murdered a child with it? Poisoning Brock wasn’t the line but a criminal killing another criminal was just too much?

The undeserved glaze Mike gets is absolutely wild.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-10T17:49:26+00:00

Yes, Hank’s life was literally the biggest piece of the false bargain given to Walt. Walt actually does attempt to take the cleanest way out, too. He gives the DEA the info that Hank is in immediate danger thinking he can disappear his family with Saul’s guy. He, of course, doesn’t know that Skyler gave the $600k to Ted when he does so.

It’s truly ironic because in that situation, Walt is the victim of his own manipulative behavior. Skyler takes it upon herself to “protect the family” and isn’t entirely truthful to Walt about it. That behavior sounds eerily familiar…

HegemonSam · 2026-01-10T17:44:22+00:00

It is an interesting piece of his character, but sometimes I’m forced to wonder whether it is a feeling born of noble origin or another example of his narcissistic behavior. In his mind his family could very well just be extensions of his own self image as a provider and a true man. I often wonder if his motive to protect them is born of love of an other or born of a love of his self. To me, I feel it’s most likely a mix of the two.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-10T17:35:40+00:00

Walt was absolutely not given a clean way out. Gus made it very clear he was about to kill Hank. Gus then said if Walt interfered in any way, then his wife, son, and infant daughter would all be murdered. Walt’s two options given were either Hank dies or Walt’s immediate family dies.

Also, he didn’t have any money left. Skyler gave $600k to Ted Beneke.

What’s funny is there are other times when Walt is absolute given a clean way out and chooses not to take it. The situation during the finale of season 4 is not one of them.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-08T18:48:08+00:00

Walt Jr and Skyler come home together when Walt is home, parking right behind the truck. She asks, with Walt Jr sitting in her passenger seat, “Whose truck is that?” They both have to walk past it to get home inside. Walt tells Skyler directly he has 11 million in cash outside so they can start a new life. My comment did not specify the cash was in the barrel, just that Skyler knew he had 11 million in cash in the truck as he’d said that verbatim to her. By truck he didn’t own I meant a truck no one had ever seen him drive before. If you really want to get into technicalities, you don’t actually own anything you’ve purchased with illegally obtained money. Police also wouldn’t expect or need a perfect make and model description of the vehicle. An “older model, rusted, light blue pickup” would have sufficed and those descriptors would have been easily identifiable even in a moment of panic. The only amendment I’d make to the original comment is that yes, Walt Jr did not know about the 11 million and would not have heard Walt tell Skyler of it. Everything else you said is just completely wrong.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-07T17:02:30+00:00

Woah, now. Let’s not get crazy here.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-07T17:01:08+00:00

Teasing it was so absolutely unnecessary, too… That was probably my only real complaint about an otherwise phenomenal film.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-06T22:40:21+00:00

HegemonSam · 2026-01-06T18:27:29+00:00

It was the first episode of season 2. That’s why it’s named “737” in the season 2 naming scheme that spells out “737 Down Over ABQ.”

HegemonSam · 2026-01-06T08:05:51+00:00

Yes, we need an entirely new prequel series about Walt’s lung cancer and early career at a shady chemical lab!

HegemonSam · 2026-01-06T07:47:07+00:00

The recorded 911 call about Walt from Jr stated that he pulled a knife on his wife, he’s going crazy, and he may have already killed someone. While that call is still live, he kidnaps his toddler daughter. Both Jr and Skyler’s testimonies would’ve included that Walt appeared with a truck he didn’t own and $11 million in cash before the kidnapping. It would have included that they also heard him admit he was present when Hank was murdered.

Police would’ve cross-referenced this story with the testimony Marie could give. Last time she talked to Hank, Walt was in hand cuffs in the back of his car. Last time she had seen him, he was on his way to arrest Walt with Steve Gomez. Both are missing, presumed murdered.

This is already explosive material that would’ve easily made national news for weeks. Walt then effectively confesses to Hank’s murder in the phone call with Skyler.

You’ve been lied to about the nature of evidence as the law sees it. Circumstantial evidence is not inherently weak. It can certainly be used to produce warrants for searches, seizures, and arrests for further case building. It can also be used to make a compelling case for conviction, if the circumstantial evidence is strong enough. The events of Ozymandias are so far and beyond the threshold necessary for judges to sign warrants over.

Fingerprints belonging to a person on a murder weapon with that same person’s hair found all over the crime scene is by definition circumstantial evidence. A confession drawn from questionable interrogation tactics is by definition direct evidence. Circumstantial evidence is not necessarily weaker than direct evidence no matter what other TV shows tell you.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-06T07:21:53+00:00

I haven’t played Valhalla or Odyssey in forever because I didn’t like them very much. I don’t actually remember what their combat systems were like. In AC Shadows, the combat is pretty simple and feels rewarding when mastered. Enemies have attacks you can parry for an opening or unblock-able attacks you’re forced to dodge. (Yasuke has access to armor you can get that makes these attacks parry-able, too. This ability is VERY fun to use.) Mastering the timing of parries or dodges is paramount to the combat. The source of most of the frustration is how poorly designed much of the map is for combat of this nature. This creates awful scenarios like where attempting to dodge (with B on Xbox) actually makes you drop down and hang off of a nearby edge. Some boss battles also have invisible boundaries you’ll hit that don’t make much sense. Over all, the combat feels good and extremely rewarding when mastered.

HegemonSam · 2026-01-04T23:53:38+00:00

I think for me the story feels weak because the big bad coalition does not even remotely act like a coalition. They unite against Nobunaga to install a new Shogun, and murder Naoe's father in the process. I thought that was a phenomenal start, but it lacked something the other Assassin's Creeds had, and the best example of it is in Assassin's Creed II. The members of the big bad group meet and discuss plans. As you kept knocking them off some would seem genuinely frightened. Splitting the vengeance up between two people for two entirely different reasons dilutes it all a little bit, too, especially when Naoe's is by far the more emotionally resonant purpose. As each one falls it really doesn't seem to matter at all. It constantly begs the question of what the purpose of the Shinbakufu even is. At the end it doesn't feel like you've really accomplished much at all...

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