I'm halfway through Season Five at the moment, so I think I've seen all of the important characters at this point. Here's my rundown of them: Walter White: Obviously the protagonist, and in many ways the show makes you care about him. That is, until the later episodes, when his likability drops significantly. Jesse Pinkman: He plays the role of the goofy sidekick very well, and his character transformation is the most interesting in the entire series. Skylar White: I have a love/hate relationship with her as a character. She acts just as any normal wife would if they were in her situation, but she always seems to get in the way of Walt's plans, so as a viewer, she disrupts a lot of scenes. However, she adds a lot of drama to her marriage, so she does contribute a lot to the story. Walt Jr: He only serves as a background character to give Walt an identity as a father and a family man at the start. He also is useful as potential collateral damage later on in the show. Gus: Another love/hate relationship kind of character. Very calm and collected when speaking, and he knows how to play people and portray many different personas when necessary. Mike: Easily my favorite character. He's basically a badass grandpa who knows the business in and out, is very intimidating, and always has a smartass remark for every situation. Plus he reminds me of the late George Carlin, so that's a plus. Hank: He's the comedic relief for the most part. He can be serious, but he always has to turn everything into a joke, which I kind of like about him. Plus he provides a lot of tension whenever him and Walt are in the same room. Marie: Easily the most annoying character for me. She's the nagging wife of the show who never shuts up and is always annoying everyone around her. No wonder Hank didn't want her around in Season 3 and 4. Saul Goodman: This guy is hard to hate, simply because he's such a tacky and over the top lawyer who always knows how to get Walt out of a bad situation. I know there's a couple more important characters in the show, but they don't really show up frequently until Season Five, so I'm not including them.
I went with Jesse Pinkman, although I also really like Gus and Saul Goodman. Everyone tends to hate Marie. Ha. I like how Breaking Bad shows the situations realistically and demonstrates why violence erupts in the black market. Killing someone only becomes necessary when there's a possibility they would go to the police.
The fat chick at Los Pollos Hermanos. I dunno. I just wanted to list a minor character nobody cares about.
Saul Goodman is my choise, followed by Gus. They have several brain cells in their heads....and I appreciate intelligence.
Gus was the smart one. His only mistake was not getting rid of the street distributor who killed the young boy when Gus told him to stop using him to sell drugs. Do you want to take care of your manufactures of the quality product, or just a low level street pusher? Gus's bad decision was the start of his demise. Defeated by a smart ass punk.
Likability? Walter White was not a nice man from the very beginning, he left a trail of bodies behind him every season. His character was completely selfish and egotistical, but he could always rationalize everything he did. Walter White as all about himself, and that was the point.
Team Jesse all the way! (SPOILER ALERT) It was horrible watching Jesse's anguished reaction when that POS (can't remember the character's name, played by Jesse Plemons) blew away his girlfriend. And what about Jane? Her death along with the scene described above were the two most disturbing scenes of the whole show for me.
