‘Breaking Bad’: Aaron Paul’s Favorite Scene From the Series is 1 of the Funniest — ‘I Laugh Each Time’
Breaking Bad instances of drama and darkness throughout, from gruesome murders to total betrayal. However, those intense episodes are interspersed with moments of pure comedy that fans remember just as much. One of Aaron Paul’s (Jesse Pinkman) favorite scenes us also one of the most hilarious.
Series fans know that Jesse can be awkward and immature. Maybe the best example of that is when he gets invited to the White’s house for dinner as a form of revenge.
Walter White and Jesse Pinkman have a complicated relationship
When Walt and Jesse start cooking meth together, they naturally fall into a mentor-mentee relationship. Even though Jesse has more experience dealing drugs, Walt is more adept with the chemistry and helps make a superior product. Walt is also older than Jesse and is his former teacher.
And it helps that Jesse is basically estranged from his own father, leaving a natural opening for Walt to step in and become that older role model for him. This dynamic becomes disastrous over the course of five seasons.
Walt invites Jesse to dinner as a punishment
When Walt invites Jesse to dinner with his family, he’s not doing it out of the goodness of his heart — he’s doing it to get revenge on both his business partner and his wife. Walt knows the evening will be awkward and looks forward to making them both squirm.
And it’s those cringe-inducing moments at dinner that Paul recalls most fondly of all.
Aaron Paul loved the awkward dinner scene on ‘Breaking Bad’
Fans are still cringing to think about the dinner where Walt and Skyler sit across from each other seething in silence while Jesse tries to make awkward conversations with them, complimenting the green beans. The scene is intentionally hilarious, and, for that reason, it remains one of Paul’s favorite moments from the series.
“I think that really stands out — just Jesse holding onto his glass of water as if it’s his security blanket,” Paul told Entertainment Weekly of the treasured memory from season 5.
“He’s kind of hiding behind his glass of water watching this marriage sort of just fall apart in front of his eyes. When Skyler says, ‘Did he also tell you about my affair?’— I’ve seen that scene so many times and I laugh each time, just at the absurdity of it all.”
Walt was using psychological warfare against his wife and partner
That scene still resonates with showrunner Vince Gilligan, too. While discussing it with Vulture, the Breaking Bad creator recalled how the awkward dinner only helped highlight what a despicable person Walt truly was.
“We wanted worlds to collide, characters who didn’t really belong together being forced to spend time with each other by the monstrous behavior of Walter White,” Gilligan said.
“You could see the gears turning in Walt’s head, couldn’t you? When he says, ‘Hey, why don’t we have dinner together?’, he clearly just wants to torture the two people who in his mind have betrayed him. It’s nasty, nasty stuff. Totally childish.”
It was a difficult scene to watch. Still, that’s what makes it one of the most memorable from the entire show, and one that fully proved how far Walt would go to manipulate anyone close to him.
