Breaking Bad: Todd Alquist - The Dark Child

thank you Breaking Bad is a show with a lot of hateable characters villains like tuko Uncle Jack and that one jerk who stole Walt's parking spot but there's one character who seems to be particularly hated by the community above all others Todd Alquist Todd is introduced in the fifth season as a member of vamanos pest after Walton company purchased their business Todd increasingly participates in Walt's criminal Enterprise until he actually replaces Jessie as Walt's number two guy eventually he and his uncle jack serve as the final antagonist of the series when they betray Walt and steal his money now Todd is without a doubt a terrible human being and does some pretty horrendous stuff but if you go by some of the statements made about him in the community you'd think he was some kind of serial killer or something people really seem to think he's one of the evilest characters on the show he does some horrible stuff but as Walt points out that's nothing new on this show what Todd did you and I have done things that are just as bad I've never really understood the extreme reaction people seem to have for Todd I don't see him as the psychopath or even sociopath that people describe him as he does evil things sure but he never seemed to be particularly malevolent to be honest at first he really just struck me as a weirdly written character a lot of his strange Behavior made little sense to me at the time and I just wrote him off as an Eclectic but unimportant part of the larger Breaking Bad story however when I was re-watching the El Camino movie for my review I had a realization about Todd's character Todd is a dark child the mirror version of Jessie and in this video I'm going to explain first though let's do a quick recap on Todd like I said before he's introduced in the fifth season as the employee of vamanos pest on the surface the company is a legitimate extermination business however the guys also act as B and E artists noting valuables in the Homestay service for later theft This Is How They Come To Know Saul Goodman who later introduces him to Walt Jesse and Mike and you know them how I've been pulling their chestnuts out of the fire legally speaking for five years when the three by vamanos passed to use as their base of operations for their new meth business Todd distinguishes himself early by pointing out a hidden nanny cam in the house from there they decide to involve him in their heists of methylamine from the train though the job was a success Todd ends up shooting a young boy named Drew sharp who had stumbled onto the scene while riding his dirt bike this murder causes a rift in their organization though they agree to allow Todd to live Jesse in particular is very heartbroken by the death of an innocent kid this is what ultimately convinces him and Mike to sell their share of the methylamine to Declan and retire from the business Walt is eventually able to work out a deal with Declan and control the meth production but Jesse disgusted with Walt's indifference to Drew's death quits the business Walt is instead forced to turn to Todd as his assistant and though Todd is not nearly as skilled as Jesse when it comes to cooking he's studious and hard-working he also deeply respects Walt and is eager to serve in his Empire yeah all that's left I guess is talk money we can talk money once I get this right Todd also introduces Walt to his uncle jack Welker and his gang of neo-nazis Walt hires them to murder all of Mike's guys in prison the precisely coordinated hit removes any Witnesses who could have named him and leaves him free to run his business however it also leaves him in business with some very unsavory people a contrast to when he was working with Mike and Jesse who each had their own moral code they eventually get the operation in full swing and while it makes millions cooking meth alongside Todd eventually Skyler convinces wall to retire and he gives the operation over to decline Todd continues to cook and though not as good as Walter Jesse he is by far the best cook remaining due to his training from Walt Jack's gang eventually kills Declan and they take over the operation they begin working with Lydia who oversees the distribution of meth overseas Todd develops a crush on Lydia and pushes his uncle to continue the business so that he can keep seeing her when Jesse discovers that wall was the one that poisoned Brock he swears revenge and wall tires Jack's gang to kill him this ends with them showing up when Hank arrests won't and they end up killing both him and Gomez in the shootout they also Rob Walt of his buried Fortune though they do leave him a few million due to Todd's respect for Walt my nephew here he respects you you would never forgive me if things went another way Walt forces them to honor their agreement and kill Jesse for him however Todd steps in and insisted they take Jesse back for interrogation about what info he gave to Hank before they kill him in reality though Todd and the Gang keep Jesse as a slave to cook the ultra pure meth for them Todd again does this so that he can continue to see Lydia through the business Jesse eventually makes an escape attempt at the compound but is caught by Jack and his men in order to send a message Todd kills Jesse's former girlfriend Andrea right in front of him and they warn him that they will kill Brock next if he doesn't obey in the final episode Walt goes back to New Mexico for revenge against Jack and his men he sets up a trap and has them mowed down by a machine gun in his car Todd survives the shooting but is strangled by Jesse in Revenge for all the suffering he put him through in the series Jesse then escapes the compound in Todd's El Camino which leads into the events of the movie now based on all of that Todd seems like an incredibly evil person not only is he supporting his Neo-Nazi Uncle he personally murders two innocent people drew sharp and Andrea but if we take a look at these murders Todd isn't malicious when he does them in fact he apologizes to Andrea that he has to do it just so you know this isn't personal the same is true of Drew Sharp's death earlier in the episode Walt and Jesse had warned Todd that no one could ever know of their crime and when Drew saw them at the heist Todd just followed their instructions and took him out before he could report them I was looking out for the team I didn't want to kill him you got to believe that now people point out how Todd kept the tarantula that Drew had many people think that this is some kind of trophy for Todd likening him to a serial killer but I actually think that he's just fascinated with the spider in the same way that Drew sharp was at his core he's just a child a lot of Todd's Behavior reinforces his childish mentality take his flirtations with Lydia it's awkward and weird like a young boy making his first attempts with a woman he even makes the mistake of complimenting her shirt which anyone experience knows means that he was looking at her breasts shirt my blouse nice yeah I like color Todd's actions are interesting when viewed from this angle it's not that he's a cold-blooded psychopath committing all these murders without hesitation it's just that he has the emotional affect of a child and the evilness of these actions just don't register with him the way they would with a normal human being take Todd's treatment of Jesse when he's a Slave at Jack's compound Todd goes out of his way to be nice to Jesse bringing him ice cream and worrying about his warmth some people think that this is Todd just playing with Jesse for fun the way the gang does when they make him run laps to test the harness but I actually think that Todd views Jesse as something like a pet it would fit given that they keep Jesse locked in a cage and tie him up with a chain like a leash Todd is like a little boy with a new dog he wants to take care of Jesse not even realizing that he's not treating him like a human being at that point I'm gonna do a better job of keeping you clean from now on okay I promise this childlike symbolism makes sense given to Jesse is often compared to a child as well he dresses in baggy clothing that makes it look like he's a little boy wearing an adult's clothes or this scene when he's playing with a bug before he's supposed to go and kill someone who robbed his dealers Jesse's childlike innocence sets him apart from the other criminals around him unlike Walt Jesse has a conscience he doesn't want to cause harm to the people around him and his naivety and desire to do the right thing allows him to be used and manipulated by Walt essentially he's a good boy you and your brother were always good boys Todd is the dark mirror version of this he's like a bad little kid pulling the Wings off of flies he causes harm and destruction around him but it's because he doesn't even realize or care what the damage is again it's not that he sets out to cause suffering it's that he has a childlike selfishness to only think about his own perspective both Jesse and Todd refer to Walt as Mr White symbolizing his role as an authority figure over them they each view him as a teacher both literally and figuratively which again reinforces their position as school boys he was my teacher it's no coincidence that as Walt goes down his dark path of becoming a meth Kingpin Todd replaces Jesse as Walt's sidekick not only is Todd unquestioningly supportive of Walt and his actions he's also the one who introduces him to his uncle jack which enables Walt to commit even more heinous acts Jesse was the angel on Walt's shoulder always pushing him to do what is right and arguing against things like killing Gail or Lydia Todd however enables Walt to continue to do bad things without having to face any of the consequences I don't want to talk about this okay it had to be done okay but while Todd might be the devil on Walt's shoulder he's not the literal devil he is far from the most evil character we've seen on the show and I hope this video has helped shed some light on his character let me know your thoughts on Todd in the comments and stay tuned for more Breaking Bad content coming soon the only evil Todd is Todd Howard Ops racing media jazz j kids Sam cedarland Celery Man Jenna Marie Johnson Brad Smith Studios Uncle Mike Matt Joyce Countess vonzarevic and Luke p [Music]

Channel: Pure Kino

Views: 125,118

Keywords: pure kino, kino, breaking bad, breaking bad full episodes, breaking bad streaming, breaking bad clips, breaking bad bloopers, breaking bad season one, watch breaking bad online, breaking bad funny moments, todd alquist, breaking bad todd, breaking bad scene, breaking bad movie, breaking bad edit, breaking bad clip, breaking bad walter white, breaking bad walter, breaking bad season 5, breaking bad hidden details, smartest breaking bad villains, breaking bad heisenberg

Id: MvhiUl6w3nc

Length: 11min 30sec (690 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 11 2023