Summary[]
Jesse Bruce Pinkman is one of the main characters in the Breaking Bad crime drama franchise. He is the deuteragonist of Breaking Bad, the main protagonist of its 2019 sequel film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and a minor character in its prequel/sequel series Better Call Saul.
He was a small-time drug dealer who was forced by his old teacher, Walter White, to help make meth. Though they developed a complex father-son relationship, they were often at odds. As their drug business grew, Jesse showed more guilt than the increasingly ruthless Walt over their crimes and their effects on others.
Jesse later tried to stop Walt by working with the DEA after learning Walt had poisoned a child. This backfired when Walt caught him and handed him to a Neo-Nazi gang who imprisoned and forced him to make meth. In Walt's final battle with the gang, he freed Jesse, acknowledging the harm he'd caused him. They parted with mutual understanding, and Jesse started fresh by fleeing to Alaska, away from the drug world.
Moral Statistics[]
Moral Ranking: 4-, 3+,
Origin: Breaking Bad
Names and other aliases: Cap'n Cook, Jesse Jackson, Mr. Driscoll
Classification: Tragic Drug Dealer
- Sub-Classifications
- Status: Alive
- Occupations: J. P. Wynne High School student, Methamphetamine manufacturer/dealer, DEA informant, Fugitive
- Hobbies: Hanging out with Combo, Badger, and Skinny Pete, doing drugs, cooking crystal meth, go-karting, eating junk food, playing video games, woodworking
Gender: Male
Size:
- Height: 5'11
- Weight: Unknown
Age: 20 ("Waterworks"), 24 ("Pilot"), 25 ("Buyout"), 26 ("Breaking Bad")
Life Involvement:
- Lives Saved: 2
- Lives Taken: 5
Primary Motive: Dread, Victory, Ambition, Revenge
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (formerly), Neutral Good
Allies: Walter White (on/off), Mike Ehrmantraut, Saul Goodman, Gus Fring (formerly), Combo, Badger, Skinny Pete, Hank Schrader, Steve Gomez, Ed Galbraith, Jane Margolis, Andrea Cantillo
Enemies: Todd Alquist, Walter White (formerly), Jack Welker and his gang, Tuco Salamanca, Gus Fring, Rival Dealers, Neil Kandy, Casey, Hank Schrader (formerly)
Morality Standard: Common Hostility Negative, Safe Nobility Positive
- Multi-Inconvenient (was a central figure in Walt's drug empire, the largest in America's history, which disseminated a life-destroying drug on a massive scale, shot Gale Boetticher in the head, attempted to burn Walt's house down, assaulted and threatened to kill various people, sold meth to recovering addicts in therapy, robbed a train for its entire supply of methylamine, consistently commit crimes like theft, vandalism and evidence cover-up)
- Noble (alerted the police to rescue the neglected child of two meth addicts, tried to kill two child-murdering drug dealers, tried to help DEA agent Hank Schrader take down Walt for poisoning a child, killed Todd Alquist, a remorseless child and woman killer, and endured enslavement, abuse, and confinement for six months to protect Brock's life from the Neo-Nazis).
Resourceful Capability: Skilled (high intelligence in terms of street smarts and problem-solving, above-average gunmanship and combat prowess)
Competency: Partially Successful / Successful (is eventually set free and was able to break away the drug trade while fleeing to live low-profile in Alaska, his ultimate goal, frequently solved his and Walt's problems with strategic thinking and avoided arrest while building a massive drug empire, but went through numerous hardships throughout the series that he tried and failed to compensate for/solve)
Tone Presence: Minor Comic Relief (Seasons 1-2), Pleasant (sometimes), Neutral (mostly)
- Noble Prevention (has done some of the most admirable deeds in the franchise with little resources compared to other characters, such as sacrificing himself as a slave for 6 months to save the life of a child)
- Nasty Prevention (was a drug dealer involved in a massive meth operation for too long in the series, and also shot an undeserving man in the head)
- Living Hell (grew up without a proper support system and parents who pushed him away, had barely anything in his life to appreciate apart from the toxic drug environment, was constantly abused physically and mentally by others in the drug trade, most notably Walt, whom he falsely trusted, lost both of his girlfriends and one of his friends in death, fell into self-hatred over the actions he commit, such as killing Gale and believed himself responsible for Jane's death/the subsequent plane crash resulting from her father's grief, felt unable to control his environment and prevent harm, and ultimately tried to do the right thing by teaming up with Hank only to get sold into slavery and torture by a gang of Neo-Nazi's with a child's life as their leverage while living in a concrete hole)
- Complete Moral Agency (is addicted to drugs for a good amount of the series and suffers from mental issues, including PTSD, but it never affects his sense of right and wrong)
External Links[]
- Jesse Pinkman on the Heroes Wiki
- Jesse Pinkman on the Villains Wiki
- Jesse Pinkman on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Jesse Pinkman on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki
- Jesse Pinkman on the Breaking Bad Wiki
- Jesse Pinkman on Wikipedia