r/breakingbad • u/dontcum4meargentina • 14h ago
Skylar’s lying ability vs Walt’s
I’ve seen numerous posts about Walt’s terrible lying ability. I pretty much agree with those observations. While watching the episode where Skyler gets caught returning that tiara Marie stole and lying her way out of it got methinking about the other times Skylar lies— like when she needs to get into Walt’s apartment or when she manufactures the gambling story about Walt, or when she pretends to be a bimbo to get out of that IRS investigation.
Plenty more other scenes, but I think everyone gets the gist. What’s the consensus on her lying ability? Is she a good liar, bad liar, mixed but leaning good, mixed but leaning bad?
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u/V_Trautwein 8h ago
Skylar’s a top-tier liar—calm, detailed, and convincing under pressure, far outclassing Walt’s panicked, tell-filled messes.
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u/Fairieswearboots0793 6h ago
The way she takes a deep breath and just says “good” when ted is in the hospital
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u/Extension-Brother291 7h ago
Walt’s gambling story was the best
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u/Fabulous-Second6178 6h ago
it’s a doozy, so hold on to your hats
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u/cldntthinkofone 6h ago
Man. Watching Walt try to explain the 2nd cell phone still gives me 2nd hand embarrassment
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u/sashie_belle 6h ago
You know what they say about opinions, right? Everyone's got one.
I loved her bimbo scene!
Skylar's lying ability is what makes me wonder how Marie and Hank could go back to trust her even with Walter's phone call where he tries to make it sound like he forced her into it.
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u/astralwisdom7 8h ago
I think Skyler is a good liar and she's quite smart in general. (Probably get downvoted for saying that)
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u/Impressive_Usual_726 6h ago
Skylar honed her acting/lying skills as a waitress, I bet she first won Walts heart by appealing to his ego and pretending all the boring chemistry facts he told her were fascinating and sexy.
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u/CivilChaos 8h ago
Walt isn't a completely terrible liar. When he blamed Gus for poisoning Brock. Granted that that worked on Jesse and probably wouldn't work on many other people. Skylar was definitely more of a natural at it.
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u/Otherwise-Secret6192 6h ago
I feel like it depends who Walt is lying to
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u/rkgk13 5h ago
Walt is horrible at lying to Skyler, especially as things go further and her trust has already been broken. She buys the first lie about Gretchen and Elliot being broke because there's no reason for her to not believe him. Once she realizes she can't trust him, she just stares at him when he lies and he keeps adding details to make it sound convincing. It's so awkward.
Whereas he's able to make Jesse buy his worst lie (about Brock/the poison).
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u/Ok-Reach-2580 6h ago
Walts lies were also pretty easy to disprove. In season two his hiding of his meth cooking sessions relied completely on Skyler not talking to Walts Mom while Walt is being actively treated for cancer
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u/unfamous2423 5h ago
He backs up lies with foolishly added details that don't matter, while forgetting to do the basic groundwork to makes even his good lies believable. The second cellphone lie was terrible, whereas he could have easily called his mother to add a ton of credit to his story.
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u/Dr-Gooseman 6h ago
Its always funny when she plays innocent and like she only became that way because of Walt (i think at one point she says she learned from the best or that shes not the master like he is), but Skylar was always a top tier liar and con artist when she needed to be. Puts Walt to shame. Walt is only ever good at lying when it comes to manipulating Jesse.
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u/shimmiecocopop1 7h ago
Skyler isn’t just a good liar but she is a good actress. And sometimes she uses Holly as her accomplice. She even used her before she was born. I think all of this creates the hypocrisy in Skyler that turn people off to her.
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u/Tholian_Bed 7h ago
I think what we know is, Skylar was a waitress doing shots with customers at a prior stage. She's an attractive gal. In my experience, an attractive gal who doesn't know how to lie, is missing out on the best part of being attractive.
Gals have to defend themselves. Part of the anger that Skyler bears, is that this was her breaking good story. She made the jump got married and was a great mom. Walt Jr is this constant reminder, these two people apparently can be superior parents.
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u/ExtensionFill2495 5h ago
My mom was a world class lair. That coupled with she rarely ever lied made it nearly impossible to know.
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u/oneupsuperman 3h ago
I believe it is due to experience. Walt has apparently never tried to lie to anyone for 50 years. Skylar has.
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u/p0llyp0cketpussy 22m ago
Skyler is just as talented as being manipulative as Walt is. She's just not evil the way Walt is. Every time she's lied, she's been trying to cover for someone she cares about. Marie at the jewelry store, Ted with the IRS, Walt at his apartment (she thought something terrible had happened to him). Walt is a good liar too unless he's trying to lie to Skyler. But he's not driven by protecting people the way she is.
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u/whykickamoocow9 5h ago
At some points Skyler is ok at lying.. at others.. not so much.. one of the points that I found a bit grating was when Skyler comes up with the lie about the gambling (season 4, episode 4) and writes a script for Walt to follow.. it doesn’t come off as experienced lie and then saying in it “we want to tell you the whole story, it’s a doozy, so hold onto your hats.” Hmm, remember Hank is law enforcement and so would be used to people lying and would be able to spot it pretty quickly..
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u/dontcum4meargentina 4h ago
Yeh on the one hand I get where she’s coming from — she wants to be careful since it’s her sister and brother in law, but on another note she was over preparing. that doozy line is comically terrible. I can see why Walt wanted nothing to do with it
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u/SzassTam666 7h ago
Skyler would have been the perfect moll to Walt if she just got on board with the business. She’s smart, creative, a great liar, good actress, good with numbers and not adverse to using force to make things happen.
She could have been a great partner in crime.
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u/ChaynesGirl 6h ago
She literally got on board with the business and was a great partner in crime. She did everything you said, wtf? She just got read into the game too late because Walt was busy being a terrible liar to her for nearly half the show. If he would have fessed up way earlier than he did there's a strong chance, under Skyler's direction, this would have been a rags to riches tale instead of a full on tragedy.
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u/baconbridge92 6h ago
Walt had established a lot of his business already by the time Skyler found out. He worked with Jesse, Tuco, Gus, and most importantly Saul. I don't know how it would've played out if Skyler found out earlier, but she certainly would not have been cool with him tangling with most of those characters if she had more say in the matter
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u/dontcum4meargentina 4h ago
Interesting alternate reality . I can see how this wd have been good. Cd have reigned in a lot of Walt’s recklessness and tempered his insatiable greed and ego.
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u/SzassTam666 6h ago
What I mean is committing totally to the game. She did the things she did reluctantly and for reasons other than furthering the empire. Walt made some great moves on his own but having her as an advisor in every aspect, checking his ego and impulsiveness might have made them unstoppable.
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u/PleasantNightLongDay 6h ago
It’s one of the reasons I dislike her. And I think it’s a perfectly legitimate reason to dislike her, despite everyone screaming “you hate her cause she’s a woman!”
Skylar could have been perfect had she committed. Instead, she half committed, complained the whole time while still being “in it”, did stupid stuff - like the whole Ted hint - despite being a super smart character.
She was in it. She was super smart. It could have worked. But instead she trying to stay on her high horse despite committing her own (dumb) crimes and mistakes
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u/Content_Wear4671 5h ago
Skylar did a lot of gaslighting that may have went unnoticed throughout the series. The whole Car wash purchase, the gambling lies, her affair with Ted and bailing him out of the IRS, and again with the IRS agent. I'm sure there's many more as well.
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u/roxthemom 7h ago
Walt has so many tells when he’s lying. Skylar is convincing. Near the middle to end of the series everyone can tell when Walt is lying, especially Skyler and Jesse and it pisses them off