Krysten Ritter has slowly taken over our hearts and minds and risen to acclaim for her role as Marvel’s Jessica Jones.
Better known as Jesse's goth girlfriend, we first meet Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter) in Season 2 of AMC's Breaking Bad. Jesse has just moved out of his parent's house and begins renting an apartment home. His new landlord next door quickly ignites into a romantic interest.
Jane initially tries to portray herself as a straight edge by refusing to smoke marijuana, revealing that she's in recovery and had been clean for 18 months. But she quickly breaks bad, joining Jesse (Aaron Paul) as he smokes crystal meth after his friend Combo is killed by rival dealers.
We know Jane’s relationship with her father is rocky, to say the least. In one of his many admonishments, we see that her substance abuse problem has been ongoing for over a decade. Jane made every attempt to conceal both her relationship with Jesse, which ultimately fails when Donald catches her leaving his apartment. Upon entering the bedroom, he sees the leftover paraphernalia on the nightstand and attacks Jesse.
Jane then attempts to manipulate her father in real-time, and he responds by dialing the police. Jane pleads that she will go to rehab the following day, and Donald hangs up the phone.
Jane talks Jesse into running away to New Zealand and calls Walter White (Bryan Cranston) at his home to claim Jesse’s cut of the meth money, which amounts to $480,000. Walt says he is protecting Jesse’s money until both he and Jane are clean again.
To be fair, it's not an unwise line of reasoning. But the money is only half the issue, as now Jane knows everything about Walt’s clandestine drug empire. After Walt’s initial refusal, she resorts to blackmail.
The narrative leaves little doubt that Jane will deliver on the threat, as we've witnessed her detached attitude even toward family. Seeing no other option, Walt shows up to the apartment complex and delivers a suitcase of money to Jesse.
In an insane coincidence, Walt and Donald cross paths in a bar. Rather than speak of his own son, Walt speaks out of concern for his “nephew” who won’t take his advice for his future. Donald instructs him not to give up on his family.
In the penultimate episode of Season 2, Jesse and Jane again shoot heroin together. Walt sneaks in to steal the money back, making himself at home long enough to watch Jane aspirates her own vomit. For a brief moment, we see genuine concern from Walt, revealing that he does have some semblance of human empathy still intact. But then he changes his mind and leaves before Jesse wakes.
With help from Saul Goodman, a clean-up team arrives at the house to set the scene for the police’s arrival. Mike Ehrmantraut helps dispose of the evidence and instructs Jesse to tell the police he knows nothing.
After his daughter's funeral, Donald insists on returning to his job as an air traffic controller. Confusing "Juliet" with "Jane" in the alphabet code and spiraling into dissociation, two planes crash into each other and rain down over Albuquerque, killing 167 people. What seems a totally isolated event spurs a change in both plot and character development to an extent. Struggling to cope with the guilt and trauma, Donald attempts suicide.
Following Jane’s death, Jesse struggles to get his head back in the game. While many fans in hidsight believe Jane's death ultimately served Jesse for the better. But in Season 3, Jesse begins a downward spiral of guilt and self-destruction.
There’s a lot of discourse around when Walt became a villain, but this is inarguably the point of no return. Walt is portrayed as a father figure to Jesse, but here we see Walt manipulating Jesse and the people he cares about. Walt allows Jane to die to save his own ego, leaving Jesse and Donald broken in the aftermath.
Breaking Bad has 5 seasons in total, and for the next 3, Walt watches Jesse suffer in silence. It isn't until the antepenultimate episode "Ozymandias" that Walt confesses his unrepentant sin to Jesse.
There's a lot of commentary that could dig into about what the pair actually had to offer each other as a couple, but it would all be conjecture as to whether Jane really loved Jesse or just his money. In the end, we're left with more questions than answers. How much of Jane's greed was inherant versus the result of narcotic use? Who was the worst influence, and does it ultimately matter?
Jane bit off more than she could chew, which could really be said for any of the characters we've met so far. Her arrival in the series permanently changed the nature of Walt and Jesse's relationship, as every interaction past this point was an act of deception and domination on Walt's part.
