Todd Alquist: Breaking Bad's Coldest Villain

chubby todd is based ngl

Walter - Pride/Envy
Gus - Wrath
Hector - Greed
Saul - Gluttony
Todd - Lust
Holly - Sloth

Still satisfying when Jesse gets his revenge

as a person with autism, todd has absolutely no resemblance to someone on the spectrum. as another commenter pointed out, autism does not = cold and unempathetic. we may struggle sometimes to put the way we empathise with people into words, but we still experience empathy as much as neurotypical people do. also, "missing social cues" usually translates for me at least into not knowing when to respond in a conversation or end it etc, it does not extend to the kind of psychotic things that todd does. he has only ever read as a clinical psychopath to me.

Can you do a video on Patty Hewes from the show Damage (FX/Hulu)?

Can you do a video on Victor Mackey from the show The Shield (FX/Hulu)?

I think one thing a lot of people forget to factor in about Todd's character are his ties to white supremacy. He's not a swastika tattooed full blown neo nazi like his uncle and his crew, but you can bet your ass he probably agrees with them. At least, the fact they are nazis doesn't bother him. He's an example of the banality of pure evil. A lot of people who support that mentality are like Todd: outwardly polite, boring, seemingly normal people until you dig under the surface. But most evil isn't loud and boisterous about it, it walks right beside you on the sidewalk or stands behind you at the checkout line. Of course he has no issue killing people, he already dehumanizes entire groups/associates with people who do. He doesn't even get any pleasure out of killing— he sees killing a person as no different than squashing a bug. Everything is a means to an end with Todd, and that's why he's so scary. He's evil, but he blends in. You just have to be lucky enough that you aren't the person in his way when he decides to strike.

I'll never forget when he told Jesse "I believe you... But unfortunately I won't know that for sure until after I torture you."

Man doesn't know difference between good and evil, he just does as he was taught without any thoughts, practically like a tool.

I find it really funny that when it comes to the season 5 characters, Todd and sometimes Lydia are showered with video essays, but never Jack even though he's the main villian of season 5 and the final boss.

I love this whole character in general. Jesse Plemons, the actor, said that even the showrunners would come up to him sometimes being afraid or talking to him extra nice because he played his character so well. The lines blurred between the actor and the character. Similar to Tuco, how it seemed like he got treated as if he really was Tuco on the Eric Andre show

I also see Jesse as Christopher Moltisanti from the Sopranos at times, only if Jesse were a violent sociopath.

Jesse is evil, too.

He also played a great villain on an episode of Black Mirror.

Item 1: Todd. Yeah, he’s the new Bad member.

This is mindblowing, i didn't realise how deep todd actually is, he seems very "shallow" but he really is not when you understand it. Thank you so much for that eye opening video

They shoulda had him kill brock in front of of Jesse. They don’t show it but it shows blood splatter on Jesses face as he watches in Horror begging Todd not to hurt brock as he cries begging Jesse to help him before getting shot.

He couldve played kingpin in el Camino

I don't' want to be dead inside or evil, but I wish I was more like Todd. 😂

While he might have ASPD I think he is also in the autistic spectrum he reminds me much more of someone with autism than ASPD

Todd has the ability to awaken a special kind of rage inside of me that only Umbridge could trigger.

A dozen years after Breaking Bad’s end and there’s still a new video out there dissecting an aspect of the show. Talk about potent writing.

I’d kill to be that good. 😅

Jesse Plemons is a phenomenal actor... and Kirsten Dunst's husband! I wonder if his and Aaron Paul's scenes together were ever confusing when the director gave them cues, seeing as one was called Jesse fictionally and the other in real life? ha ha! Anyway, I think Todd's death in the final moments of Felina was the only death I outright enjoyed! I don't "enjoy" anyone's screen death, not even a baddie's... but Todd's came as such a relief!

Todd is cosmic horror personified. Much closer to a Titan on AoT than a regular movie villain

"just because youre autistic doesnt mean youre cold and heartless"
yeah no shit, nobody is saying todd is cold and heartless because hes autistic. hes a psycopath, which DOES make him cold and heartless

Is todd sociophat

Just an Observation, I hope you'll also get around to doing a video essay of Lydia. She's also in her own way such a repulsive villain. Uptight, forever stressed and anxious and has absolutely no problem having dozens of people murdered on a whim, just to placate some fleeting paranoia of hers. Laura Fraser plays her amazingly, also considering her real accent is Scottish!

What would Breaking Bad look like if it was Todd instead of Jesse?

The inverse of Jesse. Todd is realistically childish. Children look to others to define their behaviors similar to Todd. It's almost sociopathic of them at times, but they can't help it they're learning to. Jesse is childish because he had to look after his sick Aunt so he was partially parentified at a young age. It makes him highly moralistic and a bit ADHD which is like child naivety and random silliness.

'Tistic Todd

Jesse isn't a good guy, he is what you would call somebody who would be coloured grey on the morality spectrum alongside Skyler even Hank was willing to let Jesse be killed by Walter to get his man, whereas Todd and Walter are outright evil and willing to hurt children. There are no morally pure characters in Breaking Bad except Holly because she is literally a baby, it is a show that operates on what you would call black and grey morality. If you are a character in the show you are either morally compromised or outright evil, and that's it. Jesse can't be an angel on your shoulder because Jesse is morally grey. If you follow Jesse from the start of season one and earlier's lead, you would be swiftly dead or arrested, and probably smoke the majority of your product, and the Jesse from the later seasons is more competent but more broken and self-destructive due to his intense feelings of guilt. If you are going to listen to anybody, probably listen to Elliot and Gretchen and take their money, or maybe just don't bother with the medical treatment, just abandon your family, wander off into the desert and commit s****de. Without burdening the family with medical debt, it's probably better she downsize, do more hours accounting for Ted or somebody else considering he is also compromised, and split the load of looking after Holly between herself, Marie and Hank, Flynn, and a babysitter, and Elliot and Gretchen would have probably given Skyler the money because they'll be, like, "Welp, Walter is no longer standing in our way of giving his family some of our money. Here we go." Better that than the chaos and trail of bodies, Hank's and Steve's deaths, Skyler's and Flynn's destroyed psyches and public ire due to people's dumb guilt-by-association mentality, and destroyed lives, Andrea's death, Jane's death, Drew's death, Brock's loss of his mother and his near-death experience, and Skyler having her baby Holly's life threatened by Todd. Every time I rewatch Breaking Bad, I find it remarkable how much earlier than I expect in the show Walter actually commits to a life of crime out of ego than necessity considering I always think it's later on in the show than it actually is. I think he is at his most sympathetic and understandable and actually needing to do crime in season 1 episode 1, less and less so thereafter. I mean, Jesse is still an angel compared to Todd, though, Todd definitely fits the devil on the shoulder down to a T...

Strip away the personality differences, that one is extremely suave and confident, while the other is so cold and awkard.

Todd and Lalo are the exact same person. Furthermore, they have the commonality of crime ring leaders for uncles.

DO MORE SOPRANOS CHARACTERS!!!

Todd is one of my favorite villains. While I see how some of his behavior is autism spectrum adjacent, I think it’s important to recognize that “missing social cues” is about not grasping subtext or ulterior motive, not just being socially inept or dim witted. An autistic person is more likely to be earnest to the point of seeing social subtext as a waste of time and energy. Todd understands subtext, he just doesn’t value human life. He’s a simulacrum of human qualities hiding in a trench coat.

The fact that Todd never experiences an elevated state of arousal (the clinical meaning of the word) and is devoid of empathy makes him closer to a psychopath that is probably developmentally disabled in some respect. He wants to be human insofar as he thinks it will let him continue doing what he wants to do, no more, no less.

Cant wait for the new spinoff, Better Snodd Todd

To put it simply. Todd has ASPD.

Uncle JACK. Get it right, please.

Evil yes. Jesse...no.

Todd is Evil Jesse and Jesse P is Evil Will Poulter, prove me wrong

You should do some videos on severance

Tbh Walt and Jesse done worst things at that point of the series I dont see wrong on Todd’s actions it was either them or the child and is not like he torture him he shot him probably the child didn’t even suffer

LOVE NEW BB CONTENTTTT YESSS🫶🏽🫶🏽

Todd is evil Jesse, for he is portrayed by Jesse Plemons (a.k.a. Young Matt Damon)

Really nice i didn't see it that way, very interesting

Hey, a Fat Damon video!

Out of all the violent characters in BB, his bothered me the most. It was written and acted so chillingly well.

Poor guy got Leonardo Dicaprio syndrome and his head inflated by 200%. No wonder he is the way he is.

i think another parrelel is how todd and jesse both lived walters final action, these 2 sides on his sholders as walt enacts his last act of violence todd looks on at the thing that caused it before jesse strangles him to death, moments later, walt dies, the devil dead and the evil mostly gone, but jesse lives on

perhaps todd and jesse represent jing and yang, i also find it intresting how both of them respected walter in a world that didnt, perhaps another reason they both where not killed via his hand, theres jesse in todd and theres todd in jesse, jing yang

Umm, Jesse was also evil.