Image via AMC
Published Apr 5, 2026, 8:31 AM EDT
J.S. Gornael has a BA in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis in Poetry and an MFA in Fiction. He has taken workshops in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction (though mostly the second). Half-cinephile, half-bookworm, he is both a TV/Movie List Writer for Collider and a book review editor for IndieReader. He occasionally writes reviews himself, and looks forward to finally getting several novels out of his head and onto paper (published or not).
His favorite movie is Apocalypse Now, and, for those who care, his favorite version of it is 2019's Apocalypse Now: Final Cut. Though he gave up trying to watch every episode of The Simpsons when he reached season 10, he still loves writing about it. Other shows he would like to write about more range from House to Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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All of Breaking Bad's characters were very well drawn, but the show's success largely rested on the success of its two main conspirators: Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Since the former was always portrayed as being much more intelligent than the latter, viewers could intuit that Walt would be his partner's superior in one way or another throughout the duration of the series. But that doesn't mean that Walt was any more interesting. In terms of their character arcs, these guys were definitely equals.
From Aaron Paul's incredible performance, his comedic qualities, the absorbing backstory, and the way he develops over the course of these five seasons, Jesse is more than just a fully rounded main character. He's one of the greatest anti-heroes in television history, with dialogue that has a dizzying amount of range. They all make viewers want to watch more for different reasons, and they never hold back. Pinkman's greatest quotes are by turns hilarious, complex, intense, and significant to his character arc. Without leaning too heavily on one particular mood, the following quotes essentially sum up why we still talk about him more than ten years after the show ended.
10 "Hell yeah, I'm stoked for this lasagna!"
"Buyout" (Season 5, Episode 6)
Image via AMCIn season five's "Buyout," Skyler (Anna Gunn), Walt, and Jesse have dinner together: one of the most wonderfully awkward conversations in television history. Walt and Skyler don't feel like talking, so Jesse tries to compliment Skyler on her cooking. He then goes on a rant about what he usually eats, delving into the topic of false advertising: "The pictures are always so awesome! You know? It's like, 'Hell yeah, I'm stoked for this lasagna!' And then you nuke it, and the cheese gets all scabby on top...."
Jesse has plenty of funny quotes, but the context makes this one feel special. This man is fighting a 90-degree uphill battle of keeping the conversation going, and he's trying his best. You can hear the passion in his voice describing himself getting "stoked" for frozen lasagna, which feels like such a Jesse situation. Naturally Skyler excuses herself from the table, showing how Breaking Bad's balance of drama and humor made it one of the highest rated shows of all time.
9 "Yeah, where they live. The cows."
"Pilot" (Season 1, Episode 1)
Image via AMCScouting the desert for the perfect place to cook crystal meth, Jesse and Walt look around to make sure they're in complete seclusion. Walt is near the RV, and Jesse is standing on some rocks a short distance away. He says he sees "nothing but cows" and a "cow house" in the distance. Unfamiliar with the term, Walt asks, "Cow house?" We can hear his mild annoyance as Pinkman clarifies, "Yeah, where they live. The cows."
Jesse wouldn't be Jesse without little moments like this, and what better place to find a silly line than in the very first episode? This was the character at his funniest, and Aaron Paul's pauses are just the right length. Some writers use the pronoun game lazily for suspense or some other reason that screams contrivance, but this is a masterful use of defining a character's speaking style and general ignorance.
8 "When the going gets tough, you don't want a criminal lawyer, all right? You want a criminal lawyer."
"Better Call Saul" (Season 2, Episode 8)
Image via AMCJesse is wrong a lot of the time, maybe even most of the time, but every now and again he does have some wisdom to impart. His advice to his partner in "Better Call Saul" is one of the most important contributions he makes in the show, recommending a Mr. Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) to be their attorney. Pointing out that he got a friend out of jail twice, Jesse puts things simply: "When the going gets tough, you don't want a criminal lawyer, all right? You want a criminal lawyer."
That's the pitch of the season, right there. Jesse doesn't know much about science, and he's not great at thinking on his feet. But when the guy is speaking from experience, when he actually knows what he's talking about, then he can persuade even Walter. This is also just a stellar line, with that clever play on words and Paul's emphasis on "criminal." Jesse's right, too; where would they be without Saul?
7 "I'm the guy your boss brought here to show you how it's done."
"Salud" (Season 4, Episode 10)
Image via AMCIn season four's "Salud," Jesse is brought to Mexico to cook for the cartel. But he only knows how to do everything based on how it's set up in Gustavo's fancy lab. This place is very different, and therefore confusing, so the head chemist there gives both Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) and Jesse a hard time. So Jesse tells him off, stating that the lab is so disgusting that they'll have to clean it first before they cook. Fuming, the head cook asks "Who do you think you are?" Jesse's reply is one of his most badass in the show: "I'm the guy your boss brought here to show you how it's done."
He says more, but this opening line is the key. Jesse steps up to this man, whom he was intimidated by just a few minutes before, and confidently lays out the truth. His boss brought Jesse here to teach them, and they're going to have to do things Jesse's way if they want to make the boss happy. It's always great to see the power dynamic shift in a single scene.
6 "I am not turning down the money! I am turning down you!"
"One Minute" (Season 3, Episode 7)
Image via AMCBeing one of the best dramas ever means not only delivering on powerful scenes during the season finales; it's also about placing some throughout the season at just the right moments. Season three's "One Minute" has Walt asking Jesse to partner up again, this time with each getting 1.5 million dollars. Jesse still says no, and when pressed about turning down that much money, Jesse gets mad: "I am not turning down the money! I am turning down you!"
By now, Jesse has been through a ton of hardship—and he just got beaten so badly by Hank (Dean Norris) that he's in the hospital. So when he says he's turning down Walt, it actually makes a lot of sense for the character. They do wind up partnering after all, but so much rage has accumulated that Jesse has started to care more about his own well-being than making fat stacks. It's a big development in his arc, summing up what the rest of this fantastic speech digs further into.
5 "Then do it yourself."
"Felina" (Season 5, Episode 16)
Image via AMCWhile Jesse's wordless final scene is what often comes to mind when thinking about the series finale, his last line on the show is more indicative of his character arc. With the neo-Nazis dead, Jesse points a gun at Walt. Walt tells him to shoot, and Jesse orders him to admit that he wants to die. Walt does, "I want this," but then Jesse notices his former partner has already been struck by a bullet. "Then do it yourself," Jesse says, and walks away.
As much as he hates Walt, and as much as he could get away with shooting him, Pinkman's still not a killer at heart. It's a testament to Jesse's character that, even after everything that's happened to him, he still doesn't let rage fuel his decisions. He's not doing Walt's dirty work for him anymore (or anyone else's). If Mr. White wants to die, there's the gun. Along with Paul's delivery here, this line completes a character arc that does this unforgettable character justice.
4 "This is my own private domicile, and I will not be harassed...b***h!"
"Sunset" (Season 3, Episode 6)
Image via AMCWhen Hank tracks down Jesse and Walt to the RV in that parking garage, we're given one of the most suspenseful scenes in one the coolest thrillers of all time. The guy in charge of the area is arguing with Hank, and Walt has Jesse chime in with lines that he would say himself if Hank wouldn't recognize his voice so easily. So Jesse yells "This is my own private domicile, and I will not be harassed!"
He also adds his famous catchphrase at the end, which is always hilarious. But as funny as that is, most of the power of this line derives from the tension in the air. Hank is so close to catching Jesse and Walt, and the only things keeping him from doing so are a closed door and the law. The fact that Jesse has to reveal that he's in the RV clearly has his heart rate jacked up, emphasized by the amount of time between Walt feeding Jesse this line and Jesse actually gathering the courage to utter it. Riveting stuff.
3 "Would you just, for once, stop workin' me?"
"Confessions" (Season 5, Episode 11)
Image via AMCBy the time season five's "Confessions" rolls around, Jesse knows Walt too well. He and Heisenburg are standing outside Saul's car in the desert when the meth mastermind tells Jesse that he has his whole life ahead of him, enough time to just reset and start his life over again. Jesse sees right through this. He stares at him, turns, and walks slowly away: "Would you just, for once, stop workin' me?"
The clear-eyed comprehension, the contempt, the almost casual way he accepts that Walt is yet again trying to manipulate him. (Specifically, to get Jesse excited about disappearing so that other measures won't have to be taken.) Charged by anger and sadness and regret, this is another great monologue that still holds up today. This level of understanding between them (though Walt doesn't exactly reply in the affirmative) shows how much their relationship has changed since the beginning.
2 "I killed her."
"ABQ" (Season 2, Episode 13)
Image via AMCFurther proof why the 2000s were the best decade for television: Breaking Bad's season two finale. In the wake of Jane's overdose, the audience witnesses Jesse at one of his lowest moments. He's in a house that is so full of drug addicts that Walt has difficulty even finding him among the bodies. When he's finally able to wake Jesse up, the poor guy starts breaking down. "I killed her," he says at a very low volume (and then much louder).
Everything about this is heartbreaking. Jesse is so high that he doesn't even recognize Walt at first, his coming to makes him immediately start sobbing, he sobs for a good while before even speaking, he's hugging Walt in the middle of all these strangers, and his eyes are practically closed even while he's awake. The line "I loved her" could just as easily be here, but the point is that these simple declarations leave you speechless in what is undoubtedly Jesse's most affecting scene in the series so far.
1 "You're nothing to me but customers!"
"Problem Dog" (Season 4, Episode 7)
Image via AMCBreaking Bad just got more and more intense with each new season, and Jesse's speech in "Problem Dog" is maybe the clearest example of that. In his support group, Jesse says he killed a dog (since he can't say he killed a person). As things escalate, Jesse makes another (more accurate) admission: he's only been coming to the support group to sell meth. Addressing everybody: "You're nothing to me but customers!"
There are several standout lines in this scene that help us understand Jesse's terribly dark emotional state, but this one is perhaps the most self-deprecating and brutally honest. He addresses everyone in the room, and the camera cuts to them as he says they're just customers. The selfishness of his actions is collapsing on him, and he desperately seeks judgment. There is too much to say about this—how it's shot, how it's built up to, Paul's performance—but this essentially feels like the most complex, compelling, and tragic point in Jesse's character arc.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Breaking Bad
Release Date 2008 - 2013-00-00
Network AMC
Showrunner Vince Gilligan
Directors Vince Gilligan, Michelle Maclaren
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