Redditor milkcocoly kicked off the discussion with a post headlined, "What percent of Walter's and Jesse's relationship is manipulation?" They shared a pretty generous view of Walter and his motivations, pointing out, "There are many instances of Walter saving Jesse when he doesn't need to and there are many moments when he shows he loves and cares for Jesse a lot even though he may have done bad things to him...I think 30% of it was manipulation and 70% was friendship but that's my opinion."
Several users took a more hardline view of Walter — like Substantial-Dream, who pegged their attitude toward Jesse as "75% manipulation, 24% vanity, 1% genuine feeling." However, some of them had to admit that Walter's actions in Breaking Bad's finale seemed to betray actual feelings for his young protégé. "[Walter] was only friends with [Jesse] at first out of necessity and circumstance, but definitely cared for him almost like a son at times," wrote theflashsawyer23. "I mean just look at the end of season 5."
User rnickwill chimed in with a great point: that caring for someone and manipulating them are not mutually exclusive. They wrote that they felt Walter's fondness for Jesse was genuine, but that "he still manipulated Jesse to keep him around, do things to keep him alive and keep his plans moving forward. You can love someone and still manipulate them."
Redditor lyssmeouna offered perhaps the most thoughtful take on the relationship. "I think a part of Walt genuinely cared for Jesse but their relationship is too hard to define, it's so many things at once," they wrote. "For most, if not all [of the times Walter comes to Jesse's rescue], it's always hard to distinguish if Walt acts out of care or out of guilt... [and there are times when Walter obviously views] Jesse as a disposable tool to move forward his interests, the one he can, without second thought, ask and convince to risk his life or lose his soul, so it makes it all confusing."
