Jesse Pinkman

Jesse is a low-level meth cook and dealer coasting on bravado and bad decisions when his old chemistry teacher, Walter White, shows up with a business proposal. He's brash, sloppy with money, loyal to his friends, and clearly smarter than his slacker persona lets on — a kid playing at being a criminal.

Aaron Paul finds the wounded kid underneath the wannabe gangster slang, and the show lets that vulnerability leak out in small, unguarded moments almost from the start. Jesse was meant to die early; he survives because Paul makes his need to be seen as decent so plain it becomes the show's conscience.