Which of the 7 Deadly Sins Have the Anti-Heroes of 'Mad Men,' 'Breaking Bad' and 'The Walking Dead' Committed?
by Andy NeuenschwanderIf you have spent any time watching AMC's big three—"Mad Men," "The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad"—you are probably well aware of the raging narrative boner that the network has for anti-heroes. Yes, we still root for Don Draper, Rick Grimes and Walter White (though not so much lately with Walt), but at the same time we are well aware that these are very flawed heroes, ones that do things that are at the very least questionable, but at times downright despicable.
So that got us thinking: just how anti are these three anti-heroes? Where would they rank on the Evil-o-Meter, if we had one?
There's only one way to settle this, and that's with the good ol' Bible. After all, that's where so many Americans turn for moral guidance, right? In fact, if more of them actually read the thing, they would know that gay marriage isn't that big a deal, unless of course you want to stone people to death for adultery while you're at it. But I digress.
Here's how Don, Rick and Walt measure up in terms of their sinning, as according to the tried-and-true Seven Deadly Sins... which, let's face it, probably all of us commit to some degree on a daily basis.
Don Draper ("Mad Men")
Lust: Yes. Yes yes yes. Lust is pretty much Don Draper's middle name. Donald Lust Draper. Never mind that that joke doesn't work since he's technically Dick Whitman. Basically, if you take lust in the sexual sense, this is Don's biggest sin: he can't keep his hands off of other women, even when Megan is involved.
Gluttony: Does drinking count? Then yes. Fat Betty knows all about this, by the way.
Greed: Considering his job and the money that it brings him, you would figure this would be a big yes. But you get the sense that the money isn't the point for Don, it's the satisfaction that advertising brings him (or used to bring him). We'll call it a no.
Pride: Don isn't much of a prideful guy, but you could say less for Lane and Pete.
Envy: You wouldn't figure that Don would have much to be envious about, but we did see him leave Ginsberg's pitch in the cab and presenting his own, despite Ginsberg having a strong one. A tentative yes.
Sloth: He does take a lot of naps, but I'd say no.
Wrath: Don's generally pretty calm, but in the past season we did see him lose it a few times with Megan, even ditching her at the Howard Johnsons. Plus, he has a propensity to yell at Peggy and occasionally throw money in her face. He's not murdering anyone, but his temper could be a bit better. We'll give him a half point here, and a half point for Envy.
Don's score: 3/7
Rick Grimes ("The Walking Dead")
Lust: Say what you will about Rick, but he's a loyal spouse. You could say less about Lori, though.
Gluttony: Is this even possible in a zombie apocalypse? Only if you found a Twinkie factory.
Greed: Nothing here, but we'll have to see how Rick gets about that prison in season three. My guess is this could change from a no to a yes by the end of the year.
Pride: There's something to be said about the fact that Rick kept the secret he learned at the CDC from the group for so long, and that the group is quickly turning from a democracy to a Ricktatorship, but probably not enough to give him a yes here.
Envy: He was doing so well with this one, considering his best friend slept with his wife while he was in a coma and all. That is, until Lori got on his case about it.
Sloth: Never! This dude killed two zombies with a rock. Well, unless you count the coma. Which we're not.
Wrath: Old Rick would be a definite no, but new Rick has seen a lot and reacted accordingly. Any murder that Rick has committed thus far has mostly been out of self-defense, but I think we can say that the Shane one was just enough over the line to give him a point here.
Rick's score: 2/7
Walter White ("Breaking Bad")
Lust: Walt's a lot of things, but he's not an adulterer. He does get a little unnecessarily handsy with Skylar in the first season, but we can probably attribute that to another vice.
Gluttony: Nope. This is all Walter Jr. and his breakfast.
Greed: It didn't start out this way, but greed is now one of Walt's biggest weaknesses. The scene a couple of episodes ago with Mike dividing up the money confirmed that.
Pride: This is the big one, and the one that has dogged Walt from the beginning. He could have taken some help from Elliot and possibly never had to have gotten into cooking meth at all, but his ego got in the way. And it continues to be a problem today, as his pride keeps him from seeing how much danger he's really in.
Envy: Yep, that's there. Remember when he hated Hank every second of the day because of how he was with Walter Jr.? Envy. You could even make the argument that this is why Jane bit the dust too.
Sloth: Nope. No sloth for any of these guys, but I guess that would make for a boring TV show anyway.
Wrath: Absolutely. Even without the number of people Walt has killed, he has threatened even more of them, including his own wife. It takes a degree of wrath to blow a guy up using an old guy in a wheelchair.
Walt's score: 4/7
Is Walt really the most sinful? Did I miss anything? Sound off in the comments!