Since nobody in this fandom seems to be asking this question, i will.
Why do you all hate Walter?
The entire fandom sympathises with Toby, Happy and Sylvester when they show their flaws by saying they're messed up, but not with Walter who is the most messed up character in this show. Let me tell you how messed up this man is.
His childhood:
He lives in Ireland with a family of farmers who wouldn't know what genius is. They treat him like an outcast, like the family problem because he's different, especially his parents. In S4E20 "Foul Balls" Walter was willing to lose Scorpion just for the sake of not embarrasing Cabe. Turns out his father never encouraged him or supported him. And when he tried to play football to get his father's approval and failed. His father looked away from him in embarrasment as he was laughed at by the crowds. How devestating do you think that was for his mental health? In the Ireland episode in S3 "Sly and the family stone" you could see the blatant discrimination between him and Sylvester. Just how fucked up do you think it was for Walter to see that they love Sylvester more than him? To find out that the reason they didn't love him wasn't because he was a genius, but just because they thought something was wrong with him. Plus bullying in school and beatings by teachers that can't stand having a student smarter than them. His only ally in the world was Megan. That's why he loved her so much. Then Megan, the only ally he has develops MS. And throughout it all he wasn't given the love and affection he needed to learn from his mistakes like Ralph was. Whenever he made a mistake he was scoffed at by his parents and told to do better, but not taught how as he was different. They gave up on him. No matter how hard he tried to get them to understand, to get their approval he failed. Then enter Cabe Gallo. A new person who he could connect with. An ally other than Megan. He encourages him to pursue his talents, teaches him a lot of things and overall becomes the dad figure Walter never had. Then 5 years later, just a normal day doing science projects to help his dad figure. He opens the tv and sees thousands being bombed into oblivion, the blood, the flying bodies, the screaming women, the crying children, the collapsing buildings, all with something he made with his own hands. Cabe betrayed him in the cruellest way possible. Now this would be devestating for any normal adult. But remember, this is a 16 year-old who has lived most of his childhood not being given the love or attention he deserves and needs to develop emotionally. So just imagine the agony he's going through at this point, and the treatment he got from his family afterwards. Walter not being able to take the crippling guilt and treatment of his family decides to leave ireland and go to America, To Megan who was being hospitalized there. And start a new life there training himself to not have any feelings so that he wouldn't have to feel the guilt.
His adolecence:
So right now this is a 16 year-old who is
-Physically weak
-Mentally traumatized
-Emotionally scarred
-Codependant (meaning that he always feels like everything is fault, his self worth comes from how much he gives to others, he puts a bin on his own feelings)
-Comes from a farm in a foreign country
-Has near zero EQ or social skills
-Cripplingly low self-esteem buried under a god-complex
-Didn't go to a college
-Has no one by his side other than an ill, hospitalized sister who needs crutches to walk.
And he has to make it on his own on the streets of America in the 90's.
Just try to imagine the kind of life he had. Being yelled at by everybody because of his lack of EQ. And not knowing what he did wrong because no one was willing to try with him. Going from job to job and clawing his way up in the world while taking care of Megan. And learning medicine to engage constructively in her doctors' discussions, and paying for a part of her hospitalization and doing research to save her. And all that while still being the traumatized 16 year-old he is inside, desperately training himself to not feel and pretending he's a robot.
His adulthood:
Years later that 16 year-old has not only managed to survive, but to thrive. How? By working his ass off everyday, caring about "Efficiency" and "Business". That's right people. He's not obsessed with these things to be an asshole. He's obsessed with them because it's how he made it on his own. Then ten years after the baghdad incident he meets Toby, Happy and Sylvester. And the fandom treats them like they struggled the most. Toby gambled his way through school, went to college, learned, failed to fix his family, despaired and gambled even more. Until Walter found him. He didn't do anything with his life until Walter carried his ass on his back. Bailing him out everytime and never giving up on him. Happy yes struggled for a few years after getting out of the foster homes, but didn't get far. She still had to move from job to job, country to country. She barely survived. Her biggest achievement was having a multi-commercial license that she didn't even use because of her anger issues getting in her way. Her engineering skills didn't help either as she didn't go to college and no one would hire her. Until Walter met her. He hired her, tolerated her anger, brought out the best in her. Giving her stability and essentially carrying her on his back as well. Sylvester was literally a kid with nowhere to go. And he had suicidal tendancies as hinted by him in S1E10 "Talismans". And Walter as an analyst working for the bank found that kid, pretended the robbery never happened risking losing his job and going to jail, let him live with him until he was ready to live on his own (as there's no way he could survive on his own at this point), kept him from killing himself, brought out the best in him, raised his self esteem, taught him everything about being a genius, carried him on a pedstal, essentially like a big brother raising his baby brother. And after five more years of working his ass off, never giving up on them even though he had every chance to do so. After meeting Paige and Cabe, he finally made scorpion a success. He finally got those three across the water. Because if he had given up on them at any point, at any chance or any offer by a big company they would have gone back to their previous lives; Sylvester broke on the streets, Toby gambling or in prison or dead because of his illegal debts, Happy running around the world again struggling for a living and getting nowhere far. And after all he did for them they treated like crap in the show because he's different. They blamed him for everything even when it's not his fault, taking advantage of his codependancy and further cementing it. Sylvester goes behind his back over and over, from dating his sister behind his back to marrying her without his consent. Toby gives false and conflicting advice to make him fail on purpose. And Happy makes fun of him either for failing or succeeding in emotional matters. Just WTF.
So in the end of this post let me ask you as someone who watched the show.
Do you really blame Walter for turning out this messed up? And would you have not turned out the same as him?
