I really identified with Walter White's family dynamic as a window into the current struggles of men in our society.

Walter wants to talk care of his wife, baby, and handicapped son when he is gone. He works super hard and does a great job at work yet it isn't enough, they are struggling, then you throw Cancer and the bills on top of that. He missed on a great opportunity financially with his investor friends, (we all have regrets and "coulda, shouldas" in our past.

So he does what needs to be done to put them in a good situation.
For various reasons, I totally get this plight; I don't even look at it as a downward spiral. He needed money, and boom he provided. Yes, he did so at other people's expense because drugs are bad, but meh to me.

This is a problem with our society as a whole, it is easier to poke holes in someone who actually gets stuff done. "Well, he could have been more honest." or "He should have been a nicer boss." "Your company is run by white males." "Wallstreet is evil, I don't know how you can live with yourself working for those banks." I hear that kind of stuff all the time. People trying to make providers feel guilty for providing; yet they never offer an alternate path.

When you bring home the bacon, you can't be upset that a pig had to die in the process. For all of Skyler's moralizing, she didn't come up with a solution on her own for how to take care of the family, except for the car wash paid for with drug money.

I am happy that women are given more opportunities in today's landscape to work. I think it is a great thing. But what I've noticed with many families where both parents are present, (not single mothers) is that women get to go to work to be "fulfilled." They want something they like. My wife only wants to work if she can find something in fashion because it interests her. But men have to do whatever it takes, who gives a hoot if they are fulfilled. When you have to pay for food and the mortgage, you don't have the luxury of looking for something that interests you or where you get along with your boss or where the hours accommodate your preference. You go to work, or your family starves.

I realize this is longer and slightly off topic to what you intended, but I guess what I'm saying is that what you view as a "depressing cycle," to me looks like a man willing to do what it takes to survive and doing a pretty darn good job of it.