Breaking Bad 2.04 - Down

Pre-credits: This is where the season starts to get ominous. We already suspected the burnt teddy bear indicated something bad was going to happen. Now we have evidence being collected for a major police investigation. Nothing good ever brings about a massive police investigation. The foreboding nature of the pre-credits leads nicely into what is a miserable episode for all characters involved.

Review: Somewhere around Seasons 3  and 4 of Breaking Bad, the story becomes less Walt's story and more about Jesse. There's a bit of a necessity to this, because as Walt starts to lose those qualities of empathy and basic human decency, the sympathies of the audience are redirected to his unfortunate partner. Walt threw everything he had away on his own, through his pride and jealousy. Jesse had everything thrown away for him by parents who just weren't prepared to deal with him, simply because he could not grow up fast enough for them. The true tragedy of Breaking Bad is that with a proper replacement parental figure, Jesse could have been led back on the right track and into a respectable life. Walt is not that proper replacement parental figure.

We saw a little bit into the relationship between Jesse and his parents in "Cancer Man." They practically had given up on him at that point. They were no longer willing to work with him, to listen to his efforts to get his life straight. They claimed they had been burned too many times and were done. That there is some Grade F parenting. Because as old as Jesse may have been at the time, he clearly hadn't matured yet and still needed some adult guidance to get him back on track. And the incident in the first few episodes where Krazy 8 and co. nearly murdered him was enough to wake him up, and suddenly, his parents aren't going to be there to help him.

And this episode, they are there to take the rug out from under him because he's been inconveniencing them. I'm not usually one to stand up on my pulpit and start lecturing the characters, but everything about this scene where they call the lawyer in to take the house from Jesse is despicable. The parents pretend this is about Jesse, and about trying to get him to get his life back together. It's not about the fact he's lowering the value of his aunt's house with his cooking and taking money away from them at all, in their mind. Nope, the best way to get Jesse's life back together is to leave him with nowhere to live, no money, no stuff to sell to give him some time to get his feet under him. They basically try to relegate him to being a homeless person. That's not tough love. That's not caring anymore and giving up on your child. Giving up on him because he didn't grow up and mature fast enough and they could not deal with him. This is the root of all Jesse's problems. The problem isn't Jesse connecting with adults, either. He connected with his Aunt Ginny, who decided that he should have the house, and he connects to some extent with Walt, even though Walt is an awful person. The blame fully lies with Jesse's parents in being unable to put in the effort to understand their son, and give him the support he needs.

So the parents leave Jesse with an awful episode for him. This episode kind of suffers from not having a lot of lead up or carry through from the events of it. In terms of the overall second season arc, this episode doesn't really contribute anything, other than Jesse to get him out of his aunt's house so he could move in beside Jane. If you told me that the writers just came up with the plot just to justify using the title "Down" for the title endgame, I wouldn't be shocked. But there's a lot of Walt and Jesse depth for this episode with a special parenting theme throughout.

This episode is all about "explaining" Walt and Jesse. Why do they continue in a relationship that is so toxic? Why doesn't Jesse go back to trying to start a career and get back on a legitimate path? Why doesn't Walt find a partner who is less incompetent? The answer is because they need each other, because they act as replacements for things they are losing or lost. Jesse has matured, mostly as forced by the near death experience he had in the first few episodes of the series, and wants to get a real life started and he needs guidance for how to do that. Typically, that role falls to the parents, to impart their life experience and be there when the young person has questions or feels a little lost. Jesse's parents have completely burned that bridge with him, so it's not going to be them. So it falls on Walt, who acts as a father figure. He provides guidance, he's willing to get in Jesse's face and let him know when he's acting like an idiot. There are times when Jesse needs help and Walt is sitting there willing to give it to him.

But there's times where Walt is not there, and that is what makes the relationship so toxic. Because Walt is not a good father either. Walt doesn't have the patience, or the ability to forgive when Jesse screws up. He instead beats down on Jesse for mistakes when Jesse is already beating on himself. And then, at the times when Jesse needs him the most, Walt can shut Jesse straight down. There's a scene in this episode where Jesse drives to Walt's house in the RV because he has nowhere else to go, and Walt starts berating him for his stupidity until Jesse starts a physical altercation. This is not the person Jesse needs in his transition to adulthood and responsibility. Unfortunately, it's the person he's stuck with.

The one thing Walt has on Jesse's parents is that he never fully gives up on Jesse. He never fully ostracizes him and just stops caring about them. However, this is not because Walt is a better parent or a better person, but because Jesse fills some need Walt has. Walt has a strong need to be in control, he needs to be the one calling the shots and making the decisions. He needs people around him that make him feel smart, that will listen when he bosses them around. Jesse makes Walt feel superior, like Walt is a mastermind with pawns to order around.

Note that the Walt/Jesse relationship takes off right as Walter Jr. stops taking crap from his dad. He picks a new name, so that he no longer has to be solely identified as being the Walt's son. While Walt is trying to teach him driving, Walter Jr. comes back with retorts that indicates that he knows better than his father. Walt can't be in control with his son any more, as his son doesn't see him as the genius he needs to be seen as. His son makes him feel out of touch and powerless.

His wife doesn't improve matters for him either. This is an excellent episode for Skylar and Anna Gunn, who gets to be the sympathetic one for once. She knows Walt is lying to her about the second cellphone. The audience knows Walt is lying to her about the second cellphone. But instead of further alienating herself and being a screaming, annoying harpy, she takes a step back and instead completely distances herself. It's such a cool reaction (in more ways than one), because she forces Walt to come to her. And when he does try to come to her, but continues his really poor lying skills, she is perfectly able to put him in his place and make him seem every inch of the pathetic, desperate man he is. It's exactly what we needed to see from Skylar at this point. It calls to mind the episode "Fifty-One," the best Skylar episodes and one of the best episodes of the series full stop, where Skylar cooly checks herself out of Walt's life and focuses solely on her children, the people who really matter. If Skylar stops caring about Walt, if she stops reacting to him, then nothing he can do or say can hurt her.

The plotting and thematic connecting in this episode is wonderful. The way that Walt gets humiliated by Skylar and then turns around to his pet dog Jesse and trying to humiliate him to prove his masculinity so perfectly dovetails everyone's story together. We see Walt's need for control; we see Jesse going to the one person who he thinks cares about him and is willing to be his father figure. And we see how imperfect a father figure he really is. The aforementioned Walt-Jesse fight scene is great, it oozes with both the chemistry between the two actors and the way it addresses all the issues between them that had been building to that point.

"Down" is an over-the-top episode. Too much bad stuff happens to Jesse and his no-good-very-bad-day doesn't end up having any lasting relevance to the story being told. But the way the episode subtly lays the entire foundation of the series in front of us makes it one of the more important offerings in the season nonetheless. Everything you need to know about Walt and Jesse is in this episode: Jesse's lack of true authority figures, Walt's need to be in control and be recognized as the man, and his hatred for any form of humiliation. This is what the Walt-Jesse relationship is built on, and that foundation is not strong enough to withstand the storms ahead.

Other Notes:

·         Hank and Marie take the episode off. It works, because it is hard to see how they would be able to fit into this episode thematically

·         The Walt-Jesse convenience store scene leaves so many questions: Why do they think moving down aisles at the same time looks inconspicuous? Why does it matter which one of them leaves first, as long as they don't leave at the same time? Why was the policeman necessary in this scene, he serves no purpose except to add a contrivance?

·         Walter Jr breakfast update: He'll have some grapefruit juice. It's good for you.

·         "That was before my housing situation went entirely testicular on me!"

·         If Jesse smells so bad, why does Badger's friend want him to drive away upwind?

·         Whoa! The Aztec crashes! That never is going to happen ever again.

·         Walt asking Jesse whether he wants some breakfast is the absolute perfect capper for this episode. The best ending of an episode to this point by far.