Breaking Bad (TV Series) Down (2009) User Reviews

Everything that can go wrong does go wrong

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 6 October 2012]

Walt and Jesse may have got away safely from the events in the desert but they will have life changing effects on both their lives. Skyler starts treating Walt with far more suspicion; she clearly doesn't believe his excuses about the second phone. The more he does to try to be the good family man the more she is convinced he is lying... for some time she has been wondering about where he disappears to during the day; now it will be his turn to wonder where she has gone. Things are even worse for Jesse; he finds himself homeless when his mother has him evicted because she found the lab when he was missing. He tries to find other people to stay with but nobody can or will help; eventually he breaks into Clovis' yard and after falling through the roof of a port-a-loo ends up sleeping in his RV wearing a respirator to avoid the stench of the toilet he fell in! In desperation he contacts Walt but he doesn't want to know.

This episode shows just how quickly their lives have collapsed; they had lots of money after the deal with Tuco but the DEA found Jesse's half so he has no money to pay Clovis for storing the RV or to pay for a room when he is evicted from his home... if that wasn't bad enough everything that can go wrong does; his bike gets stolen and he even falls into a toilet... normally such a scene would provoke a laugh but things are so down for him it just feels tragic. We also learn that Jesse isn't a total waster; as he argues with his mother it emerges that he took care of his sick aunt when the rest of the family did nothing. Aaron Paul does a wonderful job in this episode as he depicts Jesse's life collapsing. It isn't all downbeat though; watching Jesse 'liberate' his RV was fun to watch; especially as it occurred just as Clovis was learning how much its contents were worth.

Underrated

[jackclark-50014 · 9/10 · 7 October 2019]

I never think of this episode as an all time great, but having recently re-watched it, the performances of Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn here are masterful. Jesse's storyline gets the spotlight, and while Aaron Paul is excellent, watching Skyler's foundations of trust in Walt slowly fizzle away is truly captivating. Specifically, the scene towards the end of the episode in which Skyler confronts Walt about his shadiness is fantastically acted by both; raw and brilliantly written - the energy they create together is mesmerising. You will never see this episode high up in any 'Best of Breaking Bad' lists - it is, in essence, a table setting episode, necessary and slow burning. But it's in these episodes that actors as talented as Cranston and Gunn really shine to create a vivid and devastating picture of what would truly happen behind closed doors in such a scenario. The scene directly afterwards, where Walt channels his frustration towards Jesse, culminating in their first violent altercation, is exhilarating from Cranston's intensity. These interactions are Breaking Bad's bread and butter, and it is a shame that they often miss out on the recognition they deserve

Underrated and understated

[rhemfelt1 · 8/10 · 24 January 2021]

It's a slower episode, but it's one of the hardest for me to watch. It's heartbreaking to watch Jesse unable to catch a single break over and over again.

It's important character development in that it shows a little more depth to Jesse. It also plants the seeds of Jesse's evolving character. The first hints of his maturation from just a goofy 1-dimensional burnout comic relief to serious lead with goals and emotional range.

Most touching episode so far

[sharpcourse · 21 January 2014]

I haven't written a review for this series before but I'm so moved by this episode I had to come up with this.

We were quickly taken from the two protagonists sorting themselves one way or another, Walt, with his family & Jesse, with the cops, to the unprecedented repercussions of their actions. Walt gets a passive aggressive display of anger & disappointment from his family while Jesse just basically plunges "down" south. It could be hard to swallow the sudden transformation of events but its proof that when things tend to go bad, they go bad real fast. Not to be insensitive here but I have to say they had It coming one way or another. Its the causality of life. Great writing here.

Kudos to Brian Cranston as usual. Character Walt couldn't be faulted but Aaron Paul gave a solid performance here as well with his portrayal of the quite unfortunate Jesse Pinkman. Anna Gunn is very believable

as well. Her character is not the best of wives out there but to show the emotions of an angry, fed up yet imperfect wife is what she does well here. Two top cast members are missing here but it works. The omission of comic relief that Hank provides works okay as this episode really portrays what the show is about. A tragic comedy.

Struggling!

[and_mikkelsen · 9/10 · 22 March 2023]

The title of this episode says it all! Here wee have a character centered episode that explore them in situations where things doesn,'t go the way they want!

Walt is struggling to maintain contact with his wife and son, as Jesse is struggling to find stability! Episodes like these are usually slow and less eventfull, but they are important to understand the state of our characters and their motivations! Therefore i actually enjoyed this episode! It shows Jesses relationship to his parents and how important it is for Walt to maintain contact with his familly!

There are some memorable scenes such as Walts and Jesses confrontation, as well as some great acting! Aaron Paul did a great job of making me feel bad for Jesse! He perfectly manages to capture the tragedy of his character!

Another Great Episode!

[g-bodyl · 9/10 · 7 May 2014]

The fourth episode in the second season of Breaking Bad is a little bit on the slow side, but that doesn't stop it from being a great episode. This episode focuses more on characterization and mainly, the dwindling relationship between Walt and Skylar. This is a very dramatic episode, so don't expect many shockers or many action-packed scenes. The acting here is excellent and one is able to tell how about Cranston and Paul are absorbing their characters very well.

In this episode, "Down," Skylar keeps on leaving the house mysteriously and refuses to speak to Walt. Meanwhile, Jesse's parents kick him out of his house forcing him to be homeless.

Overall, this is a great episode despite it being slow and focusing on characterization. It's an important episode because we need to see how the relationship between the two is affected and it definitely adds to reality. I was not bored one single moment here. I rate this episode 9/10.

He's Just a Man!

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 29 April 2018]

This is about as bad as it gets. Walter is in the depths of despair and Skylar is doing what any wife would do. She is suspicious and knows him well enough that he is feeding her a crock. Meanwhile, Jesse's whole world collapses around him. He lost all his money escaping from Tuco. His parents throw him out of the house he is living in and no one will give him a break. To make matters worse, he falls through the roof of a porta-potty and is covered in you know what. He is desperate and Walter has no compassion for him. He is an idiot but he is in as much danger as Walter. Perhaps more. It is now time to come to some sort of understanding about the future. Well done sad episode.

Does the job

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 27 December 2020]

Episode four is a pure character-based episode with little no drug stuff at all, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. It puts both Jesse and Walter into crisis point, the former losing his home and the later on the verge of losing his marriage, and it's gripping with either storyline. Great performances and direction throughout are what makes this show so engaging.

A "Downer" of an Episode!

[gab-14712 · 9/10 · 9 April 2018]

Sometimes the best episodes in a series do not include big set pieces or a ton of explosions, but they include tense, psychological drama. It is a testament to Breaking Bad that it is able to pull off these kind of episodes so easily. These episodes in lesser dramas can be tedious, but this show does enough to catch the interest of the mass audience. After the intensity of the earlier episodes featuring Tuco, we see the aftermath of the kidnapping and how Walt, Jesse, and Skylar are affected in different ways.

Since we are talking about the aftermath of the kidnapping, once thing I instantly noticed is the mood of the episode. We seem to be reaching into grimmer territory with each episode. This episode is sad to watch to see how the lives of Walt and particularly Jesse were destroyed. I knew we would be into a grim episode with that cold open, where we see a guy in a hazmat suit scooping a burnt teddy bear out of which would look like Walt's pool.

The title of the episode aptly describes the mood of the film very well. In "Down," life is quite down for both Walter and Jesse. Jesse has no cash to his name, and he is kicked out of his house because it turns out that his parents owned his house and they have had enough of his behavior. Jesse tries to kick back with several friends, but to no avail. He then decides to find the RV that he sold to his friend, Badger's cousin and spends the night there. Meanwhile, Skylar is very suspicious of Walt. She keeps leaving the house without telling him anything. She is tired of Walt's behavior and she only wants the truth. The problem is, Walt will not tell her the truth.

This episode is definitely a downer episode in the way how it made me feel. The episode is made very well and is one of the best episodes of the season, but my mood was so heavy after this episode. For Walter, his wife ignoring him and not knowing much about what is going on about his family is heartbreaking. I liked watching Walt teaching his son how to drive in this episode. But reconnecting with his family may not be easy as he thinks. For Jesse, when he broke down in tears in the RV, I wanted to join him. It even got bad for poor Jesse in the RV, because Badger's cousin asked for two grand to get the RV back and if not, he will sell off all the cooking equipment.

I thought this was a very strong episode. The psychological aspects of the episode gave both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul a lot to work with, and they did so well with the material. Despite all the heartbreaking material, there were some light moments. I liked the Steely Dan quote where the band was compared to modern bands. Speaking of bands, apparently Jesse has a friend and was in a band called "Bloodhammer" together. Interesting!

My Grade: A

Skyler demands the truth from Walt as Jesse nears rock bottom

[RicinBeans94 · 9/10 · 20 May 2014]

"Want some breakfast?"

'Down' is a bleak episode of Breaking Bad, one that's difficult to watch at times. Yet it's also a fascinating look at how the decisions that Walt and Jesse have made, both individually and together, have affected their relationships with the people that matter to them.

Jesse finds himself being kicked out of the house he's been living in by his parents, leading to him being turned down by all his friends and eventually returning to the RV. It's the lowest point we've seen Jesse at so far, as he lies on the floor of the vehicle crying.

Walt, on the other hand, begins to notice his wife and son drifting further away from him, with Walter Jr.'s insistence on being called Flynn particularly hard for him to take. Walt tells Jesse on the phone that "no amount of pay-per-view channels is going to make a difference..." and unlike before, Skyler now seems aware that it probably isn't who Walt says it is on the other end. She doesn't know quite what is going on, but she knows Walt is holding things back. Their relationship also reaches a new low here, as she repeatedly leaves the house for hours at a time, not telling Walt where she is going. It's a sign of her desperation that she lights up a cigarette at the end of the episode. While certainly a terrible decision on Skyler's part, it's hard to argue that Walt should bear none of the blame.

Walt and Jesse's relationship takes a turn for the worst as well, as they end up fighting in the RV as Walt tells Jesse what a disappointment he is. Moments later though, they reconcile. It seems likely that they will be heading off to cook a new batch sooner rather than later.

This episode also marks the return of the teddy bear in the opening, in what we can still only assume is flash-forward to future events. Again, I will not say anything else on this for now - only that it is very intriguing.

With 'Down', season 2 delivers yet another very strong episode - it's a joy to watch these characters' stories unfold.

9.1/10

The destruction of a man

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 6/10 · 11 January 2016]

"Breaking Bad" decides to center its purpose for a while, as in this episode we start to see how Walter's illness has brought him on a path of self-destruction, and how it seems he is willing to take everyone with him on it. Poor unstable Pinkman being the most obvious victim.

With Tuco's being dealt with, the episode shows the aftermath of Jesse and Walter's kidnapping. And it is ugly, as the lies have been piling and piling, and both seem to have lost themselves. Pinkman was already in a path to oblivion, but in a just-let-days-go-by type of way. With Walter's appearance, Pinkman is losing everything, and Paul responds to it keeping his high quality work. But Walter's family is also suffering from Walter's decision to find a "purpose" to his empty and soon to be over life.

The show is becoming grimmer and it is the best for it, as, at least, it has some life in it. But how will it bring them out of this situation, or stretch it longer, is a question that it will have to be answer, as it is still on shaky ground.

Nonetheless, it keeps improving.

any jesse centred episode is just too good

[shwhwhtbbfxjis · 10/10 · 25 July 2022]

This episode mainly centres around jesse as things just keep getting worse and worse for him, throughout this episode you really see how good of a character jesse is and how talented aaron paul is.

A downer

[spasticshock · 4/10 · 22 November 2020]

The plot really slows down in this episode. Walt and Jessie decide to lay low before they start cooking again. The rest of the episode is Walt trying to make amends with Skyler, who passive aggressively brushes him off until the end where she snaps. Oh, and he goes driving with his completely uninteresting son.

Jessie spends all episode just suffering as a homeless guy after being kicked out of his house, misfortune after misfortune.

Repeat each of these scenarios for each characters 2-3 times.

The episode just didn't really have enough plot progression or character moments to really stand out. One good thing though is we see Walt and Skyler's relationship start to deteriorate, and the signs of Skyler going bad when she picks up that cig at the end.

Down (#2.4)

[ComedyFan2010 · 9/10 · 26 December 2013]

This episode shows us the characters at the point that is described in the title: they are really down after what happened.

Especially Jesse. it is actually crazy that his parents would do this to him. Who in their right mind lets their son be homeless and even only gives him 3 days to figure out what to do? And from then on it all goes bad, his friends don't let him stay over, he has no money etc. This episode I felt worse for Jesse than ever before.

I feel less bad for Walt though, he chose to marry Skylar so it is his own fault. Ann Gunn does a great job here. I can't stand the character but the acting is good. Such as in the scene where she listens to Walt's excuse about his second phone.

The encounter of Jesse and Walt was pretty intense and I like how it turned out, Jesse even got offered some breakfast. Finally somebody being nice to him!

Too much Skyler...yadayada

[michaelchikliscares · 8/10 · 14 October 2019]

Too much Skyler in this episode , I just wanted to let you know that development focus should be more on Walter and Jessie for the early season, we only get to see them two together so little , as we have seen so far.

Everything Goes Wrong episode

[TheFearmakers · 9/10 · 28 November 2020]

There can be an entire sub-genre of "Everything Goes Wrong" ranging from After Hours to Meet The Parents, and this one is Jesse's... one thing leads to another and it's all bad... so bad it gets kind of funny... Meanwhile Walter's getting the freeze at home from the wife and kid... Good episode if you like watching Everything Go Wrong...

Rewatch, 8.8/10

[dcdude-26988 · 9/10 · 3 August 2023]

This is definitely an overhated episode of this entire series, of television to be specific. My favorite things about this episode were the storyline, the acting, and the dialogue. My favorite characters were Walt, Jesse, and Flynn. The thing I mainly don't like about this episode is that Walter's storyline in this episode is really just filler, but Jesse's storyline effects the story by alot. If I really had to be honest, this episode should definitely be higher rated on this app, because this was still a great episode of this series, and television if I wanted to be specific. This whole episode gave me good vibes to the real world, I have no idea why.

Like they say, all knots come to a head

[bellino-angelo2014 · 9/10 · 20 November 2023]

After the events of the previous episode (including the naked in the supermarket accident) Walter White returns home not after discussing with Jesse Pinkman about their wereabouts and Walt decides that they shouldn't see each other for a while. The next morning Walter is seen preparing a rich breakfast for him and his family, and then Skylar starts the habit of going out for many hours without telling Walt where she has been. Soon Jesse is visited by his parents' lawyer that evict him because they found the meth lab in the basement and if Jesse doesn't leave house, he'll be notified to authorities. After lots of misadventures Jesse will finally return to his RV and returns to Walt's house: when Walt goes in the RV he and Jesse fight a bit, only to make amends and Walt gives Jesse some money.

Jesse's storyline here is a bit depressing but at the same time not without its funny moments (like when the movers take everything and Jesse shouts at them or when he goes in the dockyard and enters in the public toilet causing a disaster with the toilet) and Walt's storyline was inspiring because he didn't do anything in the first place to make Skylar suspicious of an affair. Still, another great episode in another season of winners.

The Title Reflects the Direction in which the Show's Quality Goes with this Episode

[stillworkingfortheknife · 21 October 2013]

As he's already had a slight lack of story material, screenwriter Sam Catlin shouldn't have left out two of the six main actors, especially since Hank's political incorrectness may have helped to make things a bit more entertaining. However, he did, and therefore "Down" disappoints.

Walt's and Jesse's encounters in the episode were always very good, but sadly, these scenes were a minority group in an episode overcharged with unneeded insights into the family lives of the show's two protagonists and poorly written script. Some parts of that just aren't realistic and made me question the writer's intelligence while others were simply unnecessary. I highly dislike Jesse's parents (mostly because these two actors just aren't good) and unfortunately, this also merged with Aaron Paul giving a sub-par performance. Bryan Cranston was the only really good actor in "Down" while Anna Gunn was over the top.

Now while it isn't a really bad episode just due to the show's general style being very good, I found myself bored while watching it, which is never a good attribute for anything that's made for the purpose of entertainment.

Kinda feels filler

[FriedToast02 · 8/10 · 17 April 2021]

There's not many breaking bad episode that feel like this to me, but this episode just I feel like nothing crazy happens. I do like the Dynamic between Jesse and his parents and the scene between him and his mom is again great acting by both Aaron Paul and Tess Harper. Also Walt teaching Walter Jr to drive really feels filler. Though it's kinda interesting how he drives with both feet which is kinda of cool thing they put in the show. Also this is when Skylar really starts to get sus of Walt and just starts leaving without telling him and eh Walt kinda had it coming towards him she obviously knows he's lying but this is when Skylar starts to get a little less likable. Not my favorite from this season.

Forgettable and boring

[yavermbizi · 4/10 · 18 April 2020]

My overall rating of "Breaking Bad"'s Season 2: 5/10

The 2nd Season of this series stretches for 13 episodes and "stretches" is exactly the right word for it. This episode's two storylines are a soapy family drama and a cliche-storm of "watch this guy's life get worse in every scene" respectively. The plot does not progress in any way and the only redeeming thing is that the acting's pretty good, as usual.

Goodness

[ndypqry · 10/10 · 13 January 2021]

Goodness you need to get a good rest and you can come over for your birthday and I need to see

A downer but a beautiful and compelling one

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 2 June 2018]

'Breaking Bad' is one of the most popular rated shows on IMDb, is one of those rarities where every season has either been very positively received or near-universally acclaimed critically and where all of my friends have said nothing but great things about.

Very few shows in recent memory had me so hooked from the very start that before the week was over the whole show had been watched, especially when for a lot of shows now airing watching one episode all the way through can be an endeavour. 'Breaking Bad' had that effect on me, and its reputation as one of the best, consistently brilliant and most addictive shows in many years (maybe even ever) is more than deserved in my eyes. Its weakest season is perhaps the first season, understandable as any show's first season is the one where things are still settling.

Actually everything is established remarkably from the very start, but once the writing and characterisation becomes even meatier the show reaches even higher levels.

"Down", like "Bit by a Dead Bee", is not quite as incredible as especially "Grilled". It lacks that episode's nail-biting intensity and tautness, adopting a slower and more intricate pace. It is still a wonderful episode, is definitely the most poignant 'Breaking Bad' episode up to this point and one of the most touching ones overall, never being dull.

Visually, "Down" is both stylish and beautiful, with photography and editing that are cinematic quality and put a lot of films today to shame, where there are a lot of visually beautiful ones but also some painfully amateurish looking ones. The music always has the appropriate mood, never too intrusive, never too muted.

The writing for "Down" is a fine example of how to have a lot of style but also to have a lot of substance. The dialogue throughout is thought-provoking and tense, while also have a darkly wicked sense of humour, nail-biting tension and heart-tugging pathos. The story is texturally rich, intimate, tense and layered, with the pace of it consistently deliberate but taut.

Can't say anything bad about the acting. Bryan Cranston is phenomenal as one of the most fascinating anti-heroes, or even of any kind of character, in either film or television. Aaron Paul has never been better and Anna Gunn is affecting. The characters are compelling in their realism.

To conclude, wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Swallow

[zhyarTheChosen · 9/10 · 2 July 2020]

Really love this episode this really show that life has ups and downs