Jesse's Journey

Breaking Bad told the story of Walter White, from beginning to end--his first steps into criminal activity up to his death.  In the finale, when he releases Jesse Pinkman from captivity after spending most of the season at odds with him, that's all we need to know about his sidekick.  We can imagine the various things Jesse might do, but the main thing is he's free and has a second chance.

But there is another way of looking at the series--Walter has his arc, but so does Jesse.  Wouldn't we want to know where he ultimately ends up?  Vince Gilligan did, and had some ideas about what happened to Jesse afterward (and he should know, being the creator of the show).  Fully aware there's still a huge demand for Breaking Bad-related stories, Gilligan decided to turn those ideas into El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, now available on Netflix.

In fact, El Camino is, at least in part, fan service, and not just another chance to see Aaron Paul as Jesse.  Thus, a fair amount of familiar faces from Breaking Bad show up. I won't list any since the movie only dropped a couple days ago, except I'll note the great Robert Forster, who just died, returns as Ed Galbraith, the vacuum repairman who specializes in helping wanted men disappear.

The story starts where we left off, with Jesse escaping the neo-Nazi compound in Todd Alquist's El Camino just as the police are closing in.  The mass slaughter (including Walter White's death, verified for any of those who still believe he's alive) is all the news can talk about, and the search for Jesse is top priority.

So the story is Jesse trying to remain one step ahead of the law, while avoiding other threats, in his search for freedom.  There are also copious flashbacks (shot for the movie, not from the original series) that relate to present-day action.

I enjoyed El Camino, but it didn't quite have the urgency of Breaking Bad.  For one thing, as noted above, the main story is already over. Walter White is dead, and while it'd be nice to see Jesse make it, we already saw him escape.  Further, the original show had cumulative power with an arc that lasted over five seasons--every week we'd tune in to see how Walter White and Jesse Pinkman would get out of their latest scrape, and also to discover which characters would die along the way and how it would all end.  This one-off has some fascinating details, but the pressure isn't quite there like it was before.

So El Camino is certainly worth watching for Breaking Bad fans.  But if it didn't exist, you wouldn't miss it.