-Contains Spoilers for the original
“Breaking Bad” series-
At the end of the amazing TV series,
“Breaking Bad,” we saw Jessie Pinkman (Aaron Paul) driving away
from the scene of his torture and imprisonment, having been liberated
by his mentor/partner/frenemy Walter White. We are left to make up
our own story about what happens next for Jessie, which I thought was
a pretty perfect ending. Still, however satisfying the meal, dessert
is always tempting. When I heard that series creator Vince Gilligan
was giving us a Jessie Pinkman movie, I knew I would be on board.
“El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie”
picks up where the series left off, with Jessie driving away from the
compound. He isn't home-free, as it happens. It doesn't take the
police long to connect him with the massacre of neo-nazis, and he is
a wanted man in Albuquerque. Jessie has to scrape together enough
money to make his escape with a new identity, and he does so in
classic “Breaking Bad” fashion. Meanwhile, the movie is peppered
with copious flashbacks to his time as a human slave for the
neo-nazis, making even more explicit how how cruel his confinement
was.
As much as I enjoyed “El Camino,”
and I really loved it, it was probably unnecessary. The series'
ending was narratively perfect, and I think fans were perfectly
capable of imagining their own future for Jessie. The movie does
allow a couple of comic-relief characters, Badger and Skinny Pete, to
shine, and adds some depth to their friendship with Jessie. It also
gives us a bigger idea of just how broken and traumatized Jessie was
by his captivity. Otherwise, the film doesn't really manage to shed
any new light on anything from the original series. Fortunately, it
doesn't ruin anything, either. Gilligan is true to his characters
here, and I think “Breaking Bad” fans will relish the chance to
spend a little more time with them.
It's a ballsy move to tinker with
perfection, and Vince Gilligan has done it twice. First, he created
the prequel series, “Better Call Saul,” and now he has given us a
coda to “Breaking Bad.” I would argue that it was even ballsier
to give his movie a title with a precarious connection to “Breaking
Bad,” which many fans might simply click right past on Netflix.
The part that says “A Breaking Bad Movie” is in small print, and
the ad otherwise looks like just another “Netflix original.”
Besides the fans who might overlook the movie, there are bored people
who might try to watch it without having seen the “Breaking Bad”
series. Bad idea. Let me make it clear right now that “El Camino”
is not meant to stand on its own. Watch the series first, then watch
the movie.
4 stars out of 5
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