The Netflix Crime Thriller That Gives Fans The Sendoff They Need
Breaking Bad is often in the conversation when people talk about the best TV shows of all time, and its series finale is also considered one of the best series finales of all time. It closes up all the storylines, sends off all the characters, and brings together all of the themes in an incredibly satisfying way. You’d think that you wouldn’t need a sequel to the events of Breaking Bad, but the fantastic film El Camino proves that Vince Gilligan had more story to tell, and it’s well worth the ride.
At the end of Breaking Bad, we see Aaron Paul’s long-suffering Jesse Pinkman escape from his neo-Nazi captors and drive off a free man, both in a literal sense and in the sense he’s no longer entangled in Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) web. It’s an ending for a beloved character that is certainly open to interpretation but is mostly satisfying all the same. Well, El Camino decides to tell us exactly what happens to Jesse after he escapes.
El Camino is a tense ride all the way through, as we see Jesse attempt to avoid the police and start a new life for himself in the wake of the events of Breaking Bad. Along with Aaron Paul as Jesse, the cast of the film also includes Jesse Plemons, Krysten Ritter, Charles Baker, Matt Jones, Robert Forster, Jonathan Banks, and Bryan Cranston. Through the present day, along with some flashbacks, we get an even more satisfying wrap-up to Jesse’s story and see what eventually becomes of him.
El Camino maintains the quality we’ve come to expect from Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad universe, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The cast and crew also did an amazing job of keeping the filming of the project completely secret, with the filming beginning in November 2018 and Netflix releasing a surprise trailer in August 2019. Needless to say, fans were pleasantly surprised that we would get the next chapter in the story of one of TV’s best characters.
Interestingly, Vince Gilligan and Aaron Paul had once indicated a slight possibility of a sequel to El Camino at some point in the future. Eventually, this idea was nixed as Paul himself said that his appearance in the prequel series Better Call Saul was his farewell to the character Jesse Pinkman. Vince Gilligan has also indicated that he has no plans for any more spin-offs after Better Call Saul.
Although it’s a bit disappointing that we probably won’t ever return to the Breaking Bad universe, it’s completely fair to say that we’ve gotten more than enough quality TV from the franchise to be satisfied. Breaking Bad aired way back in 2008, and Better Call Saul called it a wrap in 2022, so Gilligan and many of the franchise’s actors have been working on the series for well over a decade now. With Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul being two of the best TV shows of all time (even if the Emmys don’t agree on the Better Call Saul front), it would be greedy to expect more.
Plus, you can always rewatch these shows and experience the magic all over again. But if you haven’t checked out El Camino yet and you’re a Breaking Bad fan, you owe it to yourself to watch it. El Camino, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul are available to stream now on Netflix.
