Netflix Crime Thriller Ends Fan-Favorite Character With Western Flare
If you’re a fan of the hit AMC original series Breaking Bad, you likely recall your first time watching the show’s thrilling finale and being satisfied with nearly every characters’ climactic ending. Of course, no finale can be 100 percent perfect, and Breaking Bad is no exception, as the fate of Walter White’s protege Jesse Pinkman was left hanging in the air. After more than 5 years of waiting, fans were finally given proper closure on the character, as the spinoff film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie reveals the final outcome for Jesse Pinkman.
El Camino
El Camino premiered in 2019 as a Netflix original production, and is still available to watch on the popular streaming service today. The film was first announced while Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan was hard at work on the prequel series Better Call Saul, and premiered during the break between seasons 4 and 5 of the hit series.
Unlike the prequel, which centers on the character of Saul Goodman before the events of Breaking Bad, El Camino follows Jesse Pinkman’s journey after the credits rolled on the hit series, showcasing his tumultuous journey from a meth cooking slave for a gang of neo Nazis, to a fully independent man on the run from the police.
Vince Gilligan
Vince Gilligan wrote and directed the film himself in his feature length directorial debut. As it currently stands, El Camino is Gilligan’s only foray into feature film territory, as his entire career has been focused on television dramas.
Gilligan originally intended for the project to be a 20 minute short film, though he ultimately felt that the character of Jesse Pinkman needed a big send-off, resulting in the 2 hour long film we know and love today.
The Cast
Aaron Paul reprised his role in El Camino as Jesse Pinkman, alongside a host of Breaking Bad alumnus such as Jonathan Banks, Matt Jones, Charles Baker, Larry Hankin, Jesse Plemons, Bryan Cranston, and Robert Forster, in one of his final film roles before his untimely passing.
The film has been critiqued for containing too much fan service and offering too many tidy flashback sequences which trot fan-favorite characters back onto the screen for their final bow, though this critique sort of misses the point of the film entirely.
El Camino Is A Great Wrap Up
As a self-described Breaking Bad super-fan, I feel that El Camino perfectly wraps up the story of Jesse Pinkman, and closes the loop on the Breaking Bad universe, second only to the final episode of Better Call Saul, which provides even more closure to the now nearly two-decade old series.
While there are a few unavoidable inconsistencies with the final product of the film, such as the fluctuating weight and visible age of a few characters, I think El Camino is nearly perfect.
Stream It Now
GFR SCORE
If you’re a Breaking Bad fan and you still haven’t seen Jesse Pinkman’s last hoorah, you need to do yourself a favor and stream El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie on Netflix today. The film marks the final chronological time that we see Jesse Pinkman on screen, closing the chapter on the fan-favorite character for good.
