Earlier this week, Netflix released a sequel to the popular series, "Breaking Bad." This movie is a must-see for any “Breaking Bad" aficionado. The movie picks up at the last scene of “Breaking Bad." Jesse is scrambling to break free from the prison he had been living in while running away to avoid the police. I like Jesse's character, but it's sometimes difficult to watch him. When Walt began the criminal life, he realized that killing would be part of the game and that survival was key.
Jesse is a different breed, which makes him likable but keeps viewers on our toes. Unlike Walt, Jesse was never a killer. He did so out of necessity, but with much hesitation. At one point in the movie, when Jesse was imprisoned, he had the chance to kill Toby. I wanted him to pull the trigger so badly, but I knew it just wasn't in his nature. I gotta say, this was probably why Jesse was my favorite character, but I can't count the number of times I screamed at him through the television screen.
The movie begins with a flashback before Mike was killed. There is a discussion between Mike and Jesse. Jesse asks Mike an important question (which will reintroduce itself at the end of the movie). Jesse asks Mike where he would go if he was young again like Jesse and what he would do with all that money. "Alaska," Mike responds, "... if I was your age starting fresh, Alaska, the last frontier." Jesse must make the huge decision of either starting over or turning himself into the police. For a man that has been held in captivity for nine months, I had secretly hoped that Jesse would get away from the police and start a new life.
The movie then reverses back to real-time when Jesse attempted to escape police immediately proceeding his escape from captivity. Jesse is unkempt and unshaven. The cuts on his face make him hardly unrecognizable. I couldn't help but feel awful for the trauma that Jesse was forced to endure. He has developed post-traumatic stress disorder from his time living in captivity.
All hell breaks loose when Jesse and his friends find that the car had an activated tracker: the police were on their way and Jesse had to flee immediately. Jesse deserves his freedom, which was why I was on the edge of my seat the whole movie awaiting the moment when Jesse would finally get out of town and flee his past life in Albuquerque.
The movie included many flashbacks of Jesse's time in captivity and some time he has spent with Toby.
We already hate Toby from his nonchalant psychopathic tendencies. As shown in the flashback, Toby casually mentions to Jesse that he has a body he needs to dispose of. Toby killed his housekeeper for finding a huge stash of cash hidden in his Encyclopedia. Instead of offering her money, Toby thought it would be more economically advantageous if he killed her to spare himself. He then forces Jesse to drive in the back of the trunk with the dead body and dig a hole for her in the desert. Right when we thought we couldn't hate Toby more, we find that he took the spider from the chid he viciously killed, Toby's use of keeping a spider in the room as "trophy" shows his severe psychopathic tendencies.
Jesse finds the money.
While with Toby, it is revealed that he has a large sum of money hidden somewhere in his apartment. Jesse stealthily finds his way into Toby's apartment, moving the police caution sign out of his way. Now, if anyone could use this money, it's Jesse. The kid has been stuck in captivity acting as a meth-cooking slave for nine months. Jesse checks the pipes and every crevice of the wall without success. Right as Jesse is about to give up, he bangs his head on the fridge and hears a shaking noise. Alas, the location of the cash has been revealed to him. Although, through this pursuit, Jesse lost his gun and only regained a third of the cash found in the apartment. However, this issue resolves itself later in the movie when Jesse has an epic "Wild West" showdown. Jesse cleverly hid his more powerful gun in his jacket and shot him with that, revealing that Jesse is the greatest of all time.
My favorite part of "El Camino" may be the exclusive flashbacks that haven't been shown in the original series, "Breaking Bad."
There was a part at the end of the movie that everyone had hoped for. That was the much-needed scene with Walt and Jesse in a hotel, then at the Owl Cafe. This was back when Walt was still alive and they were making high revenues from their neighborhood sales, but Walt insisted they could do better. This is the part in the original series that every viewer was screaming at them to quit while they were ahead. Fortunately for the viewers, overconfident Walt decided they needed to sell their supply quickly which was the pivoting point in the series. During this scene, Walt admits that his life has been uneventful until he started dealing with Jesse. "You didn't have to wait your whole life to do something special," the last quote we hear from Walter White. For the sake of all "Breaking Bad" fans, I would like to thank the producers of "El Camino" for quenching this thirst. The viewers NEEDED that last scene as closure for the series. Finally, the series comes around full-circle.
Alas, the moment we were waiting for since Jesse escaped the hell hole he had been enslaved in for almost a year. This brings us back to the theme of the opening scene: Mike and Jesse's conversation. Jesse has a new name, identity, backstory, and social security number. "This is Alaska," exclaims Jesse upon arrival. What a great way to end the series, in the quietly beautiful Alaska. A place of new beginnings.
If you watched "Breaking Bad," I would HIGHLY recommend "El Camino." This movie does a great job of continuing the series.
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