El Camino - a review.

    El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is a 2019 American Crime Thriller film that serves as an epilogue and sequel to the television series Breaking Bad. It continues the story of Jesse Pinkman, a former High School student who partners with his Chemistry teacher to make meth for a living and to pay debt. This post will have Breaking Bad and El Camino spoilers.

Jesse in a sorry state, driving to freedom after being enslaved for a year and traumatized daily.
He is shown to be crying and laughing in this scene in relief.

   

    The film is set during the last 10 minutes of "Felina" (S5E14) of Breaking Bad and after the episode, it begins however with a flashback set in S5E5. Right after the train robbery, Mike Ehrmantraut and Jesse Pinkman are standing by a river discussing their plan to leave the Meth business for good. The topic shifts and Jesse asks Mike where he would go if he were to relive his life and begin over, Mike says he'd go to Alaska. This moment is a crucial one because it influences a big choice that Jesse will make later in the show.

    Jesse is shown to display signs of PTSD throughout the film, he is anxious and a completely different person altogether in comparison to when he was in High School. He has several scars on his face and rarely talks, symptoms such as flashbacks and severe anxiety, in addition to emotional numbness and behavioral change. This affects him greatly and it makes him stand out at the same time throughout the film.

    Throughout the film, Jesse's prime goal and motive is to get out of Albuquerque, he does so through Ed, a vaccum cleaner repairman and store owner who gives a service offering people (mostly fugitives) a new identity and new life. He refuses Jesse at first, primarily because Jesse is "Hot" in the way that he is a wanted secondary criminal in the biggest case of Meth trafficking in American History. Secondly because in Season 5 of Breaking Bad, Jesse asked for Ed's services once but stood him up and Ed's policy for that is that he does not accept a second chance with his clients if they wasted his first chance. However, Jesse begged Ed and Ed eventually agreed to let Jesse make use of his service in the condition that Jesse pays the first payment for which he got stood up and for the current payment.

    Jesse is short of $125,000 at first, he doesn't know where to get that money but he gets an idea. He goes to Todd Alquist's (now abandoned) Apartment, he finds two cops there who turn out to not be cops, but instead - people seeking to steal Todd's money. They let him free because they would not be able to find the money, as only Jesse knows where it's hidden. In this scene we see several flashbacks showing moments between Jesse and Jack Welker's gang, most of these moments highlight the misery and trauma that they caused to Jesse and the mistreatment he was given. The imagery emphasizes the horrible experience, not to mention that the ragged look on Jesse in a state that cannot be more miserable and sorry than it already is is the best part in my opinion. After the two men set Jesse free, one of them agrees to letting Jesse take 1/3 of it.

    Jesse again goes to Ed and finds out he is short of $1,800 now. His calculations were right because he originally planned to take at least half of the money which would be enough, but the man only let him take a third of the money which made him fall short of the required amount. He goes to his parents' house and deceives them into going out of the house to look for him while he breaks in and takes a gun then leaves. After that, he goes to the men he met at Todd's apartment and he sees that they're high with some friends. He asks simply for $1,800 of the money and after the others argue asking why Jesse was given that money in the first place. The man who gave Jesse the money (who appears to be drunk) challenges Jesse to a duel ("Like the Wild West" as Jesse asked.) and Jesse accepts the duel, knowing he will win. Jesse easily wins the duel and the other man who was with them in Todd's apartment tries firing on Jesse, Jesse kills him in self defence and orders the others in the room to give him their driving licenses and leave without saying a word to anyone.

    Jesse, now with an adequate amount of money to pay for both the first and second payments, he is now able to go to Ed and pay for the clandestine Identity Change service. He proceeds to pay for the service and he is now free, he moves to Alaska and is now able to start a new life. Alaska has been his choice since the beginning flashback scene and it's influence on the film shows in the ending. He drives off to his new home after being transported by Ed. In this scene we see a flashback scene of a younger Jesse driving with his late girlfriend, Jane. They talk about a philosophy Jane mentioned once. He is finally, for once, truly happy.

    Overall, El Camino has been a wonderful film, it serves as an epilogue that in my opinion, completes Breaking Bad and is like "the final piece of the puzzle", it has been a great experience watching this film and it truly is a relief knowing that in the end, Jesse - a character that although heg was seen as an immature junkie at first by most fans, turned out to be a caring and the good (even if flawed) in the series. He has been the least greedy and morally bad major character and this epilogue shows us Jesse in a new light, as we follow with him to his freedom and happiness.