Yeah, flashbacks make sense considering both shows have utilized them. On the other hand, they've only ever been used to fill in people's history (Walt's departure from Gray Matter, Gus in the cartel, Jimmy's upbringing and early law career) and I don't see how that can happen here for Jesse while utilizing characters like Walt and Mike in moments that we hadn't already seen but still have some impact on Jesse's life.
Pussy was obviously dead, but the Russian was always a big question mark. It would have been nice to see him come back in the finale and kill Paulie. Walt is also obviously dead. Even if he somehow hadn’t bled out from his bullet wound, the cancer was about to finish him off anyway.
I dunno, it seems to me that if he did somehow make it back to the car and steal it, leaving a blood trail, he would have resurfaced the next episode, not a year later. It wouldn't have made any sense if he both survived and his Russian friend didn't immediately find out and start a war over it. @bigdaddy That's what I mean by 'Ghosts', the same thing as Nate seeing his dad in Six Feet Under and Dexter seeing his dad in Dexter. That's just not a storytelling technique that gets used in this universe, having people imaging talking to dead people. This is a storytelling universe where you see things that are there, really happening, not things imagined by the characters. At least in the first nine seasons of its existence. It's a crutch anyway.
Looks like this is expected at around 8 am. If it were midnight I’d have to cancel my sleep plans for the night.
I rewatched "Felina" this evening and I'm glad I did. I had forgotten about Jesse's dream about building a wooden box in a private workshop, Walt giving Skyler coordinates to the burial site of Hank and Steve, and how Jack tried to bargain his life for the location of the money he stole from Walt. I don't know if any of those will come into play for this film, but I bet the buried money is what Jesse is seen digging up in the trailer.
I'll leave the detailed reviews and spoilers to others, but if you're a die hard BB fan such as myself, I can't imagine you won't enjoy it. Great job.
I've added a poll and a spoilers tag to the thread title, so feel free to talk about the movie openly without any spoiler tags. Even after the announcement that Jesse would get his own post-"Felina" movie, many of us weren't sure if he needed one, preferring Jesse's escape from Jack and his crew and from Walt and his machinations to be left open-ended and to the imagination. But after watching El Camino, I can't imagine a world without it. The film tortured Jesse just a bit more as we all feared, but in the end, he finally found the peace he so richly deserved. The story itself is pretty straight-forward: Jesse's desperate quest to find enough money to pay Ed to help him disappear from the authorities. It's a slowly torturous process for Jesse to achieve his goal, but the film itself never dragged because the film, just like the show before it, has always been primarily about the journey and experiences of the characters. The flashbacks served as reflections on his past and guided towards his future and they helped with the pacing of the film as Jesse kept hitting roadblocks (actually finding Todd's money, the welder crew trying to steal it, not having enough for Ed, etc.). One of my favorite things about the film, just like the series, is how Vince Gilligan trusted his audience to figure things out on their instead of spoon-feeding them about what's going on. Jesse briefly takes back the El Camino keys from Skinny Pete, but we don't realize until later it was Todd's house key. Jesse rips out a yellow page, but we don't find out until later it was so he could track down Ed (I originally thought it was so he could call Old Joe, stupid me). The flashbacks slowly informed us Jesse went to Todd's place. Even though it didn't even need answering, the flashbacks even quietly showed the viewer how Jesse knew there was a gun in the glove compartment at the beginning of the movie. Going in, I knew Gilligan said there would be more than ten characters from the show who would appear, so I wasn't surprised when Todd showed up in a flashback. At first, I thought it would be just a brief flashback and we would only see Jesse Plemons obscured behind the cage. What I didn't expect was such lengthy flashback sequences, Plemons' changed physical appearance be damned. I had forgotten just how dumb and ridiculous Todd was, the way he thought things through, shooting first and considering the repercussions second. He saw the world differently from the rest of us, for better or for worse, and the result was the strange interactions between Todd and his captive Jesse as they cleaned up another of Todd's thoughtless messes. We all hoped and prayed that Bryan Cranston would make a "surprise" appearance in a flashback, so really it was no surprise that we got a lovely glimpse of the early days of the Walt and Jesse partnership (season two, not sure exactly where). Mike's appearance in the opening flashback was also no surprise thanks to Jonathan Banks letting the cat out of the bag a week or two ago. But I was genuinely surprised to see Krysten Ritter show up in a sweet reminiscence of how she saw the world and how that effected Jesse. I half expected another flashback with Andrea at the end but I'm glad we didn't get that, because there were plenty of callbacks to her between the photograph, Jesse mentioning her murder, and the letter to Brock. Of those who returned, Mike, Skinny Pete, Badger, Old Joe, Todd, Mr. & Mrs. Pinkman, Ed, Kenny, Walt, and Jane all made notable appearances, but, according to Wikipedia, agent Ramey, ADA Julie Pearl, and Clarence "Man Mountain" also appeared. The first two only appeared on the television screen so they were easy to miss, although I did recognize Man Mountain, I just couldn't remember where I had see him from. This was the perfect coda for Breaking Bad. While I know we'll get just a little more of the "future" with the Gene flashforwards in Better Call Saul, I'm content that we won't see more of any of these characters again. Now give me season five of Better Call Saul already!
That's exactly how I felt at the end. It was a very satisfying conclusion to Jesse's story and I have no desire to see anything else tacked on. As you say though, we have yet to see how things pan out for Gene... ... soon, I hope!
I haven't finished the movie but when Mike and Jess were talking about starting over in Alaska I went 'Maybe this ends like Dexter, the main character becomes a lumberjack'.
Google. How else would one find out things? I give it 8/10. Great ending for Jesse. A real chance to have a normal non criminal life. It seemed clear to me Walt’s appearance was just after they nearly got stranded in the desert but Walt made a battery out of copper wires and brake pads. I’m glad there were no ghost conversations. Not counting Jane at the end.
Having finished the movie my feelings are 'Meh'. I was fine with Jesses ending in Breaking Bad, I'm fine with it here. But there was so much build up and more build up that the payoff at the end was 'Okay....'. Maybe my standards were too high because it's Breaking Bad but 'Meh' sums up my feelings. I don't hate it, I'm not sorry it was ever made. I don't pretend it never happened (Looking at you Dead Like Me Movie.) It's just there. I do like the fact they said Walt was dead. I was sick of those crazy fans were were like "We don't see him die!!!!!' I will say it was beautifully filmed. I do miss that.
I really wasn't sure what to expect from this going in. It's such a dangerous gamble, revisiting a successful property like this. But this was honestly quite beautiful. First, kudos to Aaron Paul. This was an amazing performance. He did so much acting with just his face, his posture. You really felt every tiny bit of Jesse's pain. I also enjoyed the structure, with the flashbacks. This movie is entirely about what's going on in Jesse Pinkman's head, so it's fitting that so much of it takes place in memory. I find it interesting how similar Jesse's journey is to Walt's, in the end. Deciding to take charge of your life, to deal with whatever it brings your way. For better or worse. It ends in a much better place for Jesse than it did for Walt, obviously. I think this was a just about perfect ending.
I’m stoked Jesse not only escaped, he did it plausibly. I think my favorite part of the movie is Todd’s performance. He’s such a unique villain. He fits friendliness and psychopathy together in every gesture. He honestly thinks he’s being a friend. And murdering innocent people when he needs to, well, that’s just how things go. He freaking kept the spider from the child he murdered as a pet! That was Drew Sharp’s tarantula! And that was probably his version of “Doing him right”! Just like he wanted to bury his housekeeper in a nice place, he was taking care of that spider as a favor to Drew.
One thing I forgot to mention before: I love how Badger and Skinny Pete gave Jesse the money Walt had given them to use laser pointers at the Schwartzs, which in turn was given to Ed. In another small way, Walt helped Jesse escape. Ah, right, of course. Like I've said before, I need to rewatch the whole series! Well, not really. That was just another flashback that Jesse reflected on like he had been doing the whole movie. Oh, damn, I completely missed that connection. Nice catch. Agreed on the weirdness of Todd's villainy. Part of that is Jesse Plemons' performance but also the writing. Like I said in my review, he see's the world differently from the rest of us and the result is strange interactions with Jesse.