“El Camino- A Breaking Bad Movie” From Creator Vince Gilligan*

Some people were predisposed to love it no matter how bad it might've been. And while I liked it more than you, I generally agree with your observations. It felt low-stakes and it meandered too much, especially in the too-long flashbacks with Todd. Maybe if it was cut to 90 minutes it would've been better. Still, an OK evening at home.

 

Aaron Paul said it was cut down from 3 hours. For those of us who are curious, I would guess the 3 hour cut would be part of a dvd or blu-ray package.

Also Gilligan's original ending had Jesse caught and winding up in jail.

 

i've felt that episodes of BB tended to be better when it wasn't vince flying solo as the writer or in the director's chair.

 

I have read that it will air on AMC but not until early 2020, possibly due to the deal with Netflix.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie: Everything to Know About Jesse Pinkman's Return | TV Guide

 

I thought it was much ado about nothing and added little of interest to the BB saga. The Jesse as portrayed here doesn't really fit well with the character we know from the series either. It was a decent episode though. Yes, the Todd scenes were a bit overlong.

 

Man, that would've really ticked off a good chunk of the fan base.

 

It will eventually air on AMC but no date has been given (according to AMC's website it just says it will be aired at a later date).

 

a fine opinion all around....not everyone agrees with you obviously. so we get to enjoy a continuation of a story many wanted to see.

 

not in the forseeable future. DVD release MAYBE for Christmas but don't hold your breath

 

what do you base the statement that Jesse is different here than in the series? he may have matured and been changed some by months in captivity and the joy of newfound freedom but he's still Jesse Pinkman.

 

I'm hoping for an extended version with 20 extra minutes of Todd talking to Jesse about making bean soup.

 

I didn't see it that way.

 

I agree with most of this. It seems like many fans have convinced themselves that Jesse was the good guy (as opposed to Walt being the bad guy), and that he deserved a true happy ending. Don't get me wrong, I would have hated seeing him in prison after spending 6+ months locked up by Todd and enduring what he did, and I think being set free by Walt at the end of BB was a good enough happy ending; we didn't really need more, but it is what it is. His "happy ending" still is pretty ambiguous since, for all we know, he could be miserable in Alaska.

Sidebar: while Jesse was clearly devastated by what he had done after the fact, his murder of Gale was truly awful. Some would say, "Walt made him do it," but I reject that; it was self-preservation as much as anything. Throw in how conflicted he felt after Todd murdered the kid with the spider, and it's easy to see why many fans like Jesse. He was the bad guy with a conscience and a heart...but still a bad guy.

 

Man, that was boring and uneventful. I think Vince has lost his touch a bit. This was like the "Better call Saul" version of Breaking Bad.

 

Some would argue that everything we do, good, bad or indifferent is all based on self-preservation. It's what makes us wholly human and wholly animals.

 

...but you know, for those who didn't like the film, I mean, I think that's really cool.

I don't think the film tarnished nor enhances Breaking Bad.

I've always felt that the most perfect epilogues in a book are the ones that stand alone. You don't have to read them, otherwise it would have been in the book, proper.

When Breaking Bad ended Vince Gilligan was asked what happened to Jesse. Vince replied something along the lines of, "I think he was probably caught by the cops and ended up in jail, which is probably good for Jesse to purge his guilty soul of all his wrongdoing." I'm paraphrasing here. That would make sense given Jesse's guilty conscience. He needed to atone himself unto himself.

As-is, however, we have this film, and since it's a world of fiction we have a choice to believe it, just as we choose to believe that you can dissolve a body in a tub of hydrofluoric acid.

 

I like "Better Call Saul" as much as Breaking Bad. It's different, not some light version of Breaking Bad.

This epilogue felt too long and too trivial compared to the show.

 

this article contains spoilers for El Camino!!!!!!! interesting theory on a El Camino/Better Call Saul connection. pure Vince Gilligan genius.
El Camino Teases A Sad Ending To Better Call Saul

 

I give El Camino a 7.5/10, the wife gave it barely a 6/10. It would have made two really good BB episodes at 47 minutes each.

 

Thin gruel that, I don't buy the theory at all. I think it's unlikely that Saul/Gene is already dead by the time of Jesse's escape. And if he was, wouldn't that be of huge professional concern to Ed, who set Saul up with a new life only for him to be found and killed shortly after? (I've forgotten exactly when in the BB timeline Saul leaves.) If that had happened I think Ed would more likely have told Jesse something like 'I'm no longer in that business, I helped your lawyer and he's dead now!' Or at least something less vague than 'he made his own luck' which to me simply refers to Saul having had to abandon his life for a new identity.

 

As reported by Deadline, “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” drew an average-minute audience rating of 6.5 million in its first three days, which totals out to around 8.2 million U.S. viewers over its opening weekend. While Netflix is traditionally tight-lipped about its viewership numbers and what they mean, this certainly has to be seen as a success for the Aaron Paul-led, Vince Gilligan-directed follow-up film to AMC’s “Breaking Bad” — especially on top of the established critical success of the film.

According to Nielsen’s SVOD Content Ratings service, “El Camino’s” average minute audience during its opening weekend was 6.5 million viewers, with 2.6 million of those viewers (its biggest audience) coming on its October 11 release date. Over those first three days, 36 percent of the average minute audience were also young adults in the 18-34 demographic. For perspective, “Breaking Bad” the television series didn’t hit the 5 million viewer mark until the second half of its fifth and final season, where its premiere (“Blood Money”) hit 5.92 million viewers and average viewership (for Adults 18-49, in Live +3 viewings) was 5.484 million viewers.

 

It's not at all surprising that a large, established fanbase of viewers would have tuned in to see a new BB installment...

 

Same time as Walt. They share Ed's basement in "Granite State." Saul leaves slightly before Walt.

 

Jesse looks for and finds some money for 2 hours. So disappointing.

 

I don’t really agree but certainly Jesse searching Todd’s apartment felt a lot like one of the endless “Mike makes something” sequences in BCS.