Finally got around to Breaking Bad, which surprised me in being just as good, if not better, than people say it is, and naturally before diving into Better Call Saul, it’s El Camino time. I felt really satisfied by the finale of BB so there was huge risk that this turned out to feel unnecessary and ham-fisted, but it actually ended up serving as a great epilogue. Really good to have the focus shift to Jesse and really put Aaron Paul’s incredible performance into the forefront. That’s what really carries El Camino for me. The film really carries this early Tarantino feeling to it, which works perfectly, and while being less tense than the final few episodes of BB, it’s a truly intriguing unravelling of Jesse as a fugitive desperately trying to find a way out that really kept me gripped throughout, despite really being nothing more than a footnote. While there’s a few missed opportunities here and there, I ended up coming away from this finding it a really strong final wrap-up of this section of the Breaking Bad story, even though it is completely inessential. That could vary after I go through Better Call Saul, but I also think it’s important to look at this almost as if it’s a standalone film, which despite *needing *the context of Breaking Bad, particularly the final half season, it can works to look at it that way. With the BB finale having to centre on Walt, it does skip over Jesse’s ending slightly, not in a way that impacts the show, but makes this worth existing, though I would say this is just slightly overly long to feel like it seamlessly fits with what came before. This probably sounds like I liked it less than I did, I really liked it a lot, it’s just difficult to separate it from how good the ending already was. Jesse driving away in the car screaming is such a strangely therapeutic ending, and this kinda wraps up with you feeling the same about his character and adds nothing truly new, but it’s written and directed well-enough and keeps you holding on to wanting Jesse to get clear that it still absolutely worked for me. Also, now Breaking Bad technically ends with an Aimee Mann song, just like all the best tension-filled dramas featuring a drug addict who has a difficult relationship with their parents.
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