MovieChat Forums > El Camino (2019) Discussion > Pinkman after Heisenberg

Pinkman after Heisenberg

posted 5 years ago by Heisenberg (6730)
13 replies | jump to latest

I wish they explored more how Jesse feels after losing this father figure.

That was the main relationship through the whole series, and now it's gone and he's living with what's left of his life after that. Yet, he only remembers him for "going back to school"....wtf! That's all he got from those years together?

Jesse is lost alright, but it appears he's preoccupied only with running away from justice and recovering from ptsd, rather than dealing with a "whole new world" without todd, uncle fucker, Andrea, away from Brock, without meth and above all with no Walter White.

[–] bohemianroxie (2478) 5 years ago

I mentioned this in another thread...
This is what I missed from the movie.
I suppose we have to imagine that he doesn't have too much time to deal with the aftermath when he's on the run and will have to deal when he's safe in Alaska.

[–] Heisenberg (6730) 5 years ago

I think you are supposing right. But that diminishes this movie a lot, just dealing with minutiae.
Not to mention, digressions are a main staple of BB, so how much would it cost to make a couple of scenes where Jesse is thinking about being done with Walter?

I think he would miss him a lot, not just in a victim/abuser kinda way. He just saved his life too. There's a lot of conflicting emotions here.
Waaay more interesting than the wielding guy anyway...

[–] bohemianroxie (2478) 5 years ago

I know..and I was SO expecting that..
But I accept what we got. I have to..

But I see Vince Gilligan as a pretty sensitive guy and am curious as to why he didn't go into any of that more. I'd love to see an interview that addresses this.
This one thing would've made it complete for me.

[–] AP (5288) 5 years ago

I think we got all the Jesse/Walt closure we needed in the final episode. Some things don’t need to be spelled out.

[–] Boricanator (1443) 5 years ago

I agree. If anything, this show provided us with a much necessary closure that Jesse needed with his parents, friends and lovers.

[–] Heisenberg (6730) 5 years ago

No, not really necessary.
Certainly less than the aftermath of the end of most important relationship in his life, which seems like Jesse just brushed off with as much importance as he finished a crappy videogame.

[–] AP (5288) 5 years ago

What more could be said or done? Jesse already knew Walt was dead at the end of Breaking Bad, he had about 7-8 speeches towards the end of the series about how much he hated Walt, and we know he wanted to escape that life for some time before we saw him driving away while laughing-crying. They even had a silent goodbye to one another before Jesse drove away. This movie had Jesse having one flashback to Walt which reveals he had at least one fond memory of him and that's more than enough.

[–] spurtle467 (1549) 5 years ago

I don't know if it's so much a fond memory. It's Jesse recollecting a memory about himself and Walt talking about his future, and how he now probably regrets that he didn't get to go down that path of going to college or doing something better with his life, given what his life has since become and the things he's endured.

As far as thinking about Walt, I don't think it's something he cares to dwell on anymore due to what it ultimately led to. They made peace at the end, with Jesse giving a respectful nod before driving away, on account of Walt saving his life, but that's as far as it went, and he'd rather put that all behind him. That's why that memory wasn't as much about remembering Walt as it was harbouring regret at what could have been.

[–] AP (5288) 5 years ago

Good points all around.

[–] Ace_Spade (9577) 5 years ago

You're dead right.

I enjoyed the film, but aside from the Western-style climax, I got to the end and thought, "Yeah, that's what I figured happened". The movie didn't give me anything that basically wasn't implied by the arc of the show. Jesse mentions going to Alaska, we see him tearing out of the compound...yeah, I figured he ducked the cops, got a new I.D., and booked it to Alaska.

The movie just gives us details, and while it's a cool film with a neat use of the flashback structure to solve the mysteries, it's hardly revelatory.

But if, as you suggest, they got into "who is Jesse without Walt?" they might have had something much more potent on their hands.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

Yeah that is the key complaint of it; El Camino is basically exactly how you can imagine he made his escape and not much more. Character wise the nod he has with Walter and then gets away is the character arc being completed. The details of 'how' that all played out were not really necessary. I mean it was an entertaining enough movie and I am pretty welcoming to anything the universe of Breaking Bad has to offer; but it does not really add anything to the story or characters.

Yeah, if they wanted to 'flesh' something new about the character they would have to demonstrate and explore his grief and closure with Walt's death. I mean they got Brian Cranson for one flashback scene; why not explore it a little more. They touched on it for a very brief moment in that scene but that was it.

[–] Ace_Spade (9577) 5 years ago

That flashback scene was the best scenes in the film, too, because it was Walt and Jesse. Walt and Jesse were the reason to tune in to Breaking Bad. Their dynamic relationship was dramatic gold.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

Well yeah; it is tough to tell a story about Jesse without it being heavily about Walt as well. They were kind of one story.