“And whatever happened
with me, it’s on me.” The Breaking Bad finale
tied up many loose ends yet it left viewers with
one big question... What would happen
to Jesse Pinkman? Sure, he lived
and drove away, but would he
really be okay? [Laughing] In El Camino, Netflix’s
Breaking Bad movie, we get a feature-length answer. Back in 2013, when
the final episode aired, show creator Vince
Gilligan said that while it was up to viewers to
interpret the character’s fate, personally he hoped
Jesse would manage to evade the police
and end up alright “I think he rated
a happy ending.” He said, “The romantic in me
wants to believe that he gets away with it
and moves to Alaska and has a peaceful life
communing with nature.” In this cinematic
epilogue to the show, Gilligan delivers
on his own hopes. This is the journey of how
Jesse gets to Alaska. And it’s a journey that
takes place primarily within, as Mr. Pinkman grapples
with the ghosts of his past. “All that you’ve done -
it’s a part of you.” The movie’s title, El Camino,
has a double meaning. It’s both the literal getaway
car Jesse drives off in, and Spanish for “the
road” or “the way.” What we’re watching here
is Jesse’s road to freedom, his escape route
from a toxic past that’s been dragging
him down and controlling him for as long as
we’ve known him, which is to say,
for as long as he’s been in partnership
with Walter White. “Can you just, uh, stop
working me for, like, ten seconds straight? Stop jerking me around?” El Camino ends
with Jesse driving, just as the finale left him,
but the man at the wheel is transformed. The frenzied, hysterical,
hunted animal has become the determined, clear-eyed
man in control of his destiny, headed towards peace,
even if there’s still a long road ahead of him. Here’s our Take on the deeper
meaning of El Camino and how the ever-underestimated Jesse
Pinkman sets himself free. This video is brought
to you by MUBI. A curated streaming
service showing exceptional films from
around the globe. It’s like your own personal
film festival streaming anytime,
anywhere. “The past is the past.” The only way toward a fresh,
new future is through the dirty, painful past. Just as Gilligan and
the cast are re-entering a story that’s a part of
our collective history, El Camino is an exercise
in looking back. It’s a study of PTSD
and whether a person who’s suffered intense trauma
can truly begin again. “You're safe it's us” The film begins in a flashback, and the person Jesse’s thinking
of here, is of course, Walter. “You know he's not
gonna be happy.” “No, I suspect he won't.” Jesse is telling Mike of his
decision to walk away from the business “I'm out.” which he tries to do in
Season 5 Episode 6, “Buyout” “I'm out too.” “You're what?” In this scene, he
fears, correctly, that Walt won’t let him. “I’m done.” “No you’re not,
you’re not done.” And we know how
that turned out. As Jesse revisits this memory
of a time when his resolve wasn’t strong enough
to escape Walt’s orbit, he’s, for the first
time, truly out. He’s leaving the scene
of Walter’s death having at last refused to do
what Walter wanted him to do, [Shouting]
“Say you want this!” [Whispering]
“I want this.” “Then do it yourself.” and received his
blessing to leave. But as the title emphasizes,
he has a long road ahead, and to go the distance,
he must make peace with a series of phantoms
who are haunting him. First is Mike Ehrmantraut,
the kind, civilized criminal who had a soft spot for
the kid and wanted the best for him. The scene takes place
in a spot that looks very similar to where
Walt killed Mike, so the eerie-feeling
location is reminding us of the tragic fate Mike
met while trying to get away. This conversation plants in
Jesse the idea of where to go. “If I were your age,
starting fresh - Alaska.” We’ve heard him talk
about Alaska before, “What about...Alaska?” but now we know this idea
was a gift to Jesse from Mike. The flashback helps Jesse
set a destination for himself, which is both the literal place
of Alaska and the emotional goal of “starting fresh.” “Start over,
start fresh.” “One could.” The next ghost is Jesse’s
captor and abuser, Todd Alquist. As we’ve talked about, Todd
is a dark mirror figure of Jesse. Both are young blond
guys who worked for Walter. Both even fall for a brunette
woman Walter kills or lets die. “Texas authorities investigating
the poisoning of a Houston woman are looking into her
possible connection to Walter White's
criminal organization.” But while Jesse
is sweet-hearted, deeply feeling, and always
tries to protect the vulnerable, especially kids, “A threat? The kid
was waving at us.” Todd is vacant, unfeeling, and
rushes to kill the innocent, including kids,
as a precaution. “What did she do to you?” “What? Oh, she didn't
do anything to me.” Todd feels no remorse, “Shit happens, huh?” Jesse feels constant remorse. “So, no matter what I do,
hooray for me because I'm a great guy? No
matter how many dogs I kill, I just what, do
an inventory and accept?” Todd’s prominence in
the film underlines that Jesse must escape
his dark alter ego. And this means both that
1) he’s not defeated by Todd’s evil and 2) he
doesn’t become it. When the action begins,
Jesse has just killed his tormentor but that
doesn’t mean he’s mentally free of
the sociopath. He’s driving Todd’s car,
the very car in the film’s title. "First, I gotta get
rid of that car" And after getting rid of it, he
goes to Todd's apartment. So he’s inhabiting his
former captor’s spaces. In the flashbacks we see
how much Jesse has suffered in these spaces. He’s forced to lie
down in the car, then help dispose of the body
of an innocent woman, and even lie next to her
corpse on the drive. Todd keeps Jesse docile
with the threat of harming his former girlfriend
Andrea’s son Brock. "If you tried to,
you know, escape, I'm gonna have to
visit the little boy. It’ll basically be out
of my hands.” And Todd seems to relish
the excursion as a way of rubbing in that he knows
Jesse won't try anything. He’s Todd’s well-trained,
obedient pet. “I’m gonna do a better job of
keeping you clean from now on.” Making Jesse lie next
to the dead body is another control tactic,
sending the message that Jesse, too,
is already dead. Back in the present,
Jesse fears that he’s been broken by Todd. When he sees the scared,
animalistic creature he's become in the mirror
at Skinny Pete’s, he can’t stand this sight,
so he shaves off all his hair despite Skinny’s advice
to remain less recognizable. The key moment in
the flashbacks with Todd comes when
Jesse finds a gun, but lets Todd talk him out
of his chance at freedom. “On the way home, I was
gonna get us some pizza.” It’s a moment that
underlines Todd’s terrible genius for
psychological control. “Cause you earned it
today. You definitely did. What kind of pizza
do you like, Jesse?” And it's clear his terror
and manipulation tactics have damaged Jesse far
more than the physical torture. Jesse re-lives this moment
of surrender with Neil and Casey, two criminals he believes
to be police officers searching Todd’s apartment. “You two aren't cops.” This plot fleshes out a line
of thought we’ve seen before in Jesse’s narrative:
the idea that his morality and goodness are liabilities
in a Breaking Bad world. "He poisoned a little kid. An eight-year-old boy. Just because, you
know, just as a move!” Jesse really doesn’t want to
hurt another innocent person. “I’m not cop killer” If you have a gun but it’s
clear you don’t want to use it, that weapon doesn’t
give you any power. “I don't wanna
shoot any cops.” “Yeah, you don't
wanna shoot any cops. Great, fantastic.” When Jesse gives up
his gun this second time, he feels the trauma and
shame that Todd ingrained into him come flooding
back, as he despairs that he’s given up another
chance to fight for himself. But after Jesse realizes
the two men aren’t cops, he’s daring and bold. “I will shoot you.” “Then do it already. If I don't get this money, I am dead anyway.” He seizes on
an opportunity for a way out. “Well I know where it is. And I guran-[Bleep]-tee you won’t find
It on your own.” and stands his ground,
calling Neil’s bluff, just as Neil
called his. “If you pull that trigger,
then you are gonna have to kill that loudmouth
down the hall and every other witness in the place. Then you will be
as f-[Bleep] as I am.” So it wasn’t fear or
cowardice holding Jesse back from
using his gun, but the regard for innocent
life that’s always defined him. And while this might
appear like weakness to the cynical criminals
of Walter White's world, this core virtue Jesse
has somehow retained means he’s the only one
among this group who still has a chance of
getting spiritually free. Walter takes it for granted
that they’ve both sealed their fates in hell. “If you believe that
there's a hell, we're already pretty much
going there, right?” Yet while that’s
true of him, he’s wrong to write
off Jesse’s soul. El Camino watches Jesse
restore his sense of self by finding a way
to get free without compromising
his core morals. As a dark alter ego,
Todd is a manifestation of that worst possible
self Jesse fears he is. He must reckon with
his past as a person who has killed,
and hurt people, and contributed to
a drug trade that fuels people’s misery. “You run from things
or you face them, Mr. White. I accept who I am.” “And who are you? “I’m the bad guy.” At this point,
Jesse appears to the world to be
indistinguishable from a Todd. He’s a wanted man
with his face all over the news, being blamed
for unspeakable acts. When Jesse tears apart
Todd’s apartment trying to figure out where
his money’s hidden, it’s like he’s trying to get
in the head of his evil twin. But Jesse proves that
he’s not a Todd in any way. The difference in their
natures is illustrated in two separate uses
of bugs in the film. Todd’s pet tarantula
is a callback to the pet he stole from the boy
he pointlessly killed in “Dead Freight,” and it echoes his creepy,
inhuman, dangerous nature. Meanwhile, we
get a moment of Jesse not hurting
a defenseless beetle, which calls back to
the scene in “Peekaboo” when Jesse is fascinated
by a beetle, before it’s crushed by Skinny Pete. The moments underline his
gentle treatment of creatures others just discard,
and if you compare Jesse to that vulnerable
little creature, this beetle he’s now lifted up could
represent that he’s now going to make it out okay. Todd’s apartment has
a couple other Easter Eggs, as Todd’s own line tells us. “I was thinking
of Easter eggs.” We see a Vamonos Pest
shirt, and a snow globe with little figures of
Todd and his crush Lydia. We also might notice that
Jesse’s way of killing Todd, strangling him,
is a just retribution for Todd’s killing of
an innocent here. "Gonna need this.” Finally, almost an hour
and 45 minutes into the film, Jesse is visited by the ghost
we’ve all been waiting for. The flashback with Walter
takes place after the pair’s mega-cook in the Season
Two episode “4 Days Out,” which actor Aaron Paul has
called his favorite episode. We hear Jesse on the phone,
presumably to Jane. “Do you miss me?” This scene resurrects that
old Jesse of early days, “Yeah science!" “Gatorade me bitch!” as clearly signaled
by the one “bitch” he drops in the whole film, “Yeah bitch!” Reverting to this original
Walt-and-Jesse rapport is enjoyable, familiar,
indulging a nostalgia for viewers. “Pineapple's good for
you. It's got bromine.” “Bromelain. But, close. Actually, it's
not close at all.” Yet it feels remote,
separated from this story by an impenetrable
layer of time. And this former Jesse, “This is my own
private domicile and I will not
be harrassed. Bitch!” is dead. This is highlighted early
in the film when we cut from Jesse’s tense scene
evading the cops, to a similar visual of
the video game his friends Skinny Pete
and Badger are playing. “You couldn't drive
a two button elevator” “You couldn't
drive Miss Daisy. You couldn't drive
Thelma and Louise off of that cliff.” Jesse shows up into this
light-hearted vignette of the kind of night he
used to be right at home in, but he’s unrecognizable. “Dude you lost?” “Jesse?” When Walt says his most
significant line in the film: “You’re really lucky you
know that. That you didn't have to wait your whole
life to do something special.” the visual here subtly
evokes the opening shot when Jesse was
thinking of Walt. And the line tells us
everything about Walter’s distorted view of
what matters in life. He took Jesse’s
future from him, before the kid had
even really grown up, and left him scarred
and traumatized. Yet he really believes
that he gave his protegee something --
greatness. Specialness. When he asks: “After this what then? “Mmm.” “What about college?” given all that’s
happened since, Jesse going to college
really is impossible, and that’s thanks to Walt. At the Owl Cafe,
Walter believes he’s going to die soon. “Your family is gonna
get every dime they got coming to
them, Mr. White. No matter how
long it takes.” It’s only at the end
Of “4 Days Out” that he finds out his
cancer’s in remission. “Just when I try to get out,
they pump him back in.” The scene between
these two raises the spectre of what
might have been if Walter’s sickness had
taken him at this point, Jesse would have
retained his innocence, maybe even gone to college
and had a future with Jane. “What would you
study, you think, eh? What interests you?” “Sports Medicine?” So this film isn’t just
about Jesse’s PTSD from Todd’s abuse,
because really, his period of trauma
began with Walter, his original captor. “Just tell me you don't
give a shit about me, and it's either this–
it's either this or you'll kill me the same
way you killed Mike.” When Walter utters
this final line, “You’re really lucky,
You know that?” it seems to represent
Jesse at last fully understanding what Walt
took from him and making his peace with who
Walter really was. After this he disappears
from the story, so we might say Jesse is free
of his ghost. The running theme about
Jesse in Breaking Bad is that he’s constantly
underestimated. “Go to Mexico and screw
up like l know you will.” Old Joe reminds us of
this when he calls back to a memorable time
Jesse came through with a clever idea "Magnets!" “Yeah. That was
a good one.” “Yeah, bitch! Magnets!” [Shouting] “Orr
what about a magnet?” “What magnet? What about it?” after being ignored
and discounted. In El Camino,
again we see Walter unthinkingly
disparaging the kid. “First step, get your GED
that’s not a problem.” “What do I need a GED
for? I got my diploma.” “I totally graduated
high school dick.” But people are wrong
to write Jesse off. “And then we’re gonna
clean up every possible source of contamination. And only then, we cook.” By El Camino, the character
finally gets that others’ tendency to overlook
his value can be a gift. “Where'd you get that thing?” “I think it was
my grandfather's.” “Oh, well, it's adorable.” Here he uses it
to his advantage. “Your .22...
against my .45?” After Jesse leaves
Todd’s apartment with a third of the money,
he sees Neil’s truck and realizes they have history. “I was wondering when you
were gonna remember me.” He shows up at Kandy
Welding Company with a plan in place that’s
downright Heisenbergian in its strategy. The set-up might remind us
of Walt’s massacre of Jax. He walks in alone,
unphased by being outrageously outnumbered. He plays on his target’s
hubris while hiding something up his sleeve, or in
Jesse’s case, in his pocket. But the fine line that
El Camino walks is showing Jesse take concrete,
logical steps to assure his future, without turning him into
a by-any-means-necessary Heisenberg. He sets clear above-board
terms with Neil, “Winner takes all.” and he shoots Casey
when Casey goes for him. These are bad guys
who chose their fate. The plot centers on Jesse’s
quest to buy his freedom. In contrast to Walt’s insatiable
greed for more money, and an empire and legacy
to leave behind, Jesse doesn’t actually
want any more money than it takes to purchase
his travel from his past to a new start. “Why not an even two grand? You know, nice round number.” “$1,800 is all I need.” His interactions with
Ed Galbraith, the guy who disappears people,
involve Ed being a stickler when Jesse is just shy of
the amount he needs. “What are you doing?” “I’m gathering your
Belongings" “ No, no, no/” “You are going to jack me
up over a measly 1800?” This part of the film underlines
that becoming a true adult -- and the new person
Jesse wants to be -- requires firm rules
and sticking to them. “A deal's a deal. Your
word is your bond.” “It is.” The Breaking Bad finale
emphasized the show’s Western elements, “I gave it to the two
of the best hitmen West of the Mississippi.” even echoing The Searchers
in the plot of Walt impulsively deciding to save Jesse. “Let’s go home, Debbie.” In El Camino, the Western
nature of Breaking Bad is even more apparent. We get a literal Wild
West-style shoot-out, “Like the Wild West?” “Yeah, like the Wild West.” complete with the close-ups
on the eyes straight out of The Good, The Bad
and the Ugly… And we get the plot
of the outlaw trying to outrun the law
and escape town, “But you're still
nothing but two-bit outlaws on the dodge.” while hoping to redeem
himself for past sins. Like in the rest
of the show, the Western spirit ties
into Breaking Bad’s emphasis on living large,
evading the law, and the individual’s
responsibility for himself. “The trouble with Walt…” and this is a fatal
flaw on his part, he’s a guy who doesn’t
take responsibility for his actions.” But unlike the rest
of Breaking Bad, this isn’t a story
about going bad. For once it’s about
character turning things around
and making good. Also like in a classic Western,
we see the drive to move farther away from civilization, to
chase that final frontier “It's the last frontier.” where a person can escape
a messy past and the confines of society to get
a second chance. “Up there, you could
be anything you want.” As he drives off to Alaska,
Jesse imagines his love, Jane, next to him. “Going where the universe
takes you. Right on. I think it's a cool
philosophy.” “I was being metaphorically
it's a terrible philosophy.” We saw this scene of the couple
going to the Georgia O’Keefe museum in season 3,
Episode 11, when it was already a flashback. “That O'Keeffe lady kept
trying over and over until that stupid door was perfect.” “No. That door was her
home, and she loved it.” “To me, that's about
making that feeling last.” And this final ghost, the symbol
of the true love that was destroyed by the bad life that
pulled him under, clarifies the biggest
lesson he’s learned. “I’ve gone where the universe
takes me my whole life. It's better to make those
decisions for yourself.” Todd also understood this, “You know what
Uncle Jack says, ‘Life is what
you make it.’” And Mike told
him this, too: “Only you can decide what's
best for you, Jesse.” So throughout these
flashbacks, Jesse has been subtly processing
this advice he’s received from many places, “From where I sit, you
made your own luck. As did your
former partner. As did your lawyer.” to finally internalize
it by the end of the film. For all of Breaking Bad,
Jesse has been pulled along, messed around,
a victim of circumstance, and of Walter White. Now at last he’s making
decisions for himself -- he picks a destination,
he works to purchase his ticket there; he turns
down distractions and shortcuts; and he
follows through. As Mike tells Jesse,
he can’t right his past wrongs. “Put things right.” “No. Sorry, kid, that's the one thing
you can never do.” And as he crosses
over, the one letter he sends is to Brock,
presumably explaining some of the context
of his mother’s death and how sorry
Jesse is. The tragedy he unwillingly
brought to that family will never leave him. "Anyone else you want
to say goodbye to?" Still, he’s taking control and
responsibility for himself, becoming master of his fate. And that’s why, when
we leave him, he has the hint of a calm
smile on his face. You might ask why Gilligan
wanted to make this movie -- why of all the stories
was this the one worth telling six years after
the show ended? Breaking Bad was full of
instances of Jesse getting manipulated, abused,
deeply hurt by his toxic partnership
with Walt. He became a character
that many people watching the show both
loved and pitied. Gilligan spoke about he
and the other writers also felt for Jesse, and wanted
him to avoid a tragic fate. Within the story, too,
the people who meet and know Jesse
like the kid, “It's on the house. Good kid.” and want to help
him if they can. “Why are you
doing all this?” “You’re my hero
and shit.” “The car guy near
the beginning.” Jesse is the one character
who seemed like he didn’t deserve the doomed,
hellish consequences of choosing this life,
because he didn’t really choose it. When the show begins,
Jesse is a very small-time criminal - he may not be
contributing much to society, but he’s not causing
widespread death and destruction. His former teacher
blackmails him into starting a joint meth
cooking operation, "Either that...or
I turn you in." and from that
point on Walt views Jesse
as his. Every time the boy
attempts to get free, Walt sucks him back into
this cycle of darkness. “Ever since I met
you everything I cared about is gone,
ruined, turned to shit. Ever since I hooked
up with the great Heisenberg.” In our Jesse video we
compare this character to a kind of dark
Jesus Christ who suffers for the sins
of Walt’s Bad God. “Mr. White,
he's the devil.” So it fits that Jesse
becomes the one character in Breaking Bad
who does the impossible and finds a way out. It’s the miracle that gives
the rest of us hope. “Not many of us get
a chance to start fresh. Good luck, Mr. Driscoll.” Hey guys, this is Alani. And today I wanna talk to you about one
of our favorite places to watch
movies. MUBI. MUBI is a treasure
trove of films. Everyday, MUBI
premieres a new film whether it’s a movie
you’ve been dying to see or one you’ve
never heard of before. There’s always something
new to discover. So, in this world where
it’s very easy to spend hours debating what
you should watch, MUBI is like having
a really cool friend with amazing taste in
movies, making it so much easier for you. They feature hard to
come by masterpieces, indie festival darlings,
influential art house and foreign films, lesser-known
films by your favorite famous directors,
and more. Plus, you can even
download the films to watch offline and
there are no ads--ever. To celebrate Halloween,
this October, MUBI is presenting a series
dedicated to the legendary Dario
Argento featuring a selection of the horror icon’s
best movies. You can check out films
like Inferno, Deep Red and more. We can’t recommend
MUBI highly enough. You can try it out now
for free for a whole month. Just click the link in
the description below.
