Some observations (with SPOILERS - you have been ALERTED):
- Could have been tightened up a bit. Quite a few scenes seemed to meander unnecessarily. Sadly, one of the scenes they could have cut was the Walter White flashback. As great as it was to see Bryan Cranston as Heisenberg again, the scene was totally unnecessary IMO, unless it existed to reinforce how much Jesse has changed by having a scene where he's still a goofball, which I didn't think was needed. But that's really the only criticism I have.
- A lot of reviews that I've looked at use "epilogue" to describe the film, and I would agree with that. I'm not sure it stands up on its own, but it's a great epilogue to Breaking Bad. I know a lot of fans wondered what would happen to Jesse and hoped he'd be okay.
- Aaron Paul's performance was stunning. Jesse has certainly been shaped by his experiences in Breaking Bad. Crazy comparing the guy in El Camino with the idiotic Captain Cook of only a couple years earlier. Not the same guy at all.
- Todd took the kid's tarantula! Nice bit of callback there, in case we needed a reminder of just what a remorseless psycho he was. Killed the kid, but made sure his tarantula was taken care of. Asshole.
- Who knew Skinny Pete was so clever? I was sorry his interrogation scene wasn't in the film, especially with the placement of photos of Hank and Gomie in that teaser. El Camino does explain why he wasn't wearing his trademark knit cap during his interrogation.
- Very cool reveal on the two cops who arrived to search Todd's place. I actually twigged to it a couple seconds before Jesse did. Rewatching it, I understood why the guy was tipped off immediately that his "partner" was in trouble. Speaking of rewatching, I actually liked it better the second time around.
- As I mentioned in this post, one of the big discussions among Breaking Bad fans after the show ended was whether or not Walt actually died from his gunshot wound. El Camino answers that question for once and for all.
- I thought it was interesting that they left the ending rather open-ended. Could we be looking at the further adventures of Mr. Driscoll at some point? Because like Breaking Bad, the last we see of Jesse is him driving off to an uncertain future. I'd be up for seeing what happens to him next.
Updated 7:45pm: News just hit that Robert Forster, who reprised his role of Ed, the vacuum salesman who moonlights by relocating criminals and setting them up with new identities for $125k a pop (and who was awesome in this) died today, the same day El Camino was released. Earlier today I was marveling at his performance and now this. Forster was 78 and succumbed to brain cancer. Such a bummer.
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