El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (or simply El Camino) is a 2019 American neo-Western crime thriller film that serves as a sequel and epilogue to the television series Breaking Bad, which followed chemistry teacher Walter White partnering with a former student Jesse Pinkman to become kingpins in the production of crystal meth. Series creator Vince Gilligan wrote, directed, and produced the film, while Aaron Paul reprised his role as Jesse Pinkman. The plot follows Pinkman and the events that immediately follow the series finale. Several actors involved in the television series reprise their roles, including Jesse Plemons, Robert Forster, Charles Baker, Matt Jones, Jonathan Banks, Krysten Ritter, and Bryan Cranston. El Camino was also one of Forster’s final film appearances, as he died on the day of its release.
Gilligan first began considering the story of El Camino during the filming of the final season of Breaking Bad. Gilligan approached Paul with the idea in 2017, near the tenth anniversary of Breaking Bad, and filming began in secret in New Mexico in November 2018, lasting nearly 50 days. The project remained unconfirmed until August 2019, when Netflix released a trailer.
El Camino was released digitally on Netflix and limited theatrically on October 11, 2019, with an AMC television premiere on February 16, 2020. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Paul and Plemons, as well as Gilligan’s direction. The film was nominated for several awards, winning Best Movie Made for Television at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards and Motion Picture Made for Television at the Satellite Awards. El Camino received a pending nomination for Outstanding Television Movie at the upcoming 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Plot
In a flashback, Jesse Pinkman and Mike Ehrmantraut have a discussion shortly before they leave Walter White’s meth business.[N 1] Jesse asks Mike where he would go to start over. Mike replies that if he were younger, he would go to Alaska, an idea Jesse finds appealing. Jesse expresses the desire to make amends for past wrongdoing, but Mike cautions that starting over would make that impossible.
In the present, Jesse flees the Brotherhood compound in Todd Alquist’s El Camino.[N 2] He goes to the Albuquerque home of Skinny Pete and Badger, who hide the car and give Jesse a place to sleep. The next morning, Jesse calls Old Joe to dispose of the El Camino but Joe flees after discovering its LoJack. Pete then devises a plan to make it appear that Jesse fled to Mexico after trading Pete’s Ford Thunderbird for the El Camino. Pete and Badger give Jesse the money they got from Walt,[N 2] and Badger drives the Thunderbird several hours south. Pete stays home with the El Camino and waits for police to respond to the Lojack. Jesse departs in Badger’s Pontiac Fiero and learns from the radio news that Walter died at the compound and a woman he poisoned[N 3] is fatally ill.[N 2]
In a flashback to Jesse’s captivity,[N 4] Todd takes Jesse to Todd’s apartment to help dispose of his cleaning lady, whom he killed after she discovered his hidden money. They sidestep Lou, Todd’s busybody neighbor, and bury the corpse in the desert. In the present, Jesse sneaks into Todd’s apartment and searches until he finds the new hiding place. Two police officers, Casey and Neil, enter the apartment and begin to search. Jesse hides, but holds Casey at gunpoint after Casey finds him. Neil disarms Jesse, who realizes they are not police officers but thugs also looking for Todd’s money. To save himself, Jesse reveals that he found the cash. Lou reports finding an old note from Todd, and Casey pretends to be interested to distract him. Neil and Jesse bargain over the money and Neil agrees to let Jesse take a third. As they depart, Jesse recognizes Neil as the welder who built the tether he was fastened to while forced to cook meth for the Brotherhood.
Jesse finds Ed Galbraith, the “disappearer”. Ed wants US$125,000 to aid Jesse, plus an additional $125,000 for the previous occasion when Jesse hired him but failed to commit.[N 5] Jesse is $1,800 short, so Ed refuses to help. Knowing they are being surveilled, Jesse calls his parents and feigns willingness to surrender. After his parents and the police depart, Jesse enters the Pinkman home unseen and takes two pistols from his father’s safe, a Colt Woodsman and an Iver Johnson Hammerless.
Jesse drives to Neil’s shop, where Neil, Casey, and three friends celebrate with escorts and cocaine. After the escorts leave, he asks for $1,800, and Neil refuses. Seeing the Woodsman in Jesse’s waistband, Neil challenges Jesse to a duel for his share of the cash. Jesse agrees, and when Neil reaches for his gun, Jesse shoots him with the Hammerless, which was concealed in his jacket pocket. Casey fires at Jesse, but Jesse kills him. Jesse collects the driver’s licenses of the remaining men and lets them leave after threatening to return and kill them if they tell the police. He recovers Neil’s cash and departs after setting an explosion to cover his tracks.
In a flashback, Walter and Jesse have breakfast after a multi-day meth cook.[N 6] Estimating they will make more than $1 million, Walter laments having waited his entire life to do something special and says Jesse is lucky because he will not have to wait.
In the present, Ed drops Jesse off at a car parked near Haines, Alaska. Jesse gives Ed a letter for Brock Cantillo and acknowledges there is no one else he wants to say goodbye to. Driving off, Jesse has a flashback to his time with Jane Margolis.[N 7] He tells her he admires what she said about going wherever the universe takes her, but she dismisses it as metaphorical and encourages him to make his own decisions. Jesse drives on, smiling at the prospect of a new life.
Cast
See also: List of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul characters
A red-headed white man wearing a white-and-red-striped shirt smiling towards the camera.
A standing dark-haired white woman, wearing a black top facing towards but looking towards the right of the camera, smiling.
A bald middle-aged man wearing a black shirt, facing the camera, speaks into a microphone.
Jesse Plemons, Krysten Ritter, and Jonathan Banks reprised their roles as Todd Alquist, Jane Margolis, and Mike Ehrmantraut, respectively.
Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, a former meth cook who once partnered with Walter White
Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist, one of Jesse’s captors and a member of the neo-Nazi group that forces Jesse to cook meth, who appears in flashbacks before his death
Krysten Ritter as Jane Margolis, Jesse’s deceased girlfriend, who appears in a flashback
Charles Baker as Skinny Pete, Jesse’s friend
Matt Jones as Brandon “Badger” Mayhew, Jesse’s friend
Scott MacArthur as Neil Kandy, a welder involved in Jesse’s captivity
Scott Shepherd as Casey, Neil’s associate
Tom Bower as Lou, Todd’s nosy neighbor
Kevin Rankin as Kenny, one of Jesse’s captors
Larry Hankin as Old Joe, the owner of a local junkyard who previously helped Jesse and Walter with several activities connected to their meth business
Tess Harper as Diane Pinkman, Jesse’s mother who has a strained relationship with her son
Michael Bofshever as Adam Pinkman, Jesse’s father who has a strained relationship with his son
Robert Forster as Ed Galbraith, a vacuum cleaner store owner who relocates people running from the law and gives them new identities
Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut, former business partner of Jesse and Walter, who appears in a flashback
Bryan Cranston as Walter White, legendary meth kingpin, and Jesse’s deceased former partner and high school chemistry teacher, who appears in a flashback
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