Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
What did we learn about Jesse in those flashbacks that we didn't already know? We knew he was a servile puppy dog who seemed desperate for any kind of mentor figure and who was shockingly easily manipulated. That was a 5 year character arc made obvious by the fact that he called Walter "Mr. White" through the end and was played like a fiddle all the way through.
What did I get from an hour burned watching Fat Jesse be weird or largely irrelevant dialogue with Jessica Jones? That was PURE fan service and did nothing to demonstrate his character either before or after. We KNEW his character. And it's not even all that believable that literally overnight he would become a completely different person (if he even was). That's why I suggested the time jump. The idea that you can discern luck from skill by it's duration applies here - this was all within like 72 hours of the end of BB - it tells us effectively nothing about the long-term outlook of Jesse Pinkman.
Even the brief scene with Mike was nothing more than the 'seed' that Gilligan had planted in a dozen interviews after the show's original run; yes, we knew Jesse was going to Alaska.
It was essentially fan fiction put on tape and far beneath the level of the storytelling I've come to expect from this crew.
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The part with Krysten Ritter was, yes, fan service but it did serve the purpose of showing his transformation. Initially he was believing her initial comment of you go where the universe takes you or whatever, and by the end, he realized that was ****ing hogshit. That's a central premise to the story being told here.
The story is very much his transformation from who he was at the end of BB to who he is in Alaska, and those two dudes are massively different dudes. Yes, it had the feel of a BB episode and yes, there was fan service for all those characters, but this wasn't just an extension of old Jesse. It starts 10 minutes after Jesse gets out of the cage, so he's essentially that Jesse and ends up with a dude that did a massive amount of hardship that was necessary to get himself out. In the series he had opportunities to just that, when it would have been far easier to pull off, when the movie ended, he did whatever it took to get it done. That's a hell of a transformation if there has ever been one, man.
Yes it looked and sounded like BB. Yes there was fan service, but it was in there to help tell the story of Jesse's transformation - which is significant. (I'll concede your point on Mike, that wasn't necessary, but I'm glad it was in there). The story isn't "well let's throw some more BB shit at the wall for the sake of BB. This story is very much Jesse departing who he was in the series, to the guy who he was when he got the **** out.