Although Vince Gilligan’s sequel movie, El Camino — which followed Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman after the events of Breaking Bad — debuted last October on Netflix, AMC finally got the opportunity to air the film on its own network over the weekend, essentially a week ahead of the release of the fifth season of Better Call Saul. In conjunction with the film’s AMC premiere, they also released Snow Globe: A Breaking Bad Short.
Some folks thought that, as great as the ending of Breaking Bad was, Aaron Paul (who was essentially a co-lead in the series) got short shrift in the finale. El Camino sought to rectify that, and in my opinion (and that of most who watched El Camino) it was a huge success. It was the Breaking Bad ending that we didn’t realize it was missing.
Snow Globe, conversely, is the origins story to Todd’s snow-globe shrine to Lydia that we didn’t realize El Camino was missing. The movie itself featured Todd’s snow globe, of course, and Todd’s pitiful affection for Lydia was never in doubt. But Snow Globe provides some necessary insight. Set sometime before the events of El Camino, it sees Todd meticulously building the snow globe that includes the two of them while calling Lydia to confirm a meeting while also asking her on a date. Lydia doesn’t so much decline as she (rudely) hangs up on him, but Todd — who cannot accept that Lydia might not be into him — merely interprets her rejection as concern that their phones are being bugged. It’s very Todd.
Obviously, Gilligan was wise to keep it out of El Camino. It’s one of several scenes that didn’t make the final cut, including an extended scene with Badger, as well as a longer scene with Jane. As bonus features or DVD extras, these will be fantastic, and one more little item to put into the Breaking Bad universe.
