Better Call Saul 1.08
Mar. 24th, 2015 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which a horrible possibility occurs to your faithful reviewer.
Okay, so far, my assumption has been that the something that happens to separate Jimmy from Chuck and Kim - for he couldn't be Saul if he still had them - would, unless either of them dies, be somehow Jimmy's fault, at least in the Chuck case. With Kim there was always the possibility that if having to choose between Jimmy and her career (and HHM) she'd chose the later, and in fact the main reason why that wasn't my automatic assumption is that she's done this already when turning down Jimmy's partnership offer.
However, this episode suddenly makes me speculate that the something that happens won't be Jimmy's fault but Chuck's and Kim's: to wit, now that the possible class act for the elderly has become a 20 million dollar suit, that not only will HHM end up taking away the suit and the profit (I think it's evident they will, because this episode has been careful to let Jimmy and Kim discuss Chuck's contract - as a nominal partner, he can take pro bono cases outside the firm, but something this big is by no definition a pro bono case - , plus they used Chuck's old code to get the print outs, which will allow Howard Hamlin to argue the case has been prepared with his firm's means), but this will happen with Chuck's agreement. And THIS will cause Jimmy to go Saul.
Think about it. Right now, Chuck's doing better. He's working with Jimmy. Jimmy finally has what he always wanted, not just his brother's affection, but his respect, and Chuck working with him on an equal level. But because this is a Breaking Bad prequel, this can't be heading towards the McGill brothers saving the day for the elderly, or even saving the day and then getting screwed over by Howard Hamlin, but having each other for comfort. And there's the opening flashback of the episode, in which Jimmy is happy, too - he's taken his bar exam and become a lawyer and managed to do this without slacking in his day job in the mail room of HHM (which presumably Chuck got him after the arrest fiasco from a previous flashback). When he tells Chuck, Chuck is pleased, but the automatic reaction to Jimmy's "will you hire me?" is "as what?" before he catches himself and adds "as a lawyer, of course", and then says that he'll have to talk to the other partners about it, which to me feels like a code for letting Jimmy down gently. It's Howard Hamlin the jerk who later interrupts Jimmy's celebration party with his mailroom buddies (including Kim) with the news that Jimmy won't get hired as a lawyer, but you can't tell me that if Chuck had insisted on it, the other partners wouldn't have agreed, so I suspect Chuck did agree with that decision (but Jimmy doesn't know that yet). So, here's my worst case scenario of what will happen in the present: Chuck and Jimmy manage to win the case together, or take it to the next level, win immanent; Howard Hamlin swoops in, grabs case, sees how better Chuck is doing and declares delightedly that Chuck can of course come back to the firm full time - but Jimmy can't and should be removed from the case. Chuck is Jimmy's moral guideline, his idol. If Chuck betrays him this way (for whatever reason) and returns to the world of HMM, I could see that being the drop that makes the barrel overflow, ending Jimmy's attempts to keep to the straight and narrow and transforming him into Saul.
And it will be absolutely heartrendering, not least because the McGills are so good together in this episode. Both on a lawyerly and on a sibling basis. The naked yearning in Jimmy's face in the flashback when he asks "are you proud of me?". Chuck putting a cushion under Jimmy's head before putting the shredded letters back together through the day. Good lord, now I'm almost hoping Chuck will have a relapse and be committed, because it would be less cruel than a breakup as indicated above.
In other news: Jimmy figuring out Sandpiper is scamming their elderly clientele and how they do it sounds to my laywoman hears uncomfortably like something that could happen a lot, everywhere. What say you, lawyers reading this?
The flashback also reveals Kim started from the mailroom, like Jimmy, and like him used this as a day job while studying for her bar exam. (When she said last episode HHM paid for her tuition I was assuming she had a scholarship or something.) At first I wondered why Kim was hired by HHM and Jimmy was not, and then I concluded that Kim probably didn't have a past as a con artist, so the partners trusted her more, and again; if Howard was using Hamlin as a facade because he didn't want to say no to Jimmy directly, that would have meant the other partners had no reason to want Jimmy - if even his own brother didn't.
While the Jimmy storyline is great if full of future possible pain, I'm not sure whether the Mike story this week isn't making things too easy for Mike; by letting Stacey tell him directly they're lacking money (the first we hear of this), and this directly after asking him whether she should use the rest of Matt's bribery money, he's almost prompted to go and earn money in corrupt ways. No, he wasn't told "go and become a hitman for a kingpin, or your granddaughter will suffer!", but the episode indicates that this is the emotional equation Mike has just drawn from it. Then again, this was also why Walt thought he was deciding to cook meth in the Breakign Bad pilot, and with episode 1.05, Grey Matter, when he got an alternative and rejected it, the show started to reveal his self deception. By the time we're in Breaking Bad territory, Mike will have earned millions, but he never seems to consider quitting until things go completely pearshaped in later s5.
Jimmy and Kim are already adorable and comfortable together in the flashback. Stop shipping them, self. They are dooooooommmmmed.
Okay, so far, my assumption has been that the something that happens to separate Jimmy from Chuck and Kim - for he couldn't be Saul if he still had them - would, unless either of them dies, be somehow Jimmy's fault, at least in the Chuck case. With Kim there was always the possibility that if having to choose between Jimmy and her career (and HHM) she'd chose the later, and in fact the main reason why that wasn't my automatic assumption is that she's done this already when turning down Jimmy's partnership offer.
However, this episode suddenly makes me speculate that the something that happens won't be Jimmy's fault but Chuck's and Kim's: to wit, now that the possible class act for the elderly has become a 20 million dollar suit, that not only will HHM end up taking away the suit and the profit (I think it's evident they will, because this episode has been careful to let Jimmy and Kim discuss Chuck's contract - as a nominal partner, he can take pro bono cases outside the firm, but something this big is by no definition a pro bono case - , plus they used Chuck's old code to get the print outs, which will allow Howard Hamlin to argue the case has been prepared with his firm's means), but this will happen with Chuck's agreement. And THIS will cause Jimmy to go Saul.
Think about it. Right now, Chuck's doing better. He's working with Jimmy. Jimmy finally has what he always wanted, not just his brother's affection, but his respect, and Chuck working with him on an equal level. But because this is a Breaking Bad prequel, this can't be heading towards the McGill brothers saving the day for the elderly, or even saving the day and then getting screwed over by Howard Hamlin, but having each other for comfort. And there's the opening flashback of the episode, in which Jimmy is happy, too - he's taken his bar exam and become a lawyer and managed to do this without slacking in his day job in the mail room of HHM (which presumably Chuck got him after the arrest fiasco from a previous flashback). When he tells Chuck, Chuck is pleased, but the automatic reaction to Jimmy's "will you hire me?" is "as what?" before he catches himself and adds "as a lawyer, of course", and then says that he'll have to talk to the other partners about it, which to me feels like a code for letting Jimmy down gently. It's Howard Hamlin the jerk who later interrupts Jimmy's celebration party with his mailroom buddies (including Kim) with the news that Jimmy won't get hired as a lawyer, but you can't tell me that if Chuck had insisted on it, the other partners wouldn't have agreed, so I suspect Chuck did agree with that decision (but Jimmy doesn't know that yet). So, here's my worst case scenario of what will happen in the present: Chuck and Jimmy manage to win the case together, or take it to the next level, win immanent; Howard Hamlin swoops in, grabs case, sees how better Chuck is doing and declares delightedly that Chuck can of course come back to the firm full time - but Jimmy can't and should be removed from the case. Chuck is Jimmy's moral guideline, his idol. If Chuck betrays him this way (for whatever reason) and returns to the world of HMM, I could see that being the drop that makes the barrel overflow, ending Jimmy's attempts to keep to the straight and narrow and transforming him into Saul.
And it will be absolutely heartrendering, not least because the McGills are so good together in this episode. Both on a lawyerly and on a sibling basis. The naked yearning in Jimmy's face in the flashback when he asks "are you proud of me?". Chuck putting a cushion under Jimmy's head before putting the shredded letters back together through the day. Good lord, now I'm almost hoping Chuck will have a relapse and be committed, because it would be less cruel than a breakup as indicated above.
In other news: Jimmy figuring out Sandpiper is scamming their elderly clientele and how they do it sounds to my laywoman hears uncomfortably like something that could happen a lot, everywhere. What say you, lawyers reading this?
The flashback also reveals Kim started from the mailroom, like Jimmy, and like him used this as a day job while studying for her bar exam. (When she said last episode HHM paid for her tuition I was assuming she had a scholarship or something.) At first I wondered why Kim was hired by HHM and Jimmy was not, and then I concluded that Kim probably didn't have a past as a con artist, so the partners trusted her more, and again; if Howard was using Hamlin as a facade because he didn't want to say no to Jimmy directly, that would have meant the other partners had no reason to want Jimmy - if even his own brother didn't.
While the Jimmy storyline is great if full of future possible pain, I'm not sure whether the Mike story this week isn't making things too easy for Mike; by letting Stacey tell him directly they're lacking money (the first we hear of this), and this directly after asking him whether she should use the rest of Matt's bribery money, he's almost prompted to go and earn money in corrupt ways. No, he wasn't told "go and become a hitman for a kingpin, or your granddaughter will suffer!", but the episode indicates that this is the emotional equation Mike has just drawn from it. Then again, this was also why Walt thought he was deciding to cook meth in the Breakign Bad pilot, and with episode 1.05, Grey Matter, when he got an alternative and rejected it, the show started to reveal his self deception. By the time we're in Breaking Bad territory, Mike will have earned millions, but he never seems to consider quitting until things go completely pearshaped in later s5.
Jimmy and Kim are already adorable and comfortable together in the flashback. Stop shipping them, self. They are dooooooommmmmed.
