When I was a bit impatient with this show earlier in the season, I wrote that co-creator Vince Gilligan had earned the benefit of the doubt. It’s nice not to be wrong.
There were no real shockers in the episode. Everything that could be predicted came largely to pass. Chuck may love Jimmy, and he doesn’t respect him, and certainly not as an attorney – with his joke law degree, his smarmy ways, and his checkered past. The final few minutes contained no startling revelation, as all of Chuck’s views about Jimmy were all there, dished out in those slower episodes. That was the beauty of it. Better Call Saul was a study of a relationship between brothers, one a smart, pompous, now-vulnerable man who is proud of his younger brother’s ability to get a job in the mail room at his law firm. Jimmy doesn’t see it, as he tries to do good, and is thoroughly supportive of his older brother. But he can’t help but slip into his “Slippin’ Jimmy” ways every now and again, and in that way, Chuck is right. This is where the Breaking Bad viewer’s knowledge of Jimmy’s future, as Saul Goodman, tempers one’s sympathies a bit even if Chuck seems to have pushed him over the edge. Hamlin isn’t quite the jerk that we have seen. It was Chuck all along, conveniently using Hamlin as the bad guy.
The show now seems determined to move more quickly, and I am curious what will become of Chuck. He has, in a sense, served his purpose on the show. Jimmy no longer will have Chuck keeping him on the straight and narrow, though he still has Kim – for now. Meanwhile, Mike has moved into the small-time criminal realm already, in an amusing B plot in which he is supposed to serve as muscle. Of course, it’s Mike, so he establishes his dominance of the situation without much trouble, and he has information – how he knows about Nacho’s side deal, we don’t know. This, of course, is the Mike with whom we are familiar. But it’s new to him, and the line he draws between being a “good guy” and a “criminal” is really about himself. Mike is going to provide for his son’s widow and his granddaughter, and it won’t be honest work.
Only surprise for me was that the case transfer was (almost) above board. I strongly suspect the next step is that the firm tries to just take the case, since I like the implications for Kim and it gives Mike a reason to get involved for team Saul.
Props to nevermoor for the accurate plot prediction. The neat part about the way the events unfolded was that Jimmy was the last to know. Hamlin, Kim, Chuck, and the audience all saw Jimmy’s defeat coming. But Jimmy wouldn’t let himself believe that Chuck could be so disdainful.
And man, was that some heavy disdain. There’s no coming back from that break, (Chuck’s clueless hopes of rebuilding notwithstanding). I suspect Chuck’s character arc is near is end.
Speaking of which: I remain keenly aware that Mikes daughter-in-law is never mentioned in Breaking Bad. Only his grand daughter.