The mark knows a real rolex is worth 20-30 thousand dollars but hopes Jimmy thinks it’s only work 2 or 3 grand. In the mark’s mind giving Jimmy the thousand from the wallet plus 500 of his own money is like splitting it. Jimmy and his friend go home with $500 minus expenses.
As Jimmy said, it’s a lot of work for a few hundred dollars. Good pot money but you can’t live on it.
It seems like Jimmy must have known somehow that the mark was carrying a large amount of cash and also that he wasn’t above rolling drunks. Also, the mark had to be someone Jimmy was unlikely to run into again.
The guy did say something to Jimmy about how Jimmy’s city was boring, so he was apparently from out of town, maybe there on business.
I’m wondering how that all went down. Did Jimmy spend hours hanging in bars, talking with strangers, looking for someone from out of town who was flashing cash and lacking morals?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised. (He didn’t seem to have much else going on, during that period of his life.)
That does seem odd, but I guess I don’t often see people again that I bumped into in a bar. A good place to pull a stunt like that would probably be a hotel bar that’s hosting a convention for something that you know will attract high rollers from out of town. I guess anyone could have 500 on them, but they also have to know that a rolex is worth $30,000 when Jimmy says ‘what’s it worth, like two or three thousand’. And they have to be willing to take advantage of him.
And yet… I saw an epiphany moment for Jimmy in this scene. In this very instant, it appeared to dawn on him that what she spoke was utter truth; that he would never be the lawyer for people who intend to be exonerated. Instead, he would always be the lawyer for the ones who know how to work the system, the world-weary criminals who know exactly what to expect from justice, what it will cost to mitigate the worst consequences for bad acts and who it takes to know a guy who knows a guy. These individuals are his true market, and I believe this is his first step toward acceptance of this fact.
I’m enjoying the series so far.
I’m enjoying it as well and, like many, never got the “s’all good, man” joke/reference/whatever.
I’ve noticed several such epiphanies so far. “I didn’t expect criminals to be so stupid. It almost makes me feel sorry for them.”
Lecturing Nacho – you expect it to end badly for Jimmy, but this show is much, much less violent than Breaking Bad. I imagine it will make Nacho and the gang view Jimmy as a guiding father-like figure who is tough but smart. The guy who you listen to if you want your criminal life to be a success. Exactly the kind of role for a Saul Goodman.
Most def. He took the money, bought the suit and walked away from that trap.
Personally, I’d rather have $1000 cash than a watch that might be a Rolex, especially if my examination of it takes place in a dark alley after I’ve been drinking.
It isn’t a “pigeon drop”. It’s a variant on the classic “gold brick” scam - an item of low value is, in effect, being sold to the mark as if it was of high value. The mark thinks he’s ripping off his new-found “buddy”, he’s convinced of the legitimacy of the set-up by the (real) cash in the wallet he found, and the “take” is all the cash in his wallet.
The difference is that the “pigeon drop” is a substitution scam. There is no substitution here - the mark willingly hands over the contents of his wallet, to score that “$30,000 Rolex”.
The twist here is that the item is apparently stolen from the passed-out dude, so the mark can hardly complain to the cops when he finds out the “Rolex” is a fake.
So a convention of jewelers or pawnshop owners. Pawnshop owners would, I would think, on average have lower morals and be more willing to take advantage of people, so it was most likely that. So that guy was Rick Harrison years ago. 
Not only that, but if they did run into each other again, the guy wouldn’t think Jimmy had played him. The guy would just think he made the wrong choice (money or watch).
I’d think pawnshop owners and jewelers would be the worst people to set up a con that involves a fake Rolex Watch. Well, maybe a Rolex dealer (or a on duty police officer) would be worse. Saul & Co are probably smart enough not to pull this scam on someone that spends their days looking at jewelry and watches.
Come to think of it, that would be the same as the twins pulling their stunt (in E1) on Slippin’ Jimmy. He spotted their con within seconds.
You would have to scope the guy out. Some one who thought he knew watches would be excellent.
That’s an excellent point. Jimmy never says that the watch is high value - he lets the mark convince himself that it is.
It’s a clever scam, but it relies on Jimmy picking someone with a wad of cash on him.
I wonder what the backup plan was if the mark chose the cash instead. I guess if all else fails the “drunk” guy could wake up and demand his money back.
When you figure in all the hours, maybe days, spent in bars finding just the right mark, plus the odds that the scam wouldn’t work, you can see why Jimmy said it was only good for beer money.
I wonder if the money in the wallet was even real. You’d be risking a lot of money if it was. The dark alley could have been chosen in part to make fake bills and a fake Rolex less obvious.
That scene isn’t supposed to invite too much analysis, it simply serves a narrative need - to see the lead character back-filled. As a young man he was a small time conman with smart ideas but low rewards. Even then he was a lovable rougue as he only stole from the greedy. Etc, etc.
Contrast with the same smart ideas later in life when he extends his lovable rogue skit to include giving the finger to ‘the man’.
The point has been made to us. That’s it. It’s over. The story will move on.
To my mind, it is entertaining how much analysis this small scene can withstand. It’s very well constructed and the more we think on it, the better it appears.
Which is surely the intention. One of the points being made is he’s better than this; pennies for a smartly crafted, time-consuming con.
You can see the man in the boy, as it were.
Like the howling, which at the time seemed like drunk nonsense, but in reality was a signal to the accomplice.