Oh, absolutely. The moment his daughter-in-law said “it’s only a drop in the bucket” you could see (with the benefit of hindsight, and “next time on BCS”) the moment where Mike crosses over to the dark side.
Great episode. It made me wish I was binge-watching, so I could immediately roll on to the next one when it was over. Stupid real-time 20th century TV viewing.
I don’t think Saul was so bad. Didn’t he actually continue to do a pretty good job representing his clients?
All those pillars and giant Constitutions don’t come cheap. He was clearly doing better in that office, with his multiple employees, than in his nail salon boiler room.
I’m liking the show, it’s a little slow but I assume it’s building up to something. This is now the good Jimmy that I thought was needed to set up his Saul character. It does sound like Jimmy is about to get screwed out of this settlement, and doesn’t look good for his brother either. If not for the reputation of Breaking Bad this show would have been moving too slowly to catch on.
I don’t know, man. It’s not action packed, but it is really clever, and seems to try a new genre on for size ever week. It’s got variety, character development (still waiting for Kim to break out, though), and a unique, interesting vision. My girlfriend likes it, and she didn’t watch more than one season of Breaking Bad, so never got to Saul.
Also, count me in as one who doesn’t remember Saul being a bad guy on BB. He was involved in crime, but only peripherally, and he seemed to talk sense into people rather than egging them on. He was a criminal, but not evil the way Walt, Gus, Tuco and other criminals on the show were. This show is about Jimmy becoming Saul, but it isn’t going to be a downhill slide from good to evil the way Breaking Bad was. More of a gradual, meandering, wrestling with tough choices type of show with Jimmy realizing one day that he’s a pretty far down a road he didn’t intend to be on and learning to deal with it.
Can someone remind me what the daughter-in-law’s money is from? (Probably from last week and I’ve already forgotten!)
I think it was money that her husband/Mike’s son stashed from his shady police practices. She found it after his death.
Well yeah, I should have said it wouldn’t catch on with me. It’s a quality production, it will have a following just from that.
Not a fan of everything being overthought, but given what we know about Saul Goodman and his evolution, I don’t think that he’d be very concerned–if at all–with the legalities of replacing one name for another on a framed piece of paper for appearances sake. He did earn his degree from there, so I doubt he’s really trying to defraud anyone. If he were, I’d assume he’d use a school with more of a reputation?
Also repeatedly in the show he’s come close to getting something good and it slips right out of his grasp. It would be surprising for him to stumble upon this big class action suit and everything to go well and him to earn a lot of money from it. Either HHM will take over somehow and screw him out of the money, or maybe he gets the money and somehow it comes back to hurt Chuck and he loses his partnership and that money he’s owed from HHM. Either way, we know it’s not going to end up going well for Jimmy.
I agree, he either could have asked for a new diploma with his new name, or could have printed up a new one, thinking that it’s easier than explaining to each client who comes in. And thinking that it’s not really defrauding anyone, since he did earn a degree.
If Jimmy didn’t have a law degree and/or passed the bar Chuck and Hamlin* would have found out about it.
*Hamlin - I see multiple spellings for this guy’s name on Wikipedia and IMDB. I think there must have been a sign or letterhead that showed the real spelling.
I was thinking with the foreshadowing of Jimmy not getting hired at HHM and all, it was obvious Hamlin is going to find a way to screw Jimmy out of his $20M case.
But now I’m thinking the twist might be that Chuck screws his brother out of the case. I mean, he had to be complicit in rejecting Jimmy’s job application at HHM. He was hesitant to say he was proud of Jimmy after he passed the bar. He always blames it on the other partners, but Chuck was the one who first told Jimmy maybe he shouldn’t advertise under the name McGill.
They set it all up perfectly. Jimmy helps Chuck, Chuck helps Jimmy, everything is hunky dory, family time, and hugs, and then next episode, the other shoe is going to drop. We’re going to find out Hamlin isn’t Jimmy’s arch nemesis, Chuck is. Hamlin was always just taking the heat for screwing Jimmy over, but Chuck was the source. Maybe we’ll find out why.
Or not. This show never takes the obvious path.
I’m pretty sure I know what’s going to happen next episode.
Chuck is “cured”. Hamlin gets pissed that they used Chuck’s access code on a case independent from the firm. Somehow Hamlin threatens Chuck, saying that it’s now their case. Chuck once again gives in to Hamlin, and not going ‘up to bat’ for his brother, just like he let Hamlin convince him not to let Jimmy work there. Kim works out a deal… (I’m hoping not with any sexual favors). I don’t know… something along those lines.
Maybe I’m off.
I like that ‘Better Call Saul’ is it’s own animal. Why would you expect otherwise? This is another man’s story, with hints of themes in ‘Breaking Bad’, But it’s got a little more range as a whole… at least in my humble opinion.
I don’t think this show’s plot is as easy to describe. At least not yet, anyway.
It doesn’t ‘go off the rails’ from the BB universe, that’s all that I require of it’s existence as a show. I don’t want them to pull a ‘Star Wars’ and tarnish the world in which BB is set.
So far so good!
As far as to whether it’s good or not, I think it’s brilliant so far. But I can see where it might not attract all of BB’s fans. I also think that people who didn’t get into BB should give this a shot.
My guess is that not only does Jimmy get screwed out of the money, the seniors end up getting screwed over by HHM as well.
I’m thinking HHM will use the fact that they used Chuck’s copy code to glom onto the case and take it.
And then maybe Jimmy does get some of what he’s owed so long as he stops using the McGill name. He gets enough to set up shop and change his name.
Absolutely.
They had to have the pages printed because ‘no electronics’ (though, possibly, computers of the day/search engines of the day might not have been up to providing all they needed, even if Chuck could have tolerated the presence of a computer). But in essence this will be yet another brick in the wall of Jimmy losing out, due to his devotion to his brother’s welfare.
Yes, this isn’t the story of a man losing his soul to his own cold pride, so much as it’s the story of a man failing to reach his potential. Jimmy clearly has the smarts and drive to have made it into a respectable life as a partner in a prestigious law firm. But he’ll settle for making a lot of money as a disreputable representative for criminals…because of what this show will show us.
I agree with those speculating that Chuck may overtly betray Jimmy, and that this will be a large part of what turns Jimmy away from the possibility of life in the sunshine.
My guess is that, in return, Jimmy takes some sort of action that destroys his relationships with Chuck and that associate (probably, some underhanded revenge on that smarmy Hamlin). At least, neither is shown in Breaking Bad.
That’s what I’m saying.
I think you can do that. Legally change your name, then send the court order of the name change to the university. They would update their records with your new name so that the degree could also be verified.
People legally change half their names all the time with marriages. Surely you could get a new diploma printed in that case, right?