Once they revealed Chuck’s “kryptonite” (so to speak) tonight, his lack of humor (he also failed with the joke to Kim) it began to make sense to me. On "Breaking Bad" Vince created a character that allowed one character trait, Walt’s ego, begin a horrifying roller coaster that ended badly for everyone. And now on BCS we have Chuck. A smart, hard working lawyer that could have helped his brother, but instead, because of his jealousy of Jimmy’s ability to entertain and make others laugh, Chuck’s gone out of his way to put him down whenever he can. Not only that, his resentment must have been building all this time when he was helpless and needed Jimmy’s help.
Vince has a great ability to take a character’s flaw and spin everything out of it, so it disrupts everyone’s lives.
And, now that I think of it, we’re seeing the same with Mike. I think Mike’s guilt over what happened to his son is allowing him to be manipulated by his daughter-in-law. Mike, a tough son-of-a-bitch that can handle himself in any situation, can’t defy this woman (and especially his granddaughter) and not answer any request she has. All because of guilt.
I just don’t buy the jealousy angle. I mean sure, maybe he is a little jealous but I think that is just a contibuting factor. He knows his brother is a conman to his very core. He believes Jimmy conned their perfect father. The fact that Jimmy gets a pass because he’s likeable and funny is just an aggravating factor.
Could it be that something happened between Jimmy and Rebecca? She only appeared for a short time in an opening scene but they named the whole episode after her.
Maybe not anything like an affair, but she did seem to take to Jimmy and maybe that leads to some suspicion and jealousy on Chuck’s part.
But I don’t think they would have used a bulk of an episode revealing this trait of Chuck’s. With only 10 episodes per season Gilligan & Gould don’t have time to waste revisiting scenes and character actions that we already know. With 15 episodes already laying out the groundwork, we already knew that Chuck is aggravated by Jimmy, I think last night was revealing how long seeded and why he feels that way around Jimmy.
We learned that Chuck’s been jealous of his younger brother way back through childhood. We saw that his jealousy extended towards his feeling about his wife’s reaction to Jimmy. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t begin the eventual break up of his marriage.
We don’t know what happens to Rebecca. It could be divorce but maybe something more tragic awaits. Pretty sure that until last night’s ep they never alluded to a former wife in Chuck’s past.
She’s great. I told my wife, of any character on any TV show, Erin is the one that feels the most like somebody I know and used to work with. I don’t mean she reminds me of anyone in particular, she just seems real.
But he clearly had big problems with Jimmy before his wife met him. He made a big point of the need for an exit signal. Maybe you’re right and his wife being “fooled” by Jimmy’s personality was a final straw. But so far I don’t see any big difference between Chuck’s attitude towards Jimmy before and after this dinner.
We don’t learn anything about Saul during Breaking Bad, and when you go back and watch the clips it doesn’t really feel like Jimmy. He’s just way more character now; in BB he was little more than comic relief.
I wonder how the show will bridge the timelines between Jimmy to Saul to Gene.
I wonder why Gene longs for the days of Saul Goodman, rather than Jimmy McGill.
It’s hard for some people, like my parents, to keep up with, not just things from last year, but things from the ‘Breaking Bad’ years. I had to explain to them who Mike was talking to, because it’s been a while.
As far as how satisfied I am with the show, I wish there was more tension. At least with Jimmy’s story line. The best moment’s of last season were of him climbing up a billboard to “save” ‘the dude’, and him franticly writing out legal stuff on toiletpaper only to be thrown out of the nursing home.
I love Kim. It’s too bad she’s the only lead female, but the actor is just perfect for the role.
We learned that his real name was Jimmy Mcgill, and that he once convinced a woman that he was Kevin Costner, among other things. Maybe I’m imagining things but I think he mentioned a brother with allergies.
Speculating the day after: I think that Mike is going to turn to Jimmy as his lawyer to sort out changing his testimony in the Tuco situation (or whatever he decides to do). It’s right up Legal Slippin’ Jimmy’s alley, and would be such fun and easy money, and of course will probably lead to the end of his time with HHM.
I think Jimmy is going to see it as Chuck getting to her and turning her against him. Not so much as her choosing to betray him, but as another example of Chuck trying to destroy his life, wrecking his romance the same way he tried to wreck Jimmy’s legal career.
I got the impression that their marriage was fairly businesslike and passionless. They seemed to work well together, but it there didn’t seem to be much of a spark - she liked Chuck complimenting her cooking, but it felt like the same encouragement he’d give to a new lawyer he was mentoring. And Chuck seemed to be trying to make her theater group decisions for her, we’ve seen a lot of controlling behavior from him. Meanwhile, she seems to revel in Jimmy cracking lawyer jokes and exaggerating his photocopier learning curve when he’s at dinner.
My guess is that she realizes she doesn’t really love Chuck and wants someone less reserved and less controlling, and down the road leaves him to find it. Her leaving pushes him over the edge into his ‘illness’, and his subconscious blames Jimmy for the the situation even though his rational brain doesn’t. It’s possible that there’s a big dramatic event, but I feel like this kind of quiet tragedy fits into Chuck’s story more.
I’m willing to bet that Saul Goodman didn’t have to sleep on his friend’s couch because he was broke between scams, that Saul Goodman never had to get bailed out of trouble by his brother, and that Saul Goodman never worried about having to encounter the cops. The Saul days were tons of money and him constantly running games on everyone around him and him pulling himself out of any trouble by his wits alone.
I’m positive about him mentioning his real name. He told Walt that he changed it because people wanted a jewish lawyer. I’m also certain about the Kevin Costner thing, I think he said it to Walt while giving him a pep talk about something or other. The thing about his brother I’m not 100% certain about and, as you say, it’s the kind of thing that’s probably difficult to find on the web.
