That was one of my least favorite episodes. It kind of distressed me that Jimmy wasn’t aware that if he just up and quit, that he couldn’t keep his bonus and that Omar had to fill him in on that. Also, I found him doing his best to get fired somewhat cliche, like a Lucy episode. This was nothing more than a set-up episode and to steer the attention back to Jimmy from Mike.
He probably fit the letter of the law with the dress code. They could have changed it to be more explicit but he just would have found a new way to be an ass. It really sucks because Clifford was beyond generous and gave him an honest chance. Too fucking bad if Jimmy didn’t like it. He should have sucked it up for nine more months and quit like a gentleman.
Yeah, which is why I think that episode was a turning point for him. He wasn’t a scammer yet- but after warning his dad so many times, and with tricky tendencies (faking sweeping to look at Playboy), he stepped over the edge.
It was a really fun bit, I like that they make it so lighthearted and suck you in to emphasize with Slippin’ Jimmy trying to get out of his absurd, oppressive contract with a stuck-up stuffed shirt jackass. But at the end you get slapped with the reality that Jimmy is acting like an asshole to Cliff, who’s a nice person that’s really hurt and confused by Jimmy’s betrayal.
I’m not an expert on law firms, but I suspect that they don’t have a written dress code, or at least not one that specific. They have a culture of recruiting lawyers who want to be in that kind of firm, so the dress code is really just there for the hourly staff who might not get it as much. The partners would comment to one another if the new hotshot young lawyer wears a bright shirt or suit that isn’t grey, but wouldn’t actually stop it.
Like Cliff said, he could fight Jimmy on the bonus, but he doesn’t want to. Jimmy is the one exception to the way the firm usually runs, Cliff doesn’t want to change around the way his well-oiled machine works any more than he has just to try to recoup a single small bonus check. I actually suspect that if, before the shenanigans, Jimmy had told Cliff he couldn’t deal with the culture but was staying for the bonus, Cliff would have said ‘well, just take the bonus and go’.
I lost any sympathy when he stopped flushing for number 2. People who do that need to be driven into the middle of a large desert with a bottle of water and a stick and left to the elements.
Don’t you care at all about the water table?
I loved when was leaving D&M he grabbed Erin’s soda can and threw it in the trash.
I don’t even care about the water buffet.
In fact, I think he orchestrated his plan to leave Davis and Main more to get away from Erin than from Clifford.
Was that the same real estate woman who caught Marie pilfering stuff from open house showings?
It should have a name. Like the Albuquerque Pot Boiler.
That is generally true, although Cliff totally blew it in how he reacted to Jimmy’s video.
I don’t agree at all, Cliff was much nicer than I would be to Jimmy in the same situation.
Would you really expect to keep working for a conservative firm that only rarely uses advertising if you slapped together and ran an ad yourself in the firm’s name with no one else’s approval, especially when that ad runs directly counter to the image your firm tries to present to clients? Cliff treated Jimmy with kid gloves and gave him a second chance to keep working at the firm, that’s pretty much the opposite of ‘blew it’.
I really don’t know of any business that’s been around for more than five years (so no startups in the ‘early days’) that will let someone who’s been there less than a year just create and run an ad without having to get someone’s approval on the ad. And yes, if you create and run an ad without a manager approving it, you will probably end up fired on the spot.
You’re not wrong… I guess I’m partly seeing it from Jimmy’s perspective, which is not surprising, what with his being the show’s protagonist and all. I guess I feel like there was an opportunity for Cliff to take Jimmy’s skills and abilities and actually channel and use them to the firm’s benefit, rather than basically taking the only thing that Jimmy did while he was there into which he really poured his hard and soul, and which, it should be pointed out, WORKED, and just shut it down. I guess the irony is that by any objectively reasonable scale, Cliff did SO SO SO MUCH to help Jimmy out and give him every chance possible, and Jimmy even realizes that, and yet the one time that Jimmy really wanted help, Cliff didn’t or couldn’t give it, but as you point out, you can’t even really blame Cliff for that.
Which is what makes it such a good and interesting show.
It wasn’t just the ad, but the timing of it. Davis and Main weren’t above putting together one of their own boring shirty little ads, but aired it in the middle of the night at infomercial time when nobody would be watching, rather than during Murder, She Wrote. Jimmy’s strategy worked because he understands people and he gets the game, a talent that Clifford didn’t give him enough credit for.
I don’t think Cliff had the skill set to help Jimmy out - he knows how to help people who have a certain basic cultural understanding and set of values, but I don’t think he’s ever encountered someone like Jimmy. Thinking about Cliff’s reaction to the commercial and ‘getting fired with wavy arm guy’ montage, Cliff seems to be reacting like I did when I was dating someone who had some major unacknowledged issues. She would do stuff that was off the wall and should have been a deal breaker, but because I didn’t have experience with someone being that skewed, I would convince myself that I must be missing something about the situation or that it was just an over-the top response to something temporary and things would be back to normal soon. I think Cliff was doing that up until the bagpipe and the snide remark about ‘taking your advice’ just made him realize that there isn’t a nice explanation, Jimmy is just an asshole.
For all that Howard appears to be an egotistical jerk, I think he would actually be the one person on the show who could keep Jimmy doing legitimate work. If Chuck was not involved, I can see him moving Jimmy from the stockroom and using his talents and energy while having someone more charismatic than Erin keep an eye on him.
I disagree with this - it got people to call in about Sandpiper, but it also would make the firm look like cheap ambulance chasers if it ran often (as a one-off in one state it’s probably not noticeable). Like Cliff said, that would kill the image they’ve spent years cultivating and scare off a lot of huge clients. It’s like building a campfire in the kitchen to cook a meal - the meal is nice and tasty, but now you’ve got a hole in the floor and smoke damage all around.
It would have been more realistic if Jimmy’s dad said “maybe your points just slipped. I’ll get my tools.” The chances of him having the right plugs would be pretty slim.
How is Jimmy’s ad more image-damaging than Cliff’s swirly background ads? Both are soliciting clients from aggrieved seniors, both associate the firm’s name with the pursuit of clients; how does using higher production values make Jimmy’s ad into client poison?
Well exactly like others have already said. Jimmy’s ad was pure ambulance chaser. Crying old lady, black and white closeups, fast talking narrator. You think a bank or old money wants to hire an ambulance chaser because his ad had better production value?