Just for fun, I looked up the cost of opening a Cinnabon. Assuming Saul got away with at least half a million, it’s doable.
Not that I remember, not the people working in the restaurant itself anyway. Although presumably some of the people involved in the joint distribution network for chicken and drugs are nominally employees of PH for eg. tax purposes. Also I remember the female manager (or assistant) fielding one of Walter’s visits seemed less naive than the manager Hector confronted, a bit taken aback by an agitated person looking for Gus, but not as profoundly. Though maybe just a different person with a naturally better sense of things.
On nobody calling the police on Hector, Nacho and the other guy, I think there’s a fig leaf of plausibility. OTOH this isn’t some strictly local dive, it’s fast food place, anybody driving by might stop in, the demographics of customers shown in various scenes in both series are somewhat diverse, and though NM has the highest % of Hispanics of any state, it also a higher proportion of US born or multi-generation American Hispanics than nationally. Somebody sitting there probably wouldn’t be ‘plugged in’ to not get involved to the extent of even calling the cops anonymously, somebody probably would have. But OK maybe nobody would have, in contrast to some physically implausible stuff in BB that bugged me in real time. This I didn’t think about much in real time.
I agree with you and others this is easily discernible part of J&K’s plan: some idea of showing the making and duplication of the tape looks like a set up by a mentally unstable person with previous history of obsession with Jimmy not being a lawyer. Thus the content of the tape might not ultimately influence even an a priori pro-Chuck board to disbar Jimmy because of what’s on the tape.
However Jimmy still confessed to a felony as part of the break in incident at Chuck’s house, even if it can be shown Chuck probably wanted that to happen, aside from the credibility of what’s on the tape, and aside from whether Chuck is well mentally. Those are only mitigating factors in determining a punishment. Somebody with an even somewhat Javert-ish attitude toward how the bar committee should work could still say ‘admitted felon, disbarment for you’.
There’s probably something else we haven’t thought of. Or as with other solidly entertaining Gilligan plot twists, perhaps the upcoming ones will have some holes in them on reflection.
Los Pollos Hermanos is definitely South Valley. No danger of anyone calling the police.
Crane
Can you explain this?
I assume that you’re talking about here: South Valley, New Mexico - Wikipedia
Why is Los Pollos Hermanos definitely there, and why would no one call the police?
Yeah, I’m wondering about that too. We know that the fire department and police department eat there often enough to recognize it on sight, so I don’t even think it would be that rare for a cop to just turn up. If you watch the scene where Hector turns up, it doesn’t look like a ‘people from a neighborhood that never call the police’ crowd, it looks like a typical fast-food joint. I just don’t see that the old white couple, middle-aged white woman, black guy in a suit, white guy in a jacket, and redheaded guy with glasses are all going to be in on the ‘don’t call the police no matter what’ idea. The place looks too middle class and racially diverse to me.
Yes, this is one of the clearest mis-steps in the series so far for me (which shows how tight the show is in general*). The police would probably be called by several people in this scenario. Plus what exactly is Hector’s plan if the police were to show up?
- On that point, I was just thinking again about one of the henchmen stopping a customer from leaving, and Nacho looks concerned, shakes his head, and the guy lets the customer leave.
It’s a misdirection, but it’s an organic, believable one, and serves to make the world feel that much more real.
That’s why lack of a call to the police sits somewhat awkwardly.
Am I the only one thinking: Accusing someone of being eccentric as a defense? Because he made a tape of you admitting to a felony and then copied the tape? Why is this unreasonable behavior? Why are his disabilities supposed to be hurting him in a hearing? If it’s all just to say he’s “weird” and they’re going to play the “I was under stress and fibbing to help my brother” card, wouldn’t that be a little banal and anticlimactic for this show?
Also my on demand glitched on the last 5 seconds of episode 3. Can anyone give a transcript? I know there was something about shoving it up Chuck’s ass.
It goes to credibility. If a witness can lie about one thing, he can lie about anything. Chuck claimed the cassette tape was destroyed. It wasn’t. The copy was. Chuck lied. He probably shouldn’t have volunteered that the original is still intact. In a court of law, wording is everything. If he tries to play the tape, it just verifies that he lied.
That’s all irrelevant. That whole bit about the cassette/property being damaged/destroyed was misdirection. Chuck did not lie about the original/copy being destroyed, because he didn’t specify which, nobody asked, and that bit doesn’t matter except to show how much Chuck was plotting against his own brother.
If he plays the tape, it just verifies that’s he’s too crazy to be practicing law.
But don’t you think that’s too simple a plan?
Chuck is pig-headed when it comes to his brother, has a psychosomatic illness, and is perhaps a little schizo. But he’s far from an idiot.
If the very fact he recorded his brother makes him look like a nut, then he would be painfully aware of that, as would Howard.
J&K would have absolutely no reason to be acting like they’ve found a smart strategy that will catch HamlinMcgill off-guard.
It is. In real life the line of attack is obvious to experienced and smart lawyers like Howard and presumably Chuck. Its basic advocacy, guess what the opponents most likely case theory is going to be and counter it if you can. Operative part, if you can.
From Howard and Chuck’s view, there are two possible attacks that Jimmy can put forward, deny the tape and get it suppressed, or put Chuck’s credibility in question. The first is handled easily, the second…well Chuck is a “guy with an allergy to electricity”, who is wearing tin foil under his suit and who has a long history of vindictive actions against Jimmy. Not easy to counter.
In real life, Howard would have told Chuck of this fact and told him to drop it when he made his “brilliant” plan. The fact he does not makes me suspect that either he wants Chuck to go down or the showrunners are using Hollywood style law.
They are not going to be in court. They are going in front of the Bar Assn. Different rules.
And, as Chuck made very clear, the standards of what can be presented are much lower.
This will be a very fun episode.
I will agree with that point. 
I don’t think Chuck ever really told Howard his plan. Iirc, when Chuck went into his fake relapse/collapse, Howard was genuinely worried. And when they were setting the trap with private security waiting, I don’t think Howard thought Chuck wanted to take it this far.
Howard might have trouble if he has to testify. He knows the whole thing was a setup especially that the confession was gathered using emotional blackmail basically.
I see jimmy as a criminal and I don’t find chuck’s actions very strange at all. Jimmy committed the fraud. And the assault and breaking and entering.
I’ll be really disappointed if they just say that Chuck is coocoo and this saves jimmy’s bacon. There has got to be more to a great show.
And since when do jimmy’s actions not count against him if Chuck is weird or even hostile or vengeful? Any hearings I have been in jimmy wouldn’t last 5 minutes. Is it just TV land?
Maybe I missed something about the set up with the tape? I can’t imagine acting any more restrained than chuck did, if I found out about the kind of cut and past shit jimmy did.
You forget that Chuck also stole the Mesa Verde case from Kim. He ain’t so innocent. And the detail about the original tape still existing—I don’t think Hamlin was expecting that. It will come back to bite Chuck in the backside.
Biffster, you are an originalist, I suppose. I hope you’re wrong. It is illegal to destroy someones tape even if it is not the original copy of something. I don’t think there is a special legal status for the magnetic information on a tape, as distinct from the physical object, unless you are suing for the loss of the last copy of something, maybe. If that’s the plot point on which this hinges it makes the logic almost too abstruse to get with.
Chuck didn’t steal anything from Kim. He won back a client for his law firm through legitimate means. He also did it by telling the truth. He claimed that his firm had better resources than Kim to handle Mesa Verde’s case. If you notice in the episodes this season, Kim has been running herself ragged trying to keep up with the case. I don’t know if she’ll be able to handle it for much longer, especially as she’s now helping Jimmy too.
Edit: By “telling the truth”, I mean that Chuck is correct in the analysis he presents to Mesa Verde.