Just watched the Kimmel show hosted by Al Franken. He had Bob Odenkirk on, and a surprise visit by Rhea Seehorn. He asked her how she managed to do that amazing crying jag in the penultimate episode. I can’t summarize what she said, as it was a lot of actor-speak, but basically she was drawing on a lot of emotion from throughout the series.
Yeah, when he was 20 years old. He told Walt he regretted injuring his knee, but the whole rest of the episode, to me, implies that he was really talking about his regret over becoming Slippin Jimmy in the first place.
Of course, Walt had no regrets over anything, so it makes sense Saul wasn’t going to be vulnerable and bare his soul to him in that moment. But I think that we, as the audience, are supposed to see that as Saul finally having some regrets about starting this whole life of dishonest trickery.
I’ve been seeing people say Saul’s change in the courtroom seemed implausible and unearned. But I think most of the flashbacks and Gene scenes were illustrating how his perspective was changing about his own identity and life history, even while he was doubling down on the destructive Saul behavior like an addict.
So, yeah, the change itself seemed to happen fairly quickly, but it didn’t feel unearned to me, because of all these hints over the last few episodes that it was coming. I think that scene where he was telling Walt he wished he didn’t hurt his knee was one of those. The text was about his hurt knee, the subtext was about his dirty soul.
That’s exactly what I felt he was saying. Of course Walter, bullheaded, didn’t get it. Walter was a genius at science and stupid with people.
I would guess that in the writing process, this scene was designed to be the heart of the entire finale, if not the entire last season.
Jimmy made decisions here–to cynically assume there was no path toward genuine closeness with his brother–that led inexorably to his later decision to get Chuck barred from working as a lawyer (which essentially killed him).
Similarly we saw (in a previous episode) Jimmy/Saul cynically and coldly throwing away a chance to connect with Kim, as they signed their divorce papers. So the story question for the last episodes of this series was: will Jimmy’s bitterness and cynicism lead him to repeat, with Kim, the greatest regret of his life: his choices about Chuck?
And that question was brilliantly played on, I think, in the finale’s airplane scene. For many (including me) Jimmy’s questioning of lawyer Bill about what was going on with Kim–her confession; whether or not she might be charged criminally; the likelihood that she’d be sued–led to some genuine suspense. Was Jimmy’s bitterness toward Kim so deep that he’d go out of his way to cause her harm?
And his ultimate choice—to confess, himself—led to the only chance he could ever have at finding peace of mind.
(The ‘Jimmy and Kim lean against the wall and share a cigarette’ scene was clearly a call back to a similar scene when the characters were just beginning to acknowledge their attraction to each other (as the photos in JohnT’s post, ~1506, demonstrate). I haven’t looked for that older scene to watch it again but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gould, directing, took care to duplicate the movements and camera angles throughout.)
I do have some issues with the plotting. But for now I’ll just say that I think Gilligan and Gould got this ending as close to being emotionally right for the series as is possible.
I agree entirely with your post, except a pedantic nitpick here. And it’s not even really a nitpick really, just a different interpretation. I think Jimmy and Kim already were or had been in a romantic relationship. A carefully casual and distanced one, perhaps somewhat interrupted by her getting the job at HHM, but a relationship nonetheless. The scene where he is painting her toenails a couple of episodes later and the one where she is laughing that he used his “robot sex voice”, speaks to a casual level of intimacy that to my mind goes beyond a burgeoning attraction and shows more of a continuing one. It wasn’t made explicit, so there is room for interpretation. But I think they had already hooked up when they were working in the HHM mailroom together.
Just MHO.
I also think that they had been a couple for a while when we first meet her.
I don’t remember the precise details but, yeah, Chuck was a massive dick to Jimmy in that situation. But to we take from that “any interaction between Jimmy and Chuck will 100% lead to Chuck fucking over Jimmy period”? I mean, clearly they can chat superficially about things. Now, could they have started very slow and safe with discussions about Jimmy’s extremely low-level clients, and maybe started to rebuild a relationship of mutual respect? Certainly my interpretation of that scene being in the finale is that Jimmy at least wishes he’d given that a shot. If Chuck has spend a few hours every week for a year or so talking over small-potatoes cases with Jimmy, then maybe he’ll gradually start to respect that (a) Jimmy is a good lawyer, and (b) Jimmy does genuinely try to do right by his clients. And then maybe in that alternate timeline if something like Sandpiper comes along he’ll have more trust that Jimmy can do what’s right by the oldies.
I think that we’re at least intended to view that as a might-have-been, although not a certainly-would-have-been-if-only-he’d-done-one-tiny-thing-different.
See now, I don’t think this is quite it–what Jimmy needs and wants more than anything is the story. He’s happy when he’s making stories–legal arguments, commercials and yeah, cons. But look at his cons, they are ART. Just the right elements in the right combination with the pacing and the hooks–Jimmy is a storyteller. But like any obsession, when you get too good at it it’s no fun to keep reinventing the wheel and in most lives the only place to get that kind of high octane story fix is in something illegal. I think the reason Bob Odenkirk inhabits this role and brings it to the realm of high art is that he is a comedian–and more than that, a sketch comedian. Telling stories, honing a line here and a punchup there to craft a joke or a bit into perfection, that’s what drives Odenkirk too and he brought that energy to Jimmy/Saul/Gene.
At the end of it all, Jimmy decided that Kim is more important than his story obsession, that her happiness is the best story he could craft so he goes on one last bender in court then drops his truth bomb and takes his lumps. He knows if he’s outside he’ll keep fucking it up because he can’t control his urge to make the story so he puts himself into a milieu where he can still have his stories of the past while inside his own head he’s writing the end of the epic love story that nobody but he will ever comprehend. It’s fucking poetic, really.
Jimmy felt that way, but the reality is that it never would have worked. Chuck hated Jimmy for much of their lives - for cheating their father, for the way their mother favored Jimmy, etc. Remember the hospital scene when their mother was on her deathbed and Jimmy left the room and how Chuck wouldn’t even let Jimmy know she was finally dying because she asked for Jimmy and not Chuck? In Chuck’s eyes, Jimmy was a two-bit grifter and always would be.
If you can consider this previous ‘romantic relationship’ just a fling/friends with benefits type situation, I see no reason why both of these can’t be true.
They could have slept together a few times or gone on a couple of dates years ago only to now find themselves attracted to each other, or willing to admit they are.
They were an item from the start of the show.
I don’t think his regret has anything to do with money. I think his moment of regret was what he did to Jesse. Right before he tells the Gray Matter story he says, “My regrets…” and looks down at the watch Jesse got him for his birthday. But he’s not about to tell Saul that.
We all know he never really cared for nor respected Saul, he harangues Saul the entire time in the bunker, he’s got a million other things on his mind at the moment, so he’s not about to open a window into his soul to Saul of all people.
He’s being more truthful back in the episode where he says he’s not in the money business or the meth business, he’s in the empire business. And at the base level, it’s not even the empire business, it’s the pride business, which is what kept him from being honest to Saul about what his great regret was.
I mostly agree with you. Even if Jimmy had agreed to talk over his cases with Chuck it almost certainly wouldn’t have worked. But maybe that was the last chance, however slim, for Jimmy and Chuck to turn their relationship around. Or maybe that’s how Jimmy sees it.
Jimmy and Chuck had structural weaknesses. I don’t think they started out trying to screw each other but their diametrically opposed life philosophies put them in constant conflict that led to the point where they were intentionally or at least thoughtlessly attacking each other.
I can’t see Chuck as sinking to the depths Jimmy did though. Look who survived. Jimmy is responsible for Chuck’s death, with an assist from Kim.
I’d completely forgotten that he got the watch from Jesse. Totally understand the significance of that shot now.
I feel like Chuck is happy with Jimmy working an honest, menial job like being a file clerk at the office (or managing a Cinnabon?) It’s only when Jimmy tries to rise above his station that Chuck feels the need to push him back down. He would never see him as an equal. Being a budget lawyer taking on public defense cases? Sure, no problem. Taking on a huge class-action? No way.
I do wonder how Chuck would’ve reacted to “Saul Goodman”.
I think Chuck resented that he had worked his arse off in a by-the-book manner, yet Jimmy could match him by (in his eyes) slacking off, scheming, and attending some joke of a university to get his qualifications.
Well, that’s what he SAID. Again, I don’t think he’s honest. The observation about the watch is a really good one though, and makes sense as his regret at that point. But he’s so, so proud. He’s never wrong, everyone else is. I think it’s fairly well established that Walt left Gray Matter because he left Gretchen and that was a matter of pride. It’s a classic Shakespearian tragedy; one man’s tragic flaw leaves the stage littered with bodies.
It wasn’t the lost millions, it was the lost recognition and respect of his peers.
I think that’s key. Based on the Financial Times comment others have pointed out that scene was likely literally the evening before the first episode of Better Call Saul. Whether it would have worked or not Jimmy remembers it as the last time Chuck seemed to reach out, even if only in loneliness or boredom.
That’s Jimmy’s regret. However slim there was a chance, probably the last chance, that he and Chuck could have bonded just a little and changed the course of what came after. The ton of baggage would still be there, including Chuck blocking his hiring at HHM. But maybe talking law with Jimmy and realizing how clever Jimmy was as a litigator and how serious he was about making it work would have genuinely impressed Chuck, who loved the practice of law more than anything else. Maybe it would become a nightly event and gradually they’d develop enough trust to have a cathartic outing of all their grievances and betrayals. Maybe eventually forgive each other and get past them.
Maybe. Probably not. But Jimmy remembers that night and looks back at it as their last shot.