Better Call Saul 2×10 Reaction
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Chicanery!
Haha it’s funny hearing them talk about the titles of the episodes without them realising that there’s a hidden meaning if you take all the S2 titles and do some brainwork lol.
You guys are all so wrong. This show and breaking bad are not about who is good or bad. What is great about this show is the grey area.
Its like eric said you don’t know who to root for
Chuck’s reputation would have been fine if he wasn’t so egotistical and narcissistic that he decided to tell the judges and his clients that they were wrong and he was right. Doesn’t matter if that’s true, it matters that Chuck’s default response was essentially “shut up, you’re wrong I am right. Don’t question me.”.
Jimmy, Kim and Howard are all correct in that Chuck’s attitude is what is to blame here. Jimmy’s fraud is a big part of it, but if Chuck acted like a normal person (as Jimmy says) he’d have just apologised for making a mistake, owned up to it and tried to make Mesa Verde work whilst trying to catch Jimmy in the background. His ego (as we see until now and in the future) is the biggest problem.
And Chuck might technically be in the right for clearing his name and proving Jimmy broke the law. But it was extremely morally/ethically wrong in over-exaggerating and faking his condition to suggest insanity or even suicidal depression in order to manipulate his brother, who he knows loves him and will fall for it, in order to get what he wants. It’s like Jimmy says “so you lost a client, so what? Big deal! Most people would say oh no I made a mistake- and then get over it!”. Chuck has already lost Mesa Verde by offending Kevin and Paige at the hearing. Revealing Jimmy’s actions wouldn’t get them Mesa Verde back, it would just make them fire Kim for the scandal and go elsewhere. Chuck’s rep is already in tatters due to his mental wellbeing (the need to turn off electrics and stow devices when Chuck goes into the office is damning) so revealing this will just be like “see I *didn’t* make a mistake this time. I’m still that asshole perfectionist who played on my brother’s love and concern in order to prove my brother, Mailroom Jimmy, Charlie Hustle, is a lawbreaker.”. Because THAT is Chuck’s point. Not to fix his rep like you said. To drag everyone else down to his level of thinking Jimmy is scummy Slippin’ Jimmy. He HATES that people love Jimmy’s charisma and charm, and treat him with standoffish indifference. It happened with their parents, happened with Kim and others at HHM, and even happened with his wife.
In addition to your other comment, Chuck does love Jimmy, but as he says elsewhere, only so far as brotherly love is mandated really. He doesn’t really care for him, finds him to be an embarrassment and wants Jimmy to be “contained”. Prior to saving him from the Chicago Sunroof, Jimmy was Slippin’ Jimmy out in Chicago causing problems and ruining the McGill name which HHM has had issues with when it comes to Jimmy. For his parents sake and to keep Jimmy in line, he saves him. He keeps him in the mailroom where he knows Jimmy will be low risk, out of sight, in a respectable and quiet position. When Jimmy starts to improve himself and develop, then Chuck panics. He says Jimmy with a law degree is a chimp with a machinegun because he still sees Jimmy as scum rising above his station. Don’t act like Chuck was doing that because he loves his brother. He was merciful due to their familial connection true, but it’s always been about keeping him in his place to restrict embarrassment to the McGill name, and also exact spiteful revenge for everyone (including their dying mother, his ex-wife and their current business associates) preferring Jimmy despite Chuck dedicating his life to academically overachieving.
Saving Jimmy is like 50% damage control to cage Jimmy in a way that protects the family name. 20% expectation of others to honour the family name, 20% to keep Jimmy beneath him where he belongs, and 10% actual brotherly love.
This scheme is like 50% ego proving he was right all along and doesn’t make mistakes. 20% because he thinks the law is sacred. 20% to prove “good ol’ Jimmy, everyone loves Jimmy!” is wrong and they shouldn’t love him more than Chuck who deserves it, and like 10% brand reputation recovery.
O boy! O boy! O boy! Show is good now, but it gets CRAZY from here!
Chuck is a piece of shit for what he did the only reason jimmy is the way he is, is because chuck doesn’t allow him to better himself because chuck is so self righteous even after jimmy sacrificed huge chunks of his life to help chuck
That’s a *severe* misreading of the situation. The show *heavily* suggests that Chuck is correct about Jimmy not being able to help himself when it comes to breaking the rules/law. Even if Chuck had totally supported Jimmy and allowed him a place at HHM, do you honestly believe, with 100% certainty, that he would’ve become an honest, upstanding lawyer? Sure, it’s not *impossible*, but it’s entirely understandable why Chuck is sceptical enough of Jimmy’s character, given his reprehensible history, to not want to take the chance. Don’t get me wrong, Chuck is in no way 100% in the right; his legitimate concerns about Jimmy are massively tied up with his personal envy of Jimmy’s natural charm and likeability with others, *especially* their parents, but that doesn’t make Chuck entirely wrong to oppose Jimmy. They’re *both* supposed to be morally grey but some people watching the show seem to fall heavily into “Protagonist Centered Morality” and downplay Jimmy’s shitty actions while exaggerating Chuck’s.
also please remember chuck loves his brother clearly or he wouldnt have stopped him going to jail as a sex offender and he wouldnt have taken him away from being slipping jimmy and given him a job
Chuck could’ve just done those things for their mom. Didn’t Chuck find out about the incident through her anyways?
if such transactional minor things are what you build your definition of love on I’d be pretty sad for your family.
Chuck did those things because they were the right thing to do – full stop. For the social cache and feelgoods. So much of his actions and beliefs revolve around doing what he has justified as the moral or legally correct behavior and then wondering why people don’t like him for it. He can only maintain his level of sanctimony as an intelligent, discerning, manipulative and paranoid man by also doing actions he believes are the bedrock of that moral high ground. And even when doing things that would otherwise be good he constantly arrogantly and dismissively doesn’t care about the feelings of the people who are helping or working with him both because he believes he is better and because he has difficulty understanding others who don’t share his moral panic. It’s like people who care a lot to donate to charity but hate the idea of government programs to eliminate the problem, they want to feel important with a sense of middle-class noblesse oblige.
He loves him (as a deeply flawed person who grounds their love in moral imperatives and hierarchy), but that’s definitely not why we know that.