S04.E07: Something Stupid

[Bannon]

15 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

Quarreling with the cop was stupid. Jimmy would never have done that because he was much smarter.

The smart thing to do would be to say some bullshit like, "Oh. Gosh. I never realized that. I will have to think about this. Can I get your card so that I can call you back to discuss this after I've thought about it some?

Successful business types play this game real well. They almost never get angry and blurt out a bunch of shit that can come back on them and hurt them. They obfuscate. They delay. They say a bunch of conflicting things designed to confuse someone. They pretend to be friendly and respectful. Finally, they ask if they can get back to the person at a later time. Doesn't matter how the other person answers. They have no intention of ever getting back to them.

They just want to delay so they can think of the best way to deal with this problem. Perhaps they will want to consult a lawyer too. But there is no need to make a decision on the spot and if they take some time to think about it, whatever decision they make is bound to be better for them than making a decision on the spot.

Jimmy has enough smarts and enough experience to know it is a stupid mistake to argue with the cop and give him a hard time. So much better to pretend to be respectful and take some time to decide what he will really do.

Oh, I agree with this. Jimmy, as opposed to a soon to be Saul, consumed with rage, likely would have avoided a direct confrontation with the cop.

[ShadowFacts]

20 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

Jimmy has enough smarts and enough experience to know it is a stupid mistake to argue with the cop and give him a hard time. So much better to pretend to be respectful and take some time to decide what he will really do.

Yes, he would have normally schmoozed his way out of a mess and he tried to backtrack when it was too late, but he is combative owing to his diminishing status.  Kim is moving in a different direction, his hair is falling out,  he needs a bodyguard.  His mouthiness to the officer didn't actually hurt him, though, it's Huell who is jammed up now and Jimmy is thinking up asinine ways to help him.  Downward spiral.

[qtpye]

5 hours ago, PeterPirate said:

1.  There was downside risk to bringing Kim out of doc review.  Her association with Jimmy already stung the firm once, and had the potential of doing so again.  If I remember correctly, Chuck owned one-third of the firm, and HHM had eight partners.  I am not aware of any more information about the equity shares.  

2.  My point is that you made the claim that Chuck did not own more of the firm than Howard, and I would like to know if you got that information from the show. 

3.  Chuck told Howard that in order to get rid of him, Howard/HHM would have to pay him $8 million for his share.  

My larger point is that we saw Chuck push Howard around a number of times, and I've always figured that Howard felt he had no choice but to defer to Chuck, either because of his father or Chuck's standing in the legal world or, as we saw, because Chuck could bring down the firm with an internal lawsuit.  This is the first time I've heard that Howard allowed it to happen because he was a bad manager.  I suppose one can make the argument that as the managing partner Howard could have stood up to Chuck sooner, equity shares notwithstanding.  But that strategy also brought its own downside risks, since, as we saw, Chuck's response to Howard's suggestion that he retire was to sue HHM.   

I've always looked at Chuck as a tragic figure in a way, because his destiny was set when his mother begged him to get Jimmy out of possible prison sentence.  Now I am looking at Howard in the same way, because his destiny was set by his father's desire that he join the firm and not strike out on his own.  Maybe we'll get Kim's familial backstory to figure out her attachment to Jimmy.    

 

52 minutes ago, ShadowFacts said:

Yes, he would have normally schmoozed his way out of a mess and he tried to backtrack when it was too late, but he is combative owing to his diminishing status.  Kim is moving in a different direction, his hair is falling out,  he needs a bodyguard.  His mouthiness to the officer didn't actually hurt him, though, it's Huell who is jammed up now and Jimmy is thinking up asinine ways to help him.  Downward spiral.

Chuck had his issues for sure, but Jimmy has been so gosh darn lovable these past seasons that it was often hard to see that he might have had a point.  As much as I disliked him, Chuck has made a remarkable and distinguished career for himself by using his brains. He like, Jimmy came from humble beginnings and was able to turn Howard's father's firm into a great success. When the prosecutor made the comment about a "lowlife sleazy disbarred lawyer selling phones to criminals" (I do not remember the exact quote but that was the gist of it) you could see Kim kind of flinch in subtle pain (great acting). Kim was flinching not because of the comment but because she knew the comment was at least somewhat true. Jimmy is refusing to confront his emotions on Chuck's brutal death and Kim becoming partner at a large law firm, which he sees as a betrayal. He is acting out like a spoiled child and it is very unbecoming to a man in his forties but looks like he is in his fifties.

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, MissBluxom said:

Quarreling with the cop was stupid. Jimmy would never have done that because he was much smarter.

The smart thing to do would be to say some bullshit like, "Oh. Gosh. I never realized that. I will have to think about this. Can I get your card so that I can call you back to discuss this after I've thought about it some?

Successful business types play this game real well. They almost never get angry and blurt out a bunch of shit that can come back on them and hurt them. They obfuscate. They delay. They say a bunch of conflicting things designed to confuse someone. They pretend to be friendly and respectful. Finally, they ask if they can get back to the person at a later time. Doesn't matter how the other person answers. They have no intention of ever getting back to them.

They just want to delay so they can think of the best way to deal with this problem. Perhaps they will want to consult a lawyer too. But there is no need to make a decision on the spot and if they take some time to think about it, whatever decision they make is bound to be better for them than making a decision on the spot.

Jimmy has enough smarts and enough experience to know it is a stupid mistake to argue with the cop and give him a hard time. So much better to pretend to be respectful and take some time to decide what he will really do.

Good points.  Jimmy seemed to let his temper get the better of him, instead of schmoozing and conning the cop, like prime Slippin' Jimmy would have done.  I am thinking about how he responded to Clifford Main after the ad debacle.  He tried to play it as a misunderstanding and played up the facts that Cliff put him in charge of client outreach and had reacted positively the general concept of running an ad.  Obviously, there was no real confusion, but Jimmy made a somewhat plausible argument that it was an honest mistake and probably saved his job with it. 

Antagonizing the cop  was a terrible idea.  I think Jimmy's suppressed emotions regarding Chuck and his hurt over Kim rejecting him as a law partner are causing him to lose his cool and make bad decisions.  

[Bryce Lynch]

3 minutes ago, qtpye said:

Chuck had his issues for sure, but Jimmy has been so gosh darn lovable these past seasons that it was often hard to see that he might have had a point. 

I've been saying this for a long time.  I loved Jimmy, but Chuck was 100% right about him being a chimp with a machine gun.  Anyone who has seen BB knows this.

And it wasn't just a lucky guess.  Chuck always knew exactly what Jimmy was up to, whether it was the billboard rescue scam or figuring out how he altered the MV documents and bribed the copy shop guy.   

The flashback in 406 is even more evidence.  Jimmy never cared about the law or following in Chuck's footsteps.  He became a lawyer to impress a woman. Despite all that, he had some good moments, being a good elder law attorney and discovering the MV fraud.  But, his lapsing into a crooked lawyer was inevitable and Chuck knew it.  

[Bryce Lynch]

1 hour ago, Bannon said:

This notion that Kim was responsible for Jimmy's behavior "stinging" HHM is dubious at best. Howard was no naif when it came to Jimmy, snookered by Kim's persuasion. Howard managed Jimmy for 7 years! The idea that Kim should be sent to doc review at HHM because Jimmy ran an unauthorized ad at D & M, and then blew up his relationship with them, is also indicative of Howard's ineptitude. The overriding fact is simply this. The purpose of these law firms is to make money. Jimmy bringing Sandpiper to HHM, and thus D&M is going to make these firms literally millions of dollars. Compared to that, the fact that Jimmy didn't get the ok to run an ad all of 1(!) time, and then didn't earn his signing bonus, is trivia, and thus the idea that Kim should should be made to continue to endure doc review, after delivering another pile of cash in the form of Mesa Verde, is absurd.

Is proof of this desired? Well, here it is. Mesa Verde is such a valuable commodity that Kim was able to stroll in to one of HHM's major competitors, and make herself partner (!) because she had Mesa Verde with her! And last we saw, HHM was in danger of insolvency, because Chuck's buyout and death has destroyed cash flow! Might not Mesa Verde be of value to HHM? Might it not have been wise to take measures to retain Kim as a valued employee, instead of relying on your severely mentally ill senior partner to persuade Mesa Verde to stay with HHM! Can Howard not understand that a business plan which includes "Our severely mentally ill senior partner will wear an aluminum foil lined suit, on those occasions where it is deemed critical that he come to the office, or go to regulatory hearings, to work on an important client's affairs, and our malpractice insurer will never find out about it", has some untenable deficiencies? Is Howard ever expected to earn his considerable salary?

I inferred that Chuck and Howard have equal ownership positions by the fact that Howard could, at his sole discretion choose to buy out Chuck, and it would be extremely unusual for a partner who had a greater ownership share to give such discretion to a partner with a lesser share.

Kim was essentially on a "PPD" at HHM after her screwups.  If she kept her nose clean long enough, Howard would have started to trust her again and would have paroled her from the cornfield.    Good managers think about the big picture, and long term, not one big sale.   If she brought in a few hundred thousand in billings (their initial estimate, I believe) but badly harmed the firm's reputation with her poor judgement that would be a big net minus for HHM.

Kim was able to "stroll in" after working feverishly for about a year to build the MV business from a nice get to a really big deal.  Kim hadn't made a fool out of Schweikart or withheld crucial information from him (as Kim let Howard believe she had done), so there were no trust issues there.  She had a clean slate with him.   

Chuck owned 1/3 of HHM. (2 of the 6 danishes and 2 2/3 of the the 8 lights on conference room table) The ownership structure is not totally clear, but I'd guess Howard probably also owned a third and the remaining partners owned the other third   I assumed Howard had the backing of enough of the other partners to have over 50% support to push out Chuck,  but in order to get that support, he had to agree to front most of the buyout money from his personal holdings, rather than from the firm's cash.  

[Clanstarling]

8 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

This! My husband is a cop and it was incredibly offensive to read that all cops are uneducated, ignorant etc. My husband’s department only hires people with college degrees, most of them work more than one job and they are the same as any profession: most are hard working, decent people.

The cops I work with (tangentially, I'm not in public safety) have all been sharp as tacks and seemingly decent people. There may be those who are not, but while I may have some issues with police culture nationally, I'm not inclined to condemn an entire group of people for the actions of a few. As for being able to sense a cop - what I get when I see them is the way they take up space - their posture, their physical authority (not sure how to phrase this - it's how they hold themselves), and that they are on alert at all times.

26 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I've been saying this for a long time.  I loved Jimmy, but Chuck was 100% right about him being a chimp with a machine gun.  Anyone who has seen BB knows this.

And it wasn't just a lucky guess.  Chuck always knew exactly what Jimmy was up to, whether it was the billboard rescue scam or figuring out how he altered the MV documents and bribed the copy shop guy.   

The flashback in 406 is even more evidence.  Jimmy never cared about the law or following in Chuck's footsteps.  He became a lawyer to impress a woman. Despite all that, he had some good moments, being a good elder law attorney and discovering the MV fraud.  But, his lapsing into a crooked lawyer was inevitable and Chuck knew it.  

Jimmy has always been my favorite (in this series - not in BB), but as I always said to Mr Clanstarling, Chuck's not wrong about him. That didn't make me like Chuck one whit. He was an arrogant asshole. Smart, talented, and not wrong -  but extremely unpleasant imo. Even in the flashback in 406.

[qtpye]

48 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I've been saying this for a long time.  I loved Jimmy, but Chuck was 100% right about him being a chimp with a machine gun.  Anyone who has seen BB knows this.

And it wasn't just a lucky guess.  Chuck always knew exactly what Jimmy was up to, whether it was the billboard rescue scam or figuring out how he altered the MV documents and bribed the copy shop guy.   

The flashback in 406 is even more evidence.  Jimmy never cared about the law or following in Chuck's footsteps.  He became a lawyer to impress a woman. Despite all that, he had some good moments, being a good elder law attorney and discovering the MV fraud.  But, his lapsing into a crooked lawyer was inevitable and Chuck knew it.  

I was also the one who made comments about Jimmy not having any superficial or real friends. It was painfully obvious that he considers Huell, an independent contractor that he hires for security and pickpocketing, the closest thing he has to a friend. It is too bad that he did not keep in touch with that paralegal from Davis and Main...the one who helped him move his cocobolo desk. That guy seemed to really like Jimmy and would have given him an honest opinion about how Kim is probably never going to be partnering with Jimmy, no matter how nice the office, again unless he cleans up his act and stops acting like a buffoon.

[Bannon]

37 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Kim was essentially on a "PPD" at HHM after her screwups.  If she kept her nose clean long enough, Howard would have started to trust her again and would have paroled her from the cornfield.    Good managers think about the big picture, and long term, not one big sale.   If she brought in a few hundred thousand in billings (their initial estimate, I believe) but badly harmed the firm's reputation with her poor judgement that would be a big net minus for HHM.

Kim was able to "stroll in" after working feverishly for about a year to build the MV business from a nice get to a really big deal.  Kim hadn't made a fool out of Schweikart or withheld crucial information from him (as Kim let Howard believe she had done), so there were no trust issues there.  She had a clean slate with him.   

Chuck owned 1/3 of HHM. (2 of the 6 danishes and 2 2/3 of the the 8 lights on conference room table) The ownership structure is not totally clear, but I'd guess Howard probably also owned a third and the remaining partners owned the other third   I assumed Howard had the backing of enough of the other partners to have over 50% support to push out Chuck,  but in order to get that support, he had to agree to front most of the buyout money from his personal holdings, rather than from the firm's cash.  

Good managers don't put employees who deliver substantial positive net value in a position where they need to seek parole. It's idiocy. The idea that Jimmy has done substantial harm to HHM's reputation is also without basis. Jimmy has served up millions of dollars to HHM and D&M on a silver platter. in that context, 1 unauthorized commercial, which ran 1 time, and the fact that Jimmy acted like a jerk to get fired, and retain his signing bonus, is nothing. If Howard and D&M still have two functioning brain cells, they would take that trade twice a day for 500 years. Howard got in a snit because his precious ego was damaged, and meanwhile he was putting off resolving the issue of a severely mentally ill senior partner whose condition will eventually put the very existence of HHM at risk. Howard is a complete incompetent, to date, as a business manager.

[benteen]

Yes, Jimmy's behavior in getting fired was SO professional and really showed why he deserves to work with a major law firm...

Edited September 20, 2018 by benteen

[Bannon]

24 minutes ago, qtpye said:

I was also the one who made comments about Jimmy not having any superficial or real friends. It was painfully obvious that he considers Huell, an independent contractor that he hires for security and pickpocketing, the closest thing he has to a friend. It is too bad that he did not keep in touch with that paralegal from Davis and Main...the one who helped him move his cocobolo desk. That guy seemed to really like Jimmy and would have given him an honest opinion about how Kim is probably never going to be partnering with Jimmy, no matter how nice the office, again unless he cleans up his act and stops acting like a buffoon.

Really, at this point, Jimmy's future behavior should be irrelevant to Kim's professional plans.  Kim is ensconced as a partner at a major law firm, and she gets to do the criminal defense work she finds personally rewarding. If Jimmy is thinking of Kim's welfare  he ought to stay out of Kim's professional life. Sadly, I think Jimmy is going to be a lot more self centered than that.

6 minutes ago, benteen said:

Yes, Jimmy's behavior in getting fired was SO professional and really showed why he deserves to work with a major law firm...

Who said anything about Jimmy deserving anything?

[qtpye]

41 minutes ago, Bannon said:

Really, at this point, Jimmy's future behavior should be irrelevant to Kim's professional plans.  Kim is ensconced as a partner at a major law firm, and she gets to do the criminal defense work she finds personally rewarding. If Jimmy is thinking of Kim's welfare  he ought to stay out of Kim's professional life. Sadly, I think Jimmy is going to be a lot more self centered than that.

Who said anything about Jimmy deserving anything?

2

I agree. It shows how delusional Jimmy is that he is still looking at bungalows and "practicing his pitch" to sell Kim on an idea that she has moved way past. This would be true if Jimmy was acting like an angel and patiently working in the cell phone store while waiting out his PPD in a dignified manner. He really should have taken that job as a copier salesman. That way he could be out meeting people and making contacts. A bored Jimmy is always trouble.

[Eulipian 5k]

3 hours ago, MissBluxom said:

Jimmy has enough smarts and enough experience to know it is a stupid mistake to argue with the cop and give him a hard time. So much better to pretend to be respectful and take some time to decide what he will really do.

Jimmy was a lawyer. He knows he is well within his rights to sell on the street with a permit. Why should he say anything to the cop, nice or nasty? He could say, "if you're not buying, move along" The downside would come from the cop abusing his power. Police are supposed to be public servants, they should respect the public who pays their salary not the other way around.

[Bannon]

7 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Jimmy was a lawyer. He knows he is well within his rights to sell on the street with a permit. Why should he say anything to the cop, nice or nasty? He could say, "if you're not buying, move along" The downside would come from the cop abusing his power. Police are supposed to be public servants, they should respect the public who pays their salary not the other way around.

You are entirely correct, of course, but being within your rights is a different issue than whether it is strategically sound to have a direct confrontation with an abusive police officer at that particular time and place.

[Eulipian 5k]

We don't know where the conversation would have gone if Huell, the sub sandwich slapper, hadn't shown up. All we know is that a police officer was telling a businessman, in America, to abandon his market because of what he suspects, the clientele would do with his legal product. That should not be the standard in America. Citizens, (actually persons) have rights in our constitution, the State has NO rights spelled out in the Bill of Rights.

[Bannon]

16 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

We don't know where the conversation would have gone if Huell, the sub sandwich slapper, hadn't shown up. All we know is that a police officer was telling a businessman, in America, to abandon his market because of what he suspects, the clientele would do with his legal product. That should not be the standard in America. Citizens, (actually persons) have rights in our constitution, the State has NO rights spelled out in the Bill of Rights.

Again, you are correct, but being right can get you harmed,  hence the need to choose the place and time of your battles wisely.

[PeterPirate]

45 minutes ago, Bannon said:

Good managers don't put employees who deliver substantial positive net value in a position where they need to seek parole. It's idiocy. The idea that Jimmy has done substantial harm to HHM's reputation is also without basis. Jimmy has served up millions of dollars to HHM and D&M on a silver platter. in that context, 1 unauthorized commercial, which ran 1 time, and the fact that Jimmy acted like a jerk to get fired, and retain his signing bonus, is nothing. If Howard and D&M still have two functioning brain cells, they would take that trade twice a day for 500 years. Howard got in a snit because his precious ego was damaged, and meanwhile he was putting off resolving the issue of a severely mentally ill senior partner whose condition will eventually put the very existence of HHM at risk. Howard is a complete incompetent, to date, as a business manager. 

 

You know, that may very well be true at a real life law firm.  As I understand it, some lawyers are known as "rainmakers" because they bring in the big cases, and we all know that in real life money talks.  But we're not watching a real life law firm.  We're watching a TV show about lawyers and the norms of real life don't necessarily apply.  TV cops can dress slovenly and drive clunkers, and can even murder one of their own.  When it comes to legal matters I am going to take my cues from the TV lawyers.  Two of the three partners at D&M wanted to fire Jimmy after his ad, and neither Chuck nor Kim thought it was wrong for Howard to send her to the Cornfield.  That's good enough for me.  

[LoneHaranguer]

On 9/19/2018 at 12:04 PM, Bryce Lynch said:

It seems like Schweikart had already mentioned Taos, as he said "I still think that Taos is number one."  He actually seemed open to Jimmy's bus ride to Telluride idea, but than Jimmy had to keep taking it further and further to embarrass Schweikart and make him look like a cheapskate.

FWIW, Jimmy didn't actually up the ante all that much. Taking a jet to Aspen sounds a lot more expensive than it is when you're in Albuquerque; there are people in Texas that routinely fly further than that. It'd be another matter if Jimmy had suggested Switzerland.

[Bannon]

35 minutes ago, PeterPirate said:

 

You know, that may very well be true at a real life law firm.  As I understand it, some lawyers are known as "rainmakers" because they bring in the big cases, and we all know that in real life money talks.  But we're not watching a real life law firm.  We're watching a TV show about lawyers and the norms of real life don't necessarily apply.  TV cops can dress slovenly and drive clunkers, and can even murder one of their own.  When it comes to legal matters I am going to take my cues from the TV lawyers.  Two of the three partners at D&M wanted to fire Jimmy after his ad, and neither Chuck nor Kim thought it was wrong for Howard to send her to the Cornfield.  That's good enough for me.  

Oh, let's be clear. There's nothing written in the show, in terms of how the law firms' management behaved,  that I find terribly unrealistic. Senior partners, who are incompetent at managing personnel, like Howard, are not terribly rare, which is why I find this portrayal so compelling; I buy it completely. I find it completely believable, and understandable, that Jimmy would be fired, after the stunts he pulled. Ya' can't have a meathead playing bagpipes in the office, no matter that he brought you Sandpiper. I am merely pushing back on the idea that Howard has demonstrated any competence during the run of this show  and again, I don't find a incompetent senior partner at a law firm to be unbelievable. At all. Firms go bankrupt because management screws the pooch, even management that was at one time good, because performance is not a static thing. 

The explanation that Jimmy implied in last week's episode, that Howard may be a lousy  lawyer and manager, but at one time was himself a terrific rainmaker, makes a lot of sense. Jimmy's blunt advice, that Howard ought to get his ass back to doing what he is actually good at, makes a lot of sense, too. 8 months have past since Jimmy gave that performance review to Howard, and I'm really curious as to whether Howard took that input to heart. It'd really be interesting if he has!

[Eulipian 5k]

1 minute ago, LoneHaranguer said:

FWIW, Jimmy didn't actually up the ante all that much. Taking a jet to Aspen sounds a lot more expensive than it is when you're in Albuquerque; there are people in Texas that routinely fly further than that. It'd be another matter if Jimmy had suggested Switzerland.

Alpine boy?

[Bannon]

10 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

FWIW, Jimmy didn't actually up the ante all that much. Taking a jet to Aspen sounds a lot more expensive than it is when you're in Albuquerque; there are people in Texas that routinely fly further than that. It'd be another matter if Jimmy had suggested Switzerland.

Yeah, probably about 20k for a round trip via Gulfstream. Not a gigantic expense, but a lot more than trivial, I guess.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Bannon

[Bryce Lynch]

3 hours ago, qtpye said:

I was also the one who made comments about Jimmy not having any superficial or real friends. It was painfully obvious that he considers Huell, an independent contractor that he hires for security and pickpocketing, the closest thing he has to a friend. It is too bad that he did not keep in touch with that paralegal from Davis and Main...the one who helped him move his cocobolo desk. That guy seemed to really like Jimmy and would have given him an honest opinion about how Kim is probably never going to be partnering with Jimmy, no matter how nice the office, again unless he cleans up his act and stops acting like a buffoon.

Yeah, I miss Omar.  It is also interesting that Jimmy isn't shown having any contact with Ernie, who covered for him with Chuck, and got fired for it.  I think Jimmy might be in limbo friendwise.  The mail room crowd may think he is out of their league as a lawyer, but real lawyers might look down on him, or he might feel like they are, even if they aren't. 

[wendyg]

eulipian 5k: Stephen Hawking had the benefit of the UK's NHS.

[Tikichick]

4 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Good points.  Jimmy seemed to let his temper get the better of him, instead of schmoozing and conning the cop, like prime Slippin' Jimmy would have done.  I am thinking about how he responded to Clifford Main after the ad debacle.  He tried to play it as a misunderstanding and played up the facts that Cliff put him in charge of client outreach and had reacted positively the general concept of running an ad.  Obviously, there was no real confusion, but Jimmy made a somewhat plausible argument that it was an honest mistake and probably saved his job with it. 

Antagonizing the cop  was a terrible idea.  I think Jimmy's suppressed emotions regarding Chuck and his hurt over Kim rejecting him as a law partner are causing him to lose his cool and make bad decisions.  

I absolutely agree that what we're seeing is the result of Jimmy suppressing his feelings.  His repressed grief and anger are definitely driving the bus we're careening down the road in.

4 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I've been saying this for a long time.  I loved Jimmy, but Chuck was 100% right about him being a chimp with a machine gun.  Anyone who has seen BB knows this.

And it wasn't just a lucky guess.  Chuck always knew exactly what Jimmy was up to, whether it was the billboard rescue scam or figuring out how he altered the MV documents and bribed the copy shop guy.   

The flashback in 406 is even more evidence.  Jimmy never cared about the law or following in Chuck's footsteps.  He became a lawyer to impress a woman. Despite all that, he had some good moments, being a good elder law attorney and discovering the MV fraud.  But, his lapsing into a crooked lawyer was inevitable and Chuck knew it.  

I disagree that becoming a lawyer wasn't at all about following in Chuck's footsteps.  A good bit of James McGill is still the young boy who idolized his big brother who read him stories.  

I'm actually waiting for clarification to be sure that Chuck didn't in fact sow the seeds, or at least fertilize the sprouts, which led to Slippin Jimmy.  It would hardly be surprising that a big brother who had a reputation for and got attention because of his keen intellect might be a bit put off when the younger brother who already got so much attention for his winning personality began to get some notice for his intelligence and abilities there as well.  Chuck was aware of Jimmy's admiration and  was distinctly disinclined to surrender it, hence the pretense of Howard being the henchman preventing Jimmy from joining HHM as a lawyer.  Chuck was absolutely aware of Jimmy's proclivities for misbehaving when bored AND the fact his words and example had power over Jimmy.   

IMO much of what we're seeing in the last glimmers of Jimmy McGill trace back to Jimmy's blind faith that Chuck was always right.  I think we're watching Jimmy both accepting Chuck's assessment of himself while mimicking Chuck in a much more abstract way, kicking over his own lamp, ending the life of James McGill in a much more drawn out process.  

[LoneHaranguer]

47 minutes ago, Bannon said:

Yeah, probably about 20k for a round trip via Gulfstream. Not a gigantic expense, but a lot more than trivial, I guess.

Is that today's price? Based on my watching of the occasional celebrity-lifestyle show back then, a coast-to-coast round trip would go for 5k, with most of that being the fuel, so it'd be in the neighborhood of 2k for the Aspen flight Jimmy was suggesting.

[Bannon]

19 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Is that today's price? Based on my watching of the occasional celebrity-lifestyle show back then, a coast-to-coast round trip would go for 5k, with most of that being the fuel, so it'd be in the neighborhood of 2k for the Aspen flight Jimmy was suggesting.

Just did a quote for a 1 hr flight...

https://www.privatefly.com/us/private-jet-charter/estimate-prices?flightSearch=5257142

...and prices have gone up. It seems one way runs about 17-18 k, or about 35k round trip.

[ShadowFacts]

39 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

IMO much of what we're seeing in the last glimmers of Jimmy McGill trace back to Jimmy's blind faith that Chuck was always right.  I think we're watching Jimmy both accepting Chuck's assessment of himself while mimicking Chuck in a much more abstract way, kicking over his own lamp, ending the life of James McGill in a much more drawn out process.  

Yes, well said, and I think along with knowing Chuck was right, he had the last encounter with his brother ending with him saying he didn't matter all that much.  But, Chuck wasn't finished yet -- Jimmy finds out in the letter that at one point Chuck had some level of admiration for Jimmy that he could never say out loud.  What kind of feelings does that stir up that Jimmy now is unwilling to face?  He's internalized all of that input from Chuck.  Really sad.

[Tikichick]

43 minutes ago, ShadowFacts said:

Yes, well said, and I think along with knowing Chuck was right, he had the last encounter with his brother ending with him saying he didn't matter all that much.  But, Chuck wasn't finished yet -- Jimmy finds out in the letter that at one point Chuck had some level of admiration for Jimmy that he could never say out loud.  What kind of feelings does that stir up that Jimmy now is unwilling to face?  He's internalized all of that input from Chuck.  Really sad.

That's just it, was Chuck actually right -- or did Jimmy's blind faith in what Chuck said make him truly believe going down that path was inevitable, almost unconsciously setting himself on a course to embody what Chuck predicted?

As for what Chuck said in the letter, I haven't accepted we know the truth yet.  I question the reliability of our narrator -- particularly on the grounds of his determined and pronounced avoidance of any acknowledgement of his grief at the loss of his brother.   IMO he's also shutting himself off from the acceptance that Wexler McGill is no more.   It all points to just how similar the McGill brothers were down deep.  Chuck invented an entire illness in order to escape into a lifestyle where he could shut himself away from what he couldn't deal with without acknowledging he was avoiding what he couldn't deal with.  Jimmy's employing a different strategy to achieve the same ends -- including the ultimate exit strategy of taking the life of James McGill.

[Blakeston]

3 hours ago, PeterPirate said:

When it comes to legal matters I am going to take my cues from the TV lawyers.  Two of the three partners at D&M wanted to fire Jimmy after his ad, and neither Chuck nor Kim thought it was wrong for Howard to send her to the Cornfield.  That's good enough for me.  

Kim accepted being sent to doc review immediately after the incident - but she was shocked and mystified that she was still stuck there after bringing in Mesa Verde. Chuck didn't understand why Howard was keeping her there, either.

[JudyObscure]

I love all Gus footage, just having a long look at his kitchen gave me a thrill, but I found the whole plot point that Gus could have a huge influence on Hector's recovery to be far fetched.  I would guess that how much anyone recovers from a stroke would depend on; about 90% how much physical damage was done to the brain, maybe 8% the strength and motivation of the patient and about 2% the skill of the therapist.   Anyone who has a degree in the field would know the exercises to apply and that masses of encouragement and patience would be required.  Hector won't be left without any further therapy just because the expensive doctor is gone and, who knows, the next therapist may be a pretty young blonde with a cute behind who would motivate Hector into leaps and bounds of advancement.  Look how fast he learned to knock water over with the right negative motivation.

It's also hard for my frugal soul to see how much money Gus is spending on the underground lab, but then I remember he probably has a storage unit stacked with cash that he can't spend any other way.

[Bryce Lynch]

26 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Kim accepted being sent to doc review immediately after the incident - but she was shocked and mystified that she was still stuck there after bringing in Mesa Verde. Chuck didn't understand why Howard was keeping her there, either.

Chuck had ulterior motives.  He had the conversation with Kim, over coffee in the HHM office, where he told her about Jimmy stealing $14,000 from their parents, said he was not a bad person but can't help himself, and everyone's left picking up the pieces.  He then told Kim he would talk to Howard about getting her out of doc review.  He was trying to make himself look like the good guy, in Kim's eyes, and Jimmy the bad guy, or at least a guy she needed to stay away from.

Besides that, should we really trust mentally ill Chuck's judgement,, on personnel matters, especially regarding matters involving his beloved, baby brother?  

[Bryce Lynch]

6 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

I love all Gus footage, just having a long look at his kitchen gave me a thrill, but I found the whole plot point that Gus could have a huge influence on Hector's recovery to be far fetched.  I would guess that how much anyone recovers from a stroke would depend on; about 90% how much physical damage was done to the brain, maybe 8% the strength and motivation of the patient and about 2% the skill of the therapist.   Anyone who has a degree in the field would know the exercises to apply and that masses of encouragement and patience would be required.  Hector won't be left without any further therapy just because the expensive doctor is gone and, who knows, the next therapist may be a pretty young blonde with a cute behind who would motivate Hector into leaps and bounds of advancement.  Look how fast he learned to knock water over with the right negative motivation.

It's also hard for my frugal soul to see how much money Gus is spending on the underground lab, but then I remember he probably has a storage unit stacked with cash that he can't spend any other way.

It is hard to say how realistic it is in the real world.  Quality of care, can definitely make a big difference, especially with long, difficult recoveries.

That said,  as elite of a physician as she was, Dr. Bruckner did not seem to have any secret sauce that other doctors or therapists would not know about.  She was pointing to pictures and asking him questions.  Of course, there might have been cutting edge treatments off camera.

In the BCS/BB universe quality of healthcare seems to be the critical factor.   In BB, the assumption was that with the HMO physical therapists, 3 times a week, Hank would probably never walk again, but with the top of the line therapists, 5 days a week, he would have a much better chance of a full recovery.   

[PeterPirate]

29 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Kim accepted being sent to doc review immediately after the incident - but she was shocked and mystified that she was still stuck there after bringing in Mesa Verde. Chuck didn't understand why Howard was keeping her there, either.

Yes, and I am not saying that Howard made the right (or wrong) decision to keep Kim in doc review.  Only that the decision had to balance her upside potential against her downside risks, and that the downside risks entailed her connection with Jimmy.  

Even Chuck's initial reaction to the Mesa Verde news was less than emphatic:

Chuck - She's out of the doghouse, I assume?
Howard - We'll see.
Chuck - Huh.

Later in the episode, Chuck made the effort to go to HHM and talk to Kim himself before deciding to tell Howard to get her back into her office.  It's that kind of nuance that I like about this show.     

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, Bannon said:

Just did a quote for a 1 hr flight...

https://www.privatefly.com/us/private-jet-charter/estimate-prices?flightSearch=5257142

...and prices have gone up. It seems one way runs about 17-18 k, or about 35k round trip.

Not sure I know why it pointed you to a plane that can travel 5000 miles non-stop for a 1 hr flight; that's a costly feature, useful for a transoceanic trip, but not-so-much otherwise. Generally speaking, round-trip is not double one-way for any vehicle, since with one-way they won't always have someone to pay for getting it back and the price needs to cover that.

[Bryce Lynch]

1 minute ago, PeterPirate said:

Yes, and I am not saying that Howard made the right (or wrong) decision to keep Kim in doc review.  Only that the decision had to balance her upside potential against her downside risks, and that the downside risks entailed her connection with Jimmy.  

Even Chuck's initial reaction to the Mesa Verde news was less than emphatic:

Chuck - She's out of the doghouse, I assume?
Howard - We'll see.
Chuck - Huh.

Later in the episode, Chuck made the effort to go to HHM and talk to Kim himself before deciding to tell Howard to get her back into her office.  It's that kind of nuance that I like about this show.     

Correct, and Chuck met with Kim to trash Jimmy.  He got her out of doc review to make himself look like the good brother in hopes of influencing her to leave Jimmy, who he thought was ruining a promising young lawyer.   

[MisterBluxom]

9 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Jimmy is too smart, or at least he thinks he is.  He thinks he can get himself knee deep into trouble and talk or con his way out of it.  There has been a long pattern of this.  I just wish that he would stop hurting or destroying other people in the process.   If he wants to put himself at risk then that is on him.  He just needs to keep other innocent people out of it.

Your post reminds me of the lady who became his recptionist. In their last scene together she was very clearly contemptuous of him. Her vocalizations were akin to a sneer. When he asked her to do him a favor and take some garbage bags and leave them in separate dumpsters - each of which were at least 5 miles away from the office, she looked at him in a way that made it clear she was demanding a lot of money to do that.

But I remember when Jimmy & Kim first hired a receptionist. She was a very demurring and very sort of shy and helpful young lady who seemed willing and eager to do most anything to help them out. I don't recall ever seeing anything that would demonstrate some kind of transition from one state to the other. Was it the same young lady? Am I somehow mistaken as to her identity? I kind of think that I must be. Because the time before the last time I remember her, she was a very sweet and affable young lady. But then, the last time I remember seeing her, it was as if she had transformed into a real - almost evil - witch. What was going on? Am I correct? Did Jimmy's behavior just kind of drive her crazy in a short period? Did she, in fact, lose all respect for Jimmy and did she begin to treat him like a criminal himself?

Edited September 20, 2018 by MissBluxom

[Eulipian 5k]

Did Chuck invent his illness or did he believe his own illness? Whenever we saw Chuck alone with any electric items, he seemed to genuinely be in pain; even when there was no one watching to benefit from any pretense. There are no human bodies that electricity affects the way Chuck experiences, so I believe it's both. He consciously and involuntarily, feels "pain" even if he subconsciously / psychosomatic-ly acquired this "disease".

I believe we saw some events when it may have started, (Rebecca/divorce, Jimmy McG/Esq), but there is no doubt he feels the sensations.  (Though the show tells us he has to see or hear the electric item to react; ie  he won't react to a battery if he doesn't see it). The cured Chuck (suit on, at HHM, with tin foil u-wear) was all pretense.

[Bryce Lynch]

Just now, MissBluxom said:

Your post reminds me of the lady who became his recptionist. In their last scene together she was very clearly contemptuous of him. Her vocalizations were akin to a sneer. When he asked her to do him a favor and take some garbage bags and leave them in separate dumpsters - each of which were at least 5 miles away from the office, she looked at him in a way that made it clear she was demanding a lot of money to do that.

But I remember when Jimmy & Kim first hired a receptionist. She was a very demurring and very sort of shy and helpful young lady who seemed willing and eager to do most anything to help them out. I don't recall ever seeing anything that would demonstrate some kind of transition from one stat to the other. Was it the same young lady? Am I somehow mistaken as to her identity? I kind of think that I must be. Because the time before the last time I remember her, she was a very sweet and affable young lady. But then, the last time I remember seeing her, it was as if she had transformed into a real - almost evil - witch. What was going on? Am I correct? Did Jimmy's behavior just kind of drive her crazy in a short period? Did she, in fact, lose all respect for Jimmy and dis she begin to treat him like a criminal himself?

Yes, Francesca was the receptionist Jimmy and Kim hired fro Wexler and McGill and the Saul's receptionist on Breaking Bad.  We don't know when she rejoined Jimmy at Saul Goodman & Associates, but she could have been there several years.  She clearly became a lot more hardened and cynical working for SG&A, and seemed to hold Saul in contempt in her BB scenes.  

[PeterPirate]

14 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Correct, and Chuck met with Kim to trash Jimmy.  He got her out of doc review to make himself look like the good brother in hopes of influencing her to leave Jimmy, who he thought was ruining a promising young lawyer.   

Well, I know I am a Minority of One here, but I don't presume bad motives on Chuck's part.  He might have done exactly the same thing with the intention of helping Kim out.  I don't recall anything on-screen that would be a tell as to his motives.  Short of evidence we all get to make our own inferences.  In this instance it makes Chuck and Kim's conversation more meaningful to me if he was telling her the truth (as he understood it) instead of trying to play her.  If nothing else, it would show that he respected her.  

Edited September 20, 2018 by PeterPirate

[Bannon]

11 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Not sure I know why it pointed you to a plane that can travel 5000 miles non-stop for a 1 hr flight; 

Because it seemed like a plane that seats 8 or 9 passengers would be inadequate? I have no idea whether it would be cheaper to charter two smaller planes.

[Bryce Lynch]

6 minutes ago, PeterPirate said:

Well, I know I am a Minority of One here, but I don't presume bad motives on Chuck's part.  He might have done exactly the same thing with the intention of helping Kim out.  I don't recall anything on-screen that would be a tell as to his motives.  Short of evidence we all get to make our own inferences.   

 

I think he wanted to help Kim, by getting her to dump Jimmy, who he believed would drag her down.  I think he also didn't want Jimmy associated with HHM, through Kim. 

I don't think Chuck ever had truly "bad" motives regarding Jimmy, at least not from his point of view.  He wasn't trying to hurt Jimmy.  In his mind, he was always trying to protect Jimmy from himself; and protect HHM and the Law from Jimmy.   

4 minutes ago, Bannon said:

Because it seemed like a plane that seats 8 or 9 passengers would be inadequate? I have no idea whether it would be cheaper to charter two smaller planes.

According to Jimmy, there are 56 lawyers at S&C.  It would require either a VERY expensive larger jet (I found  quotes at over $100,000 for a round trip between ABQ and and Aspen, for a plane that large) or multiple, smaller jets.  

Edited September 20, 2018 by Bryce Lynch

[Bryce Lynch]

12 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Jimmy has been making bad decisions long before Chuck died.  Personally, I think Jimmy's actions pushed Chuck over the edge resulting in Chuck's suicide.  I don't think Jimmy is going to ever "own" that.  He will probably in his own mind use the excuse that Chuck was weak.  I think one of the reasons why Jimmy won't see a mental health professional is because he doesn't want to hold himself accountable for anything.  Perhaps he views seeing a mental health professional as a sign of weakness when in actuality it is a sign of tremendous strength.

Jimmy always made bad decisions, but many of them were shrewd decisions, in that they tended to get him what he wanted, though they were the wrong thing to do.   Being combative with the cop was the opposite of shrewd.   The shrewd move would have been to play dumb or humor the cop, but come back and sell the next day. 

[Bannon]

33 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Did Chuck invent his illness or did he believe his own illness? Whenever we saw Chuck alone with any electric items, he seemed to genuinely be in pain; even when there was no one watching to benefit from any pretense. There are no human bodies that electricity affects the way Chuck experiences, so I believe it's both. He consciously and involuntarily, feels "pain" even if he subconsciously / psychosomatic-ly acquired this "disease".

I believe we saw some events when it may have started, (Rebecca/divorce, Jimmy McG/Esq), but there is no doubt he feels the sensations.  (Though the show tells us he has to see or hear the electric item to react; ie  he won't react to a battery if he doesn't see it). The cured Chuck (suit on, at HHM, with tin foil u-wear) was all pretense.

I've always thought that Chuck's illness was rooted in his perfectionism  and the closely related compulsion for control. Subconciously  he understands that the sensitivity to electricity allows him a path to compel others to submit to his whims, thus he convinces himself that his condition is a real physical phenomena. I wonder if he always had a tendency for hypochondria.

19 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I am just waiting for the case that Kim takes that puts her at odds with the law firm she works for.  That Kim takes on a client and things go horribly sour and then it gets mentioned in the press where she works.   She just might be put in the position of having to make a choice between being a public defender or working for that law firm.  I wouldn't be shocked if that case would be one that Jimmy pressed her to take.   She can't do anything that would piss off Mesa Verde.

That's a really interesting scenario.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Bannon

[Tikichick]

21 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

That said,  as elite of a physician as she was, Dr. Bruckner did not seem to have any secret sauce that other doctors or therapists would not know about.  She was pointing to pictures and asking him questions.  Of course, there might have been cutting edge treatments off camera.

 

I'm not certain what we were shown on screen was so much treatment as assessment and evaluation.

20 minutes ago, PeterPirate said:

Even Chuck's initial reaction to the Mesa Verde news was less than emphatic:

Chuck - She's out of the doghouse, I assume?
Howard - We'll see.
Chuck - Huh.

Later in the episode, Chuck made the effort to go to HHM and talk to Kim himself before deciding to tell Howard to get her back into her office.  It's that kind of nuance that I like about this show.     

 Chuck's relationship with Howard presumably went back a long time and had a history of a certain amount of deference from Howard.  Chuck wouldn't have been unaware that collar chafed over the years.  I absolutely believe he jerked on the collar when it suited him to trigger a reaction he wanted.  I think most personnel matters were Howard's domain and Chuck absolutely knew what would happen if it seemed he was stepping on Howard's territory.   

12 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Did Chuck invent his illness or did he believe his own illness? Whenever we saw Chuck alone with any electric items, he seemed to genuinely be in pain; even when there was no one watching to benefit from any pretense. There are no human bodies that electricity affects the way Chuck experiences, so I believe it's both. He consciously and involuntarily, feels "pain" even if he subconsciously / psychosomatic-ly acquired this "disease".

I believe we saw some events when it may have started, (Rebecca/divorce, Jimmy McG/Esq), but there is no doubt he feels the sensations.  (Though the show tells us he has to see or hear the electric item to react; ie  he won't react to a battery if he doesn't see it). The cured Chuck (suit on, at HHM, with tin foil u-wear) was all pretense.

Saying Chuck invented his illness doesn't equate to a conscious creation.  The human psyche is fully capable of using whatever means is available in a crisis.  

7 minutes ago, PeterPirate said:

Well, I know I am a Minority of One here, but I don't presume bad motives on Chuck's part.  He might have done exactly the same thing with the intention of helping Kim out.  I don't recall anything on-screen that would be a tell as to his motives.  Short of evidence we all get to make our own inferences.   

We saw onscreen Chuck prepping Rebecca for simply meeting Jimmy -- and then how perturbed he became when she found Jimmy charming and funny.  We also know he insisted it look like Howard was the obstacle to Jimmy coming onboard HHM as an attorney.  When it comes to Jimmy we at least have to acknowledge Chuck's feelings and motivations run deep and complex. 

[PeterPirate]

18 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I would think that any prosecutor would be embarrassed to take that case into court.  I know I would be laughing myself silly if I had to sit in a jury box because someone (a cop) got hit in the head with a bag full of hoagies.  That case just screams, "settle out of court".

Generally, yes.  But suppose the cop was asked "Why were talking to Mr. McGill?"  If there were any parents on the jury, things might not go too well for the guy providing muscle for the guy selling burner phones to guys dealing drugs.  

 

3 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

We saw onscreen Chuck prepping Rebecca for simply meeting Jimmy -- and then how perturbed he became when she found Jimmy charming and funny.  We also know he insisted it look like Howard was the obstacle to Jimmy coming onboard HHM as an attorney.  When it comes to Jimmy we at least have to acknowledge Chuck's feelings and motivations run deep and complex. 

Yes, but we also never saw Chuck say or do anything subsequent to Kim's re-emergence from the Cornfield to call in a return favor.   Anything is possible, but I believe that Chuck could have simply been trying to help someone else who had been harmed by Jimmy's antics.    

Edited September 20, 2018 by PeterPirate

[Bryce Lynch]

5 hours ago, Eulipian 5k said:

We don't know where the conversation would have gone if Huell, the sub sandwich slapper, hadn't shown up. All we know is that a police officer was telling a businessman, in America, to abandon his market because of what he suspects, the clientele would do with his legal product. That should not be the standard in America. Citizens, (actually persons) have rights in our constitution, the State has NO rights spelled out in the Bill of Rights.

The cop was not ordering Jimmy to do anything.  He tried to reason with him and appeal to his conscience (yeah, good luck trying to reach that).

He did say, "You're gonna go this way?" which from my extensive police experience from watching NYPD Blue, Homicide and The Wire, can sometimes be a prelude to a threat to make the person's life difficult.  But, the cop never actually made any such threats. 

Jimmy then jumped all over cop accusing him of planning to get him for rolling through a stop sign, littering or that he might plant something illegal in Jimmy's glove compartment.  

The cop then tried to diffuse things a bit by saying "Take it easy" but Jimmy rambled on and then the cop responded, "Okay, so, as long as you make a buck, the whole world - can just go in the crapper?"

The cop wasn't really out of line.  Jimmy was technically not doing anything illegal, but it was certainly morally questionable. 

It is kind of ironic to me.  Jimmy was generally more moral than ethical, while Chuck was more ethical than moral.  Jimmy, would bend or break the rules, but usually not to harm any good people, and sometimes to help them.   Now Jimmy is technically following the letter of the law, but helping criminals commit crimes and get away with it.   

[Blakeston]

19 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Jimmy always made bad decisions, but many of them were shrewd decisions, in that they tended to get him what he wanted, though they were the wrong thing to do.   Being combative with the cop was the opposite of shrewd.   The shrewd move would have been to play dumb or humor the cop, but come back and sell the next day. 

If Jimmy had humored the cop, and then went back to the same place and continued selling to the same people, he probably would have made the situation a lot worse when the cop realized he'd been played.

What Jimmy did wasn't terribly smart either, but at the end of the day, it isn't in Jimmy's nature to play nice with a cop who asks him to stop doing something he's legally entitled to do.

36 minutes ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Did Chuck invent his illness or did he believe his own illness? Whenever we saw Chuck alone with any electric items, he seemed to genuinely be in pain; even when there was no one watching to benefit from any pretense. There are no human bodies that electricity affects the way Chuck experiences, so I believe it's both. He consciously and involuntarily, feels "pain" even if he subconsciously / psychosomatic-ly acquired this "disease".

I always assumed his illness was psychosomatic. Psychosomatic pain can feel shockingly (no pun intended) real.

[Tikichick]

2 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

It is kind of ironic to me.  Jimmy was generally more moral than ethical, while Chuck was more ethical than moral.  Jimmy, would bend or break the rules, but usually not to harm any good people, and sometimes to help them.   Now Jimmy is technically following the letter of the law, but helping criminals commit crimes and get away with it.   

It's in a certain sense as if Jimmy's actions are an ongoing conversation he's still having with Chuck -- see, I know this law inside and out, and here's how it applies.

The brothers were deeply enmeshed in each other's lives in ways I don't think either one ever consciously understood.  The real irony, moreso tragedy, is what they could have been working together without all of the baggage dragging them down.  

[Bryce Lynch]

1 minute ago, icemiser69 said:

He treated his brother like crap, but I don't think he was wrong about Jimmy at all.  Yes, Chuck had pretty much shut himself off from the world, but much like an isolated, introverted, anti-social, bullied kid in a classroom, all he or she has to do is watch what is going on around them and they are more often than not more keenly aware of what is happening in the lives of their classmates in that classroom than those classmates that are socially accepted.

I think Chuck was right about Jimmy.  I wouldn't even say he treated him like crap.  He wasn't perfect. He should have been honest about not wanting him as a lawyer at HHM, though that probably would have hurt Jimmy just as much.   

But, Jimmy started the tit for tat that ended up with Chuck tricking him into confessing on tape and later breaking into his house.  Both brothers kept escalating the situation.  Jimmy did the MV fraud, which was a horrible thing to do to his brother.  That made Chuck determined (rightfully) to get Jimmy disbarred, but he used some very underhanded tricks to to to accomplish it.  Then Jimmy fought dirty in return.  

[Bannon]

9 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

The cop was not ordering Jimmy to do anything.  He tried to reason with him and appeal to his conscience (yeah, good luck trying to reach that).

He did say, "You're gonna go this way?" which from my extensive police experience from watching NYPD Blue, Homicide and The Wire, can sometimes be a prelude to a threat to make the person's life difficult.  But, the cop never actually made any such threats. 

Jimmy then jumped all over cop accusing him of planning to get him for rolling through a stop sign, littering or that he might plant something illegal in Jimmy's glove compartment.  

The cop then tried to diffuse things a bit by saying "Take it easy" but Jimmy rambled on and then the cop responded, "Okay, so, as long as you make a buck, the whole world - can just go in the crapper?"

The cop wasn't really out of line.  Jimmy was technically not doing anything illegal, but it was certainly morally questionable. 

It is kind of ironic to me.  Jimmy was generally more moral than ethical, while Chuck was more ethical than moral.  Jimmy, would bend or break the rules, but usually not to harm any good people, and sometimes to help them.   Now Jimmy is technically following the letter of the law, but helping criminals commit crimes and get away with it.   

I certainly heard a veiled threat from the cop, which to me is completely unethical,  coming from a police officer, speaking to a citizen who is not accused of committing any crime.