"Better Call Saul" - pre season and Season One Discussion

I'm finally caught up with Better Call Saul. I don't love this show just yet. It's not really appointment television for me but I will stick with it.

 

They show his brother out on a bench in the preview for next week.
It def looks like Jimmy will have to give up the case and settle on a deal.

 

When the tidy recycle bin came into frame after Jimmy's dumpster dive I busted out laughing. That was great!

I get the feeling Jimmy is going to be betrayed by EVERYONE he loves and looks after.

 

The past few posts probably play out like a conversation the writers would have had at this point -but it is kind of obvious that the printing of case references on HHM's dime will have consequences: Probably Howard Hamlin will notice the log of the printing and although it is Chucks code that was used this would only raise more suspicion on his part as he knows Chucks situation/condition and figure out to ask Kim about it based on her time at the office.
This will put her in hot water with HHM. I don't think the printing of information necessarily creates a legal problem for Chuck as to what goes on with the case (I'm no lawyer), on the other hand he is creating an environment where it could be proved that he is using the HHM resources for a case.
This setup is pretty well broadcast in the story, and will definitely affect the course of the story, but I can't imagine such a blunder being made by Chuck if he is such a legal shark as depicted. I think the way it will go is Chuck knew the ramifications of using HHM's resources, but was counting on Howard's benevolence towards it all -just like he thought HH might be amenable to hiring Jimmy when he passed the bar, and we know how that went.
This part of the story will probably be an eye opener for Chuck, when he sees HH's reaction to finding out.
How it all actually plays out will be fun to watch anyway!
Love the garbage dumpster scene -the recurring joke of Jimmy answering his phone, the 'I'm at the opera' reply and then finally seeing the recycle bin....hilariously classic.

 

In a nutshell -you might be right, it sure seems that way...

 

Does Chuck know about HHM printing those case files? Jimmy set all that up while he was outside. He even tricked Chuck into giving him the code, didn't he?

 

Chuck knew.

 

He definately did. Interesting if this leads to something.

We're really enjoying this show.

 

He just asked - there was no intent to mislead or trick Chuck at all. Right now Jimmy is running high on actually being a good lawyer working for the good guys and setting up an actual case. Plus the support of his brother, who he's clearly always idolized. He's not doing ANYTHING wrong and when the fall comes (and it will surely come) it will be brutal. And I sincerely doubt that it will be caused by anything he does wrong. It'll just the the unfairness of life being rubbed in his face. While the unfairness eats a slice of his congratulation cake. It's possible that Kim will double-cross him at some point, though I'm not seeing any foreshadowing of it.

I'm guessing that either Chuck or Kim will no longer be in his life by season two, but I'd have to flip a coin to guess which one.

 

I don't really see them burning through the auxiliary characters so fast and expect Jimmy to come out on top with this one.

 

Well, neither Kim nor Chuck were ever seen or even mentioned in Breaking Bad, so they're not going to be around forever, unless they're going to jump forward and backward in time more than they already have.

 

that doesn't exclude Kim and Chuck still being alive at the end of this - Kim could have moved away - Chuck could be in some looney bin - maybe they just never visited his office on days Walter White was conducting business..... its not like Saul got that much airtime on Breaking Bad for them to delve into his friends and family.....

 

I suspect that Howard Hamlin will state that as Chuck is still an employed partner of the firm, that the firm is representing the class. Jimmy would traditionally be called either the co-counsel (two law firms working together on the same case) or the referring attorney (who gets an agreed-upon percentage of the ultimate recovery, but not much of a percentage). In either instance, the two law firms (Law Offices of Jimmy McGill and HHM) would typically enter into a written contract on how the case (and the fees) would be handled between the two firms.

I can see various possible disasters in this situation for Jimmy:

1. Howard insists on a very unfair contract in which Jimmy gets an extremely little amount of money out of any recovery. That would not be particularly unusual, for a larger firm to treat a solo attorney roughly in this instance. The leverage which the solo attorney has in these negotiations is the veiled threat that he can take his good case to a different larger firm for the help he needs. In this case, as Chuck is already working on the case, Jimmy would have lost that leverage.

2. Howard says that as HMM represents assisted living facilities regularly, they cannot sue an assisted living facility, and forces Chuck to withdraw from the case. Without Chuck's presence, the assisted living facility's attorneys drown Jimmy in a blizzard of motions and pleadings, which a solo attorney would be unable to keep up with, and the case is dismissed at an early stage.

3. Howard convinces Chuck to take a low settlement offer from the assisted living facility, so that when HHM's cut of the fees, and HHM's out of pocket expenses (for computer time, paper, etc.) are subtracted, Jimmy ends up with virtually nothing.

4. Chuck dies in the middle of the case (either by natural causes or by being murdered), making it all too easy for Howard to screw Jimmy over.

5. No matter what happens, Kim does not stand by Jimmy, and they part forever on very bad terms. Jimmy sees her actions as an ultimate betrayal.

I can see that the disastrous collapse of this really good case, in a way in which Kim also leaves his life, could twist Jimmy into Saul, and turn him into the "criminal lawyer" with the strip shopping mall office.

 

I wonder if Chuck's involvement with the class action will lead to the cause of Jimmy changing his professional name?

 

BCS is taking place in 2002 and BB starts in 2008 so they're not in any huge rush to get from A to B. I doubt Kim and/or Chuck are going anywhere anytime soon. They just spent a full season introducing and developing these characters, I don't think they're going to get rid of them so soon.

Kim's a much needed female presence on the show (though how 'bout that Betsy Kettleman? ) and there's probably a lot of fertile ground to cover between her and Jimmy before she makes an exit. I would be shocked if she's not a big part of season 2.

 

I think that might happen.

 

at about 14:19 into the last ep. Chuck looks at Jimmy in bewilderment and says in reference to spotting the overcharges and small print: this was in work I did? and Jimmy says yea, you must have missed it..
What work did Chuck do that he is referring to?? Something before he got ill having to do with this co., or is he referring to the senior will work he did for Jimmy ? Either is a little confusing: if it is the current will work should he have stumbled on the same thing Jimmy did by reading the fine print? Only wills prepared for people in that home would possibly have had those statements, so maybe a couple did and he didn't dig too deep -or maybe those statements wouldn't have anything to do with a will prep, and he is referring to something as yet unknown, that was done when he was at HHM.
I caught this the first time, but got caught up in everything that follows, and it finally started bugging me to check this dialogue passage for meaning.
The plot thickens.

 

Red Herrings aplenty with the current story flow, or maybe it all comes into play later, it seems like the writers have a track record from BB and so far here to have everything that is in a scene or episode mean or affect something later.
My guess is that the bearded Sandpiper lawyer gives Hamlin a call and that will be what tips Hamlin off, -those 2 could cook up a deal. Mike has made himself available for under the radar hire, maybe the bearded lawyer will seek some black market agent...or Hamlin might...or maybe Mike will meet Gus soon. ...mmmm.

This show is so wide open as to where it can go, because it's not BB it will not be a clever super chemist taking on the underworld with evil MacGyver tricks, in a Mission Impossible mode. More likely it will (and has) get it's Mission Impossible kicks the more traditional way via Mike and his skill set.
This show could go all the way to concurrent with BB and also beyond that.
How Saul meets the guy who does the new identities and relocation for people in trouble would be an interesting story.
We know Jesse lives at the end of BB -couldn't Walt have survived after all and play a part in a future show after BB where he is in a cell and ... oh well.

 

I was just thinking about this show in a wider context, particularly with the feedback loop into Breaking Bad. Having watched BB, we know what happens to Saul, which gives us an in-built perspective on the future of that character.

However, I was also thinking that once BCS wraps up, that it would be just as interesting to rewatch BB, now knowing the backstory of Saul and how that knowledge affects how we interpret his character in BB. It's kind of a self-referential feedback that will be fascinating to explore all over again, and is why I won't be rewatching BB any time soon, not until BCS finishes.

Go Land Crabs!

 

It's hard to picture Chuck as David St. Hubbins, the vocalist/rhythm guitarist in Spinal Tap, another one of Michael McKean's roles.

 

Michael McKean is an amazing talent isn't he? I was thinking about that today actually. His musical talent and the diversity of his acting career combined with a fantastic sense of humor. I'd love to meet that guy and shake his hand.

You know, I was thinking about Chuck's eagerness to help Jimmy with this case. Could he, from the start, see this as some sort of angle to gain a certain amount of leverage with HHM? If so, what a jerk move.

 

I'm of the opinion that this is the case as well. Based on what we've seen from the Chuck/Jimmy relationship, Chuck doesn't hold any respect for Jimmy. Even when Jimmy showed him he had passed the bar, Chuck didn't appear sincerely supportive. I wouldn't be a bit surprised that Chuck isn't the saintly, downtrodden person Jimmy sees him as. Chuck may very well be planning to take all the glory and financial gain of this case, and not even thinking about Jimmy's part in it.

That may not be the way it plays out, but that kind of scenario would go a long way toward being the final straw in Jimmy's transformation into the Saul we know.

 

the great thing about it is - once we know how jimmy becomes saul, they've got all kinds of ways they can take the show with just being random plotlines of the various underground weirdos he works for. this season is like the origin story, looking forward to now moving on and it going wherever they want to take it