Better Call Saul - Season 2 discussion

Or what if the woman who Chuck loved is Kim?

 

Don't forget to stop by the gift shop at the conclusion of your visit!

 

Exactly, Chuck loves Kim secretly... and it's unrequited. Chuck knows that Kim has such a fondness for Jimmy, but he can't understand why she would be so enamored with the "less-honorable, inferior" brother. Chuck seethes with frustration.

I think that would make a a viable story point, but I just don't feel it in my gut while watching the show.

But, I'm good at being wrong.

 

During the bingo game when he explains a "Chicago Sunroof"

 

Howard mentions to Chuck that Kim pushed to get Jimmy his new gig. Chuck replies "partner track?". We assume he is talkong about Jimmy, what if he was asking about Kim? What if Chuck tries to turn the screws on Kim to get her to betray Jimmy?

 

Yeah, very interesting that a real life case, and in New Mexico no less, is part of the BCS storyline. I also think that it explains why Chuck is hostile to Jimmy and not the other way around. Jimmy really went out of his way for Chuck in season one with that illness.

 

So, next week's episode is titled, "Amarillo." That's not only my hometown in Texas, but more importantly my father's hometown, as well.

Why is this important? Well, it might not be important to anybody else, but my father was born on leap year, February 29th, 1944. The episode "Amarillo" airs on Monday, February 29th, 2016. My father would have been 72. I think he would have liked this show.

 

That's an awesome coincidence! Sorry your father is not still around. The last three years my Dad and I are closer than we ever have been and it's a great thing.

Wonder what the connection with Amarillo is for the episode. Maybe there's some act known as the "Amarillo Windmill."

 

We see Jimmy in a cowboy hat in the previews for episode 3, so I would imagine he's at a Sandpiper location in Amarillo, Tx. They said Jimmy would be doing customer outreach (or whatever they call it) out in the field, so perhaps he's playing the part in that absurd cowboy getup. It's really amazes me how Texans still have that stereotype of wearing western wear all of the time. I think it's kind of funny. What's equally ridiculous is how Houstonians will put on all of that crap, just so they can go the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Then again, it wasn't until 20 or so years ago that we ceased having "Confederate Day" in public schools.

 

Hey, I worked for the state of Texas for 27 years and one of our holidays was "Confederate Heroes Day." Some traditions die hard.

Will be fun to see Jimmy in Amarillo if that's the case.

 

Wouldn't it be his 18th birthday?

 

Wouldn't that be a reference to Modern Family?

 

What an incredible Episode 3!

From Jimmy's (mostly) monologue in Amarillo, to Chuck recognizing Slippin' Jimmy in the boardroom (whether it was called for or not), to Kim recognizing the same thing - no footsies this time, Jimmy - to Howard wanting to believe, all the way to Kim giving Jimmy the scoop on how he got the job...nice!

Now we're getting into the meat of the story!

Main tells Jimmy, right in the boardroom, that customer outreach is Jimmy's ballywick, so Jimmy takes ownership (and I know why Main is pissed), and makes yet another video - this time for the good - yet it's not difficult to predict a severe spanking. See, Jimmy couldn't go the proper way and just show Main the video, which he probably would have approved, no; Jimmy had to go the "slippin'" way and do it his OWN way. There's no way Jimmy is going to let somebody else be in charge...which leads to Saul Goodman.

In essence, was the whole episode about Jimmy screwing up, even if the net result was positive? I THINK so. The viewer can sympathize with that, because something good came out of it. Yet, how long will that last?

Or, will Main's beef with the video have less to do with Jimmy acting on his own, and more to do with some legal hot water that a video of that nature can get the firm in? Perhaps one of our resident barristers can pitch in.

Then there's Mike. He doesn't want any of the too rough stuff, so he takes these small time protection jobs. At the end, though (sound familiar?), Mike just might accept Nacho's offer to make sure his family is taken care of.

I think we're past the setup point now, and we're really getting into the teeth of the story. I couldn't be more pleased.

 

Who does Nacho want Mike to off?? ---Tuco?

Who shot Mikes daughter inlaws house? Or is she slowly losing it???

And most importantly will the squat cobbler tape surface????

Jimmy ..Jimmy... Jimmy, boy he just cant play within the boring rules of a law office. I dont think he is long for this job. I hate to say it but Chuck is uhhmmm right. An a-hole, but he knows his brother pretty well. And when Jimmy makes that half-pout/half angry pride face on the couch while Kim is talking to him--you know he aint gonna play within the rules.

Does anyone know the name of that weird painting in Jimmy's office? The headless plant headed cowboy falling backwards.

 

Im always drawing parallels to Breaking Bad. Mike is more like Walt than he cares to admit. He will justify his increased bad behavior in that its for his granddaughter and family.

 

I think its not only that Jimmy must be in charge but its his need for "risk". Its a drug to him. And also an underlying feeling that he might get rejected. He also still wants to prove to his brothet that he is just as smart as he is and can do good. He keeps bringing up that "its ok if its a little bent on the rules as long as I am helping these people and a good cause". He really is a robinhood kind of guy in a way. But what he isnt, is a Firm team player. And Chuck knows this. And Chuck believes that to be vital as a lawyer. To play within the law firms guidance.

 

I think Jimmy sensed that Main probably wouldn't approve it -- he didn't exactly seem enthusiastic about the idea -- and decided to risk that the results of the ad would speak for themselves. Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, as the saying goes. But he forgets not everyone shares his view that the end always justifies the means.

But while it's not out of character, I'm not sure I buy that he would be foolish enough to run the ad without asking.

 

Jimmy might THINK that Main won't approve the video, because yes, Main had a certain reaction to the idea, but that doesn't mean that Main actually wouldn't approve it had Jimmy gone through the right channels. After all, Main would have to be an idiot not to see that Jimmy's video was better than Main's first attempt at a video.

The underlying reason I'm not so sure what Main's true feelings might be about the video is because I'm trying to remember back when I first saw lawyer videos on TV, and was Main's reaction based upon law videos being a relatively new thing, with perhaps not enough net to be worth their time?

Also, when I think of lawyer commercials I usually think of middling to low-rent firms, and not the uppercrust firms. It might be that a commercial of that nature is a controversy within the firm due to its nature. Are commercials like that just a backdoor way to solicitation, even though the viewer has the choice to watch or not?

Whichever way, we should find out a big chunk if Main's feelings in the next episode.

Might Jimmy and Main's relationship be like having a teenager with a new car and saying, "Yes, this is your car, and you have a permit," but you never expect them to take the car out, alone, at 3 in the morning?

 

At this moment I'm thinking no, because anybody at the business end of Mike's weapon wouldn't live to see blue meth.

But hey, stranger plot twists have happened.

 

It was probably a tip of the hat to TV people that they showed the slate before some of the commercials. That's exactly what is on slates. The name of the client, running time, audio configuration, standard, ISCI code, etc. And that is the first depiction of a TV commercial that looks like it could be an actual local spot. I really liked the example of the "mesothelioma" spot, with boring text over a cheesy background. I have seen so many spots like it.

LOVED the line about "Murder, She Wrote" being in syndication since the 1850's.

Jimmy/Saul is a guy who would rather ask forgiveness than ask permission. He knew he couldn't ask after he saw the old spot. Great show!


Dan

 

Jimmy's not lazy, he's just smarter than the average bear and can't resist picnic baskets.
In ep. 2 we find that he must now get a different car in order to carry his coffee cup, this is a very profound scene. Everything else is a red herring compared to the moment of go cup non fittus ina Mercedes.
Once again the Germans are involved...

 

Agreed, excellent episode. Jimmy's upping the ante scamwise while still showing some residual ethical conflict to play by the rules. Once Kim gets wind that he lied to her about the tape being approved, there'll be hell to pay. Enjoy movie night while you can Jimmy!

I'm not sure where the plot involving Mike's daughter-in-law and the fake gunshots is going, but as always, it will be fun to find out.

I also got a kick out of the Murder, She Wrote reference because my mom is a mad fan of the show and she's somewhere in the demographic. Fortunately she's not a captive to live broadcasting schedules - I've made all thirty seasons available for on USB drive!

 

I think that Jimmy sent the ad tape
pff without showing it to the senior partner because he knew that the stiff, formal firm would redo the commercial until it was no good, with extended meetings about how anything that might sell the case had to be removed.

As an attorney my take on it is that Jimmy's commercial was ethically all right, and less flamboyant than many plaintiff's attorney's commercials.

Jimmy is a fast moving, charismatic plaintiff's attorney caught in a silk stocking, blue blood stick-in-the-mud corporate law firm (or at least Santa Fe'a version of one). There is a difference in culture and attitude between the two types of attorneys.

The Santa Fe firm is not culturally and intellectually comfortable with the salesmanship needed to succeed as a plaintiff's attorney. Firms like the Santa Fe firm often get their business from corporate connections in the community based on having relatives or in-laws high up in the big business ownership circles. The senior partners of these firms socialize with the corporate leaders and old money, wealthy patriarchs of the community, at exclusive country clubs, expensive private schools where they send their children, volunteer boards for local cultural institutions, and the like. It would be unseemly for those moving in such elevated circles to run a TV commercial with any sales content to it. It would be thought of as a sort of "white trash" thing to do, just something that "our kind" does not do.

Without Jimmy this firm would not get many new clients for the Sandpiper case but they would be fine with that. The case really should be handled by a large, sophisticated national plaintiff's firm but it was sent to New Mexico's version of a formal bureaucratic corporate defense firm instead.

I think that the Santa Fe firm, and Chuck, express their distaste with typical successful plaintiff lawyer marketing with phony sanctimonious statements about how such marketing is unethical, even when it is not.