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- #BETTER CALL SAUL SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 CODE#
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- #BETTER CALL SAUL SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 TV#
Yes, Jimmy is a chimp with a machine gun. Because isn’t that what Jimmy becomes when he reinvents himself as Saul Goodman, tireless advocate for criminals of all kinds - including, eventually, someone as truly depraved as Walter White? Again, Chuck disastrously misunderstands the situation.
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Of course, there’s also a darker bit of foreshadowing in the “chimp with a machine gun” line, too. But in “Pimento,” we see that Chuck doesn’t get what Mike, perhaps the most intelligent and undoubtedly the most competent character on both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, understands innately: that adhering to arbitrary sets of rules isn’t what makes you a good, talented, or deserving person.
#BETTER CALL SAUL SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 CODE#
We’ve gotten glimpses of Chuck’s moral code before, and the show has led us to believe that it’s a solid one. Chuck views Jimmy’s correspondence-school law degree and repeated attempts to pass the bar as indicators of his willingness to cut corners, rather than examples of his perseverance and ingenuity. If he can make a living off of cases like Sandpiper, that put his creative methods to work for a noble cause, he’ll never swerve into immoral territory - though he will almost certainly continue to do things that test the bounds of legality. In one sense, Chuck fundamentally misunderstands his brother: By now, we know Jimmy well enough to realize that his intentions are good. That last line is one I can imagine reverberating throughout the series. Slippin’ Jimmy with a law degree is like a chimp with a machine gun.” “You didn’t want me.” And then Chuck explains himself: “You’re not a real lawyer… People don’t change. In a heartbreaking moment that builds on a pair of scenes where Howard confides in Kim (though we don’t get to see their conversation) and Kim shows up at the nail salon to tell Jimmy to take the deal HHM is offering him to bow out of the Sandpiper case, Jimmy confronts Chuck.
#BETTER CALL SAUL SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 SERIES#
In “Pimento,” the penultimate episode of Better Call Saul Season 1, our “good bad guy” antiheroes are contrasted with a pair of “bad good guys”: Howard Hamlin, who dismisses the possibility of hiring Jimmy in a series of increasingly meaningless corporate platitudes, and Chuck, who secretly begged Howard not to hire Jimmy. Mike and Jimmy are as honest as they can be. But they don’t cause pain whimsically, needlessly, or maliciously. That isn’t to say they don’t hurt people - they do, when it’s the only way to make a living or save themselves. They may be on the wrong side of the law, but they’re incredibly committed to what they do, and, as much as is possible for criminals, their hearts are in the right place. This is what Mike has in common with Jimmy: they’re good bad guys. What’s important isn’t to follow the rules it’s to work harder than everyone else (like Don Draper and Carrie Mathison and, yes, Walter White) and adhere to your own ethical code. And yet, I’ve never heard anyone articulate what unites antiheroes of all varieties (and make no mistake, they do differ widely from show to show) better than Mike Ehrmantraut on last night’s episode of Better Call Saul.Įxplaining to nerdy pill thief “Pryce” why he knew not to bring a gun to meet Nacho Varga, he says, “If you’re gonna be a criminal, do your homework.” And then: “If you make a deal with somebody, you keep it.” Mike tells Pryce that morality isn’t as simple as whether you’re a good guys or a bad guy - there is such a thing as a bad cop, and such a thing as a good criminal.
#BETTER CALL SAUL SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 TV#
As antihero protagonists have supplanted good guys who fight bad guys in TV drama, creating that luxury product known as “prestige television,” the greatest debates among audiences and critics have concerned these characters’ muddy morals.