What an amazing sense of irony how you never mention how they have not once said "I love you". Not sure if it was actually intentional, but brilliant none the less.
They do say it, Jimmy says it when Kim is breaking up with him and Kim says it back but with, "I love you too, but so what?" But i do find it interesting that is the only time I can think of them saying it.
I think the ironic part of Jimmy's sincerity problems is that in his first interview to get his law license back he was being pretty sincere. He was clearly not in a position where he wanted to talk about Chuck's death or even felt much about it at least consciously, and certainly didn't want to discuss his brother with strangers. But for that he gets rejected. It was only in his hearing when he was completely insincere that he was able to succeed, and it is kinda tragic that he is forced to live up to other people's expectations of feelings about his own brother's death in order to come across as sincere.
Reminds me of l'etranger where the narrator was unable to sort out his feelings regarding his mother's death, and the people around him took that as evidence of his insanity, with dire consequences. All because he couldn't be arsed to make a big show of how devastated he was.
That part is when I have to suspend my disbelief and think that this show “is just fictional” because I don’t think any law committee in the real world would ask a guy to relive his traumatic experience about a dead family member and reject him a job if he didn’t talk about it.
That's kind of what makes BCS what it is. Jimmy is always given two paths and is usually dragged down to the one where he's closer to become full Saul Goodman. Most of his choices are made in a scenario where choosing to do "the right thing" is barely an option. So, he ultimately accepts he is what he is and tries to take the most advantage he can of his skills. BCS is all about Jimmy and Mike accepting who they are: not bad people, but far from "good guys".
@@Henrique.Souza0601 yeah, in my eyes it seems like they learn how to play the cards they have been dealt. They try to accept who they are and try to make it work in life.
Actually, speaking of therapy being mentioned in the show, at the very same episode where Jimmy decides not to go to therapy and rips up the paper, the episode shows Jimmy talking to the person in charge with his community service details as if he was talking to a therapist, detailing what he wishes to do in the future, what he feels in that moment, and so on. Even though Jimmy didn't want to go to therapy, it's clear that he yearned for it subconsciously.
Reminds me of that episode of Bojack horseman where Bojack calls the newspaper company to try to cancel his subscription, if you've seen it you'll know what I'm talking about
I think one of the subtle messages behind Kim & Jimmy's takeout habit is that it highlights how not grounded their relationship is. Cooking a home cooked meal requires preparation, honed skills, time and a fair bit of love for the other party. It's very deliberate, to the point where I'd say that if I had to pick the one thing that defines every stable relationship on earth, it's sharing a home cooked meal. Kim and Jimmy share these dinners together but they don't go through the preparation and dedication required to make it happen (as opposed to Chuck and his wife) and so it's kind of a plant that never quite manages to take root before being uprooted.
That's a good point. I've been rewatching it the series (now on S307) and realise that I've never seen them eat together. But at this point they're not living together either. When they do live together, I'm sure I remember them cooking together. But I'll find out in later episodes.
I've realised that they don't seem to cook much in the evening, but Jimmy is about making breakfast in the morning I think, esp when Kim had her car accident.
Cooking in the morning is still something else than dining at the table at the end of the day, _after_ both have been through their day's work and now look forward to nightly recovery before next day's work (perhaps also preparing that work to an extent). Breakfasts are often taken in a rush to get started with the day's work while dinner is a better opportunity to connect and be fully with each other for a while.
Kim also sprung to action against Lalo because of what Jimmy told him. He said, “the money is in the bag. It’s in my closet if you want.” Only problem was that so was the cup.. the cup with the bullet hole. She KNEW that if Lalo went back there to open that bag, he’d discover the cup… and it would be over for both of them.
I saw Jimmy's tearing up of the therapists number after encountering Howard in the bathroom as an attempt to rationalize against going to therapy more than anything else, like a; "Howard is seeing a shrink twice a week and is clearly still suffering so it must be useless" sort of thing.
Sometimes I relate to Jimmy to the point of pain where it feels like he's making the wrong decision knowingly because making the right decision is too scary. That was my whole childhood. Its sad that Saul never gave himself a chance to really process. I like to think the whole show is Gene doing just that, taking the time to go over everything in his head for the first time in between his fake life.
Yep. Jimmy was considering therapy, but he wanted an excuse to not go, and in that moment he got to convince himself that therapy is for "sheep/suckers"
I have come to recognize that the center of Better Call Saul is a love story, and probably one of the best I've ever seen. Glad to have a long form video diving into this.
I actually had a similar reaction as Kim once in a really unhealthy relationship. After one night of suffering some of the worst of it, I thought about us getting married. It was like a fear response and it was so cathartic to see a character in one of my favorite shows do something similar.
Kim separates Saul's persona from Jimmy's persona. When she's talking to Suzanne about Saul knowing Lalo's true identity, she refers to him all the time by "JIMMY". When the subject begins to question his actions, she says: SAUL. it's as if she's come to the conclusion that the good person is Jimmy and the "scumbag" is Saul. Anyway, something I noticed in this wonderful show!!!!
18:37 is actually really beautiful. i think chuck's letter is incredibly sincere and loving, the real issue with the letter and why jimmy was unreactive was that the letter was years old. undated - chuck mentioned how proud he was of jimmy for starting in the mail room, chuck (likely) hasn't had a proud moment of jimmy since then - the reason why the letter was never updated. if jimmy never started at the mail room one could speculate he would've never received a letter. kim breaking down can be taken at face value or she may even be realize how little love chuck had for jimmy
Sure, Chuck's letter was sincere and loving...in Chuck's toxic, abusive, insecure own way. That is to say, Chuck had room for fraternity with Jimmy only so long as he could consider Jimmy inferior. After the fact, and Jimmy having full knowledge of his older brother's inferiority complex, it was to Jimmy nothing more than a posthumous slap to the face.
i also think it's possible that in the hearing, Jimmy's "sincerity" was, on some level, deep down, a tiny bit sincere. He might not have even really been able to admit that to himself, but maybe it felt so sincere because a part of it was. but the second they get out of that room, he pushes all of that back down and pretends it was fully insincere because that's a lot easier for him to process than his complicated feelings for a brother who never truly respected him.
I definitely read Jimmy's inability to deliver sincerity on command a sign of emotional dysregulation, probably from experiences going back his entire life. From personal experience, having people distrust you and make you perform sincerity over and over makes you lose track of how you actually feel, and it's very difficult to get back a sense of self you can have confidence in. What he does is definitely bad, I'm not saying that it excuses him, and he's definitely making it worse, and it's absolutely savage on Kim, but it's pretty sympathetic imo.
People say the cup not fitting theme was “on the nose” but the bottle tossing scene was the most on the nose, exactly describing their relationship scene in the whole series. Jimmy likes to flirt with the bad side but just live on the edge. Kim has a “if we are going to do it there’s no point fucking around, just go all the way”, and Jimmy returns in kind to please her, then she cleans up the mess and doesn’t see how it was her that brought it on them. This is why I think she will end up taking the fall for Howard’s death or something. She won’t die but will take the fall and lose everything and blame Jimmy.
Then that makes her quite villainous, isn’t it? She doesn’t feel that it’s her own fault. She will just end up like Chuck then, always blaming Jimmy for her own fuck ups.
She doesn't blame Jimmy. She realises that they're not good together and needs to leave for her own sanity and hopefully his. Didn't quite turn out that way for him though............
@@Sthefano103 you must realize that an acronym of letters may have more than one meaning. Just put into a search engine, any three letters at random and see how many meanings they come back with for you.
I’m obsessed with these long form deep dives. I will happily listen to every single BCS video you plan to make in the future. Seriously one of the best BCS content creators on YT
On the Jimmy going to therapy thing: Apart from any actual effect on the story, I also think there's an interesting cultural thing going on there. Until recently (the last 10 years, maybe?) I can think of very few positive portrayals of therapy in media. Especially in the 90s, I can think of sooo many portrayals where the therapist turns out to be evil, or incompetent, or such a hot mess that they're a complete hypocrite. Within the universe of BCS and BB, the characters often hold stereotypical views towards therapy-- but the show itself does not. Howard actually goes to a therapist and we see him do some healing. Of course then Jimmy and Kim smash his life up in a whole new way but he was clearly willing to do the actual work and it was really helping. I just thought that was interesting. If BCS had been written in 1998, Howard's willingness to see "a shrink" would likely have been used as further confirmation of his douchiness. Instead, in 2019, it's portrayed as a sign of wisdom and humility. Just thought that was interesting.
I feel like everyone can relate to Kim and Jimmy. They represent to me this weird conflation we have with understanding, love and space. Whoever happens to occupy most of your time becomes who you're most influenced by and whom you most influence. That can be beautiful or absolutely heartbreaking. Kim wants Jimmy to be more put together and Jimmy wants Kim to unwind a bit, but they both take it too far and especially Jimmy just seems to have very little ability to read a room when it matters.
It’s called a DBA. Doing Business As. Much like the fee Jesse paid to rent from Janes Dad. DBA. Don’t Be An Asshole. Everything on this show has a parallel somewhere.
Re- 27:22- I think this was the first time they actually slept together after years of flirting and friendship. That is why it is so electric. Especially their awkwardness the morning after when he wants to use her toothbrush and she won’t let him, so he puts toothpaste on her finger and uses it as his toothbrush. Golden!
I read the moment of him throwing away the therapist's number completely differently. I read it as him seeing what Howard looks like going to Therapy, and deciding that it doesn't work. If Howard looks like that after willingly going to Therapy twice a week, there's no way Jimmy is going near the place.
Hard agree. I think that’s explicitly what the show is trying to say. Howard was a complete and utter wreck, but eventually will be better. Jimmy only witnesses the wreck and knows that while he may be suffering at least Nimmy can fake being happy.
Yep, and it's interesting that once he sees Howard doing a lot better Jimmy doesn't re-evaluate his thoughts, he's put therapy completely out of his mind at this point. Instead he does his best to make Howard miserable again ... almost like (among other things) he's trying to reaffirm what he initially thought?
I think the main draw of Jimmy McGill's life is just the consistency of the question "Why aren't/didn't they talking/talk about this?" Like a lot of the main conflicts in Jimmy's personal life are down to the learned behaviour of repression. Jimmy definitely picked it up from Chuck who refuses to even tell his ex-wife about his condition, doesn't ask Jimmy on how to be more personable... Jimmy then establishes this as how his and Kim's relationship will work, and of course she listens partly because Jimmy is so confident and personable, but also because of how productive Jimmy is, which I think is what Kim finds most attractive about Jimmy. He almost always finds how to get his way no matter the cost for everyone else which would be really attractive to her as she's always been a very independent person and independent people love finding new ways to make themselves more efficient.
It will be nice to turn on subtitles for not native speakers. This is always easier to concentrate on details of every word. As a Ukrainian, I understand ~85% of sense, but not all because of special terms and professional stuff. Good job, anyway! Thank you for this 4 series. Waiting for more after 6 season will come in full!
hiii, neurodivergent person with terrible auditory processing here, totally agreed! i, too, would loveee subtitles. hell, hire me, i’ll write them out for ya!!!
I'm part of the 1 percent with that 'Let's get married' line but my husband was in complete shock lol. It made perfect sense to me though and your video only clarified exactly why - Kim ultimately wasn't angry that the scam happened (it was originally her idea), can't deal with her complicated feelings on scamming in the first place (like how she gets a thrill out of it but is ultimately causing the anguish she felt being scammed on other people), but knows that staying 'clean' by letting Jimmy use her emotions against her, even if it's to do something she wants, is untenable - Marriage solves all of those problems. She can continue scams, repress her feelings about scamming, and remove an 'excuse' for Jimmy to bring the sort of conflict into their relationship (lying/scamming her to further their own ends) that would force her to confront everything that's wrong about what they are doing. By freeing them both to continue without it causing (as big of a) interpersonal conflict between them, she ultimately only left the consequences of their actions to force that difficult conversation - which is exactly what ended up happening.
I think Saul and Kim are two archetypes of reasons to "break bad" Saul seeks mostly fame and money and Kim seeks the thrill of it. As we are already seeing with Saul not really being ok with trying to ruin Howard, I think the end of the series will see their separation based on their different outlooks.
I agree. The title of BCS episodes often refers to more than one plot. Nacho helping the assassins was "something unforgivable" to Lalo, but I think Kim plotting against Howard might end up being "something unforgivable" to herself. I think Jimmy's moment of clarity in asking "Am I bad for you?" is going to haunt Kim as she sees how being around Jimmy unlocks the worst parts of her.
@@mranthonymills The saddest part of their break-up was seeing how Kim was so broken that she could not make a simple decision about anything. When the girls at the lunch table ask her if she and her new boyfriend had seen a movie, how did they like it, and she said "he might have", or the simple tuna salad for her sandwich, and she couldn't decide if it was okay to use Miracle Whip instead of mayonaise... She had been so bright and clever before and now she couldn't rely on her own skills to make any kind of decision.
"Do you want to be the friend of the cartel or do you want to be a rat?" I think this will be the real breaking point of this relationship. Jimmy might choose to "rat" on Lalo because in Breaking Bad, he could do his job smoothly without the DA tailing him around so he might cooperated with them in the prequel timeline. He might also do that to get some good grace back from the legitimate lawyer world too (after all, he still had a good relationship with Judge Papadoumian in Breaking Bad). This ratting could also explain why he was so terrified when Walt and Jesse kidnapped him by saying "It wasn't me. It was Ignacio." "Did Lalo sent you? No Lalo?" because he ratted on Lalo and thought that Lalo sent his men to get him. Kim, on the other hand, might chose "no rat" option since she's deeper in the game than Jimmy is. Mike also trusted the information of Lalo on the loose with her so she knows the deadly consequences that will happen to both of them if Jimmy decided to rat. Also, she might felt that the cartel helps her achieving her dream about building a pro bono legal team easier so Jimmy doing that will destroy her plan. This Jimmy ratting decision will make things escalate in the way that Kim might lose her job, going in prison, fleeing with the vacuum guy or die. The final nail of the coffin to cement him as Saul Goodman. Because ratting on Lalo is a right thing to do. Jimmy chose to do the right thing but as usual, he always got punished for it. That's when he finally gave up conscience and became the full on bad guy. "Conscience gets expensive, isn't it?" Saul Goodman to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad s2e8
when they argue on the rooftop, he projects everything Chuck said onto Kimmy “you see slippin’ jimmy” “not good enough for the same office” he’s repressed it for so long and before they got married, it seems the writers kept teasing us that a break up was coming. because everyone wondered when it would happen given that Saul in BB doesn’t seem like a happily married man. so every time he “can’t help himself” he is on the edge waiting for Kim to dump him. i thought that’s what the “here it comes” was about. deep down he always felt he wasn’t good enough for Kim and he wasn’t, so he kept effing up and we kept waiting for the moment but when it got worst she proposed to him. the writers kept kim’s background a mystery till now but it finally makes sense as her only parent was a scam artist and this is the love she knows. so after they marry she keeps provoking him to do more scams and tells herself it’s for a good cause. brilliant writing.
i think you would like the sopranos and the way therapy, depression, and especially the culture around it in the 90-00s is so important and how it subtly morphs over time
Great analysis. JImmy and Kim are the core of the series, particularly since Chuck's death. That scene at the top of the parking garage always cuts so deep -- it's too real.
I can’t get enough of this. It’s enthralling. I’ve got a degree in Psych & have worked in similar “helping professions” as our narrator. He makes me think I need to do better as a therapist. If you know, you know. If you don’t, no worries, enjoy three fantastic vids for what they are.
Watching media in general with my autism leaves a lot to be desired as I'm completely disconnected with characters in terms of emotions. It's very apparent how well craft the elements of the show regarding the characters are, yet I can't enjoy it by watching it alone. That being said it is one of my favourite shows for numerous reasons!
Man your work truly needs more attention, it's so interesting and engaging to listen. The fact that you are talking about these characters as they were real people, and the fact that it does make sense and adds up in the context of the series, talks about how well crafted the show is. There is so much understanding of human emotions and motivations.
I absolutely love your analyses of BCS. However, I think there was more to that letter reading scene than you mentioned. Jimmy was unfazed by the letter from Chuck because he had been hurt by him so much. I don't think he is being unfeeling or lacking space to feel emotions. I think he is so hurt by Chuck that he can't feel the sweetness of this letter, especially since it was to a previous version of Jimmy, one who was not a lawyer and therefore "beneath" Chuck. The only time he showed Jimmy any kindness was when he felt superior to him. I have a similar situation with my mother, and I felt like completely related to Jimmy in that moment
Yeah i lean a little more towards this interpretation. The letter Chuck wrote has a lot of implications and baggage relating to the relationship the brothers had, and it's hard to see it as being sweet or even caring on Chuck's part. We know from future events that Chuck's love and pride for his brother is conditional, and that many of the things he says in the letter no longer apply to Jimmy at all. Having Chuck's last words to Jimmy be 'youve never mattered much to me' probably didnt help things either
@@TheLetterH111 and some of that letter was such the opposite of what the audience saw happening between the brothers that as the audience it felt like something Chuck wrote to be mean and hurtful. "I'm proud to share a name with you" um no quite the contrary...
I can’t wait until my next relationship and I have to tell my significant other that they’re accusing me of thought crimes! Thats going to shut the entire argument down especially when I follow up with “You’re being very totalitarian right now!” 😂
His emotions about Kim always seem sincere though. Sincere, intense and unwavering. He can BS and manipulate about anything else if serves his goal, but this is the one genuine aspect of his life. Re: the storyline about the guy living in the desert I liked it showed that sincerity isn't always received that way, or useful. Even if the guy thought her story was true, and I think for the audience it was, why would he care what a random woman he's never met experienced decades ago? Why would that be relevant to his current situation? He judges from looking at her that she must have a decent place to live now, so why would the past matter? And she doesn't see that perspective at all.
About Jimmy's low self esteem, I just noticed that his car (a thrashed ESTEEM) may be a metaphor for that. In any other show (except BrBa) I would have called this a coincidence, but here every detail helps tell the story. Besides, there is a whole theory on how car brands/nationality is used in the show to help characterize the characters, it's pretty neat.
I love BB and BCS and I’m the kind of person who grieves at the end of a series I follow. It just leaves a big hole in my life when it’s over. I love these videos because they give me more of the thing I can no longer have! 😊
To me, Jimmy tearing up the therapy referral wasn't about spiting howard but was more like "if he's doing it and he looks like that clearly its a bad idea", though I think there's plenty of ways to interpret it
One small thing, Jimmy's legal name is still Jimmy McGill, he got a Doing Business As form at the end of season 4 so he could use the name Saul Goodman professionally.
great breakdown. something about their dynamic always seemed so real and beautiful, even when at times they're "bad" for each other and I never knew quite how to put it into words.
Fantastic video. Jimmy & Kim are my favourite on screen couple ever and this was a great discussion about their relationship. If only they could've had a happier ending together❤
Honestly, these videos are amazing. My favourite series. I love the implementation of philosophical moral theories its truly fascinating. So excited for more parts. Thanks so much for this series.
Really enjoyed this video - I'm fascinated by this relationship. As we go into the final episodes I'm pulling for both of the characters to get some kind of redemption and happiness.
Jimmy tore up the therapist's number after seeing what a wreck Howard was. If twice-weekly therapy couldn't help Howie, he figures, is sure won't help me.
Very well done! I like how your background/profession allows you to give some insight into the character dynamics of this show. And I am SUPER pumped for Season 6, it'll be interesting to come back and rewatch this video after S6 is done.
I had to pause it when you mentioned Kimmy perhaps telling anyone of her friends about that escapade with Jimmy at her office party. Why doesn’t Kimmy have friends? She’s been in the area long enough to have collected quite a large amount of them, between work and school and apartments and exes, she WOULD know lots of people. Why doesn’t Jimmy …? I’ll let that one go to the repression landfill, myself. In any case, it’s good to know that in real life, Hamlin, Kimmy and Jimmy share a house on the set as FRIENDS. (…and, they rescued a dog together. it’s a good conversation, with ALL of them on utube at SAG-AFTRA).
Maybe with her studies, and work, she doesn't have time to meet people on the outside. However, when we first see her working so hard to find new business for HHM, she is combing through her own contacts, and there are really QUITE A FEW of them. So obviously she can make friends. She probably just doesn't let too many people close in to her life, due to feeling, perhaps, like a fraud ~ Everybody has just a touch of this, we show different faces or sides of our self to different people.
Holy shit, watching this I can’t believe that nonverbal scene where they have beers and he tempts dropping it multiple times before Kim just *hucks* it over the side, then Saul does the same… then the next day when Kim stops to clean it up and he doesn’t! It’s basically the last half of their relationship, completely nonverbal and in-character. What a fucking show.
Was unfamiliar with your content before your Better call Saul series came out, but I'm really enjoying the deep psychological dive into the characters intent and motivations, keep the content like this rolling!
21:55 to further extend on your point about repressing/not expressing your emotions properly, I think it’s extremely noteworthy to point out how when jimmy says “I don’t think about Chuck, I don’t miss Chuck”, it sounds like he’s trying to convince *himself* that he doesn’t care about losing Chuck as opposed to convincing Kim that
I know I'm 3 months late, but my take on Jimmy and Kim's love is more along the lines of co dependency. They are definitely in love but it's more like they are in love with what they do and they just happen to feed off their energies. Kim even says that she didn't tell Jimmy about lalo because she thought he'd stop having fun together, which tells me that their relationship is more indicative of co-dependence. Kim needs Jimmy so she can have fun and Jimmy needs Kim to have someone validate the horrible things he does.
One thing I was waiting for you to bring up is that Kim's line of "you crossed a line, you won't do it again" is the same flawed logic Jimmy often employs when confronted. He even attempts to use it during their fight after the Acker fiasco, only Kim sees through it then.
That’s how the role were reversed. Jimmy loved to use this as an excuse for his own actions. That is something Chuck had been against the whole time. Jimmy didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation until he met Lalo. Lalo is a Slippin’ Jimmy for Jimmy. He made Jimmy realized his own flaws in a physical form. He helped Lalo get away with murder with looking at the eyes of a crying victim’s mother. He almost died in the desert after the shootout. He drank his own piss and he nearly got Kim killed. That’s why this excuse didn’t work on him anymore. Kim, on the other hand, decided to let herself go this deep into a relationship with Jimmy and she finally tasted what it feels like to be Saul Goodman so she just let loose and became Slippin’ Kimmy, rationalizing anything that her or Jimmy will do no matter how unethical.
I've watched this show with my dad and in the scene where they fight after the meeting about the mr ackerman case my dad called it, these two are getting married, and a second later kim confirms it hahaha
I watched the first two videos and I nodded a bunch of times during them. But this one, I have a hard time with - you may be a therapist, but you missed the fact that Chuck is clearly a narcissist and Jimmy/Saul is a victim of that. He went into the hearing and didn't mention his brother because CHUCK WAS ACTIVELY SABOTAGING JIMMY'S LAW CAREER. It's not because of some repressed feelings or Jimmy trying to hide the way he feels about his brother's death. Furthermore, he clearly says "I don't care about Chuck." because that was literally the last thing Chuck ever said to him. As for his and Kim's relationship, it seems very clear that it's an unhealthy relationship; neither of them really seem to be able to bond to the other the way you would see in a "normal" relationship. They're kind of clinging to each other because they're all they have.
I took it as Jimmy finally taking Chuck's advice and stopping feeling sorry for being who he was. Chuck saying it finally gave him license to feel how he really felt, and he took the opportunity to pretty much completely stop caring about Chuck at all.
In the 'am I bad for you scene' I think it comes from having to justify her mum's behaviour. She doesn't want to look at it deeper. It's her coping strategy.
Kim is my most difficult character, to understand. I think you hit the nail on the head, about her protective Mothering nature. But why does Kim feel the need to protect Jimmy and all those Pro-Bono cases. Maybe her main ambition is to be the Mother she never had. She wants to fix in others, what she could never fix, in herself.
Considering the thing that you said on one of the previous videos abou Jimmy not liking being ruled by someone, this information throws us back to his submission state in the cartel, where he can't decide anything and only obeying. And i thought that Kim's scene pointing out facts to Lalo was somewhat unnatural and forged, because no one in it's perfect state of mind would face an armed criminal like she did.
Gus and Tuco DO interact when Nacho is trying to get rid of Tuco and hires Gus to knock him off. Gus comes up with an alternate plan to get Tuco to assault him for brushing against his car while parking in front of the lunch grill at Lo Michohacano (Not sure of the spelling). Tuco is so proud of his car, that he follows Gus into the parking lot, where Gus grabs a pole and takes a beating while the Police are right there to see it, and Tuco is sent up the river because Gus won't say it was his gun to get on the good side of Don Tio Salamanca...
I saw an interview with the production/actors that said the intent was these characters were friends for a decade before episode one, had an emotional intimacy, maybe kissed here and there a few times but nothing came of that, and only became a couple/slept together in S2E1. My friend and I are watching this together for the 3rd and noticed a lot in that episode with the first bar scam. In the morning, Jimmy has an interview for a corporate job that Kim set up as a favor. Right after the interview/offer he approaches her and conveys he wants to be a couple, not just friends. She seems receptive but without any sense of urgency. In the late afternoon he's in a hotel pool he scammed his way into , she shows up and he tells her in the bar that he doesn't want to be a lawyer anymore, he's wasted 10 years in that city, and he's thinking of leaving it. She looks hurt & desperate, orders a drink, and my friend and I thought while she'd already made the decision to be a couple at some point she must have realized it has to be that night otherwise he's leaving her. He gets up and approaches Ken the stock guy and that stunt ensues. She looks confused at first but we thought she HAD to sit through it until he was ready to leave the bar, to get him back to her apartment and seal the deal to avoid having him leave her. She looks really happy in the morning after they sleep together for the first time, we thought because she felt now he wouldn't be leaving her. After that we thought any time his being a lawyer was called into question that her reason for panic is she thinks if he's not a lawyer like she is, he's going to leave her. It isn't even based in reality because his only threat to leave her was S2E1, but those feelings aren't always based in reality, right?
Amazing stuff! Pointed out a lot of things I never noticed, adds even more depth to one of the deepest shows on television! Also taught me, as a psych major and future social worker, a couple of things to keep in mind about the psychology of healthy relationships! Thanks for awesome content man, keep it up! Both on this show and others! Can’t wait to see it :)
great video, but one note: Jimmy did not change his legal name to Saul. At the end of season 4 he asked the woman at the bar association who was getting his reinstatement paperwork to also get him a 'dba,' or 'doing business as' form to change his professional name. his legal name is still Jimmy McGill.
oh my heart- one of my fav couples from a show/film I’ve ever seen. What a deep love they have for one another. What a phenomenal vid - Thanks so much for making this ♥️
42 minutes in and I really am thankful for such a thoughtful analysis of genuinely one of my favorite pieces of media. I am wondering if you are going to talk about the importance of 'Something Stupid's' Cold Open. I'll make sure to talk about my own personal connection to this specific essay and my own experiences with Mutual Repression.
i like to think in another world they'd be perfect for each other. you know... if kim had a stable and loving upbringing, or chuck wasn't so determined to keep jimmy down. this isn't to downplay their responsibility for the fucked up shit they do, but i do think there's a certain level of "right person, wrong time" going on :(
I was under the impression that, in the Chuck's letter scene, Jimmy thought that Chuck's letter was bullshit. He knew his brother didn't care for him that much, and that he certainly wasn't proud of where Jimmy ended up, so no matter what Chuck said in that letter, it meant nothing. Jimmy already knew what he needed to know about how Chuck felt.
My read on why Jimmy decided to tear up the referral after the bathroom conversation was that Hamlin said he was going already twice weekly and appeared like a wreck to Jimmy. So Jimmy assumed that therapy was either pointless or potentially even detrimental.
Remember the big blow up began because Chuck dealt with his personal problem well enough to get to Jimmy's phone in the mailbox to call Howard at 2am, and keep Jimmy from a job. So Jimmy stayed up ALL night to mess with the file, to get Kim Mesa, to get him his office with her. I'd have to sympathize with Jimmy knowing that Kimmy looks at him as a good time, not a long time.
One thing that I think is really interesting about Jimmy's testimony about Chuck to the appeal hearing is that I'm not even sure it *was* entirely insincere, but because of the lie that Jimmy keeps telling himself that he doesn't and can't care about Chuck he's convinced himself that it wasn't.
The saddest part of the last letter from Chuck was that you know it was sincere because that was Chucks character. If he didn't really mean what he was saying, to Jimmy of all people, he wouldn't have said it. His character had about zero capacity for BS, he was never one to talk someone up if he didn't believe what he was saying. Knowing that about him is what affected Kim so much, she saw that final communication for what it was, Chuck finally validating and approving of Jimmy as he had sought for so long, like the parent you've thought you disappointed your entire life telling you they're proud of you all along on their death bed. Jimmy was so blinded by his long-term disaffection with Chuck I don't think he could even see or appreciate that, which is saddening.
Chuck wrote that letter whike Jimmy was still woring in a mailroom, so it does not invalidate what he had said to Jimmy at their last meeting. Jimmy knows that, so he is not touched by the letter.
“Jimmy was so blinded…” Well, it’s not Jimmy fault for Chuck saying that Jimmy didn’t matter to him. Chuck made his own choice to say that. Anyone with the right mind would be angry to hear such things. Plus, Kim wasn’t there when Chuck said that so she will never understand what Jimmy feels. She has no right to be mad at Jimmy for not crying like her.
What an amazing sense of irony how you never mention how they have not once said "I love you". Not sure if it was actually intentional, but brilliant none the less.
If that's true, they only said it in the very last minute of their relationship
"saying something stupid like i love you"
@@lidianepeixoto9431 that song is so good
They do say it, Jimmy says it when Kim is breaking up with him and Kim says it back but with, "I love you too, but so what?" But i do find it interesting that is the only time I can think of them saying it.
@@timfleszewski8666 this video came out before that scene, before season 6 aired. so the commenter is correct
I think the ironic part of Jimmy's sincerity problems is that in his first interview to get his law license back he was being pretty sincere. He was clearly not in a position where he wanted to talk about Chuck's death or even felt much about it at least consciously, and certainly didn't want to discuss his brother with strangers. But for that he gets rejected. It was only in his hearing when he was completely insincere that he was able to succeed, and it is kinda tragic that he is forced to live up to other people's expectations of feelings about his own brother's death in order to come across as sincere.
Exactly, the requirement to talk about his dead brother as a measure of sincerity is batshit.
Reminds me of l'etranger where the narrator was unable to sort out his feelings regarding his mother's death, and the people around him took that as evidence of his insanity, with dire consequences.
All because he couldn't be arsed to make a big show of how devastated he was.
That part is when I have to suspend my disbelief and think that this show “is just fictional” because I don’t think any law committee in the real world would ask a guy to relive his traumatic experience about a dead family member and reject him a job if he didn’t talk about it.
That's kind of what makes BCS what it is. Jimmy is always given two paths and is usually dragged down to the one where he's closer to become full Saul Goodman. Most of his choices are made in a scenario where choosing to do "the right thing" is barely an option. So, he ultimately accepts he is what he is and tries to take the most advantage he can of his skills. BCS is all about Jimmy and Mike accepting who they are: not bad people, but far from "good guys".
@@Henrique.Souza0601 yeah, in my eyes it seems like they learn how to play the cards they have been dealt. They try to accept who they are and try to make it work in life.
Actually, speaking of therapy being mentioned in the show, at the very same episode where Jimmy decides not to go to therapy and rips up the paper, the episode shows Jimmy talking to the person in charge with his community service details as if he was talking to a therapist, detailing what he wishes to do in the future, what he feels in that moment, and so on. Even though Jimmy didn't want to go to therapy, it's clear that he yearned for it subconsciously.
Very good point, and something I meant to mention!
Reminds me of that episode of Bojack horseman where Bojack calls the newspaper company to try to cancel his subscription, if you've seen it you'll know what I'm talking about
Wait, when does this happen?
This is gold, never caught that
Do you mean the little threatening speech he gives to the supervisor guy?
I think one of the subtle messages behind Kim & Jimmy's takeout habit is that it highlights how not grounded their relationship is. Cooking a home cooked meal requires preparation, honed skills, time and a fair bit of love for the other party. It's very deliberate, to the point where I'd say that if I had to pick the one thing that defines every stable relationship on earth, it's sharing a home cooked meal. Kim and Jimmy share these dinners together but they don't go through the preparation and dedication required to make it happen (as opposed to Chuck and his wife) and so it's kind of a plant that never quite manages to take root before being uprooted.
That's a good point. I've been rewatching it the series (now on S307) and realise that I've never seen them eat together. But at this point they're not living together either.
When they do live together, I'm sure I remember them cooking together. But I'll find out in later episodes.
This is such a a seemingly small detail but you're so right! This is brilliant.
I've realised that they don't seem to cook much in the evening, but Jimmy is about making breakfast in the morning I think, esp when Kim had her car accident.
Cooking in the morning is still something else than dining at the table at the end of the day, _after_ both have been through their day's work and now look forward to nightly recovery before next day's work (perhaps also preparing that work to an extent).
Breakfasts are often taken in a rush to get started with the day's work while dinner is a better opportunity to connect and be fully with each other for a while.
Kim also sprung to action against Lalo because of what Jimmy told him. He said, “the money is in the bag. It’s in my closet if you want.” Only problem was that so was the cup.. the cup with the bullet hole. She KNEW that if Lalo went back there to open that bag, he’d discover the cup… and it would be over for both of them.
What a crazy detail
hooooly i never picked up on this!
"did they have sex in character?"
please don't. I do not need to imagine Jimmy pretending to be Kim while Kim pretends to be the country bank guy
Sounds like you wouldn't want to think about that. But, well shoot, I believe I would.
Better peg Saul
This is both amusing me and turning me on
hey now, speak for yourself 👁👁
@VHA Markova Kim feet
I saw Jimmy's tearing up of the therapists number after encountering Howard in the bathroom as an attempt to rationalize against going to therapy more than anything else, like a; "Howard is seeing a shrink twice a week and is clearly still suffering so it must be useless" sort of thing.
Sometimes I relate to Jimmy to the point of pain where it feels like he's making the wrong decision knowingly because making the right decision is too scary. That was my whole childhood. Its sad that Saul never gave himself a chance to really process. I like to think the whole show is Gene doing just that, taking the time to go over everything in his head for the first time in between his fake life.
Yep. Jimmy was considering therapy, but he wanted an excuse to not go, and in that moment he got to convince himself that therapy is for "sheep/suckers"
Nah it's because it's HOWARD telling him
I saw it as “Howard’s clearly suffering because he’s working through it and I know that would happen to me when I open up so I’m not even gonna start”
I have come to recognize that the center of Better Call Saul is a love story, and probably one of the best I've ever seen. Glad to have a long form video diving into this.
More like most stressful, if I had a friend in a relationship this broken I'd walk away. I can't deal with that level of negligence
@@thelazarousyea I don’t get how ppl see this as a good portrayal of love lol
@@pencil6965it's not a *good* portrayal of *love* . It's a *good portrayal* of love.
@@TheNheg66 true I guess. It was just sad and aggravating to me more than anything
Exactly this. I think neither of them knew how much they loved one another until the end. 😭
I actually had a similar reaction as Kim once in a really unhealthy relationship. After one night of suffering some of the worst of it, I thought about us getting married. It was like a fear response and it was so cathartic to see a character in one of my favorite shows do something similar.
@An Meme lovely summation of the characters xoxox
Kim separates Saul's persona from Jimmy's persona. When she's talking to Suzanne about Saul knowing Lalo's true identity, she refers to him all the time by "JIMMY". When the subject begins to question his actions, she says: SAUL. it's as if she's come to the conclusion that the good person is Jimmy and the "scumbag" is Saul. Anyway, something I noticed in this wonderful show!!!!
She also pushes Saul in a direction she deems believable like in the diner were she tells him what his character should drive and have an office like.
18:37 is actually really beautiful. i think chuck's letter is incredibly sincere and loving, the real issue with the letter and why jimmy was unreactive was that the letter was years old. undated - chuck mentioned how proud he was of jimmy for starting in the mail room, chuck (likely) hasn't had a proud moment of jimmy since then - the reason why the letter was never updated. if jimmy never started at the mail room one could speculate he would've never received a letter.
kim breaking down can be taken at face value or she may even be realize how little love chuck had for jimmy
it's all in the breadcrumbs, really love this series thanks!
Sure, Chuck's letter was sincere and loving...in Chuck's toxic, abusive, insecure own way. That is to say, Chuck had room for fraternity with Jimmy only so long as he could consider Jimmy inferior. After the fact, and Jimmy having full knowledge of his older brother's inferiority complex, it was to Jimmy nothing more than a posthumous slap to the face.
It is interesting to think about how different this show would be if any of the characters had at least one more friend to process emotions with
i also think it's possible that in the hearing, Jimmy's "sincerity" was, on some level, deep down, a tiny bit sincere. He might not have even really been able to admit that to himself, but maybe it felt so sincere because a part of it was. but the second they get out of that room, he pushes all of that back down and pretends it was fully insincere because that's a lot easier for him to process than his complicated feelings for a brother who never truly respected him.
I definitely read Jimmy's inability to deliver sincerity on command a sign of emotional dysregulation, probably from experiences going back his entire life. From personal experience, having people distrust you and make you perform sincerity over and over makes you lose track of how you actually feel, and it's very difficult to get back a sense of self you can have confidence in. What he does is definitely bad, I'm not saying that it excuses him, and he's definitely making it worse, and it's absolutely savage on Kim, but it's pretty sympathetic imo.
People say the cup not fitting theme was “on the nose” but the bottle tossing scene was the most on the nose, exactly describing their relationship scene in the whole series. Jimmy likes to flirt with the bad side but just live on the edge. Kim has a “if we are going to do it there’s no point fucking around, just go all the way”, and Jimmy returns in kind to please her, then she cleans up the mess and doesn’t see how it was her that brought it on them. This is why I think she will end up taking the fall for Howard’s death or something. She won’t die but will take the fall and lose everything and blame Jimmy.
Then that makes her quite villainous, isn’t it? She doesn’t feel that it’s her own fault. She will just end up like Chuck then, always blaming Jimmy for her own fuck ups.
She doesn't blame Jimmy. She realises that they're not good together and needs to leave for her own sanity and hopefully his.
Didn't quite turn out that way for him though............
Update: she takes the fall and her share of responsibility.
Holy shit, you were right in the money
He didn't actually change his NAME to Saul, he got a DBA (Doing Business As) legal name for his business.
I agree because he said he would be practicing under a different name, not legally changing his name.
actually in the BB/BCS universe, DBA = dont be an asshole. It's a non refundable fee as stated by Jane in BB
@@Sthefano103 you must realize that an acronym of letters may have more than one meaning. Just put into a search engine, any three letters at random and see how many meanings they come back with for you.
@@Sthefano103 besides, that was DBAA.
@@msvitles I’m liking all these replies because it reminded me of DBAA & Jesse and jane’s story and BB season 2 in general
Kim and Jimmy have one of the best TV relationships I've ever seen and they will always remain my #1 couple.
For better or for worse, they are perfect for each other. Thats something nobody can deny
Yes very toxic
@@krypticunlimited6925 And that's why it was painful to see Jimmy throwing it away by accepting the 7 million $ bale deal.
I’m obsessed with these long form deep dives. I will happily listen to every single BCS video you plan to make in the future. Seriously one of the best BCS content creators on YT
On the Jimmy going to therapy thing:
Apart from any actual effect on the story, I also think there's an interesting cultural thing going on there. Until recently (the last 10 years, maybe?) I can think of very few positive portrayals of therapy in media. Especially in the 90s, I can think of sooo many portrayals where the therapist turns out to be evil, or incompetent, or such a hot mess that they're a complete hypocrite. Within the universe of BCS and BB, the characters often hold stereotypical views towards therapy-- but the show itself does not. Howard actually goes to a therapist and we see him do some healing. Of course then Jimmy and Kim smash his life up in a whole new way but he was clearly willing to do the actual work and it was really helping.
I just thought that was interesting. If BCS had been written in 1998, Howard's willingness to see "a shrink" would likely have been used as further confirmation of his douchiness. Instead, in 2019, it's portrayed as a sign of wisdom and humility.
Just thought that was interesting.
I feel like everyone can relate to Kim and Jimmy. They represent to me this weird conflation we have with understanding, love and space. Whoever happens to occupy most of your time becomes who you're most influenced by and whom you most influence. That can be beautiful or absolutely heartbreaking. Kim wants Jimmy to be more put together and Jimmy wants Kim to unwind a bit, but they both take it too far and especially Jimmy just seems to have very little ability to read a room when it matters.
One note: Jimmy doesn't change his legal name to Saul Goodman, it's just a professional practicing name
Aye, SPOILERS for Season 601, but in the flashforward at the beginning, his prescription medication is actually labeled as "Saul Goodman"
It’s called a DBA. Doing Business As.
Much like the fee Jesse paid to rent from Janes Dad. DBA. Don’t Be An Asshole.
Everything on this show has a parallel somewhere.
@@DocAlexandrite I know, I think the current working theory is that he changes his legal name down the line
Neat I didnt even know that was something you could do.
@@DocAlexandrite If he doesn't use health insurance, then maybe he can use whatever name he chooses. He's paying cash.
S'all Good, man.
Yes
Justice Matters Most
*finger guns*
@@user-ex7yq6xq9s Just Make Money
Saul good
Re- 27:22- I think this was the first time they actually slept together after years of flirting and friendship. That is why it is so electric. Especially their awkwardness the morning after when he wants to use her toothbrush and she won’t let him, so he puts toothpaste on her finger and uses it as his toothbrush. Golden!
I enjoyed the "baby don't hurt me" mini mash-up. I watched it a few times. well done! 🙂
Yeah, definitely worth the effort. Cheers!
Yes 👏🏻 good one , it made me smile
I read the moment of him throwing away the therapist's number completely differently. I read it as him seeing what Howard looks like going to Therapy, and deciding that it doesn't work. If Howard looks like that after willingly going to Therapy twice a week, there's no way Jimmy is going near the place.
facts
Hard agree. I think that’s explicitly what the show is trying to say. Howard was a complete and utter wreck, but eventually will be better. Jimmy only witnesses the wreck and knows that while he may be suffering at least Nimmy can fake being happy.
Yep, and it's interesting that once he sees Howard doing a lot better Jimmy doesn't re-evaluate his thoughts, he's put therapy completely out of his mind at this point. Instead he does his best to make Howard miserable again ... almost like (among other things) he's trying to reaffirm what he initially thought?
I laughed so hard when I saw that scene for the first time. Actually one of the funniest scenes on the show! I knew exactly what Jimmy was thinking.
@@PedanticPig Jimmy's after seeing Howard: " F--- that".
Something that broke my heart when rewatching breaking bad is seeing Saul's world's greatest lawyer mug
I think the main draw of Jimmy McGill's life is just the consistency of the question "Why aren't/didn't they talking/talk about this?" Like a lot of the main conflicts in Jimmy's personal life are down to the learned behaviour of repression. Jimmy definitely picked it up from Chuck who refuses to even tell his ex-wife about his condition, doesn't ask Jimmy on how to be more personable...
Jimmy then establishes this as how his and Kim's relationship will work, and of course she listens partly because Jimmy is so confident and personable, but also because of how productive Jimmy is, which I think is what Kim finds most attractive about Jimmy. He almost always finds how to get his way no matter the cost for everyone else which would be really attractive to her as she's always been a very independent person and independent people love finding new ways to make themselves more efficient.
It will be nice to turn on subtitles for not native speakers. This is always easier to concentrate on details of every word. As a Ukrainian, I understand ~85% of sense, but not all because of special terms and professional stuff.
Good job, anyway! Thank you for this 4 series. Waiting for more after 6 season will come in full!
Agreed . Also would be convenient for the Deaf / Hard of Hearing !
hiii, neurodivergent person with terrible auditory processing here, totally agreed! i, too, would loveee subtitles. hell, hire me, i’ll write them out for ya!!!
I'm part of the 1 percent with that 'Let's get married' line but my husband was in complete shock lol. It made perfect sense to me though and your video only clarified exactly why - Kim ultimately wasn't angry that the scam happened (it was originally her idea), can't deal with her complicated feelings on scamming in the first place (like how she gets a thrill out of it but is ultimately causing the anguish she felt being scammed on other people), but knows that staying 'clean' by letting Jimmy use her emotions against her, even if it's to do something she wants, is untenable - Marriage solves all of those problems.
She can continue scams, repress her feelings about scamming, and remove an 'excuse' for Jimmy to bring the sort of conflict into their relationship (lying/scamming her to further their own ends) that would force her to confront everything that's wrong about what they are doing.
By freeing them both to continue without it causing (as big of a) interpersonal conflict between them, she ultimately only left the consequences of their actions to force that difficult conversation - which is exactly what ended up happening.
I think Saul and Kim are two archetypes of reasons to "break bad" Saul seeks mostly fame and money and Kim seeks the thrill of it. As we are already seeing with Saul not really being ok with trying to ruin Howard, I think the end of the series will see their separation based on their different outlooks.
I agree. The title of BCS episodes often refers to more than one plot. Nacho helping the assassins was "something unforgivable" to Lalo, but I think Kim plotting against Howard might end up being "something unforgivable" to herself. I think Jimmy's moment of clarity in asking "Am I bad for you?" is going to haunt Kim as she sees how being around Jimmy unlocks the worst parts of her.
@@mranthonymills Ding Ding you really got it right. Last episode was so sad…
@@mranthonymills The saddest part of their break-up was seeing how Kim was so broken that she could not make a simple decision about anything. When the girls at the lunch table ask her if she and her new boyfriend had seen a movie, how did they like it, and she said "he might have", or the simple tuna salad for her sandwich, and she couldn't decide if it was okay to use Miracle Whip instead of mayonaise... She had been so bright and clever before and now she couldn't rely on her own skills to make any kind of decision.
"Do you want to be the friend of the cartel or do you want to be a rat?"
I think this will be the real breaking point of this relationship.
Jimmy might choose to "rat" on Lalo because in Breaking Bad, he could do his job smoothly without the DA tailing him around so he might cooperated with them in the prequel timeline. He might also do that to get some good grace back from the legitimate lawyer world too (after all, he still had a good relationship with Judge Papadoumian in Breaking Bad).
This ratting could also explain why he was so terrified when Walt and Jesse kidnapped him by saying "It wasn't me. It was Ignacio." "Did Lalo sent you? No Lalo?" because he ratted on Lalo and thought that Lalo sent his men to get him.
Kim, on the other hand, might chose "no rat" option since she's deeper in the game than Jimmy is. Mike also trusted the information of Lalo on the loose with her so she knows the deadly consequences that will happen to both of them if Jimmy decided to rat. Also, she might felt that the cartel helps her achieving her dream about building a pro bono legal team easier so Jimmy doing that will destroy her plan.
This Jimmy ratting decision will make things escalate in the way that Kim might lose her job, going in prison, fleeing with the vacuum guy or die. The final nail of the coffin to cement him as Saul Goodman. Because ratting on Lalo is a right thing to do. Jimmy chose to do the right thing but as usual, he always got punished for it. That's when he finally gave up conscience and became the full on bad guy.
"Conscience gets expensive, isn't it?"
Saul Goodman to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad s2e8
amazing theory 👍
when they argue on the rooftop, he projects everything Chuck said onto Kimmy “you see slippin’ jimmy” “not good enough for the same office” he’s repressed it for so long and before they got married, it seems the writers kept teasing us that a break up was coming. because everyone wondered when it would happen given that Saul in BB doesn’t seem like a happily married man. so every time he “can’t help himself” he is on the edge waiting for Kim to dump him. i thought that’s what the “here it comes” was about. deep down he always felt he wasn’t good enough for Kim and he wasn’t, so he kept effing up and we kept waiting for the moment but when it got worst she proposed to him. the writers kept kim’s background a mystery till now but it finally makes sense as her only parent was a scam artist and this is the love she knows. so after they marry she keeps provoking him to do more scams and tells herself it’s for a good cause. brilliant writing.
"He always felt he wasn't good enough for Kim" as Lalo kept reminding him. He would then go on to do the same thing to Walt re: Skylar in BB.
i think you would like the sopranos and the way therapy, depression, and especially the culture around it in the 90-00s is so important and how it subtly morphs over time
Great analysis. JImmy and Kim are the core of the series, particularly since Chuck's death. That scene at the top of the parking garage always cuts so deep -- it's too real.
I can’t get enough of this. It’s enthralling.
I’ve got a degree in Psych & have worked in similar “helping professions” as our narrator.
He makes me think I need to do better as a therapist.
If you know, you know. If you don’t, no worries, enjoy three fantastic vids for what they are.
Watching media in general with my autism leaves a lot to be desired as I'm completely disconnected with characters in terms of emotions. It's very apparent how well craft the elements of the show regarding the characters are, yet I can't enjoy it by watching it alone. That being said it is one of my favourite shows for numerous reasons!
That sounds like it sucks, I imagine you get worst of both deals (feeling emotionally dulled and overwhelmed).
Man your work truly needs more attention, it's so interesting and engaging to listen. The fact that you are talking about these characters as they were real people, and the fact that it does make sense and adds up in the context of the series, talks about how well crafted the show is. There is so much understanding of human emotions and motivations.
And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin’ stupid like “I love you”
I absolutely love your analyses of BCS. However, I think there was more to that letter reading scene than you mentioned. Jimmy was unfazed by the letter from Chuck because he had been hurt by him so much. I don't think he is being unfeeling or lacking space to feel emotions. I think he is so hurt by Chuck that he can't feel the sweetness of this letter, especially since it was to a previous version of Jimmy, one who was not a lawyer and therefore "beneath" Chuck. The only time he showed Jimmy any kindness was when he felt superior to him. I have a similar situation with my mother, and I felt like completely related to Jimmy in that moment
Yeah i lean a little more towards this interpretation. The letter Chuck wrote has a lot of implications and baggage relating to the relationship the brothers had, and it's hard to see it as being sweet or even caring on Chuck's part. We know from future events that Chuck's love and pride for his brother is conditional, and that many of the things he says in the letter no longer apply to Jimmy at all. Having Chuck's last words to Jimmy be 'youve never mattered much to me' probably didnt help things either
@@TheLetterH111 and some of that letter was such the opposite of what the audience saw happening between the brothers that as the audience it felt like something Chuck wrote to be mean and hurtful. "I'm proud to share a name with you" um no quite the contrary...
I can’t wait until my next relationship and I have to tell my significant other that they’re accusing me of thought crimes! Thats going to shut the entire argument down especially when I follow up with “You’re being very totalitarian right now!” 😂
His emotions about Kim always seem sincere though. Sincere, intense and unwavering. He can BS and manipulate about anything else if serves his goal, but this is the one genuine aspect of his life. Re: the storyline about the guy living in the desert I liked it showed that sincerity isn't always received that way, or useful. Even if the guy thought her story was true, and I think for the audience it was, why would he care what a random woman he's never met experienced decades ago? Why would that be relevant to his current situation? He judges from looking at her that she must have a decent place to live now, so why would the past matter? And she doesn't see that perspective at all.
About Jimmy's low self esteem, I just noticed that his car (a thrashed ESTEEM) may be a metaphor for that. In any other show (except BrBa) I would have called this a coincidence, but here every detail helps tell the story. Besides, there is a whole theory on how car brands/nationality is used in the show to help characterize the characters, it's pretty neat.
Awesome analysis, I could watch stuff like this breaking down BCS for days lol
Its hilarious seeing you here, love your content so much. The DBD community dosent have someone as dedicated to the lore as you are
This wasnt the person i was expecting here
Jimmy and Kim are the most natural and realistic relationship I have ever seen in all media
I love BB and BCS and I’m the kind of person who grieves at the end of a series I follow. It just leaves a big hole in my life when it’s over. I love these videos because they give me more of the thing I can no longer have! 😊
had to revisit this video after the new episode…
You work deserves waaaay more attention, quality content right here
Totally agree!! 👍👍
To me, Jimmy tearing up the therapy referral wasn't about spiting howard but was more like "if he's doing it and he looks like that clearly its a bad idea", though I think there's plenty of ways to interpret it
these essays are exactly what i needed now. can't even point out one thing, it's just an amazing in-depth train of thought
My favorite couple. I so want them to end up together but they’re killing each other. It’s heart wrenching. Amazing video ❤️❤️❤️
One small thing, Jimmy's legal name is still Jimmy McGill, he got a Doing Business As form at the end of season 4 so he could use the name Saul Goodman professionally.
great breakdown. something about their dynamic always seemed so real and beautiful, even when at times they're "bad" for each other and I never knew quite how to put it into words.
Fantastic video. Jimmy & Kim are my favourite on screen couple ever and this was a great discussion about their relationship. If only they could've had a happier ending together❤
Dude, take your time but these BCS analysis videos are excellent! Ready for season 6 and part 4 of your series!
He didn't "legally change his name". He's just practicing under the pseudonym "Saul Goodman". It's like a stage name.
Honestly, these videos are amazing. My favourite series. I love the implementation of philosophical moral theories its truly fascinating. So excited for more parts. Thanks so much for this series.
Really enjoyed this video - I'm fascinated by this relationship. As we go into the final episodes I'm pulling for both of the characters to get some kind of redemption and happiness.
lmao 7:09 why did I predict Tuco would come back
🤷♂️
Far too often I simply forget to like videos I like. But that "What is love?" edit made me do it here.
Jimmy tore up the therapist's number after seeing what a wreck Howard was. If twice-weekly therapy couldn't help Howie, he figures, is sure won't help me.
But it was helping Howard. It takes time to do so. Going through emotional issues will feel bad at first before it begins to feel better.
Very well done! I like how your background/profession allows you to give some insight into the character dynamics of this show. And I am SUPER pumped for Season 6, it'll be interesting to come back and rewatch this video after S6 is done.
I had to pause it when you mentioned Kimmy perhaps telling anyone of her friends about that escapade with Jimmy at her office party. Why doesn’t Kimmy have friends? She’s been in the area long enough to have collected quite a large amount of them, between work and school and apartments and exes, she WOULD know lots of people. Why doesn’t Jimmy …? I’ll let that one go to the repression landfill, myself. In any case, it’s good to know that in real life, Hamlin, Kimmy and Jimmy share a house on the set as FRIENDS. (…and, they rescued a dog together. it’s a good conversation, with ALL of them on utube at SAG-AFTRA).
Maybe with her studies, and work, she doesn't have time to meet people on the outside. However, when we first see her working so hard to find new business for HHM, she is combing through her own contacts, and there are really QUITE A FEW of them. So obviously she can make friends. She probably just doesn't let too many people close in to her life, due to feeling, perhaps, like a fraud ~ Everybody has just a touch of this, we show different faces or sides of our self to different people.
Holy shit, watching this I can’t believe that nonverbal scene where they have beers and he tempts dropping it multiple times before Kim just *hucks* it over the side, then Saul does the same… then the next day when Kim stops to clean it up and he doesn’t! It’s basically the last half of their relationship, completely nonverbal and in-character. What a fucking show.
Was unfamiliar with your content before your Better call Saul series came out, but I'm really enjoying the deep psychological dive into the characters intent and motivations, keep the content like this rolling!
I’ve been waiting for this video. Thanks for the long form videos about this series. Definitely going to miss this show after the last season ends.
21:55 to further extend on your point about repressing/not expressing your emotions properly, I think it’s extremely noteworthy to point out how when jimmy says “I don’t think about Chuck, I don’t miss Chuck”, it sounds like he’s trying to convince *himself* that he doesn’t care about losing Chuck as opposed to convincing Kim that
I know I'm 3 months late, but my take on Jimmy and Kim's love is more along the lines of co dependency. They are definitely in love but it's more like they are in love with what they do and they just happen to feed off their energies. Kim even says that she didn't tell Jimmy about lalo because she thought he'd stop having fun together, which tells me that their relationship is more indicative of co-dependence. Kim needs Jimmy so she can have fun and Jimmy needs Kim to have someone validate the horrible things he does.
me in this video, before season 6: what's Lalo gonna do, track down Fring and fight to the death??? 7:29
One thing I was waiting for you to bring up is that Kim's line of "you crossed a line, you won't do it again" is the same flawed logic Jimmy often employs when confronted. He even attempts to use it during their fight after the Acker fiasco, only Kim sees through it then.
That’s how the role were reversed.
Jimmy loved to use this as an excuse for his own actions. That is something Chuck had been against the whole time. Jimmy didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation until he met Lalo. Lalo is a Slippin’ Jimmy for Jimmy. He made Jimmy realized his own flaws in a physical form. He helped Lalo get away with murder with looking at the eyes of a crying victim’s mother. He almost died in the desert after the shootout. He drank his own piss and he nearly got Kim killed. That’s why this excuse didn’t work on him anymore.
Kim, on the other hand, decided to let herself go this deep into a relationship with Jimmy and she finally tasted what it feels like to be Saul Goodman so she just let loose and became Slippin’ Kimmy, rationalizing anything that her or Jimmy will do no matter how unethical.
“Lalo is a slippin jimmy for jimmy”. Damn. I never thought about it like that
I've watched this show with my dad and in the scene where they fight after the meeting about the mr ackerman case my dad called it, these two are getting married, and a second later kim confirms it hahaha
I watched the first two videos and I nodded a bunch of times during them. But this one, I have a hard time with - you may be a therapist, but you missed the fact that Chuck is clearly a narcissist and Jimmy/Saul is a victim of that. He went into the hearing and didn't mention his brother because CHUCK WAS ACTIVELY SABOTAGING JIMMY'S LAW CAREER. It's not because of some repressed feelings or Jimmy trying to hide the way he feels about his brother's death. Furthermore, he clearly says "I don't care about Chuck." because that was literally the last thing Chuck ever said to him.
As for his and Kim's relationship, it seems very clear that it's an unhealthy relationship; neither of them really seem to be able to bond to the other the way you would see in a "normal" relationship. They're kind of clinging to each other because they're all they have.
I took it as Jimmy finally taking Chuck's advice and stopping feeling sorry for being who he was. Chuck saying it finally gave him license to feel how he really felt, and he took the opportunity to pretty much completely stop caring about Chuck at all.
Ok, can we please get like a whole video of you recreating the "What is Love" song with the lines from Better Call Saul haha
In the 'am I bad for you scene' I think it comes from having to justify her mum's behaviour. She doesn't want to look at it deeper. It's her coping strategy.
I'm in love with Kim.
In awe at how small this channel is, binged this whole series thinking you were above 1 mil subs, definitely deserving of more recognition
I've been loving these BCS videos, and this is my favorite one yet. I'll definitely be watching this again.
Kim is my most difficult character, to understand. I think you hit the nail on the head, about her protective Mothering nature. But why does Kim feel the need to protect Jimmy and all those Pro-Bono cases. Maybe her main ambition is to be the Mother she never had. She wants to fix in others, what she could never fix, in herself.
I always wondered why they never seem to establish the terms of their relationship. Now it makes sense.
I am really digging this content. Watched part 2 and 3 all in one day.
The part 4 came😌
Considering the thing that you said on one of the previous videos abou Jimmy not liking being ruled by someone, this information throws us back to his submission state in the cartel, where he can't decide anything and only obeying. And i thought that Kim's scene pointing out facts to Lalo was somewhat unnatural and forged, because no one in it's perfect state of mind would face an armed criminal like she did.
I would LOVE to see Gus and tuco interact. Or at the very least have Gus talk about Tuco.
Gus and Tuco DO interact when Nacho is trying to get rid of Tuco and hires Gus to knock him off. Gus comes up with an alternate plan to get Tuco to assault him for brushing against his car while parking in front of the lunch grill at Lo Michohacano (Not sure of the spelling). Tuco is so proud of his car, that he follows Gus into the parking lot, where Gus grabs a pole and takes a beating while the Police are right there to see it, and Tuco is sent up the river because Gus won't say it was his gun to get on the good side of Don Tio Salamanca...
After waterworks this is just depressing…..
Yeah this is honestly hard to get through now after this latest episode
yep
I saw an interview with the production/actors that said the intent was these characters were friends for a decade before episode one, had an emotional intimacy, maybe kissed here and there a few times but nothing came of that, and only became a couple/slept together in S2E1. My friend and I are watching this together for the 3rd and noticed a lot in that episode with the first bar scam. In the morning, Jimmy has an interview for a corporate job that Kim set up as a favor. Right after the interview/offer he approaches her and conveys he wants to be a couple, not just friends. She seems receptive but without any sense of urgency. In the late afternoon he's in a hotel pool he scammed his way into , she shows up and he tells her in the bar that he doesn't want to be a lawyer anymore, he's wasted 10 years in that city, and he's thinking of leaving it. She looks hurt & desperate, orders a drink, and my friend and I thought while she'd already made the decision to be a couple at some point she must have realized it has to be that night otherwise he's leaving her. He gets up and approaches Ken the stock guy and that stunt ensues. She looks confused at first but we thought she HAD to sit through it until he was ready to leave the bar, to get him back to her apartment and seal the deal to avoid having him leave her. She looks really happy in the morning after they sleep together for the first time, we thought because she felt now he wouldn't be leaving her. After that we thought any time his being a lawyer was called into question that her reason for panic is she thinks if he's not a lawyer like she is, he's going to leave her. It isn't even based in reality because his only threat to leave her was S2E1, but those feelings aren't always based in reality, right?
Interesting theory. I like this one!
Amazing stuff! Pointed out a lot of things I never noticed, adds even more depth to one of the deepest shows on television! Also taught me, as a psych major and future social worker, a couple of things to keep in mind about the psychology of healthy relationships! Thanks for awesome content man, keep it up! Both on this show and others! Can’t wait to see it :)
great video, but one note: Jimmy did not change his legal name to Saul. At the end of season 4 he asked the woman at the bar association who was getting his reinstatement paperwork to also get him a 'dba,' or 'doing business as' form to change his professional name. his legal name is still Jimmy McGill.
James*
This series is absolutely fantastic, great work!
oh my heart- one of my fav couples from a show/film I’ve ever seen. What a deep love they have for one another. What a phenomenal vid - Thanks so much for making this ♥️
God damn, I love these two so much.
42 minutes in and I really am thankful for such a thoughtful analysis of genuinely one of my favorite pieces of media. I am wondering if you are going to talk about the importance of 'Something Stupid's' Cold Open. I'll make sure to talk about my own personal connection to this specific essay and my own experiences with Mutual Repression.
i like to think in another world they'd be perfect for each other. you know... if kim had a stable and loving upbringing, or chuck wasn't so determined to keep jimmy down. this isn't to downplay their responsibility for the fucked up shit they do, but i do think there's a certain level of "right person, wrong time" going on :(
Thanks for the binge of better call saul videos before the premiere. Grade A content
I was under the impression that, in the Chuck's letter scene, Jimmy thought that Chuck's letter was bullshit. He knew his brother didn't care for him that much, and that he certainly wasn't proud of where Jimmy ended up, so no matter what Chuck said in that letter, it meant nothing. Jimmy already knew what he needed to know about how Chuck felt.
My read on why Jimmy decided to tear up the referral after the bathroom conversation was that Hamlin said he was going already twice weekly and appeared like a wreck to Jimmy.
So Jimmy assumed that therapy was either pointless or potentially even detrimental.
Dude, I love the enterpretation you gave! Thanks for the videos!
Love these deep dive videos and I really really appreciate the amount of hard work you clearly put into them.
Remember the big blow up began because Chuck dealt with his personal problem well enough to get to Jimmy's phone in the mailbox to call Howard at 2am, and keep Jimmy from a job. So Jimmy stayed up ALL night to mess with the file, to get Kim Mesa, to get him his office with her. I'd have to sympathize with Jimmy knowing that Kimmy looks at him as a good time, not a long time.
The What is Love bit was definitely worth it
One thing that I think is really interesting about Jimmy's testimony about Chuck to the appeal hearing is that I'm not even sure it *was* entirely insincere, but because of the lie that Jimmy keeps telling himself that he doesn't and can't care about Chuck he's convinced himself that it wasn't.
It will be an end of an era with these 2 when they break up , and really hard to watch 😪😪😪
The saddest part of the last letter from Chuck was that you know it was sincere because that was Chucks character. If he didn't really mean what he was saying, to Jimmy of all people, he wouldn't have said it. His character had about zero capacity for BS, he was never one to talk someone up if he didn't believe what he was saying. Knowing that about him is what affected Kim so much, she saw that final communication for what it was, Chuck finally validating and approving of Jimmy as he had sought for so long, like the parent you've thought you disappointed your entire life telling you they're proud of you all along on their death bed.
Jimmy was so blinded by his long-term disaffection with Chuck I don't think he could even see or appreciate that, which is saddening.
Chuck wrote that letter whike Jimmy was still woring in a mailroom, so it does not invalidate what he had said to Jimmy at their last meeting. Jimmy knows that, so he is not touched by the letter.
@@blaubeer8039 Also he told Jimmy that he never really mattered that much to him, which is one of the biggest lies in the whole series.
“Jimmy was so blinded…” Well, it’s not Jimmy fault for Chuck saying that Jimmy didn’t matter to him. Chuck made his own choice to say that. Anyone with the right mind would be angry to hear such things.
Plus, Kim wasn’t there when Chuck said that so she will never understand what Jimmy feels. She has no right to be mad at Jimmy for not crying like her.