He's still hurting. Just his way of coping.
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Unless the writers of the show have started taking shortcuts in fear of not being around for 2-3 more years, that's just WAY to quick a switch.

I think he's turtling up a bit and we'll see it create a slow gnaw at him. To just have a 'eureka!' moment where he becomes Saul simply doesn't fit what Gilligan does, especially not on this show.

We'll see him struggling his ass off over this in the coming episodes, IMO. It's gonna eat away at him. Because if he's just decided "screw it, being good doesn't keep you alive and feeling bad just looks miserable - I'm gonna be Saul now..." then where else does this show have to go?

Nah - there's still more story to be told.
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You must've forgotten his stunt with the insurance company. Jimmy didn't - he caught that queue and specifically asked about it.

If Jimmy thinks Howard's decision to push Chuck out was what put him over the edge, Jimmy knows that he was the catalyst behind that still. That's why he asked and that's why he just went blank.

Because mirth in the face of tragedy hasn't ever been Jimmy's thing. That's not him shrugging off blame because even if he were he STILL wouldn't have acted that glib. That's a dude who's just severed his emotions to the best of his ability because he knows he's not in control of them at the moment.
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I think an event this big is unprecedented for the show and is pushing Jimmy into corners and rationalizations we haven't seen yet. I don't think he's Saul, but we started seeing glimpses of it in S3 and I think this is the first move where we saw him attempt to shift his moral responsibility and guilt onto another person (and by the time we meet Saul in BB, this was his standard operating procedure).

I don't think he's all the way there yet, but I do think this event has locked him into this path and removed the exit ramps (as said above).
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I think you read too much into my assessment.
I said he saw an offramp from a treadmill. I didn't say he jumped off a cliff.
That moment when he let Howard stew alone in his guilt is an important moment, but it's not like he suddenly started scheming to cultivate underworld clients and defraud authorities. A piece of him that internalizes his hand in bad karma broke. There's still plenty of road to travel.
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:-)

It's not a spoiler if the show has aired.

What do you expect everyone in your office to do? Avoid discussing a show for an entire season just because you prefer to wait and binge watch it?

Psssst! Clark Gable told the girl that he doesn't give a damn at the end of Gone With the Wind. Humphrey Bogart told the girl to get on the damn plane at the end of Casablanca.

Sorry if I spoiled those movies for you!
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I can't say that I really blame Jimmy. Chuck was a douchebag to the very end.

I mean, what was the point of telling Jimmy (the guy who busted his ass taking care of Chuck all of those years) that Jimmy just never really mattered to him?

I love this show.
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To be as viciously cruel and cutting as possible to the person who he (correctly) blames for fully and finally ending his legal career. Again - gotta remember that Chuck sees the legal profession as a sacred calling. Agree or don't agree (I certainly don't), that's his decision lens.

And he's now seen Jimmy make a mockery of it several times and in the process essentially demolished a true believer. He's goddamn furious at Jimmy and perhaps justifiably so.

And everyone knows exactly how to bring their family to their knees. Most of us will mercifully never drop whatever that bomb may be, but Chuck absolutely knew that the way to do it was to simply treat him as an afterthought. It was the absolute most painful thing he could've done to Jimmy and that's exactly what he was looking for.

The point was to do exactly what he did. The punch landed as far as Chuck's concerned.
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I kinda got the impression Howard was playing Jimmy. Like he knew the entire insurance problem was kicked off by Jimmy and was trying to kick him even more while he was down.
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I can't see any way in the world that Howard could've known that.

Moreover, Howard has never been openly antagonistic towards Jimmy. He doesn't trust him, but there have been a number of times that he's actually seemed genuinely happy for him.

Nah - that's not something we'd have seen from Howard, IMO. I think Howard's been one of the most dynamic characters in the entire show. He's actually been one of the more upright, honorable, oddly relateable characters in the show to this point.
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It's more than likely he didn't know. I just got that impression it was a possibility. If somehow Howard did know about Jimmy's involvement then I wouldn't put it past him.
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There's that possibility, but I don't think so.

But I do think that part of the draw of the show is ambiguities of this nature. They do solid work laying the foundations for characters, then a subsequent single revelation can throw everything ass over teakettle.

I'm in DJNL's camp on Howard being fairly straightforward and forthright, but the possibility that he has a hidden agenda is part of the allure of the narrative.
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I don't trust that guy AT ALL.

BTW, you guys do an excellent job of dissecting this show. One of the good parts of the series.
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Hamlindigo blue
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Obviously things change, but Howard's arc has been the complete opposite of that. Season 1 had him as the face of HHM continually shushing Jimmy back into the mail room for seemingly no reason.
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