To be fair, he was running scams for a week, when he decided to go back to New Mexico. Think about it like if he were binging with substance abuse. That's a hell of a long time to be drunk as fuck or high as a kite From that perspective, that's a hell of a lot of coping.

The scene is incredibly well acted and produced. I agree, Chuck couldn't hold the facade anymore. It was weird to me though, that he tried to get Jimmy to come back after he fucking drug his ass through the mud and Jimmy left.

That scene and Mike explaining to his daughter in law WTF is going on are the best scenes in the series. Goddamned powerful television.
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This.

He's not in the meth business, or the money business.

He's in the empire business.


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Chuck had nothing to do with wanting Jimmy back. The firm that HHM had to hire on to help with the case wanted Jimmy because all of the old people really liked and trusted Jimmy.
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No I meant telling him he wasn't a lawyer and shit. Dragging him through the mud in the verbal sense.
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Chuck only wanted him back when he realized that Jimmy wouldn't stick around and help him out with his groceries and newspapers.
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yeah....that's exactly the way I took it.
in my mind Chuck is just.....the lowest of the low.

it's not like Jimmy exactly or necessarily deserved Chuck's extreem....SUPER extreem ire. yes Jimmy was a scam artist and whatnot. then he gets a law degree! a LAW DEGREE! we THINK Chuck is proud of him only to find out in reality he simply cannot STAND the idea of Jimmy being on the same footing as himself. and making it so so much worse....it's his own flesh and blood brother. Chuck is just a jealous punk ass playa hater.

it's an unfortunate fact that the ones that can hurt you most are the ones closest to you. furthermore.....what has been spoken can never be unspoken. I've been thru brother/family turmoil. once you come out the other side....where things have been "resolved" ......things are never the same. and never will be.

the coolest thing about Jimmy....he still cares about that bitch. he still....friggin....cares.

I can relate. I still care. some people move on.....but....they don't have it in them to care anymore. they aren't capable of forgiving....at least enough to still give a shit. you know? Jimmy got heart. shoe on the other foot.....Chuck would NEVER forgive Jimmy and he would NEVER give a rats ass about him again....EVER.
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:-)
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Chuck is 100% right about his brother, he just went about telling him in a horrible way.
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BS - Chuck was hamfisted and cowardly in his attempt to keep Jimmy from a position at HHM. But the central driving factor is he idolizes, fetishizes, the practice of law.

He loves his brother as a person, but doesn't respect him as a guardian of the trust between an attorney and a client.

By way of analogy, imagine getting wheeled into an ER for life-saving brain surgery, to find Justin Bieber scrubbed in as your surgeon. He got his license in Guam. He's done some minor surgeries in the past. But he's played pretty fast and loose with procedures in the past and some patients were touch and go.

You may be the biggest Belieber in the world, doesn't mean you want him with a knife rooting around in your brain. Be honest with yourself.

That's the richer point. McKean was interviewed about his character arc, and he said it was difficult but he placed himself in the position of completely loving his brother but completely believing he was doing the right and proper thing in keeping him off the HHM letterhead.
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Did anyone else notice that Kim did the exact same thing?

"I just didn't want you to hate your brother..."

Chuck gets barbecued for not trusting Jimmy and trying to keep him out of the firm without hurting him. Meanwhile Kim was also deceptive for the same reasons - she just felt that sparing Jimmy's feelings was more important than raw, unvarnished truth.

Yet nobody's blasting Kim, one of Jimmy's only true friends in the world, whereas they're nailing Chuck to the wall.

Jimmy's getting white knighted again here. I don't think he's saying 'to hell with Chuck...', I think he's saying 'to hell with the straight and narrow' and those are very very different animals. He was given a clear path to a solid legal career with another very large law firm. It was there for the taking but it would require that he keep his nose clean and fly right. Hell, he'd even gotten confirmation that his elder law practice had legs - his clients loved him. He could've been a grinder for 20 years at 6 figures a year, put away a million or so, sold his practice, retired in his mid-late 50s and had a nice, common but fairly affluent life for himself.

But Jimmy, at his core, is a crook. He's a liar and a scam artist. He's not a good guy. He got a nice check and the first thing he did was go back to ripping people off in Chicago. He just got done scamming people both out of money and a quick lay and enjoyed the hell out of it. He had his path to righteousness in front of him and instead decided that he was going to route of the sleazy lawyer. Chuck isn't the reason for that - Chuck simply forecast it correctly.

Again, I'm just confused as to why people are giving him a pass and putting this at Chuck's feet. Chuck is balls on right regarding Jimmy's character and didn't do anything more than Kim did in trying to protect him from the truth of his concerns.
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My point, more eloquently and concisely that I could apparently muster.
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Oh....I wasn't white knighting Jimmy.
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One sentence culled from my 5-paragraph essay.

Perhaps you should just be my CP copy-editor. I can hardly type a post these days that isn't at least 100 words long.
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Exactly, just like Walt in BB, Jimmy had the right path laid out right in front of him, but chose the bad way because it makes him feel alive.
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Good post. I think Kim was the reason why Jimmy got to figuring it out. The impression I got was the way she told him what she did, she pretty much told him it was Chuck. But dealing in simple facts, yeah. She's not blameless in it.
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