MovieChat Forums > Better Call Saul (2015) Discussion > The fallacy of sunk costs

The fallacy of sunk costs

posted 8 years ago by Popcorn Kernel (2368)
7 replies | jump to latest

The title of this episode was 'Sunk Costs"
and at the end, Jimmy asks Kim what she sees in him and she says chalk it up to The fallacy of sunk costs.
This is like a gambling thing when you have already bet too much and you are losing, but you think if you just ride it out long enough you will make it back. So you keep betting and end up just losing more.
Also known as "throwing good money after bad".
Kim has too much emotionally invested and she can't walk away and will lose everything. And she knows it.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

I thought it meant something like that, but thanks for clarifying it. I guess that's how economists or attorneys describe l'amour fou.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

Yeah it is used in economics, game theory, several different fields. It's something I think we can all relate to.
I wonder how Jimmy would feel hearing Kim describe it that way. She's basically telling him that he's a lost cause.
She's not even in that deep- they aren't married, they don't have kids. People in bad marriages with kids and a lot of joint debt, often operate on the principle. They've invested too much and don't want to face the fact it was all wasted and you are never getting that time back. Kim is still young and free, she could get out now and lose a lot LESS than if she stays for a few more years before leaving.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

I thought it sounded more like a declaration of love, such as it was. She could just ignore him and buy out his space when the Mesa Verde money comes in... but she helps him anyway.

[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 8 years ago

Honestly, I just cried at that last scene where Kim and Jimmy were standing in front of the glass wall and she reached for his hand.

This is love. It is adult. It is messy. It is real.

This show has the most realistic depictions of love on TV. It's not gushy bedroom antics. It's defending the person you love, no matter what.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

Yeah, it was a nice scene, hope people got that out of it

[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 8 years ago

For the past few episodes I have been getting the impression that Kim was becoming increasingly annoyed with jimmy and may have been considering ditching him entirely. So when she reached for his hand, I just lost it because I didn't expect that.

[–] DreamersxDisease (817) 8 years ago

Thanks for clearing that up. I saw the episode title and obviously when she said that I got the connection, but...I wasn't entirely sure where that term came from and now I do!

Interesting that it seems a lot of people were worried for Kim being blindsided with all of Jimmy's continuing misdeeds and that she'd be the unknowing collateral damage in it all, but this seems to imply the opposite. That she's well aware of what she's getting into and that it'll probably go sour, but she's all in anyways. That's a nice little character turn for her, however bad it could end up.