Because everyone seems to hate him, but he is right about Jimmy.
I still dislike the guy, but he does have a point. And maybe if he'd been successful in disbarring Jimmy, he wouldn't have ended up on the run, working in a Cinnabon, flat on his face.
Yes, he is right about Jimmy. Objectively speaking, Jimmy was entirely wrong. But Chuck's motives for revealing Jimmy's flaws are actually very self-serving. It has less to do with his outrage about Jimmy breaking the law, and more to do with his insane jealously of his younger brother, who his parents loved more. That's why we hate him.
(BTW-- I never hated Skylar. I just found her annoying.)
The reason people don't like Skyler and Chuck is not so much that they are wrong, but because they are insufferable hypocrites. Marie started out the most obnoxious character, but by the end she may have been the most sympathetic of all of them because you discover her neuroses stem from her unhappiness and she actually was a brave, loyal person. If Chuck ever put Jimmy or any human's needs over his own, people could get over the rest of his ridiculous idiosyncrasies.
The American legal system, especially as currently highlighted by the present administration is a joke. We have a higher prison population than China... with a ridiculously disproportionate amount of black males, who live in a system often run by for profit private corporations. Wall Street financiers stole billions without any of them seeing the inside of a prison... while desperate young kids selling weed end up there. Men like Chuck who perpetuate the mythology of this virtuous system are simply the worst for thinking their shit doesn't stink when they, not the poor are destroying our nation.
Wow, Sentient Meat, I love this comment. You are so right about Marie, at first, I didn't care for this character but I ended up having a tremendous amount of empathy for her. Your second point couldn't be more poignant. I've especially wondered this week if people don't recognize this, or if they don't care, or more sadly, they want to join the ranks of these cynical oligarchs so they loathe to call them out. It's been very depressing.
shareThanks... I think the oligarchs have average people convinced that if one day they happen to become rich... then they don't want anyone trying to take that away from them. The problem with that logic, aside from simple greed is that almost no one gets rich to the level where they would even have to worry about it. It's as crazy as someone voting not to give poor people health insurance on the off chance that they happen to win the lotto. By perpetuating the message that it's the lazy who are taking your money rather than the rich... we are all angry at each other instead of the rich. By any objective measurement... it's the wealthy who have gained... not the average middle class person... yet mysteriously most people's anger is directed at the poor and minority groups.
shareI don't think he was always right about Jimmy- I think Jimmy had the potential to be good or bad. But Chuck's constant lack of confidence and encouragement, his constantly labeling Jimmy as bad, I think is what makes Jimmy turn bad. After a long time of being called bad, you start to think, I might as well do what I'm getting punished for anyway. So Chuck became right about Jimmy by making him turn bad. It was a self fulfilling prophecy.
shareTotally agree. Great comment PK!
This is the thing that makes me loathe Chuck so much. Sure he's sick and all that, but he is after all Jimmy's older brother who has the high ground in accomplishments and respect. Instead of encouraging and supporting Jimmy from this position he's been doing the opposite the whole time, thus pushing Jimmy the wrong way.
It's a very common psychological mechanism in our society actually, which very few are consciously aware of, and which leads to so many people's potentials unfulfilled. This series explores this with Jimmy and Chuck as example masterfully.
Jimmy obviously has a lot of good in him, at this stage. Even though he uses sketchy means sometimes, it's usually in the goal of a good intention.
He has a big heart. He has a moral sense. He saw the old folks being ripped off and he wanted to get justice for them. Yes there would be something in it for him, but his initial impulse for that class action suit was to protect the helpless.
He took care of Chuck for so long, getting him groceries and special newspapers EVERY morning before work. Not getting paid for that, and it took a lot of effort and time out of his own life.
His shenanigans with the Mesa Verde documents , he did that for Kim, because she had been screwed by Chuck and Howard. she earned the account and those bastards stole it from her.
And even that goldfish, he only bought it as an excuse to see the vet who also refers pickpockets... but he didn't flush it when he was done with it. He bought it a fancy tank.
I think someone like Chuck would just use it and throw it away, the way he uses people and throws them away. If Jimmy had been sick, Chuck would never have sacrificed so much of his life to take care of him. Chuck is ultimately selfish and Jimmy is not. At least, not yet.
"Instead of encouraging and supporting Jimmy from this position he's been doing the opposite the whole time, thus pushing Jimmy the wrong way."
Jimmy in fact cleaned up his life after Chuck got him out of his last major Slippin' Jimmy jam. Chuck couldn't just be happy for him; he immediately set about sabotaging him. Chuck has been responsible for Jimmy's backsliding all along, and while Jimmy idolized him, Chuck just scorns Jimmy. A horrible person.
---
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/
Yep that might be the most insidious part about Chuck... not only is he a hypocrite... but by continuing to treat his brother with distrust due to petty jealousies... he's mostly responsible for his recidivism. Great observation.
shareChuck not only refused to allow Jimmy to work at HHM, he made Howard take the fall for that for years. Jimmy set up his own practice and did what he could, then when he dug up a major case, the sort of thing that could have set up Jimmy for years, Chuck maneuvered to take it away from him. Jimmy wanted nothing more than Chuck's love and respect; Chuck called him a chimp with a machine-gun. HHM punished Kim because of Jimmy, so she worked her ass off to dig up Mesa Verde and when Kim was going to use that to help launch the joint law practice with Jimmy, Chuck went out of his way to steal the client away from her, which is why Jimmy resorted to forgery. What happened next was justice insofar as Chuck is concerned but the client suffered a setback as a result. Chuck set up Jimmy with the express idea of trying to take his livelihood. All of this is born of Chuck's pettiness and jealousy. Someone above said Chuck was right about Jimmy but that isn't true: in reality, Chuck has spent years building Saul Goodman. Jimmy is an excellent lawyer. If, when Jimmy had passed the bar, Chuck had acted like a decent human being, Jimmy would have probably gone on to a great life and career.
---
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/
Very well summarized... Kim couldn't have said it better herself.
Hope we see you post more regularly here.
You're definitely going to be seeing me post a lot more regularly here.
---
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/
I'm sorry but I am still a fan of Chuck. I feel sorry for the guy and Chuck is right about Jimmy. Jimmy ultimately makes his own choices even when Jimmy knew nothing about his brother Chuck undermining him. Jimmy was doing questionable things all along.
shareThis post is one of those that make me wish there was a "like" button here..
shareChuck thinks that Jimmy doesn't possess the right integrity to be a lawyer. And I agree with Chuck on that part. What Jimmy ought to do is follow Chuck's lead and be the type of lawyer Chuck would respect.
shareSpoken like a true follower.
Jimmy should go his own way and get away from the nest in my opinion.
Eventually he could do that as well after learning the right way to practice law the way Chuck does. You cannot dispute the fact that Chuck is an honorable lawyer aside from when he entrapped Jimmy into admitting Jimmy committed fraud.
shareHe is mentally deranged as is proven by his 'allergy' not affecting him until he sees he's holding a battery.
He's not fit for duty, doubly so for what he did to Jimmy.
And just what do you think Chuck do to Jimmy?
shareI think Chuck regularly kept Jimmy under the thumb, afraid of his potential and how that could reflect on him as a respected pillar of the community.
I don't think that's a bad thing for him to do since 'Slippin' Jimmy' was apparently a well known fraudster when they were children but once Jimmy tried to get his act together and passed the bar Chuck should have looked upon him differently and seen him evolve.
Not doing so further enabled Jimmy's lack of achievement which has led, through enablement of both Chuck and Jimmy through the misshapen way they care for each other, to where the story currently is - nobody is winning, even if small battles favour one over the other for a given moment.
Jimmy has to fly the coup and go his own way, for him and for Chuck.
Jimmy needed Chuck more than Chuck needed Jimmy. Also Jimmy was doing questionable things all along. Not everything is Chuck's fault. Jimmy made that commercial against the Howard and Chuck's approval and as a result got Kim in trouble. Jimmy want to practice law his own way which is a mix of Slippin Jimmy and attorney Jimmy.
shareYou are not wrong, however had Jimmy been given access to a position of responsibility suitable for his ability level and character none of this would have happened.
Jimmy is a risk taker and, whist Chuck maybe once was, the firm he was working for were not willing to push themselves to be expanding and solidifying as they should have been for a company in 2000/2001.
Shouldn't an inexperienced attorney comply with the standards of business that his employers set for their company as well as follow their lead?
Mostly yes.
However risk takers are appreciated for their ability to expand income for firms and that is why they hired Jimmy in the first place - they got what he was, he thought that was what they wanted, they hadn't made themselves clear that the entire enterprise was an episode in further unempowerment of Jimmy.
This is why the story works. It's also why it is inevitable as we all know where the story goes after Jimmy stops being Jimmy (As hinted at in the last episode).