I'll agree with you on the Jimmy monologue to Kim. I wasn't twiddling my thumbs, but I found that bit to be excruciating as well, and not in the "OMG the suspense!" kind of way. It was unnecessary and didn't help build to anything.

Very well said. Part of the genius of it is that we don't necessarily disagree with what Chuck is saying. We've just been rooting so hard for Jimmy to shape up and fly right (despite knowing where he ends up), that to have his brother be the one to crush his soul in this manner makes Chuck look like some horrible…

In going over the events of this episode, I neglected to mention what a masterful job they did building to the end. This episode could (and should) serve as the model of how you build to a climax. By the time they finally got around to the climactic encounter between Jimmy and Chuck, I was literally jumping off my…

It will dig up a gun in the yard and Mike will punch it in the throat. Kaylee will forgive him, but only if he leaves her $2,000,000 on her 18th birthday.

"Deep down you know I'm right and some day you'll thank me for my honesty!!"

There's Chuck and Kim to think about. Jimmy's loyalties lie with people at HHM, or at least they did until the very end of the episode.

Saul was little more than comic relief in BB. We learn literally nothing about him beyond his dealings with Mike, Gus, Jesse, and the Whites.

Actually, his treatment of her on that was fair, I thought. Her job was to get them to take the deal; instead she lost them. Any firm would bust you down off partner track for that. She was lucky she didn't get fired.

So is Mike going to take the $1500 and buy his daughter-in-law some acting lessons?

Pretty much. What's interesting to me is that Chuck is right about Jimmy, in one respect - Jimmy became a lawyer for the wrong reason. He just doesn't recognize that the reason was to win Chuck's respect, not to go on being Slippin' Jimmy and bilk clients.

Does he? Chuck has always been presented in sort of an ivory tower light, and he came up in the profession back in the 70s, when getting a law degree actually said more about you than you were able to sign your name to a loan agreement. I think old-timers particularly don't always recognize the state of the…

To be fair, he had to put up with people having sex on his $1400 leather couch. That would make anyone grumpy.

All he's ever wanted was Chuck's approval; their relationship has always seemed like more of a father/son one than brotherly, complete with paternalistic Chuck always making sure that the goofy, bad son minds his place.

Hamlin's attitude towards Jimmy never fit. I've been waiting for this shoe to drop for 2+ episodes now. I have to admit, I'm surprised to find that the beef isn't personal.

"Let's reassess in 6 months." Assholishness by Hamlin, or orchestration by Chuck to keep Jimmy in the mail room, clinging to false hope?

This. And an egomaniac. And someone who has devoted his life to law, to the point he feels entitled to be the gatekeeper of the profession.

Et tu, Chucke?

I think, on some level, Jimmy has always known Chuck sabotages his attempts to get ahead. That's WHY he kept his law degree a secret - Chuck has never encouraged Jimmy, never once validated anything Jimmy has tried to do. Jimmy knew he would get nothing but dismissive, patronizing bullshit if he said anything to…

I thought it was more than fair. $20k for stumbling on some evidence and a few days worth of work, and then a full 20% finders' fee is extraordinarily generous. No doubt Chuck put Hamlin up to making an offer they didn't think Jimmy would ever refuse.

I noticed that in real time. Great acting by McKean.