I don't think Jimmy sees himself as a bad person. Nor is it clear cut that he is a bad person. What is clear, however, is that he has no interest in the road of partner-track at a large law firm, now that Chuck's respect is no longer at stake.

You obviously have no idea what goes on in the heads of people like Chuck. They don't give two shits about the Jimmys of the world, as long as the Jimmys stay out of their hallowed law partnerships. Jimmy learned this lesson the hard way. He has no interest in Chuck any more. He's going to live how he wants FOR…

Saul Goodman is in no way a middle finger to Chuck. It's Jimmy doing exactly what Chuck figures Jimmy will do. Living down to Chuck's expectations.

I think you missed the point. The only time Jimmy ever worked hard is when he started living to please Chuck, win his respect, and make him proud. It's not that Jimmy isn't capable of working hard. It's that generally, he doesn't want to.

Saul is Slippin' Jimmy with a law degree. At his heart, Slippin' Jimmy cons people because it's an easy way to make money, and while questionable, can easily be rationalized as simply preying on the greedy. And as greed is immoral, it's not clear that he's even doing something wrong, legality notwithstanding.

Springfield Springfield, it's a hell of a town!

Every time I want to start liking Hamlin, I just start chanting "Hamlindigo Blue" over and over again.

I think you haven't allowed for the possibility that Chuck was right about Jimmy, and everything in this episode fully supports that conclusion. He isn't just Slippin' Jimmy, he's Slippin' Jimmy with a license to practice law. A chimp with a machine gun, if you will.

All of the cons seem obvious from the outside. But a big part of the con is finding your mark, finding someone whose greed will overcome their better judgment. That's the real skill of the con man. You can get people to do an awful lot of crazy things in the name of greed. Like, for example, embezzle 1.6 mil from…

I think the lesson is that Chuck was right - Jimmy wants the easy way out. He wants to be the guy that takes the 1.6 mil that's plopped in his lap. Everything he did when Chuck bailed him out was for Chuck's benefit, but Jimmy has realized that he doesn't want to live a life where you work hard for a decade and then…

It came off a bit hackneyed, but I think that's a fairly minor quibble, because the real hackneyed bit would be if Jimmy gave some ridiculous "this is for you, buddy" or some such nonsense before ditching the meeting. It served it's purpose pretty well as a catalyst for Jimmy taking stock of his life, but didn't come…

People who don't know that the word is "drivel" and not "dribble" ought not to be commenting on the effectiveness of drama.

Chuck was right. There's really no other conclusion to draw. We kind of knew it already, but some didn't want to believe it. Once Jimmy got over doing things for Chuck's approval, and took stock and tried to figure out who he wanted to be, he realized a universal truth - you'll never be happy living someone else's…

Donna - this might be the best review you've ever written. I've enjoyed all of your reviews this season, but this one strikes me as particularly astute and observant. Thank you!

It was quite clear that Chuck never wanted Jimmy working at HHM, from the first moment Jimmy mentioned working there.

And there's been what, like 4 scenes in a diner already? Somebody at least order a fucking bagel!

I think it was a way to protect his ego. By isolating himself from the outside world, he didn't have to face up to the fact that he wasn't so eminently superior to his brother, and that perhaps one didn't have to be a legal savant like Charles McGill to make a respectable go at it.

I hate to break this to you, but in the real world, a law firm like HHM would never, ever hire someone like Jimmy. That rarefied air doesn't just matter to douchebags like Chuck, it matters to the kinds of people that authorize $500/hour lawyer bills. It matters to the kinds of people who shop large contingency…

On that last point, I'm not so sure. To Chuck, Saul Goodman is exactly what Jimmy would do with a law degree. His "illness," his space blanket, are things he needed to isolate himself from the world, from a world where a guy like Jimmy is able to join (and sully) his sacred profession.

Eh, maybe. Maybe not. That's an awfully big conclusion to jump to. He's still a dick to Jimmy even when it isn't called for - like making Jimmy move the Kettleman boxes on his own. Lawyers NEVER do that to one another. I think Howard became horrified once he realized the lengths to which Chuck was making him go…