I just finished catching up on BCS today and I went to look through old discussion threads from the initial release of each episode and was surprised to see something.
It seemed like a lot of people were drawing a parallel between Jimmy and Walt. That they both have the same arc of someone who always wanted to or always had the ability to be, just fully committing to it given a change in circumstance. But there is an important distinction to make, at least I think so.
Walt, through all of BB could stop at any time. There was never anyone pushing him to keep making meth. He had plenty of chances to turn around, and didn't. Plenty of time where his ego got completely in the way of deescalating a situation.
Jimmy has done similar. He is going down a dark path and can stop at any point. The difference being, that he has people in his life who do have a voice in his decisions. Who can choose to push him or pull him back. These people being Kim, and while he was alive, Chuck.
Yet, both of them, despite an exterior of trying to push him to be better, have contributed to his descent.
Lets look at Chuck. At the beginning of BCS it is obvious that Jimmy thinks the world of Chuck. Chuck could tell Jimmy to do just about anything and Jimmy would. He even had the perfect opportunity to put Jimmy in a positive environment that would challenge him by having him be hired by HHM. But he doesn't. Instead he chooses to privately shun Jimmy. At the moment of what should have been triumph, with Jimmy bringing the Sandpiper case to HMM and having proven that he is more then capable as a law abiding lawyer, does Chuck take this as an opportunity to finally accept Jimmy as a good person and lawyer? To finally accept that people, are capable of change with the right push? No. His bitterness prevents him, and not being able to keep it private anymore, he belittles and rejects Jimmy. Jimmy, who has done nothing but look out for his sick brother for years. What has happened in the show post-season 1 was completely avoidable had Chuck not been an ass.
A side-note, this is also an area where Howard failed. He certainly doesn't have as much influence on Jimmy as Kim or Chuck but he could have tried to take a defense of Jimmy. He could have told Chuck that he wasn't going to be the fall guy, or brought a reality check to Chuck. He didn't. He admittedly thought they should hire Jimmy but let Chuck's ego step in the way of helping a friend. Is he a bad person because of this? Obviously not. No doubt he seriously regrets how things went down. But he had a hand in all of this regardless.
Then we get to Kim. Someone who has still somehow managed to maintain a saintly image, at least on this subreddit. I love Kim. I love her character and Rhea Seehorn is one of the best actresses currently working. But she is the least blameless of them all with the exception of Jimmy. And it is perfectly illustrated by the beer bottles on the balcony scene.
In this scene we see Jimmy and Kim having a drink when Jimmy begins dropping his beer bottle before narrowly catching it a second later over the edge of the balcony. You don't have to be a genius to figure out the meaning of this. Jimmy is very good at putting himself in dangerous or poor situations, but never ones he can't handle. Kim though? She sees what Jimmy is doing and decides to just follow through with the destruction that follows and just clean it up afterward. Knowingly creating a mess she has to deal with later. Jimmy then follows suit. Get the picture?
We have numerous occasions where Jimmy has been prepared or even recommended not going through with a scheme and Kim ends up pushing him to do it anyway. She is an enabler of Jimmy's bullshit. She is downright envious of his ability to get away with doing bullshit. She always has been. We are just finally at the point where she is willing to commit to his way of doing things. The only problem is, that she doesn't have years of experience doing so. Jimmy knows his limits and what he can get away with. Kim doesn't. It is going to be her downfall, and despite what people have been saying on here for years, it won't be Jimmy dragging her down. They'll be dragging each other down right to the end.
Does this excuse Jimmy? No. He still holds the majority of the blame for everything that has occurred. But unlike Walt, he has people who have had plenty of chances and opportunities to push him in the right direction and they have chosen not to.
Better Call Saul is an incredible show, and I am sure that there are people who have as valid views of the relationships between these characters that disagrees with my analysis, I'd love to hear them.
Sorry if this is worded poorly, I don't write media analysis often.
Submitted September 24, 2020 at 06:45PM by ArchineerLoc https://ift.tt/2RYg1YA
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