Just like Lt Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) broke down Lt Cmdr Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) in the climatic scene from The Caine Mutiny. That scene looked like it was lifted directly from that film.
BTW, I loved how Greenwald tore into Lt Keefer (Fred McMuray) "the real author of the Caine Mutiny" in the subsequent scene.
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Chuck showed his true colors all right
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Yes he did. He also demonstrated that he's a certified wacko!
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Chuck's electricity allergy is a mental illness. That's what Rebecca, Howard, Kim and everyone in the court (except Jimmy) were seeing for the first time. This whole trial is so Chuck can satisfy his mental illness needs and what he wanted the committee to do.ο»Ώ
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I believe you are correct, sir!
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I always love it when a show goes somewhere that you'd never think about, but I'm not sure why he needed to bring Chuck's ex there. I mean, Chuck himself explained that Jimmy brought her there just to rattle him... but the battery seemed like it was pretty effective by itself. It seemed like setting up an ultra elaborate Rube Goldberg like contraption to kill someone, and then just ending up shooting them with a gun in the end.
shareI agree, I didn't really see much impact from the ex being there and not sure if it was necessary. he didn't even get THAT rattled. Maybe she will play more of a pivotal role next week.
shareYeah, he also said that she'd end up hating him after the hearing... but the worst thing he did was bring her out there under false pretenses... what he did at the bar wasn't much more than present the truth about his condition and create doubt in the minds of the panel. I'm not sure what more she can add to the show... I remember vaguely something earlier about a woman liking Jimmy more than Chuck and Chuck getting jealous... was that her? But it didn't look like that played any factor for this episode.
shareI also don't understand the "Bingo!" line last week because there was like, NO cunning plan involving the tape. They just let them play it and everyone heard it and there was no twist or surprise.
Was the "Bingo" just misdirection?
Yes, hopefully someone will come and clear that up... the defense itself was sound and made sense... but some aspects seemed like overkill. Like how Mike needed to shoot the shoe to get drugs to fall on the car... when you could just sprinkle some under the bumper. I get that you'd want to have a pro place the battery... but it seemed like almost anyone could do that and it felt manufactured just so Huell could get a dramatic entrance.
As you said... maybe just misdirection and red herrings
I replied with my take in the thread below:
https://moviechat.org/tt3032476/Better-Call-Saul/59089af5a43d0e0011d74dc7/Chucks-Duplicate-Tape-EP-0304?reply=59119ac3607cd6001160f167
With respect to Mike and the shoe. By that point, he was known to them and they wouldn't have let him just walk up to their drug truck. This way, he plants the evidence without coming within 100 feet of the truck
I don't understand the "bingo" part either. It may be about confirming the tape will be played in the hearing - but I think it has to do with confirming the copy of the tape exists and that the copy was destroyed. Anyhow, the tape wasn't needed for Jimmy to reveal Chuck's lunacy. Something else is at play.
My hope: Kim has maneuvered the HHM legal dream team into some sort of trap that will demonstrate her superior legal skills. Maybe something that leads to Chuck, not Jimmy, getting disbarred. As Chuck said, "the law is too important."
BTW, since the guy planted the battery on Chuck, and he didn't react, does this mean his illness is fake, or psychosomatic?
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Yes it is mental illness not physical. The season 1 doctor figured that out, all Chuck's assistants and caregivers know it, and everyone just keeps enabling him and coddling him.
Even when his ex wife visited, she had her phone on her the whole time and Chuck had no reactions UNTIL it rang and he saw it. He never has reactions until he sees or hears the item, he cannot sense it with his spidey senses at all. he has no spidey sense.
I am not sure why the doctor's testimony would not be relevant, I mean Chuck was in the hospital and they gave Jimmy a guardianship because of Chuck's mental illness. Somehow it was deemed irrelevant, but it's central to the issue, where Jimmy claims he only 'confessed' to make Chuck feel better and to talk him down off the ledge.
I hope that Chuck gets hospitalized involuntarily. I guess when someone is batshit crazy but still a smart devious lawyer with powerful friends, they can manage to make the world cater to them and their insanity and they can keep themself out of the loony bin. The way the whole courtroom had to wrap itself around Chuck's finger made me sick. The way they had the front of the building all cordoned off for his car like he's the fucking president. Oh My God.
Toughen up, buttercup. You aren't the queen of england and you aren't special. You're just a fricken nut case.
Go die alone in some buzzing blinking padded room.
Thanks and amen! Buck up, buttercup.
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One of the things I didn't like nor agree with is Chuck's opening testimony on the law. It's just not for attorneys that the law is important. We have the public, the judge, jury, law enforcement and the justice system who have to uphold the rule. One can't just have the law or it could be someone acts as the judge, jury and executioner. That's what Chuck seems to be implying, that he is a judge for this law. The law is not for one side nor the other, but for both sides. In other words, it could be a double-edged sword even if you win the case and the law favors you. There could be another case where the same law does not favor you. What Chuck is doing is assuming the role of a prosecutor in interpreting the law. Just his testimony alone shows his bias. What he should have said was that he was interested is seeing justice was served, i.e. the commissioners saw that there was the law for attorneys broken in this case and that they should uphold the law and provide justice. Chuck has said his spiel other times during the show and it just goes to demonstrate that he is a sanctimonious prick.
shareThat's interesting you didn't think that. However, Chuck had to take a break after he saw her. The committee was reluctant to give time to the defense, but as soon as Chuck said he needed a break after seeing Rebecca, they give him fifteen. I thought she may have been the one to cause his mental illness, but there is something more. Chuck sees himself as this high achiever and moral knight of the law. However, he has failed and the divorce from Rebecca is one of them so it causes great stress. Chuck knows Jimmy, but Jimmy also knows Chuck.
shareYeah, that's a fair point... but they did a big build up implying Rebecca was going to hate Jimmy after what he did to Chuck but other than bringing her out there under false pretenses, what he did wasn't that bad... all things considered.
However, it's true her presence might have weakened Chuck... allowing the battery ruse to be the proverbial last straw that triggered his meltdown.
I didn't think about how Jimmy brought Rebecca out. Maybe he did feel guilty when she asked him to visit Chuck and help him. Obviously, Jimmy couldn't do this. And Rebecca thinks badly of him when he refuses. I can only guess this is something else to keep an eye on. She has to be a main character moving forward in Jimmy's relationship with Chuck.
shareChuck didn't want Rebecca to think that he was mentally ill, Jimmy knew that after the battery incident that everyone (including Rebecca) would think that he was mentally ill. Jimmy also knew that with Rebecca in the room it would rattle Chuck even further proving Jimmys point that Chuck really did mix up those numbers by himself.
shareAaahhhh, just THE most satisfying scene in this show so far!!
Chuck's mental illness and hatred/envy toward Jimmy displayed for all the people Chuck care about to see, so masterfully lured out of the devious self-righteous control freak by Jimmy and team.
Best thing was that (maybe apart from bringing the ex there) Jimmy actually didn't do any under-belt-moves other than get the real truth out of the crazy ungrateful bastard.
Yes it was. Yes indeed it was. Chuck was exposed for the loony bastard that he is.
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Completely agree, it's incredibly satisfying watching that pompous, self-righteous jerk exposed for what he really is in front of everyone. I hope to see him get his comeuppance now. I'm super eager for the next episode.
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That makes two of us.
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You all seem to be forgetting that Jimmy DID sabotage Chuck and exploited his mental illness for Kim's benefit. Jimmy is OJing his way out of this trial.
shareTrue but Chuck also stole that big client from Kim. he does not have clean hands.
mesa verde was rightly Kim's client, she earned them. Jimmy was just stealing back what Chuck already stole.
I really think Jimmy was out of line to do that to Chuck. But at least now Chuck is seeking out a doctor to help Chuck with his illness. So it looks as if Jimmy abandoning Chuck was a good thing because it was only enabling Chuck's problems and making them worse.
shareChuck really left Jimmy no choice. He's been determined to drive Jimmy out as a lawyer ever since he became one. And here in this hearing he was on the verge of succeeding. Jimmy had to hit back and expose Chuck for what he really is if he was going to have any chance at all of his career surviving Chuck's attacks. Jimmy took care of Chuck for years and all Chuck ever did was screw him and sabotage him. I think Jimmy had every right to hit back. And it's all true anyway.
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I agree kira.
PS Currently storm chasing. Back June 1.
:-)
Nobody forced Jimmy to commit fraud. Nobody forced Jimmy to breakdown Chuck's door and destroy evidence. Chuck isn't the bad guy here. Jimmy is the bad guy breaking bad.
shareNobody forced Chuck to belittle Jimmy.
No one forced Chuck to feel threatened by Jimmy.
No one forced Chuck to tell the board not to hire Jimmy.
No one forced Chuck to go out of his way to steal the Mesa Verde account even though he wasn't even really working at all(or capable according to Chuck).
No one forced Jimmy to take care of Chuck.
No one forced Jimmy to defend Chuck.
No one forced Jimmy to relinquish the temporary insanity order on Chuck.
No one forced Jimmy to confess to Chuck to make him feel better.
I digress for now.
Jimmy had completely turned his life around, it Chuck hadn't tried to sabotage him ever since he started his law career none of this ever would have happened.
shareEven before Jimmy found out Chuck was sabotaging his career, he was doing unscrupulous things.
Just rewatch season one. He tried to fake the accident to get that couple to hire him as a lawyer. He bribed court officials to get cases and faster scheduling for court cases. He even took bribe money.
Even after he found out about Chuckβs action, he had no excuse for causing a mess in the law firm that hired him. Especially with the bonus situation. Your brother hurts you and that is your reason to hurt innocent people? Yeah, that totally makes sense.
Chuck was right about Jimmy since the beginning. He is naturally unscrupulous and would never change. Jimmy hurt a lot of good people. Being a lawyer simply meant that that he had better and more dangerous tools for hurting people.
None of the things you mentioned amount to βhurting peopleβ. Chuck was the one who hurt Kim when he stole the Mesa verde case
shareNot hurting people?
He put the skaterboys in danger and injured. Bribing court officials to get faster hearings hurts other attorneyβs and people who were in line. And of course, the complication for the case that he caused because him taking the money.
He took a bonus he was not entitled to, which hurt the law firm he was working at.
So, yes. All of that was pretty destructive and hurt a lot of people.
Taking Mesa Verde from Kim did not really hurt Kim. Chuck made a good and honest effort to retain the client. It was Kim that was trying to take Mesa Verde away from the firm.
The skateboarders were already running a con, something like that was likely to happen and they willingly took part in it and I believe they were the ones who called Tuco's Grandmother/Scarface's Mother "Biznatch"
Davis and Main gave him the bonus, Cliff flat out said he could fight Jimmy on it but didn't care. According to his contact he was entitled to it.
Kim worked her butt off to get Mesa Verde while Chuck and Howard sat on their fat asses, Mesa Verde wanted Kim but Chuck went and deliberately undermined her. Chuck didn't give two shits about the clients, he just wanted to punish Kim for siding with Jimmy, as he was a very sick and twisted person. Chuck got what he got coming and I so hope he ends up burning in his house and feels every second of it.