MovieChat Forums > Better Call Saul (2015) Discussion > Is Kim doing the right thing re: the let...

Is Kim doing the right thing re: the letter from Chuck?


I get it, she's trying to protect her man from being hurt even more. Whatever.
But I also recognize that Jimmy has a right to see the contents of that letter, whatever they might be.

So... what should she do? Keep it hidden? Or show it to Jimmy?

Personally, I say give him the letter. It is the last message from his brother. He should decide for himself whether or not he wants to read it. Kim can advise him to burn it if she wants and he is free to take that advice.

And, let's face it... none of us know for sure what Chuck wrote in the letter. Some options:

1. The obvious choice - a final twist of the knife from the grave, as Kim suspects.

2. Chuck finally saying something warm or kind to his brother. What he could never bring himself to say in life.

3. A peace offering - some legal trick Chuck has conceived to get Jimmy back to practicing law.

4. WHAT I THINK MIGHT HAPPEN - the letter will get read toward the end of the season and it is the content of this letter that will be the final driving force in Jimmy becoming Saul. This could potentially be combined with #3 above.

5. Directions to find a secret stash of buried money.

6. A recipe for baked halibut.



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Kim should steam the letter open read it and find out what it says then reseal it and make a decision.

Of course in doing so it may contain Chuck berating Jimmy as Kim suspects. It may also contain that Chuck knew it was because of Jimmy that his malpractice insurance premium was going up and that it was Jimmy's fault he was being pushed out of Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill.

Which is the reason I'd love Kim to steam it open and read it, Kim would likely investigate that claim and find out it is true, which would put Kim and Jimmy at loggerheads. Especially after her tirade against Howard and how when Howard blamed himself for Chuck's "suicide" Jimmy let him sit on it by saying "Well Howard that's your cross to bear."

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Maybe she should pull a Jimmy by unsealing the letter, forging a fake version of it with different text, and resealing the fake letter in the envelope. Then Jimmy can read whatever she thinks is best.
Chuck really should know better than to trust these people with documents of any kind.


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Yes very true and at some point Kim and Jimmy will have to part ways as she was never a part of The Breaking Bad storyline's (nor Nacho or Howard), so that is another means to that end.

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Chuck really should know better than to trust these people with documents of any kind.

LOL too true!

I think she should read it herself...steam it open or whatever and then re-write it if need be. That's what I think I'd do in her position. She's got an opportunity to really help the guy heal here...
Granted, I doubt that's what will happen...your case is the most likely scenario...that its a final F-you and helps turn Jimmy to the dark side.

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Kim is being wise...Jimmy took a major hit to the gut with Chuck's death and does not need another blow right now

That letter could be more ill will and unkind words...Kim would do well to read it and if it is just more painful stuff into the fireplace it goes...
If it has words of love and brotherly kindness then by all means give the letter to Jimmy

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I agree and yet... I don't.
Ultimately, painful or not, it's a letter from his brother. He has a right to read it first. He also has a right to keep it unopened until he feels ready. He also has a right to throw it in the fireplace unopened.
Whatever the case, as painful as reading it might be, I think it should be his decision.


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You are not wrong, in truth you are quite right

But i would chuck that letter in a fire if it could hurt a person i cared about...just my way
Some secrets should remain buried imo

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It's probably just a grocery shopping list (like the ones Chuck gave Jimmy when he was afraid to go outside) and a reminder to "ground himself."


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Lol

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Could very well be

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If it were nice/brotherly stuff i'd pass it on to Jimmy

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There's only one choice and that's #1. Kim knew it was four thousand dollars. Kim knows what's in the letter and that's why she blew up when she saw it. After all this time, we know Chuck. Fuck him in his ass in the grave. He probably put a restraining order on Jimmy not to visit.

ETA: Forgot one important detail. Kim didn't know Jimmy's revenge plan to raise Chuck's liability insurance. That brought Howard into it and why she thinks he's to blame. The letter probably has to do with exposing that.

Finally, this episode has a SHOCKING ending to reflect it's title. It brings us back to BB in a heartbeat like the Salamanca bros coming back at the hospital.

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Not a Chuck fan, I take it?


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With Chuck, you have to ask yourself is he a *good* person which he claims he stands for? If he's more good than bad, then why does he have his mentally ill EHS condition due to personality? He cannot get over that Jimmy can't be a lawyer due to *his* personality. It's some type of personality disorder of his own. Finally, he ends up committing suicide over his failures of not getting Jimmy disbarred, failing to sue HHM for breach of contract, and destroying his friendship with Howard. He killed himself because of his shame.

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I think he killed himself because he had nothing else to live for. He had no purpose. His life's passion - the law - was taken from him. He had no one left to love and no one left to hate.
I am in the minority regarding Chuck in that I take his side over Jimmy's.
To be clear: I do NOT think that Chuck is a particularly warm person or a nice person. Not even sure if he is a good person. He is, I believe, a very ethical person.
Jimmy is beloved and Chuck is not. That is what grates Chuck. He is the brilliant, accomplished straight arrow. But it is his cheating, conning, criminal brother - who always gets himself and others into trouble - who is loved by their mother and other people. Even Chuck's ex-wife was charmed by Jimmy.

And to be sure, Chuck was cowardly in preventing Jimmy from being a lawyer with HHM, while making the latter think it was all Howard's doing. He should have been straight with his brother and told him that he is just not comfortable with him working at the same firm. That they're styles are different (think "classical vs. Jazz" from BB). That he can help guide and advise him in setting up his own practice, maybe even loan him some money to start.


But, at the end of the day, I have to ask myself... who does more good in this world? And I answer... Chuck.
Chuck does not break the law. He doesn't con gullible saps out of their money. He didn't steal from his own father's till at the family store. Jimmy made his choices early on and he opted to be a crook. And we know just how big of a crook he will ultimately become.

It's all well and good to blame Chuck for turning Jimmy into Saul. But Jimmy was corrupt from a young age. And he needs to make his own choices re: morality.

Who would I rather have in my life? The stuffy cold - yet honest and professional - fish that is Chuck? Or the warm, gregarious charmer - yet conman - that is Jimmy. Well the latter would be more fun. And he would help me in a Jam if he li

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...liked me. But he would also steal all my money if he ever saw an angle. So I choose the former. Chuck.

And let's not forget. Chuck - time and again - kept Jimmy out of jail. That should mean a lot. He kept the guy free.

Jimmy had no business stealing Chuck's files and tampering with the documents inside. Anyone - you or I - would never forgive that. Chuck had every business - some would say a duty - to preserve the client for his form. Kim did all the leg work, but she was an employee of HHM. The partners have every right to fight for their clients.

Jimmy broke the law, had Chuck's reputation tainted, humiliated him and GASLIGHTED him. He made a mentally unstable man struggle with reality even further. He did by abusing Chuck's trusting him with access to his home. And why? Cause Jimmy loves Kim.
Romantic... but wrong.

Chuck is a dick. But he's a dick that kept Jimmy out of prison. Jimmy should have remembered that. And he should take responsibility for his own choices in life.
But he won't. We know he won't. Until maybe... sometime during his Cinnabon future, which we have not yet fully seen.

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Okay, I can see your argument for Chuck and you choosing him even though I disagree. We even disagree why he committed suicide. Even with the good qualities of Chuck and his success, he still cannot accept that Jimmy got a law degree and did well with his first client. He can't accept that he has a good side in working and caring for people, and that people, including their parents, like him. He's jealous of that. He's still judging Jimmy's character from being his older brother. That's not his place to judge and interfere with his life to the degree to get him disbarred. That's stepping over the line. He doesn't have to like his brother and what he does, but you live your life and he lives his. So my parents like him over me. That's a bit disheartening, but there isn't anything I can do to change it even if I am successful. That's Chuck's downfall. His hatred of Jimmy's success in becoming a lawyer is personality driven. He hated Jimmy's success with their parents liking him more despite his good grades and accomplishments. This is why I think he got his mental illness. There is no way Jimmy can match Chuck's success. You seem to blame Jimmy, but it's all Chuck's doing. He could be uncomfortable with Jimmy at work, but he can't just get rid of him. You think this is okay. It's one of the reasons why many people turned against Chuck.

As for Jimmy, we know he's going to become Saul, but don't know what ultimately drives him to do that. He's starting to be slippin' Jimmy again. Why is that? Part of it is Chuck's suicide and his relationship with his parents and Chuck. You can think he's bad like Chuck and that' why he did it, but we don't know for sure. We may never know. And unlike you I don't expect him to become Jimmy again after he turns into Saul. He'll be like Heisenberg and he can't just return to be Walter again like Saul can't return to be Jimmy.

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You are ignoring several negative aspects of Chuck and even the part where James was the only one for him during his many years long electric mental insanity. Until Chuck refused to let him be a part of HHM and they had to hire Ernesto...whom Chuck manipulated to trigger a reaction from Jimmy to get him banned from all law work and then firing Ernesto after he had achieved his goal!

What about how he hidded (hode? hide? *not english*) his condition from everybody besides Howard and James, even his own wife which must have lead to many awkward moments which we even got a glimpse of in an intro.

As for the whole case leading to the trial? Come on, we all know the reason Chuck and Howard did that to begin with was to get back at James and Kim.

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The last thing I will ever blame Chuck for - and I DO blame him for things - is recording Jimmy's confession and taking legal action against him.
I genuinely believe that people who think that Chuck should have just gotten over, did not put themselves in his shoes for even a second. I don't think any of us would have let that go. Think about it for a second. You are passed out in your home exhaustion (due to the electric phobia) and you trust your brother to enter the house freely and believe he is there to take care of you. And your brother steals your legal case files, takes them out of the house, doctors them, replaces the doctored files in your house and let's you continue your work. This leads to your public humiliation, a damage to the professional reputation you've spent your life building, the loss of your client and an embarrassment for your firm, your colleagues and partners.
On top of that... you know - you KNOW - that you made zero mistakes. You KNOW that you read the information correctly. You piece everything together and you figure out what happened. And your own brother gaslights you - an already mentally damaged man - into further questioning your own sanity and reality.

This isn't even some sort of private shaming that took place that Chuck could just overlook. This was public, on a large scale, in front of colleagues, in the court system, involving enormous sums of money. The law is Chuck's life - it is literally his whole life - and Jimmy trashed his reputation in that very sphere. And he did by breaking the law(s) in an egregious way.

None of us would let that go. If we could, we would set out to restore our name in as public a fashion as Jimmy damaged it. That Jimmy would expect their "family" to stay intact after this is crazy.

Bottom line: these brothers were not good for one another. They should have resolved long ago to keep their mutual distances. They brought negative energies into each other's lives.

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All I know is secrets never end well. She should give him the letter and then be there for him, come what may. He is going to find it, and he is going to be pissed that she kept it from him, especially if its contents prove to affect some decision he makes before the envelope is opened.

But I really wish it could be the halibut recipe.

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But I really wish it could be the halibut recipe.

Definitely. I'd laugh myself into a seizure.


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Didn’t want to let that line go unnoticed! Good one!

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Of course. The letter is not hers to keep.

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So... I guess it is option 2...?

2. Chuck finally saying something warm or kind to his brother. What he could never bring himself to say in life.


Unless Chuck was speaking in some sort of code and there is more to that letter than meets the eye.


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