This may be a silly question but when Jimmy officially goes Saul Goodman, does he have to re-pass the bar as Saul? I'm very interested to see how the name change works out since he's already known in ABQ as Jimmy.
This may be a silly question but when Jimmy officially goes Saul Goodman, does he have to re-pass the bar as Saul? I'm very interested to see how the name change works out since he's already known in ABQ as Jimmy.
Interesting question!! First instinct is to say no, as it's just a paperwork thing, he still knows what he knows, you know? Lol!! But hmmm... You never know what kind of red tape you have to go through for stuff.
This may be a silly question but when Jimmy officially goes Saul Goodman, does he have to re-pass the bar as Saul? I'm very interested to see how the name change works out since he's already known in ABQ as Jimmy.
Interesting question!! First instinct is to say no, as it's just a paperwork thing, he still knows what he knows, you know? Lol!! But hmmm... You never know what kind of red tape you have to go through for stuff.
I'm going to guess the answer to the question is no. But do we know if Jimmy actually legally changes his name to Saul Goodman or does he just go by Saul Goodman in the professional world? I'm not sure we have the answer to that question. If Jimmy legally changed his name, then I think he's fine and doesn't have to re-take the bar as Saul Goodman. If he's legally just going by Saul Goodman, well, still going to guess that he doesn't have to re-take the bar but would just have to explain if anyone ever questioned his credentials as to why he's going by a different name from his legal name.
I think that Gilligan stated that as a premise near the beginning of season 1 (paraphrasing): What problem does Jimmy McGill have or create for himself that becoming Saul Goodman solves? In the end it can't be a criminal thing or a legal thing, it has to be a personal scandal and/or an agreement he enters into that separates him from any association with the McGill name.
Maybe Kim ends up leaving town. Maybe Chuck is permanently disabled or even dead. There are a lot of people he has worked with in New Mexico over the past 19 episodes who will know who he is whether or not he is practicing under a different name. My guess is that he finds himself trapped between a rock (police?) and a hard place (New Mexico Bar Ass'n?) and at someone's (Hamlin?) mercy.
Chuck finally puts all of his issues behind him and forgives Jimmy (on his deathbed?) and Howard decides that he will not drop the legal hammer on Jimmy, under one condition...
I'm generally pretty good at predictions like this, by the way. Way back in 1989 I knew that "The Simpsons" had a paper-thin premise and would utterly fail by the end of the first season.
I am kind of expecting Jimmy to call 911 because ultimately he loves his brother and doesn't want to see him hurt. And then Chuck uses that 911 call against Jimmy.
I was thinking that while watching, but we know Jimmy isn't going to be disbarred, right? So nothing legally can come of it, can it?
Yeah, true. Proof of Jimmy's doctoring the legal documents clearly doesn't get him disbarred. But maybe it gets HHM the client Mesa Verde back or maybe it has a significant impact on the destruction of Jimmy's relationship with Kim or with his brother...since those relationships don't appear to be going strong during the Breaking Bad years.
I kind of feel like Chuck is getting to much shit this season. From the asking Kim for coffee and the comments that he was being demeaning, to him saying he was being scummy with how he got Mese Verde to stay with HHM, to this weeks comments that the fact that him worrying about Jimmy damaging his name and reputation over the damage that did to the bank.
Why shouldn't he be the most upset that Jimmy damaged his name and reputation? We've been lead to believe since the begining of the series that he's the Michael Jordan of ABQ lawyers, people use HHM because of that McGill name and the quality that it insures. Damaging his name and reputation could have huge implications for HHM, the fact that they fucked up these files and that Chuck basically came out of retirement for this client and flubbed can and probably will cause major problems for HHM and the type of clients that will want to work with or trust them.
The issue is that it only became a matter of his name and reputation because of his own pride. First for deciding to personally get involved in the matter (Chuck clearly had no interest in getting involved in the parts of the day to day operation of HHM that did not concern Jimmy). Second, his pride made him both overpromise to Mesa Verde (like saying they have people double checking everything and that they had the connections to get any mistakes taken care of) and get too involved in the matter (he certainly isn't typing forms for other cases). And third, a small clerical mistake only became a big deal for his reputation because he decided to make it a hill to die on in front of the client.
That is, even if Jimmy bears ultimate responsibility for the fraud, Chuck got Mesa Verde involved in his own petty squabble with his brother (he could have easily just stepped aside after getting them to stay on, but he clearly wanted his "victory lap"). So the real victim here is Mesa Verde, but Chuck cares more about his pride (even before Jimmy's fraud) than the interests of the client.
I'm sure no one in the history of the human race has ever over promised to someone in order to get their business. And why does him being prideful make him a bad guy? Should he not be proud of the company he built? Should he not fight tooth and nail for his business? So he should just lay down and let Jimmy railroad the years of hard work it took to make HHM into the premiere law firm in ABQ?
We can sit here and argue semantics but fact of the matter is Jimmy is a scumbag, what he did was extremely unethical and for what? Jimmy wasn't acting out of pride? Jimmy wasn't throwing it back at Chuck? I guess Chuck was just trying to bury Jimmy with no sort of reason other than he doesn't like to be shown up by his brother. I'm not trying to say that Chuck is the paragon of virtue but I do feel he has been overly vilified just because he isn't Jimmy.
I do kind of agree with you, @Drew. Chuck hasn't really done anything wrong and Jimmy certainly has; it's just that we've been conditioned to think of him as "the bad guy". Logically I can see Jimmy is a menace, but he's so likeable I want him to succeed and Chuck to lose.
Has anyone ever denied Jimmy is a scumbag? I mean, that is the point of the entire show. You seem to be under the mistaken idea that anyone is defending Jimmy's actions as righteous. What people have pointed out is that Chuck is an asshole too. With the added aggravation of claiming and pretending to be righteous and moral while stabbing his brother in the back (who, for all his faults, was the only one actually taking care of Chuck).
You seem to be under the mistaken idea that I'm saying Chuck is righteous. I'm saying he's a fucking prick but he's being overly villified just because he's the antagonist. I like Jimmy don't get me wrong but that doesn't mean that everyone that's opposed to him is a villain. I mean can you honestly tell me some of the things people have villified Chuck for aren't just nit picking.
We need an osteopathic mesothelioma specialist for ARon to mull over.
Being that there was a parallel of sorts between Breaking Bad 212 and Better Call Saul 209, what if there is a plane crash/fishnado in BCS' following finalé episode? Have the creators learned their lesson about acts of god? Do they secretly delight in driving critics and podcasters crazy?
Also, I cannot remember if we have gotten an f-bomb this season...If not, this finale could be more action-packed than we expect. I would shit my pants if the last word ever spoken by Hector was "FUCK!", pun intended.
IMO Chuck for sure over sold himself to Mesa Verde. I mean the guy is still so allergic to electricity that he could barely focus in a hearing in court. What if he had to represent them in an extended case where he was in court everyday? Do we really think he could do that at this point? I think it was clear he took them away from Kim to just get to Jimmy, so he was the one that fired the first shot.
To me that is the entire point of Kim's argument. Jimmy keeps trying to do things the legit way, and Chuck keeps getting in his way which forces Jimmy to cut corners. Hell Jimmy might just be a regular lawyer at this point had Chuck just let him move up the ranks like Kim did.
Also one big missing piece to this brothers battle is what happened to Chucks wife. I have a feeling whatever it was Chuck blames Jimmy.
Arguing the ethics of Chuck vs. Jimmy is really interesting to me. To narrow the focus, compare Chuck's decision to go into the office to get th client back from Kim for HHM with Jimmy's decision to alter the Mesa Verde legal files. What Jimmy did was illegal. What Chuck did was not only perfectly legal, but it is part of his job and considered praiseworthy in his profession. Yet the show still manages to get us to sympathize with Jimmy and not with Chuck, at least to some extent. On the one hand, we know that Chuck wasn't really just doing his job. He only seems to be able to summon the will to get past his "disease" and go into th office if there is an opportunity to hurt Jimmy. On the other hand, since Jimmy is the protagonist and we get to see the good side of him, we are somewhat willing to overlook some of his faults. To some extent, the same thing was going on with Walter White in Breaking Bad. Many watchers were able to keep rooting for Walt up to a certain point in spite of his increasingly dark turns.
Jimmy can't call 911, so he's going to call Mike, right?
@James C., unless this is a sarcastic statement, what does Jimmy calling Mike do in this situation? You help call Mike to clean up a situation, not when you need immediate medical attention. If anything, Jimmy could have called Mike to go take care of the copy store clerk or the copy store records and that's where Mike could be useful.
@ryanfoster I would go so far as to say that is the central theme of the show. Hell Mike even spelled it out when talking to baseball card guy in Season 1. You can be good or evil on either side of the law, and it's up to you to decide who you are going to be. There can be richeous crooks and legal tyrants. Hell one could argue that the legal system has always been about subjugation of the masses and never really about morality.
Also, after listening to the cast, this commercial has to be a saul commercial right? I mean in Uno last season we see future Saul put in an advertising tape and you hear a bunch of patriotic music and him talking about fighting the good fight for you. I wouldn't be suprised if that tape wasn't the footage that was just shot in the last few episodes.
Arguing the ethics of Chuck vs. Jimmy is really interesting to me. To narrow the focus, compare Chuck's decision to go into the office to get th client back from Kim for HHM with Jimmy's decision to alter the Mesa Verde legal files. What Jimmy did was illegal. What Chuck did was not only perfectly legal, but it is part of his job and considered praiseworthy in his profession. Yet the show still manages to get us to sympathize with Jimmy and not with Chuck, at least to some extent. On the one hand, we know that Chuck wasn't really just doing his job. He only seems to be able to summon the will to get past his "disease" and go into th office if there is an opportunity to hurt Jimmy. On the other hand, since Jimmy is the protagonist and we get to see the good side of him, we are somewhat willing to overlook some of his faults. To some extent, the same thing was going on with Walter White in Breaking Bad. Many watchers were able to keep rooting for Walt up to a certain point in spite of his increasingly dark turns.
What Chuck did was certainly not ethical, and possibly illegal:
"a lawyer shall not represent a client or, where representation has commenced, shall withdraw from the representation of a client if: (2) the lawyer's physical or mental condition materially impairs the lawyer's ability to represent the client"
HHM could represent Mesa Verde. Chuck insisting that he personally fill out the application, argue it in front of the board, etc. when he can't even withstand a few minutes around a photocopier, however, violates the above. Chuck's presentation to Mesa Verde and subsequent representation were set up precisely to hide his mental condition.
@joepinetree which I think lends credence to the theory that was read in the podcast. I have a feeling if Chuck survives his fall, Howard Hamlin is going to try to squeeze him out. At this point he is a liability to the firm.
Really, the only thing Chuck is guilty of is not telling Jimmy to his face he's never working for HHM. There's no reason for Jimmy to be rewarded without serious reform on his part, first.
I know they raised the commitment issue last season with Chuck and I get it's a TV show but in real life there's no way you could commit someone like Chuck against his will. He has poor insight into his condition, but he's not a danger to himself or others and he's actually organized and fully functional when he wants to be.
@Doctor_Nick but couldn't they argue he is no longer mentally able to make his own decisions and appoint a power of attorney. I would also assume that most partner agreements like HHM would have some sort of clause that if a partner ever goes off the deep end, the remaining partners have some sort of recourse. I could be wrong, and maybe they would have to liquidate the firm to get Chuck out. But after Hamlin's speech to Kim it might be possible Hamlin would like a chance to go on his own.
@Luke The way Chuck goes over the details of his shopping list with Ernesto alone shows he can make his own decisions. There are lots of functional people with delusional beliefs, that's not the criteria for lack of capacity.
Other than being an Amish shut in, his fixed delusion doesn't really prevent him from living his life and he's not in danger. He's too functional at this point to seriously argue about not being able to make his own decisions.
That knock on the head is going to turn Chuck into a vegetable or kill him... He won't be a problem for Jimmy or Kim much longer. I really hate Chuck. Almost as much as I hated Skylar White. I really, really hope he's dead.
When Chuck stole Mesa Verde away from Kim, one of the points he used was, the contacts that his firm had, and like the guys said on the podcast, their supposedly great contacts, could not even help with a transposed #.
It was interesting watching Kim, wait patently for Chuck to go through his case of why Kim should "give back" Mesa Verde, she waited and then dropped the question, where is your evidence? Then she proceeded to shame him by pointing out his arrogance and lack of respect and love for his brother. Then Chuck showed she was right in her assessment by sending Gus's nephew out to find evidence.
Comments
I'm going to guess the answer to the question is no. But do we know if Jimmy actually legally changes his name to Saul Goodman or does he just go by Saul Goodman in the professional world? I'm not sure we have the answer to that question. If Jimmy legally changed his name, then I think he's fine and doesn't have to re-take the bar as Saul Goodman. If he's legally just going by Saul Goodman, well, still going to guess that he doesn't have to re-take the bar but would just have to explain if anyone ever questioned his credentials as to why he's going by a different name from his legal name.
Why shouldn't he be the most upset that Jimmy damaged his name and reputation? We've been lead to believe since the begining of the series that he's the Michael Jordan of ABQ lawyers, people use HHM because of that McGill name and the quality that it insures. Damaging his name and reputation could have huge implications for HHM, the fact that they fucked up these files and that Chuck basically came out of retirement for this client and flubbed can and probably will cause major problems for HHM and the type of clients that will want to work with or trust them.
That is, even if Jimmy bears ultimate responsibility for the fraud, Chuck got Mesa Verde involved in his own petty squabble with his brother (he could have easily just stepped aside after getting them to stay on, but he clearly wanted his "victory lap"). So the real victim here is Mesa Verde, but Chuck cares more about his pride (even before Jimmy's fraud) than the interests of the client.
We can sit here and argue semantics but fact of the matter is Jimmy is a scumbag, what he did was extremely unethical and for what? Jimmy wasn't acting out of pride? Jimmy wasn't throwing it back at Chuck? I guess Chuck was just trying to bury Jimmy with no sort of reason other than he doesn't like to be shown up by his brother. I'm not trying to say that Chuck is the paragon of virtue but I do feel he has been overly vilified just because he isn't Jimmy.
Also, I cannot remember if we have gotten an f-bomb this season...If not, this finale could be more action-packed than we expect. I would shit my pants if the last word ever spoken by Hector was "FUCK!", pun intended.
To me that is the entire point of Kim's argument. Jimmy keeps trying to do things the legit way, and Chuck keeps getting in his way which forces Jimmy to cut corners. Hell Jimmy might just be a regular lawyer at this point had Chuck just let him move up the ranks like Kim did.
Also one big missing piece to this brothers battle is what happened to Chucks wife. I have a feeling whatever it was Chuck blames Jimmy.
To narrow the focus, compare Chuck's decision to go into the office to get th client back from Kim for HHM with Jimmy's decision to alter the Mesa Verde legal files. What Jimmy did was illegal. What Chuck did was not only perfectly legal, but it is part of his job and considered praiseworthy in his profession. Yet the show still manages to get us to sympathize with Jimmy and not with Chuck, at least to some extent. On the one hand, we know that Chuck wasn't really just doing his job. He only seems to be able to summon the will to get past his "disease" and go into th office if there is an opportunity to hurt Jimmy. On the other hand, since Jimmy is the protagonist and we get to see the good side of him, we are somewhat willing to overlook some of his faults.
To some extent, the same thing was going on with Walter White in Breaking Bad. Many watchers were able to keep rooting for Walt up to a certain point in spite of his increasingly dark turns.
@James C., unless this is a sarcastic statement, what does Jimmy calling Mike do in this situation? You help call Mike to clean up a situation, not when you need immediate medical attention. If anything, Jimmy could have called Mike to go take care of the copy store clerk or the copy store records and that's where Mike could be useful.
Also, after listening to the cast, this commercial has to be a saul commercial right? I mean in Uno last season we see future Saul put in an advertising tape and you hear a bunch of patriotic music and him talking about fighting the good fight for you. I wouldn't be suprised if that tape wasn't the footage that was just shot in the last few episodes.
New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/nm/code/NM_CODE.htm
"a lawyer shall
not represent a client or, where representation has commenced, shall withdraw
from the representation of a client if:
(2) the lawyer's physical or
mental condition materially impairs the lawyer's ability to represent the
client"
HHM could represent Mesa Verde. Chuck insisting that he personally fill out the application, argue it in front of the board, etc. when he can't even withstand a few minutes around a photocopier, however, violates the above. Chuck's presentation to Mesa Verde and subsequent representation were set up precisely to hide his mental condition.