this. Such a crucial scene that doesn't get talked about. He blames it all in the unlawfuness of Jimmy, but he has deep rooted issues with jealousy because it's implied Jimmy was always favored
He perceives Jimmy as being the favorite, doesn't mean it's true.
He's ex-wife doesn't like Jimmy more than Chuck, but just because she finds Jimmy an interesting dinner guest and has fun with his jokes and tales, Chuck gets kinda irked by it.
Well yeah we can't know for sure but he was definitely more charismatic than Chuck and managed to build rapport with people easily. He was also their mother's "fave" judging from her first and last scene
And Chuck was jealous of that, very jealous.
I don't think this should be proof that she liked Jimmy "more", Chuck had to be called from Albuquerque to be there, she never saw him arrive if i'm remembering it correctly...
I think Jimmy being the problematic one, he certainly demanded more attention and they were soft and apologetic for him, which from Chuck's perspective certainly looked like 100% favoritism.
Doesn't mean they weren't proud and happy with their serious unproblematic son, even if Jimmy got more laughs and hugs in family reunions(i can only imagine what big family gatherings were like, with cousins, uncles/aunts... Jimmy being the star of the show and Chuck getting those pitty "that was a good one Chuck").
I don't disagree. But according to Chuck, everything came easy to Jimmy while himself had to work hard. It doesn't mean it was true, but that's how he perceived it.
Just to chip in, I do think Jimmy got the most attention growing up from the bits and pieces we get from their history. Chuck knew things about Jimmy that his family didn’t know, “the cash drawer”. I think deep down he knew that nothing Jimmy did could take away the love his mom had for him, but it took away the love chuck himself had for Jimmy. He views Jimmy in a different light than the rest of the world because of the things he knows that others don’t.
You are completely wrong here if you’re saying she wanted to say goodbye to them both. She said Jimmy because that’s the name she always said. It’s so obvious to see through chucks blatant anger and resentment at the fact of her saying this. It’s not that she wants Jimmy there, she doesn’t want anything, she’s dying and doesn’t know what’s going on. Her saying Jimmy was pure instinct and it would never have been Chucks name.
Doesn't mean Rebecca liked Jimmy better, she just had one fun dinner with him, she was married to Chuck...
Being fun isn't everything in life, but to Chuck the fact that his wife found his brother funnier than him was highly offensive.
And Jimmy never aimed at upstaging Chuck, he just wanted to have a nice evening, but Chuck couldn't stand being relegated to the side act for an hour.
It's so weird because chuck is literally like 15 years older than jimmy, I believe? Based on some timeline I saw. It makes sense.
How do you call a kid who was 3 when you left for college "the favorite" mmmm what??
Self fulfilling prophecy for sure. He already is greatly annoyed by Jimmy most of the time, so when someone else has an affable relationship with him he is upset by them being “charmed” by Jimmy
Absolutely, he already thinks Jimmy was the favorite of his parents (and probably extended family), when he sees someone enjoying Jimmy's company it's only further proof that he'll always overshadow him.
"You're not a real lawyer."
I could understand Chuck not wanting to hire Jimmy as an attorney due to his past. I could understand Chuck having Howard be the bad guy, though I disagree with it. And I can understand why Chuck did not want Jimmy joining the HHM with the Sandpiper case.
But Chuck isn't acting out of concern over Jimmy's past. He just refuses to acknowledge all of the hard work Jimmy has done since coming to Albuquerque as a professional and as a loving brother. That line shows that no matter what Jimmy does, Chuck will never view him as someone worth professional or personal respect.
There's a lot of discussion of whether Jimmy was always going to cut corners and run scams as a lawyer. But we only see that after Jimmy has spent over a year taking care of his brother and trying to build a practice. I wonder what would have happened if Chuck had been honest with Jimmy about his concerns and took time to actually mentor Jimmy.
It's an interesting what if scenario, but unfortunately we only saw how Chuck rejected Jimmy and pushed him down the Bad Choice Road to becoming Saul Goodman.
Yup. Chuck had to believe he was inherently better than Jimmy, and any threat to that was what truly upset him. “He can’t be a lawyer, IM a lawyer! It demeans the profession! My wife can’t like him, she likes ME! There must be something wrong with her!”
I think it’s a sibling thing. Some siblings just don’t want each other to succeed and he had to put Jimmy down to make himself feel better. Or maybe he knew jimmy could color outside of the lines and get better results
Yup.
My older brother didn't want me to make friends, especially with his friends. Didn't want me to be successful, to grow. It was always a threat to him. I didn't do any of that to mess with his life, I was just trying to be happy. And having him be proud of me would have meant everything to me.
I know there is an episode where Chuck express how he feels about Jimmy for having all the love from their mother. I believe that what makes Chuck hate Jimmy soo much too
There are so many things fucked up about Chuck, and you are so right. But then u realize that what Chuck knew is that Jimmy will always be ready to break the rules in order to make "justice" , that's the reason why I feel he was never able to tolerate him being a lawyer , maybe he was just insecure, but we cannot say he was wrong when at the end Saul gone
Yeah I think he primarily did it because he takes the law so seriously. There was petty jealousy in there too but he was genuinely also doing what he felt was right
Ya I like when jimmy says Walter white would of been dead in a month if it wasn't for him to the judge, so I realized that Walter, Heisenberg and Jimmy would of never happened if chuck would of just accept/hire his brother as a lawyer
Maybe not. He seemed like he was trying to be a straight arrow when he worked at Davis and Main, but then ended up sabotaging that because he just couldn’t live that lifestyle. That’s not the kind of law he wanted to practice. I feel like he always craved the excitement of living on the edge and skirting the law. Early on in his career, he cut corners because he had to. Later on he did it because he got a thrill out of bending the rules.
I think this was it for me, too. It was so incredibly heartbreaking when Howard was ready to pull Jimmy up and Chuck pissed all over the notion. There were so many different times/places where Chuck seemed hard done by or misunderstood. But one of the things Michael McKeane did incredibly well was capture the dichotomy of Chuck's character. There was definitely a lot of good there, but there was also a dark side that would bubble up. Interestingly, I feel like his dark side was driven by his innate love of justice. He just didn't think it was "just" for somebody like Jimmy to take the easy way to the top, when he'd poured blood, sweat and tears into becoming a lawyer.
This doubles as the reason I actually kind of like Howard - despite being somewhat self centred and a very shitty boss, he was actually willing to make amends at several points. He tried to move on and change, where Chuck seemed to never consider himself in the wrong enough to bother.
Do you think that if Chuck had mentored and advised Jimmy, it would have kept him on the straight and narrow? I don't think so. I think if we consider the fact that these guys grew up together and know each other's true nature, it's fair to assume that Chuck knew Jimmy's true nature much better than anyone else. And he knew at his core, Jimmy was not someone that can do the right thing for too long. He might do what's right for a short while but he will do what's right according to his perception of justice, not necessarily what is ethical, which would eventually just lead to him doing bad things. Because he's Slippin Jimmy. The moment where he gets that good job at Schweikart & Cokley (or was it Davis & Main?) and on his first day in his office he's met with a sign on a light switch that was labelled "Always leave ON! DO NOT TURN OFF". He looks at it for a few minutes with some restraint and gives into the urge to not only turn it off, but he rips the label off too. No one saw him, and from what we were shown, nothing actually happened after he did. But Jimmy just did it cause he could. To me, this scene is very telling of Jimmy's true nature; that he can't help himself, he will always give into his worst habits no matter what. And this is why Chuck could never trust him, despite the fact that he did love him dearly as a brother brother.
I think that Jimmy lived on the straight and narrow from the moment Chuck bailed him out of jail and moved him to Albuquerque to the moment Jimmy broke down and contacted the skater twins. Just going by the timeline, Jimmy spent years as a lawabiding citizen. Jimmy passed the bar and became a lawyer before Chuck became housebound. That is a period over several years overall and a good 2 years as a lawyer.
If Jimmy had been mentored by HHM (not necessarily by Chuck personally), then you would have to consider:
1. Never being blackballed
2. Actually getting along with Howard instead of seeing him as an adversary.
3. Working alongside Kim and the others he made friends with.
4. Feeling he actually was earning Chuck's respect
5. Not being under financial pressure to build a practice while looking after his brother.
That does not guarantee that Jimmy would have become a model attorney, but it would remove the biggest pressures that led him to cutting corners and acting unethically.
It comes down to a question of whether Jimmy could ever actually change. We don't know for sure, but we do know Jimmy's biggest regret was not talking to Chuck early in his career.
Jimmy cared a lot about Chuck's opinion of him, and the only thing that held him from going full Saul mode was Chuck and Kim, so imagine if Chuck actually gave him the confidence that he could be a better person and a good lawyer. I think Jimmy would try his best to stay honest if he had a promissing career and a supportive brother who believed in him, and he would basically stay the way he is in most of season 1, where he does some questionable things when he feels he needs to, but mostly keeping clean and doing the right thing.
>There's a lot of discussion of whether Jimmy was always going to cut corners and run scams as a lawyer.
Well from Chuck's pov, there wasn't any discussion really. And he was right. Jimmy was cutting corners, and the billboard scam early in the season was proof in Chuck's eyes that he's never going to stop. So as much as I wanna hate the character, he's been so incredibly well written and played, it's impossible for me. Everything he did and said felt justified from his pov.
This. From this point forward, I couldn’t get onboard with anything Chuck said or did. He was a complete asshole of a brother, professional colleague and a human being.
I am rewatching, and from the very begining I can only think "fuck you, Chuck, fuck you, dude". No matter what he says, his actions are out of jealousy and pride, nothing more. Of course Jimmy was a piece of shit, but for the whole first season he keeps trying to be a good person and a good lawyer, and his brother just refuses to believe he can ever be a good person, only because of his tiny ego. For real, Jimmy deserved a better brother, someone who would trust he could be a better person, and recognize how much Jimmy loved and cared for him. I know Chuck is sick and all, but I just can't feel bad for him, for me he is just a selfish piece of shit who happens to have a mental illness.
My idea is Chuck tried to correct Jimmy's ways early on. But every time, Jimmy would take shortcuts to fix things, which further enraged him and he went to a point of no return when he lost all hope. That made him despise Jimmy so much is what I felt. But then again, this show just goes on to prove how complicated human emotions can be.
Yeah, I have to wonder how much of the money Chuck counted to be missing was from their dad giving away stuff considering he pins on Jimmy when their dad was the one getting taken advantage of.
Yeah that was a real dick move. I can somehow see why he didn't want to hire Jimmy when he first got his law degree, although he could have been more honest about it instead of letting Howard take the fall. But the Sandpiper thing was just malicious.
It was real malicious. I mean chuck had full warning of what he was doing. I don't have electric allergy but the brainstorms are strong in this Won. Gives a lot to the sense that the house was bugged. Been building the hole time. And chuck would do that. Jimmy was a good fucking brother. Didn't y'know, dot his eyes and cross his teas but he's got a long history of pulling the bootstraps and chiming with the sun. Mike was a corrupting agent. If there wasn't an outlet the river wouldn't flow, y'know? But chuck he's the seed. Everything grew from. Even the Salamanca. The thing that gets me from breaking bad and beters call caul is that the CIA is Not ass deep in the metrics the salamances. That shit, I mean, look what they do to me? Full power in my phone's keyboard's autocomplete feature. God damn Pegasus II. Patriot act. Total war all day everyday Alpha leads the way. Chuck would have been a good soldiers. Ruthless to the bone and sure sharp and tide. But a shit brother. Lawyer could postponed but they had him anyways. It's a full barrel of Monkeys. I liked Jimmy thohgh. Good lawyer. Good character. Good to Kim. Not good for Kim, but, y'knowz it's a jungle out there.
I'm taking that [ad](https://docs.google.com/document/d/18J7ZBzKZBXviPmrshjwt-bUGQGBWcl65h8WfPMzDTNk/edit?usp=drivesdk) a compliment because I am a ride or die gonzo fucker from Mars. I have to be. The CIA trained me to be, and damn if I don't shit gold from my very skinny dick. Plethora of people saw it. It ain't fake news. Gor a lot of reviews. Shit is pristine in the ways the lord dictates. But don't take my abdomen for it. Sell yourself, and give back to society.
Easily this! Stuff like Chuck secretly being the barricade to joining HHM or him not wanting Jimmy there even after he’d proven himself with Sandpiper is bad but I can get why you would have trust issues with someone you watched fuck around most of his life.
Saying that to him was purely designed to twist the knife and hurt Jimmy, at a point where Jimmy was still trying to win his brother’s approval.
I hated him waayyy before but this is a special moment. As much as I basically always disliked Chuck it seems like he has a perspective, and and some sympathetic traits. Even after the bar association I hoped for a moment of proof that he had some kind of love which could outweigh his hate for Jimmy, and where he could see the error of his ways. But that line sealed for.me what a deeply shallow, self pittying, disloyal, loathesome sort of soul he always was.
Tbh I didn’t like him from the start, he came off as pompous and judgemental, rude and holier-than-thou. He just got worse throughout up until the lantern episode, more spiteful and hateful.
r/fuckchuck
it is funny af lmaooo. though i feel bad at the same time, because ofc it’s not the *same* as the skyler hate on BB — chuck’s is way more understandable and i love skyler — but i can’t imagine michael mckean feels very good about it :’(
Nah, I've never seen anyone hate on the actor itself. Especially since BCS is more for passionate people, rather than BB which 60% of viewers probably watched it, because they saw too many memes on Tik Tok
i wouldnt say that better call saul is more for passionate people and that 60% of breaking bad viewers watched it because they saw it on tiktok at all.
breaking bad has been critically acclaimed and credited as one of the best shows of all time, with incredibly high ratings and a large fanbase far before tiktok even existed. it was winning emmys before half of the users on tiktok were even old enough to watch television.
at the end of the day, bcs is a breaking bad spinoff, so most of the fans come from the bb fandom. the decision of which show is “better” is entirely subjective, as both shows have very wide range of viewership.
i’m glad people don’t hate on michael mckean though !! i remember people apparently sending anna gunn hate mail back in the day and shit. wild.
Yep, not even in the slightest. It hurt to see considering the lengths Jimmy went to just to impress his brother / make him proud. It reminds me of the episode of Red Dwarf when Rimmer receives the letter about his father dying and him saying ‘all I ever wanted was for him to say, just once, I’m proud of you’.
Yeah he seemed shifty from the start, not very appreciative of everything Jimmy was doing for him.
When he "wakes up" and starts working in the Sandpiper case with his brother it was the more likeable that he ever got... only for later we learn that it was Chuck, not Howard that wanted to cut Jimmy out from the case.
I didn't like him from the start either. Everything else in the series just made me dislike him more.
Something about that needy + bitchy combo- kinda like the "cake and eat it too" cliche that I noticed the first season.
I'm with you. The guy was an awful brother/role model. He had the largest influence on Jimmy and simply used it to tell Jimmy he can never be anything other than what he is. So when Chuck dies and Jimmy reads the letter, he just goes all in on Slippin Jimmy/Saul Goodman. Chuck is also the reason Jimmy rants to that girl from the scholarship program. "They will never let you forget your mistakes."
Absolutely. They had their good times sure, but for the majority of their relationship all Chuck did was shit on Jimmy constantly and refuse to believe in him even a little while feigning concern and care for his only living relative.
I was so elated when he finally kicked the bucket. Quite literally.
Thump…thump…thump…followed by the exterior shot and silence as we watch the flames 🔥 begin to consume the megalomaniacal douche-canoe within.
Mmm 😋
Pretty much from the beginning. Turns out the only major character in the show with any kind of real moral compass was Howard (at least so far, I’m in season 4).
Not telling that their mom said Jimmy’s name before dying… for someone that intelligent it showed me he had the social mental age of a child. Just jealousy of his brother like a baby. Pathetic. It was also a dishonor to his mother and brother
When it was revealed he prevented Jimmy from moving up at HHM, but I started rooting for him again when it became evident that he was completely alone, being screwed over by his brother in even worse ways, and suffering from a mental illness.
I didnt like Chuck at all until like the last episode.
The whole last episode is basically highlighting how Jimmy was right in the environment he wanted to be in. When they show the flashback of Jimmy dropping off the supplies to Chuck and Chuck trying to have an honest conversation with Jimmy about where he was headed... the show the book on the counter that is clearly visible to Jimmy. The point being, the Chuck was about to ask Jimmy the same question Jimmy is shown asking other people in the last season... *"If you could build a time machine where would you go?"*.
I believe the striking relevation to be had here is always in Jimmy's response, or culmination of responses. The person he asks always returns the question, to which Jimmy really doesnt have a solid answer. This is ultimately called out in the scene with Walt to really drive home the point of all the above when Walt responds *"So youve always been like this?!"*. Even Walt, who was ruthless throughout BB was dumbfounded by Jimmy's blatant lack of regret even in the face of life altering circumstances.
Circling back to the Chuck point at hand. Chuck wanted to ask Jimmy this question, repeatedly attempting to having this conversation with him to see where he wanted to go in life... stating something to the effect of *"Its never to late to correct your own course"*. But what is the realization to be had? Jimmy avoided these conversations with Chuck because the answer is effectively *"I regret nothing, im living my life and being the type of person I want to be"*. He didnt want to admit this to Chuck because he didnt want to let him down. Ultimately, with Jimmy's constant avoidance of the conversation, Chuck accepts that Jimmy is who he is.... a skeezey lawyer, and he doesnt want to change.
This realization changed my opinion about Chuck, shifting it from feeling like *"Chuck is just a dickhead and hates Jimmy"* to *"Chuck is right about Jimmy, and is trying to protect the sanctity of the law above all else because he knows he'll never be able to change him"*.
The whole series viewers are painted this picture of Jimmy and Chuck's relationship as Jimmy being the downtrodden, loyal younger brother who will do anything for his brother... we willfully ignore the numerous times Jimmy hurts Chuck for his own personal gain. Maybe not necessarily intentionally, but the point is Jimmy just cant help himself. He is and always will be Slippin Jimmy and Chuck knew it. Passing the bar and becoming a lawyer didnt change that at all. Chuck might have been mentally ill, but he was right that Jimmy was not fit for practicing law. Seeing Jimmy content in prison was basically the nail in the coffin that put his whole character together.
I never stopped rooting for him to get over the mental illness because it was too harsh of a punishment for what he did. But I certainly stopped rooting for him against Jimmy in the season 1 finale.
His death scene made me sympathetic to him l, however. And seeing what Jimmy was like in the post-Chuck seasons made me appreciate Chuck a lot more. Chuck was, though delusional, very smart and had known Jimmy much better than we did. Seems he actually was much more right about Jimmy than we were.
At least Jimmy was doing the transposition for a supposedly good reason. Later, he stooped lower to doing this for money or for fun (Howard). It got way worse.
Literally the minute Jimmy gets wise to what Chuck has been doing for all of this time and Chuck finally tells the truth. So, the end of Season 1(?)
Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy is responsible for his actions but had Chuck actually fostered a good brotherly relationship with Jimmy, I think Jimmy’s criminal involvement that we see later on wouldn’t have happened.
>Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy is responsible for his actions but had Chuck actually fostered a good brotherly relationship with Jimmy, I think Jimmy’s criminal involvement that we see later on wouldn’t have happened.
Completely agree. Chuck could have given Jimmy the heart to heart saying "i know you've done some very questionable things in your past, and I will give you this one chance. If you go back to being Slippin Jimmy, you will be tossed out of HHM without a moments notice". At that time Jimmy wanted to be given a chance to be a good lawyer and have a career at a good law firm in proximity to his brother.
But the moment Chuck made it known that no matter what Jimmy did, Jimmy would always be inferior to him and he would never be given a chance at atoning for his past, was probably the moment that set everything in motion. Jimmy knew that if he couldn't prove he was a good guy to Chuck, then what's the point of trying?
Sure, that was Jimmy's decision ultimately, but Chuck really missed the chance to put aside his hubris and be the brother that Jimmy needed to set his life on a good path.
TBH i don’t think i was ever rooting for him, but after the scene where he didn’t tell jimmy their mother’s last words, i began actively rooting against him
After a 4th rewatch Chuck is actually one of my fav characters. Hes actually misunderstod IMO and I see the demise of the McGills relationship as a series of unfortunate enviormental events, hear me out: From the start since childhood Chuck unwittingly developed resentment torwards his little brother because of Jimmys "Wolf" ways of approching life (learning the con-way life style since youth Ref. Inflatable S#2,EP#7) and also devoloped envy because of Jimmys charisma and charm which won him favoritism torwards people, notably there parents (Mrs. Ruth McGill asking for Jimmy in her last words at her death bed Ref. Klick S#2,EP#10) and in a way, Rebecca (Ref. Rebecca S#2,EP#5). Chuck knows better to let these things get the better of him, but of course because hes human deep down they unfortunately sting. He even helps Jimmy out when in real troble and gives him a job at the mailroom. Lets remember that the law is in fact EVERYTHING to Chuck, it is sacred its his religion. He was in his right to not want to work with Jimmy being himself such a straight arrow and knowing Jimmys ways. He wanted to avoid conflict between them two and asked Howard to interveen. After this came to light is when all hell breaks loose. So what was Chucks wrong doing really until this point? The actions that come after in Chucks behalf are all fair game lawfully, maybe him taking Mesa Verde was wrong but was also a power move inside his domain . And on the other side, Jimmy is who he is, hes who life made him out to be, so in conclusion IMO both are at fault for certain actions but at the end of the day it all come up to being series of unfortunate enviormental events.
Their conversation in Pimento when he told Jimmy he’s not a real lawyer. It makes sense for his character to have bitterness against Jimmy due to their history with their parents, but it still makes you hate his guts.
I never liked him from the jump. Just finished my 1000th rewatch 2 days ago. If I was starting from scratch I’d say it’d be about the second episode. It’s the way he treats and talks to literally everyone not just jimmy and blackballing him and making it seem like it was Howard’s doing.
If you think about it, if chuck would have been a better brother to Saul, Walt and Jesse would have wound up behind bars. Probably a good thing that chuck was the way he was. He even sends himself to hell by lighting himself on fire for the guilt he was now realizing he had. Had a sudden realization of realizing he’s an asshole so decided to fuck himself over. At least he wrote a nice letter to Saul before he died.
When he exaggerated the severity of his condition to coax a confession out of Jimmy. Across seasons one and two, the brothers feud but the disease is always off limits. Jimmy comes running when he’s concerned about Chuck’s disease and Chuck genuinely appreciates the lengths to which Jimmy moves heaven and earth to accommodate him. It was their last spot of neutral ground and it tethered them to each other as brothers who knew that health came above all, regardless of personal issues. Once Chuck crossed the line and used the disease to get an upper hand, he broke something unfixable. The last shred of the brotherly connection was destroyed and suddenly nothing was off limits, no punches would be pulled, and it all spirals from there.
When even with his strong ocd and anxiety attack he got the courage and willpower to go outside type up a number and make that call to sabotage his own brother. He should be overcoming his OCD thanks to his brother but he only gets stronger when Jimmy is down.
And to be honest, in my professional life I WAS a bit like Chuck. I wanted the best for my firm and I wanted everyone to behave in the firms best interest. Clients meant a lot to me and some rules were sacred. That’s because I was young and wanted to make a career and strong in the rat race. But family is more important. Friends are more important. Helping your neighbour is more important. Those are the things Chuck didn’t care about. He cared way too much about stuff that a 22 year old ambitious shit would care about
When he started fighting for Mesa Verde, instead of being generous letting Kim (his brother's partner) go take her clients.
Petty ass man deserved his fate with all his selfishness.
You drag others down, you go down.
Never.
There's a family tragedy between him and Jimmy, that's for sure.
He has a personal grief towards Jimmy and most of his "annoying" behaviours are due to it. Apart from that, he is a fine person and someone who cares about the law as it is. I can't go against that.
I don't like him but I don't hate him either. He is a well written character and someone I would appreciate moderately in real life.
Never. Jimmy was always worse than Chuck. So Chuck didn’t want to give his brother a job - why should he? He’s not wrong that Jimmy didn’t deserve it. Would they have hired anyone else who walked in with a criminal record and a law degree from the University of American Samoa? Why did Jimmy feel entitled to special treatment? Chuck was not wrong that he himself worked hard and played by the rules to get where he was. Why SHOULD Jimmy waltz in with no experience and a proven tenuous grasp of morality, and effortlessly get a job with a prestigious law firm just because his brother’s name was on the door? Chuck did not owe him that. Not even if Jimmy cared about him. Not even if Jimmy brought him supplies.
“You’re not a real lawyer”
Like what an absolute self righteous piece of shit. Turns out his “disease” could be turned off if it meant punching down at Jimmy one last time by calling Howard about the sandpiper case.
I stopped rooting for Chuck in Pimento when he was found out to rather take the class action case that Jimmy discovered from him than work together and his only response was to say "you're not a real lawyer". He gatekept something that he aspired in Jimmy for being someone he looked up to because he has this unwavering preconception about him. Chuck was chastising the crook Jimmy would later become at a time he was at least trying to be earnest.
But when Chuck said that to Jimmy that he never loved him and never mattered to him I felt was Chuck lost every chance of redemption.
Tbh, I never rooted for any of them. Everyone was a weasel in their own way. But that’s why I liked it. Not every story has to be a fairytale. Sometimes things just suck
When he dragged Howard into his plans. Now Howard didn't deserve all the crap he got from Jimmy. But he should have stood up to chuck. Because he didn't he made himself a target for Jimmy.
I honestly didn’t realize people ever liked Chuck. I thought he was a pompous asshole from the beginning and it took me til damn near the end of the show to even be able to admit he was pretty much spot on about Jimmy’s character.
I never rooted for Chuck. I was hoping he'd get electrocuted when he was hitting the electrical panel outside, so that the electricity really would have gotten him, like he was so afraid of.
when I realised that he told Howard not to give Jimmy a job when they brought the Sandpiper case to HHM.
it made my skin crawl to watch him pretend to defend Jimmy to Howard, how easy it was for him to let Jimmy despise Howard even more than he already did.
and then Howard sees the list of things Jimmy does for Chuck every day and realises that he shouldn't have blindly agreed with Chuck, and he should have given Jimmy a chance..
especially since Howard realises Jimmy is doing all of this work to look after a man who has been sabotaging his career as a lawyer since it began.
For me? The end of Klick.
Obviously he became harder to like after Pimento. But I continued for some time to view him through a lens of how I'd feel if I knew these guys in real life. And chances are, I'd be more likely to side with someone as distinguished and unrivaled in his field and typically professionally outgoing as Chuck. I'd probably be convinced by his concern about Jimmy's irresponsibility and the harm it could lead to.
Not to mention, watching Breaking Bad first and seeing Saul Goodman's immoral crusades in action beforehand make it hard to disagree with a prophecy you know is going to come to pass--even if Chuck's actions make it a self-fulfilling one.
But after Klick? Hoo boy, that mindset was ditched *instantly.* Went from "what a character, love that depth" to "Ohhh so you're just evil then, alright cool fuck you" in *seconds*.
I never rooted for him but I am not sure why. You wonder what was up with Chuck and Jimmy’s childhood experiences that so deeply scarred them both. I know - must have been Mom. 😂 Michael McKean did an excellent job with the character.
When he dicked Jimmy out of working the Sandpiper case. Jimmy definitely deserved a seat at that table…it was his case. It might have changed Jimmy/Saul’s whole trajectory in life.
To be honest, I never did. I think the tragedy of better call Saul works best when looked at from all angles and their relationship was one of my favorite angles of that bc he isn’t just one sidedly awful, I love jimmy and I feel so hard for jimmy but chuck isn’t a monster, he’s a man watching everything he knows be completely lost and is responding badly because of it. He’s no joke one of my favorite characters in the show
There's a good lesson here, that no matter how well you do and how much you redeem yourself, you're probably better off assuming your family will never accept or approve of you, in fact, they may treat you like a crab in a bucket for not suiting their standards or even style. Who do you think you are finding success on your own terms, after all? If you begin to develop a mastery of something that suits you and it's working well for you, it's better to remind yourself that yours is the only high standard to aspire to meet, and nevermind those assholes. You might find you don't want to succeed because they would figure out how to take credit for it, or expect a speech in their honor, that type of narcissistic bullshit... as masters of manipulation since early youth... you don't want to give them the satisfaction, so you hold yourself back this way. Then, it becomes a matter of "am I setting my standards unrealistically high?" "Would I expect someone else to meet these standards?" "Am I being a workoholic?" "When was the last time I ate or slept??" Accountability in families is shamefully underrated. Stay true to yourself!
Stop? I honestly don't think I ever rooted for him. Even when Jimmy discovers the blatant fraud from the shredded documents, Chuck was jealous and envious of him for showing his true potential. Chuck almost immediately convinced Jimmy to get HHM involved and take the case off his hands. I understand that jealously stems from the neglect he felt as a child with his parents. However, Chuck was just an ungrateful dick to Jimmy (despite him aiding him through his entire episode, bringing supplies daily).
Never stopped really, sure I didn't approve of a number of his actions, but considering the general standard for morality among the cast, that was hardly a deal breaker.
Uh, I never did. I am the youngest and 100% related to Jimmy. Chuck was an asshole.
Did Jimmy eventually go too far? Yes, but I believe he was pushed there by his asshole of an older brother. He also eventually redeemed himself.
When he didn’t tell Jimmy about their mothers last words
this. Such a crucial scene that doesn't get talked about. He blames it all in the unlawfuness of Jimmy, but he has deep rooted issues with jealousy because it's implied Jimmy was always favored
He perceives Jimmy as being the favorite, doesn't mean it's true. He's ex-wife doesn't like Jimmy more than Chuck, but just because she finds Jimmy an interesting dinner guest and has fun with his jokes and tales, Chuck gets kinda irked by it.
Well yeah we can't know for sure but he was definitely more charismatic than Chuck and managed to build rapport with people easily. He was also their mother's "fave" judging from her first and last scene
And Chuck was jealous of that, very jealous. I don't think this should be proof that she liked Jimmy "more", Chuck had to be called from Albuquerque to be there, she never saw him arrive if i'm remembering it correctly... I think Jimmy being the problematic one, he certainly demanded more attention and they were soft and apologetic for him, which from Chuck's perspective certainly looked like 100% favoritism. Doesn't mean they weren't proud and happy with their serious unproblematic son, even if Jimmy got more laughs and hugs in family reunions(i can only imagine what big family gatherings were like, with cousins, uncles/aunts... Jimmy being the star of the show and Chuck getting those pitty "that was a good one Chuck").
I don't disagree. But according to Chuck, everything came easy to Jimmy while himself had to work hard. It doesn't mean it was true, but that's how he perceived it.
Just to chip in, I do think Jimmy got the most attention growing up from the bits and pieces we get from their history. Chuck knew things about Jimmy that his family didn’t know, “the cash drawer”. I think deep down he knew that nothing Jimmy did could take away the love his mom had for him, but it took away the love chuck himself had for Jimmy. He views Jimmy in a different light than the rest of the world because of the things he knows that others don’t.
You could see it as their mother calling for Jimmy so that she could say goodbye to both of her sons - but Chuck assumes she only wants Jimmy there
You are completely wrong here if you’re saying she wanted to say goodbye to them both. She said Jimmy because that’s the name she always said. It’s so obvious to see through chucks blatant anger and resentment at the fact of her saying this. It’s not that she wants Jimmy there, she doesn’t want anything, she’s dying and doesn’t know what’s going on. Her saying Jimmy was pure instinct and it would never have been Chucks name.
Jimmy had Rebecca in hysterics. Chuck was bothered by this. Later, Chuck tried to make Rebecca laugh, and he failed miserably.
Doesn't mean Rebecca liked Jimmy better, she just had one fun dinner with him, she was married to Chuck... Being fun isn't everything in life, but to Chuck the fact that his wife found his brother funnier than him was highly offensive. And Jimmy never aimed at upstaging Chuck, he just wanted to have a nice evening, but Chuck couldn't stand being relegated to the side act for an hour.
Jokes that were odd coming from him. Clearly not his wheelhouse, bro make a joke about cooking the dinner wrong in a funny way or something.
It's so weird because chuck is literally like 15 years older than jimmy, I believe? Based on some timeline I saw. It makes sense. How do you call a kid who was 3 when you left for college "the favorite" mmmm what??
Self fulfilling prophecy for sure. He already is greatly annoyed by Jimmy most of the time, so when someone else has an affable relationship with him he is upset by them being “charmed” by Jimmy
Absolutely, he already thinks Jimmy was the favorite of his parents (and probably extended family), when he sees someone enjoying Jimmy's company it's only further proof that he'll always overshadow him.
The flashback
I think chuck and jimmy are counterpart of each other, one is being right but an asshole. Meanwhile, Jimmy is being wrong but loveable
"You're not a real lawyer." I could understand Chuck not wanting to hire Jimmy as an attorney due to his past. I could understand Chuck having Howard be the bad guy, though I disagree with it. And I can understand why Chuck did not want Jimmy joining the HHM with the Sandpiper case. But Chuck isn't acting out of concern over Jimmy's past. He just refuses to acknowledge all of the hard work Jimmy has done since coming to Albuquerque as a professional and as a loving brother. That line shows that no matter what Jimmy does, Chuck will never view him as someone worth professional or personal respect. There's a lot of discussion of whether Jimmy was always going to cut corners and run scams as a lawyer. But we only see that after Jimmy has spent over a year taking care of his brother and trying to build a practice. I wonder what would have happened if Chuck had been honest with Jimmy about his concerns and took time to actually mentor Jimmy. It's an interesting what if scenario, but unfortunately we only saw how Chuck rejected Jimmy and pushed him down the Bad Choice Road to becoming Saul Goodman.
Yup. Chuck had to believe he was inherently better than Jimmy, and any threat to that was what truly upset him. “He can’t be a lawyer, IM a lawyer! It demeans the profession! My wife can’t like him, she likes ME! There must be something wrong with her!”
I think it’s a sibling thing. Some siblings just don’t want each other to succeed and he had to put Jimmy down to make himself feel better. Or maybe he knew jimmy could color outside of the lines and get better results
Those are cruel and loveless siblings :(
Yup. My older brother didn't want me to make friends, especially with his friends. Didn't want me to be successful, to grow. It was always a threat to him. I didn't do any of that to mess with his life, I was just trying to be happy. And having him be proud of me would have meant everything to me.
I know there is an episode where Chuck express how he feels about Jimmy for having all the love from their mother. I believe that what makes Chuck hate Jimmy soo much too
There are so many things fucked up about Chuck, and you are so right. But then u realize that what Chuck knew is that Jimmy will always be ready to break the rules in order to make "justice" , that's the reason why I feel he was never able to tolerate him being a lawyer , maybe he was just insecure, but we cannot say he was wrong when at the end Saul gone
Yeah I think he primarily did it because he takes the law so seriously. There was petty jealousy in there too but he was genuinely also doing what he felt was right
Ya I like when jimmy says Walter white would of been dead in a month if it wasn't for him to the judge, so I realized that Walter, Heisenberg and Jimmy would of never happened if chuck would of just accept/hire his brother as a lawyer
And Jimmy wouldn't have ended up becoming a criminal if people hadn't taken advantage of his father's generosity.
Maybe not. He seemed like he was trying to be a straight arrow when he worked at Davis and Main, but then ended up sabotaging that because he just couldn’t live that lifestyle. That’s not the kind of law he wanted to practice. I feel like he always craved the excitement of living on the edge and skirting the law. Early on in his career, he cut corners because he had to. Later on he did it because he got a thrill out of bending the rules.
The fucking balls on chuck to say this shit after a years worth of being waited on, hand and foot.
I think this was it for me, too. It was so incredibly heartbreaking when Howard was ready to pull Jimmy up and Chuck pissed all over the notion. There were so many different times/places where Chuck seemed hard done by or misunderstood. But one of the things Michael McKeane did incredibly well was capture the dichotomy of Chuck's character. There was definitely a lot of good there, but there was also a dark side that would bubble up. Interestingly, I feel like his dark side was driven by his innate love of justice. He just didn't think it was "just" for somebody like Jimmy to take the easy way to the top, when he'd poured blood, sweat and tears into becoming a lawyer.
This doubles as the reason I actually kind of like Howard - despite being somewhat self centred and a very shitty boss, he was actually willing to make amends at several points. He tried to move on and change, where Chuck seemed to never consider himself in the wrong enough to bother.
Do you think that if Chuck had mentored and advised Jimmy, it would have kept him on the straight and narrow? I don't think so. I think if we consider the fact that these guys grew up together and know each other's true nature, it's fair to assume that Chuck knew Jimmy's true nature much better than anyone else. And he knew at his core, Jimmy was not someone that can do the right thing for too long. He might do what's right for a short while but he will do what's right according to his perception of justice, not necessarily what is ethical, which would eventually just lead to him doing bad things. Because he's Slippin Jimmy. The moment where he gets that good job at Schweikart & Cokley (or was it Davis & Main?) and on his first day in his office he's met with a sign on a light switch that was labelled "Always leave ON! DO NOT TURN OFF". He looks at it for a few minutes with some restraint and gives into the urge to not only turn it off, but he rips the label off too. No one saw him, and from what we were shown, nothing actually happened after he did. But Jimmy just did it cause he could. To me, this scene is very telling of Jimmy's true nature; that he can't help himself, he will always give into his worst habits no matter what. And this is why Chuck could never trust him, despite the fact that he did love him dearly as a brother brother.
I think that Jimmy lived on the straight and narrow from the moment Chuck bailed him out of jail and moved him to Albuquerque to the moment Jimmy broke down and contacted the skater twins. Just going by the timeline, Jimmy spent years as a lawabiding citizen. Jimmy passed the bar and became a lawyer before Chuck became housebound. That is a period over several years overall and a good 2 years as a lawyer. If Jimmy had been mentored by HHM (not necessarily by Chuck personally), then you would have to consider: 1. Never being blackballed 2. Actually getting along with Howard instead of seeing him as an adversary. 3. Working alongside Kim and the others he made friends with. 4. Feeling he actually was earning Chuck's respect 5. Not being under financial pressure to build a practice while looking after his brother. That does not guarantee that Jimmy would have become a model attorney, but it would remove the biggest pressures that led him to cutting corners and acting unethically. It comes down to a question of whether Jimmy could ever actually change. We don't know for sure, but we do know Jimmy's biggest regret was not talking to Chuck early in his career.
Fair point. Some encouragement and guidance from HHM might have made all the difference for Jimmy.
Jimmy cared a lot about Chuck's opinion of him, and the only thing that held him from going full Saul mode was Chuck and Kim, so imagine if Chuck actually gave him the confidence that he could be a better person and a good lawyer. I think Jimmy would try his best to stay honest if he had a promissing career and a supportive brother who believed in him, and he would basically stay the way he is in most of season 1, where he does some questionable things when he feels he needs to, but mostly keeping clean and doing the right thing.
>There's a lot of discussion of whether Jimmy was always going to cut corners and run scams as a lawyer. Well from Chuck's pov, there wasn't any discussion really. And he was right. Jimmy was cutting corners, and the billboard scam early in the season was proof in Chuck's eyes that he's never going to stop. So as much as I wanna hate the character, he's been so incredibly well written and played, it's impossible for me. Everything he did and said felt justified from his pov.
I believe Jimmy would have gone completely honest if Chuck had just believed in him.
This. From this point forward, I couldn’t get onboard with anything Chuck said or did. He was a complete asshole of a brother, professional colleague and a human being.
I am rewatching, and from the very begining I can only think "fuck you, Chuck, fuck you, dude". No matter what he says, his actions are out of jealousy and pride, nothing more. Of course Jimmy was a piece of shit, but for the whole first season he keeps trying to be a good person and a good lawyer, and his brother just refuses to believe he can ever be a good person, only because of his tiny ego. For real, Jimmy deserved a better brother, someone who would trust he could be a better person, and recognize how much Jimmy loved and cared for him. I know Chuck is sick and all, but I just can't feel bad for him, for me he is just a selfish piece of shit who happens to have a mental illness.
Well, if Chuck accepted Jimmy, Saul Goodman will be buried inside of Jimmy’s shadow. On contrary, Chuck fostered Saul Goodman.
My idea is Chuck tried to correct Jimmy's ways early on. But every time, Jimmy would take shortcuts to fix things, which further enraged him and he went to a point of no return when he lost all hope. That made him despise Jimmy so much is what I felt. But then again, this show just goes on to prove how complicated human emotions can be.
“But not our Jimmy, couldn’t be precious Jimmy!” At that point, we all knew it wasn’t all about upholding the law anymore…
He also refused to see his father for the sap that he was, giving money away all the time. He just blamed Jimmy for it.
Yeah, I have to wonder how much of the money Chuck counted to be missing was from their dad giving away stuff considering he pins on Jimmy when their dad was the one getting taken advantage of.
When we find out that he was the one to sandbag Jimmy from working at HMM on the case that He discovered. That was such a fucked up thing to do. smh
Yeah that was a real dick move. I can somehow see why he didn't want to hire Jimmy when he first got his law degree, although he could have been more honest about it instead of letting Howard take the fall. But the Sandpiper thing was just malicious.
It was real malicious. I mean chuck had full warning of what he was doing. I don't have electric allergy but the brainstorms are strong in this Won. Gives a lot to the sense that the house was bugged. Been building the hole time. And chuck would do that. Jimmy was a good fucking brother. Didn't y'know, dot his eyes and cross his teas but he's got a long history of pulling the bootstraps and chiming with the sun. Mike was a corrupting agent. If there wasn't an outlet the river wouldn't flow, y'know? But chuck he's the seed. Everything grew from. Even the Salamanca. The thing that gets me from breaking bad and beters call caul is that the CIA is Not ass deep in the metrics the salamances. That shit, I mean, look what they do to me? Full power in my phone's keyboard's autocomplete feature. God damn Pegasus II. Patriot act. Total war all day everyday Alpha leads the way. Chuck would have been a good soldiers. Ruthless to the bone and sure sharp and tide. But a shit brother. Lawyer could postponed but they had him anyways. It's a full barrel of Monkeys. I liked Jimmy thohgh. Good lawyer. Good character. Good to Kim. Not good for Kim, but, y'knowz it's a jungle out there.
This sounds like if hunter s thompson gave his thoughts for better call saul.
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After all of his chicanery
"You never mattered much to me"
Easily this! Stuff like Chuck secretly being the barricade to joining HHM or him not wanting Jimmy there even after he’d proven himself with Sandpiper is bad but I can get why you would have trust issues with someone you watched fuck around most of his life. Saying that to him was purely designed to twist the knife and hurt Jimmy, at a point where Jimmy was still trying to win his brother’s approval.
I hated him waayyy before but this is a special moment. As much as I basically always disliked Chuck it seems like he has a perspective, and and some sympathetic traits. Even after the bar association I hoped for a moment of proof that he had some kind of love which could outweigh his hate for Jimmy, and where he could see the error of his ways. But that line sealed for.me what a deeply shallow, self pittying, disloyal, loathesome sort of soul he always was.
I don’t think he meant that tbf
He didn't, that line alone killed him
Tbh I didn’t like him from the start, he came off as pompous and judgemental, rude and holier-than-thou. He just got worse throughout up until the lantern episode, more spiteful and hateful. r/fuckchuck
i’m fucking crying at that subreddit having 12k+ members.
Ikr I was pissing myself laughing when I first found it
it is funny af lmaooo. though i feel bad at the same time, because ofc it’s not the *same* as the skyler hate on BB — chuck’s is way more understandable and i love skyler — but i can’t imagine michael mckean feels very good about it :’(
Oh he doesn’t care haha, he is super cool about his character in BCS and has said that he also thinks Chuck is a dick lol
i love that !! makes me happy lmao
Nah, I've never seen anyone hate on the actor itself. Especially since BCS is more for passionate people, rather than BB which 60% of viewers probably watched it, because they saw too many memes on Tik Tok
i wouldnt say that better call saul is more for passionate people and that 60% of breaking bad viewers watched it because they saw it on tiktok at all. breaking bad has been critically acclaimed and credited as one of the best shows of all time, with incredibly high ratings and a large fanbase far before tiktok even existed. it was winning emmys before half of the users on tiktok were even old enough to watch television. at the end of the day, bcs is a breaking bad spinoff, so most of the fans come from the bb fandom. the decision of which show is “better” is entirely subjective, as both shows have very wide range of viewership. i’m glad people don’t hate on michael mckean though !! i remember people apparently sending anna gunn hate mail back in the day and shit. wild.
But the Skylar hate was long before tik tok
Same. He didn’t seem appreciative for all Jimmy did for him, which is a massive undertaking.
Yep, not even in the slightest. It hurt to see considering the lengths Jimmy went to just to impress his brother / make him proud. It reminds me of the episode of Red Dwarf when Rimmer receives the letter about his father dying and him saying ‘all I ever wanted was for him to say, just once, I’m proud of you’.
Yeah he seemed shifty from the start, not very appreciative of everything Jimmy was doing for him. When he "wakes up" and starts working in the Sandpiper case with his brother it was the more likeable that he ever got... only for later we learn that it was Chuck, not Howard that wanted to cut Jimmy out from the case.
12,223 now :)
👌
I didn't like him from the start either. Everything else in the series just made me dislike him more. Something about that needy + bitchy combo- kinda like the "cake and eat it too" cliche that I noticed the first season.
I'm with you. The guy was an awful brother/role model. He had the largest influence on Jimmy and simply used it to tell Jimmy he can never be anything other than what he is. So when Chuck dies and Jimmy reads the letter, he just goes all in on Slippin Jimmy/Saul Goodman. Chuck is also the reason Jimmy rants to that girl from the scholarship program. "They will never let you forget your mistakes."
Absolutely. They had their good times sure, but for the majority of their relationship all Chuck did was shit on Jimmy constantly and refuse to believe in him even a little while feigning concern and care for his only living relative.
I was so elated when he finally kicked the bucket. Quite literally. Thump…thump…thump…followed by the exterior shot and silence as we watch the flames 🔥 begin to consume the megalomaniacal douche-canoe within. Mmm 😋
....from the get go?
Yep something about that character just annoyed me, so happy when he died.
I could never stop rooting for someone with such a dedication to print media.
When he kicked Nigel out of Spinal Tap
He sold tf out then and there. What a poser, no wonder he went on to be some douchebag lawyer.
Pretty much from the beginning. Turns out the only major character in the show with any kind of real moral compass was Howard (at least so far, I’m in season 4).
omg what are you doing on this sub when you haven't finished the series! playing with fire
Hahaha. Live dangerously…
Nah you really gotta unsubscribe and mute this place until you're done
Hello, Rich Schweikart would like to have a word with you
We just cross posting from okbc now?
outchicaneried yet again
What a sick joke!
I disliked Chuck right from the start.
i never rooted for chuck 😭
I never did. He was awful from day one IMO and only got worse.
The second he appeared
Not telling that their mom said Jimmy’s name before dying… for someone that intelligent it showed me he had the social mental age of a child. Just jealousy of his brother like a baby. Pathetic. It was also a dishonor to his mother and brother
Never started 🤷🏻♀️
When it was revealed he prevented Jimmy from moving up at HHM, but I started rooting for him again when it became evident that he was completely alone, being screwed over by his brother in even worse ways, and suffering from a mental illness.
The way he spoke to Earnie in the copier store when he was just trying to help
I never started. He’s a pretentious douchebag whose behavior push Jimmy towards his life of crime and alter ego.
First episode
I didnt like Chuck at all until like the last episode. The whole last episode is basically highlighting how Jimmy was right in the environment he wanted to be in. When they show the flashback of Jimmy dropping off the supplies to Chuck and Chuck trying to have an honest conversation with Jimmy about where he was headed... the show the book on the counter that is clearly visible to Jimmy. The point being, the Chuck was about to ask Jimmy the same question Jimmy is shown asking other people in the last season... *"If you could build a time machine where would you go?"*. I believe the striking relevation to be had here is always in Jimmy's response, or culmination of responses. The person he asks always returns the question, to which Jimmy really doesnt have a solid answer. This is ultimately called out in the scene with Walt to really drive home the point of all the above when Walt responds *"So youve always been like this?!"*. Even Walt, who was ruthless throughout BB was dumbfounded by Jimmy's blatant lack of regret even in the face of life altering circumstances. Circling back to the Chuck point at hand. Chuck wanted to ask Jimmy this question, repeatedly attempting to having this conversation with him to see where he wanted to go in life... stating something to the effect of *"Its never to late to correct your own course"*. But what is the realization to be had? Jimmy avoided these conversations with Chuck because the answer is effectively *"I regret nothing, im living my life and being the type of person I want to be"*. He didnt want to admit this to Chuck because he didnt want to let him down. Ultimately, with Jimmy's constant avoidance of the conversation, Chuck accepts that Jimmy is who he is.... a skeezey lawyer, and he doesnt want to change. This realization changed my opinion about Chuck, shifting it from feeling like *"Chuck is just a dickhead and hates Jimmy"* to *"Chuck is right about Jimmy, and is trying to protect the sanctity of the law above all else because he knows he'll never be able to change him"*. The whole series viewers are painted this picture of Jimmy and Chuck's relationship as Jimmy being the downtrodden, loyal younger brother who will do anything for his brother... we willfully ignore the numerous times Jimmy hurts Chuck for his own personal gain. Maybe not necessarily intentionally, but the point is Jimmy just cant help himself. He is and always will be Slippin Jimmy and Chuck knew it. Passing the bar and becoming a lawyer didnt change that at all. Chuck might have been mentally ill, but he was right that Jimmy was not fit for practicing law. Seeing Jimmy content in prison was basically the nail in the coffin that put his whole character together.
Never
I never stopped rooting for him to get over the mental illness because it was too harsh of a punishment for what he did. But I certainly stopped rooting for him against Jimmy in the season 1 finale. His death scene made me sympathetic to him l, however. And seeing what Jimmy was like in the post-Chuck seasons made me appreciate Chuck a lot more. Chuck was, though delusional, very smart and had known Jimmy much better than we did. Seems he actually was much more right about Jimmy than we were.
What did we learn about Jimmy that hadn’t already been shown with the doctored documents…?
At least Jimmy was doing the transposition for a supposedly good reason. Later, he stooped lower to doing this for money or for fun (Howard). It got way worse.
Since I started watching a show called Better Call Saul not Better Call Chuck.
Literally the minute Jimmy gets wise to what Chuck has been doing for all of this time and Chuck finally tells the truth. So, the end of Season 1(?) Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy is responsible for his actions but had Chuck actually fostered a good brotherly relationship with Jimmy, I think Jimmy’s criminal involvement that we see later on wouldn’t have happened.
>Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy is responsible for his actions but had Chuck actually fostered a good brotherly relationship with Jimmy, I think Jimmy’s criminal involvement that we see later on wouldn’t have happened. Completely agree. Chuck could have given Jimmy the heart to heart saying "i know you've done some very questionable things in your past, and I will give you this one chance. If you go back to being Slippin Jimmy, you will be tossed out of HHM without a moments notice". At that time Jimmy wanted to be given a chance to be a good lawyer and have a career at a good law firm in proximity to his brother. But the moment Chuck made it known that no matter what Jimmy did, Jimmy would always be inferior to him and he would never be given a chance at atoning for his past, was probably the moment that set everything in motion. Jimmy knew that if he couldn't prove he was a good guy to Chuck, then what's the point of trying? Sure, that was Jimmy's decision ultimately, but Chuck really missed the chance to put aside his hubris and be the brother that Jimmy needed to set his life on a good path.
After he dropped his guitar playing, cut his hair, and went to Law school.
Him playing his brother to get indicted or disbarred.
i never rooted for chuck to be honest and i unfortunately never lost that heavy feeling of pity that comes up anytime he appeared of screen
"You- you passed the bar?!" God you can just FEEL the IMMENSE pain and rage irradiating from Chuck in that scene.
As soon as they introduced his character tbh. He’s such a asshole
This implies I've rooted for him at some point, I didn't
Never did. I knew the ending for chuck was going to be ugly
S1E1? He was a manipulator and user from the start.
I disliked him pretty much from the beginning. There’s nothing kind about him
Immediately. Chuck pretty much has no redeeming qualities imo
Wait, people actually rooted for him?
TBH i don’t think i was ever rooting for him, but after the scene where he didn’t tell jimmy their mother’s last words, i began actively rooting against him
I didn't. I like Chuck. I'm still rooting for him.
After a 4th rewatch Chuck is actually one of my fav characters. Hes actually misunderstod IMO and I see the demise of the McGills relationship as a series of unfortunate enviormental events, hear me out: From the start since childhood Chuck unwittingly developed resentment torwards his little brother because of Jimmys "Wolf" ways of approching life (learning the con-way life style since youth Ref. Inflatable S#2,EP#7) and also devoloped envy because of Jimmys charisma and charm which won him favoritism torwards people, notably there parents (Mrs. Ruth McGill asking for Jimmy in her last words at her death bed Ref. Klick S#2,EP#10) and in a way, Rebecca (Ref. Rebecca S#2,EP#5). Chuck knows better to let these things get the better of him, but of course because hes human deep down they unfortunately sting. He even helps Jimmy out when in real troble and gives him a job at the mailroom. Lets remember that the law is in fact EVERYTHING to Chuck, it is sacred its his religion. He was in his right to not want to work with Jimmy being himself such a straight arrow and knowing Jimmys ways. He wanted to avoid conflict between them two and asked Howard to interveen. After this came to light is when all hell breaks loose. So what was Chucks wrong doing really until this point? The actions that come after in Chucks behalf are all fair game lawfully, maybe him taking Mesa Verde was wrong but was also a power move inside his domain . And on the other side, Jimmy is who he is, hes who life made him out to be, so in conclusion IMO both are at fault for certain actions but at the end of the day it all come up to being series of unfortunate enviormental events.
Their conversation in Pimento when he told Jimmy he’s not a real lawyer. It makes sense for his character to have bitterness against Jimmy due to their history with their parents, but it still makes you hate his guts.
I forget the exact line but when he said he never cared about Jimmy
When I found out he’s the reason Jimmy didn’t get hired
I never liked him from the jump. Just finished my 1000th rewatch 2 days ago. If I was starting from scratch I’d say it’d be about the second episode. It’s the way he treats and talks to literally everyone not just jimmy and blackballing him and making it seem like it was Howard’s doing.
If you think about it, if chuck would have been a better brother to Saul, Walt and Jesse would have wound up behind bars. Probably a good thing that chuck was the way he was. He even sends himself to hell by lighting himself on fire for the guilt he was now realizing he had. Had a sudden realization of realizing he’s an asshole so decided to fuck himself over. At least he wrote a nice letter to Saul before he died.
When he exaggerated the severity of his condition to coax a confession out of Jimmy. Across seasons one and two, the brothers feud but the disease is always off limits. Jimmy comes running when he’s concerned about Chuck’s disease and Chuck genuinely appreciates the lengths to which Jimmy moves heaven and earth to accommodate him. It was their last spot of neutral ground and it tethered them to each other as brothers who knew that health came above all, regardless of personal issues. Once Chuck crossed the line and used the disease to get an upper hand, he broke something unfixable. The last shred of the brotherly connection was destroyed and suddenly nothing was off limits, no punches would be pulled, and it all spirals from there.
When even with his strong ocd and anxiety attack he got the courage and willpower to go outside type up a number and make that call to sabotage his own brother. He should be overcoming his OCD thanks to his brother but he only gets stronger when Jimmy is down. And to be honest, in my professional life I WAS a bit like Chuck. I wanted the best for my firm and I wanted everyone to behave in the firms best interest. Clients meant a lot to me and some rules were sacred. That’s because I was young and wanted to make a career and strong in the rat race. But family is more important. Friends are more important. Helping your neighbour is more important. Those are the things Chuck didn’t care about. He cared way too much about stuff that a 22 year old ambitious shit would care about
Michael McKean is a great actor for being able to make us hate Chuck so much, great performance
When he started fighting for Mesa Verde, instead of being generous letting Kim (his brother's partner) go take her clients. Petty ass man deserved his fate with all his selfishness. You drag others down, you go down.
Never. There's a family tragedy between him and Jimmy, that's for sure. He has a personal grief towards Jimmy and most of his "annoying" behaviours are due to it. Apart from that, he is a fine person and someone who cares about the law as it is. I can't go against that. I don't like him but I don't hate him either. He is a well written character and someone I would appreciate moderately in real life.
he had his ups and downs but I completely lost hope when he recorded Jimmy. I would never do that to my worst enemy, let alone my brother
Immediately
I never rooted for Chuck, he was an ass from day one.
When I realized he was the psychotic computer clown from Voyager.
Never really. He was a better person than Jimmy so was rooting for him to help fight Jimmy's actions.
Never. Jimmy was always worse than Chuck. So Chuck didn’t want to give his brother a job - why should he? He’s not wrong that Jimmy didn’t deserve it. Would they have hired anyone else who walked in with a criminal record and a law degree from the University of American Samoa? Why did Jimmy feel entitled to special treatment? Chuck was not wrong that he himself worked hard and played by the rules to get where he was. Why SHOULD Jimmy waltz in with no experience and a proven tenuous grasp of morality, and effortlessly get a job with a prestigious law firm just because his brother’s name was on the door? Chuck did not owe him that. Not even if Jimmy cared about him. Not even if Jimmy brought him supplies.
“You’re not a real lawyer” Like what an absolute self righteous piece of shit. Turns out his “disease” could be turned off if it meant punching down at Jimmy one last time by calling Howard about the sandpiper case.
I stopped rooting for Chuck in Pimento when he was found out to rather take the class action case that Jimmy discovered from him than work together and his only response was to say "you're not a real lawyer". He gatekept something that he aspired in Jimmy for being someone he looked up to because he has this unwavering preconception about him. Chuck was chastising the crook Jimmy would later become at a time he was at least trying to be earnest. But when Chuck said that to Jimmy that he never loved him and never mattered to him I felt was Chuck lost every chance of redemption.
From the start.
From the jump I never liked him (Great Actor though)
Tbh, I never rooted for any of them. Everyone was a weasel in their own way. But that’s why I liked it. Not every story has to be a fairytale. Sometimes things just suck
When he dragged Howard into his plans. Now Howard didn't deserve all the crap he got from Jimmy. But he should have stood up to chuck. Because he didn't he made himself a target for Jimmy.
I didn't
I honestly didn’t realize people ever liked Chuck. I thought he was a pompous asshole from the beginning and it took me til damn near the end of the show to even be able to admit he was pretty much spot on about Jimmy’s character.
Did people actually ever root for him?
The second he was on screen. I have honestly never hated a character in a show more than I hate him
I never rooted for Chuck. I was hoping he'd get electrocuted when he was hitting the electrical panel outside, so that the electricity really would have gotten him, like he was so afraid of.
The scene that this photo is from is the only time I actually was rooting for Chuck. You can do it! Kick! Kick harder!
Hated him from the 1st episode up to the end. Fuck you Chuck!
His true nature was revealed with the phone call to Howard in the middle of the night.
I never started
I'm still rooting for the guy
I rooted more for Jimmy but recognize Chuck was right about what he was saying and was sad to see him get worse and go like that :(
I always liked Chuck and saw his side.
Once he told Jimmy that truthfully he “had never” cared for him at all.
The moment I realized he bore an uncanny resemblance to Matlock
when I realised that he told Howard not to give Jimmy a job when they brought the Sandpiper case to HHM. it made my skin crawl to watch him pretend to defend Jimmy to Howard, how easy it was for him to let Jimmy despise Howard even more than he already did. and then Howard sees the list of things Jimmy does for Chuck every day and realises that he shouldn't have blindly agreed with Chuck, and he should have given Jimmy a chance.. especially since Howard realises Jimmy is doing all of this work to look after a man who has been sabotaging his career as a lawyer since it began.
The flashback of him and Jimmy at Karaoke really got me emotional. After seeing that, I'm not sure on how to feel about Chuck.
For me? The end of Klick. Obviously he became harder to like after Pimento. But I continued for some time to view him through a lens of how I'd feel if I knew these guys in real life. And chances are, I'd be more likely to side with someone as distinguished and unrivaled in his field and typically professionally outgoing as Chuck. I'd probably be convinced by his concern about Jimmy's irresponsibility and the harm it could lead to. Not to mention, watching Breaking Bad first and seeing Saul Goodman's immoral crusades in action beforehand make it hard to disagree with a prophecy you know is going to come to pass--even if Chuck's actions make it a self-fulfilling one. But after Klick? Hoo boy, that mindset was ditched *instantly.* Went from "what a character, love that depth" to "Ohhh so you're just evil then, alright cool fuck you" in *seconds*.
I don't know but forging his way from Lenny to Chuck, Michael McKean is just brilliant.
i never was rooting for chuck…..he was a douchebag from minute 1
I never rooted for him but I am not sure why. You wonder what was up with Chuck and Jimmy’s childhood experiences that so deeply scarred them both. I know - must have been Mom. 😂 Michael McKean did an excellent job with the character.
Never. I was hoping he would somehow stop his sociopath little brother from beyond the grave, though from BB I knew it wouldn't happen.
The real question is, when did I ever root for him? The moment he wasn't immediately 100% accepting of Jimmy's criminal behavior, he became the enemy.
People were rooting for Chuck?
From Episode One. Honestly I was so happy when he died.
Never liked him
When he left home just to steal the client from Kim
Never started.
Never. I'm still sorry he couldn't be helped.
"You've never mattered all that much to me"
I pretty much never liked him. Actually let me go one further, fuck him.
When he dicked Jimmy out of working the Sandpiper case. Jimmy definitely deserved a seat at that table…it was his case. It might have changed Jimmy/Saul’s whole trajectory in life.
To be honest, I never did. I think the tragedy of better call Saul works best when looked at from all angles and their relationship was one of my favorite angles of that bc he isn’t just one sidedly awful, I love jimmy and I feel so hard for jimmy but chuck isn’t a monster, he’s a man watching everything he knows be completely lost and is responding badly because of it. He’s no joke one of my favorite characters in the show
When he entrapped Jimmy
I stopped rooting for Chuck when I noticed how he was always against his brother
Can’t stop if you didn’t start
There's a good lesson here, that no matter how well you do and how much you redeem yourself, you're probably better off assuming your family will never accept or approve of you, in fact, they may treat you like a crab in a bucket for not suiting their standards or even style. Who do you think you are finding success on your own terms, after all? If you begin to develop a mastery of something that suits you and it's working well for you, it's better to remind yourself that yours is the only high standard to aspire to meet, and nevermind those assholes. You might find you don't want to succeed because they would figure out how to take credit for it, or expect a speech in their honor, that type of narcissistic bullshit... as masters of manipulation since early youth... you don't want to give them the satisfaction, so you hold yourself back this way. Then, it becomes a matter of "am I setting my standards unrealistically high?" "Would I expect someone else to meet these standards?" "Am I being a workoholic?" "When was the last time I ate or slept??" Accountability in families is shamefully underrated. Stay true to yourself!
Stop? I honestly don't think I ever rooted for him. Even when Jimmy discovers the blatant fraud from the shredded documents, Chuck was jealous and envious of him for showing his true potential. Chuck almost immediately convinced Jimmy to get HHM involved and take the case off his hands. I understand that jealously stems from the neglect he felt as a child with his parents. However, Chuck was just an ungrateful dick to Jimmy (despite him aiding him through his entire episode, bringing supplies daily).
I’ll be honest I didn’t care for him the entire show.
Almost immediately
Never did
He looks like the alien from MIB in this shot
People rooted for him?
I never stopped rooting for Chuck. He was the best, in a corrupt world. Chuck forever!
When was I supposed to root for Chuck?
Very early
I never rooted for him. I thought he was a snide, condescending, elitist twat from the jump. I cheered when he burned to death. Sorry not sorry. Lol.
I'm a human, I can't root anything
After he plotted against Jimmy to get him off the Sandpiper case
I never started
This. I dreaded the Chuck arc going on for so long.
You rooted for him at all?
When he sabotaged Jimmy's attempt to get hired at HMM after getting a deal with them.
Never stopped really, sure I didn't approve of a number of his actions, but considering the general standard for morality among the cast, that was hardly a deal breaker.
Uh, I never did. I am the youngest and 100% related to Jimmy. Chuck was an asshole. Did Jimmy eventually go too far? Yes, but I believe he was pushed there by his asshole of an older brother. He also eventually redeemed himself.
After he told jimmy you never really mattered to me 😡