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| Photo: Nicole Wilder/AMC |
"Winner," finds Jimmy again living up to others' worst expectations of him. Since the reinstatement committee thought he was insincere for not mentioning Chuck in his hearing, he doubles down on the fakery, "grieving" for Chuck by crying crocodile tears at his headstone on the anniversary of his death, plopping down $23,000 for a reading room dedicated to him and dutifully sitting on the HHM young scholar's board Howard set up in his name. A scholarship, as Kim angrily pointed out to Howard, that Jimmy would've never been given. However, these shenanigans all just a warm up for when Jimmy goes in to face the bar association. After reading a bit of Chuck's letter, Jimmy goes off script, telling (some) of the truth about himself, his brother and their at times contentious relationship.
"He didn't love me as a lawyer," Jimmy admits, the board members now firmly in his pocket. "I'll never be as good as Chuck...but I'll try." It's a masterful performance by Bob Odenkirk, and by James McGill, because what appeared to be man in the mirror-esque soul bearing was instead Matrix-level bullshit, as Jimmy giddly recounts how he completely duped those suckers. The way Kim's expression goes from happiness to utter shock is a gut punch, a look of "what did I just do?" scrawled over her face as she realizes the man she's helped pull out of the fire innumerable times has opted to dive feet first into the inferno.
That Jimmy's impassioned remarks turned out to be a hollow performance shouldn't be all that shocking. The proof was right there in the speech he gave to Kristy Epsosito, a scholarship candidate who got passed over becuase of her past shoplifting, ranting about how she'll need to game the system and cut corners to get to the top. "You made a mistake, and they are never forgetting it..they'll smile at you, they'll pat you on the head, but they are never letting you in," he says, talking about himself as much if not more than he is her, wrapping up with "remember, the winner takes it all."
It's awful advice, not least because Kristy, a young Hispanic woman, has far less room for error than Jimmy. While he's right that people like Chuck, Howard and the suits at HHM put young people like her or a Slippin' Jimmy in a box and rarely, if ever, let them out, he's overlooking the fact he's not a young kid, but a middle-aged man who still craves the next hustle. Chuck's death, combined with monumental self pity and lack of self awareness, have allowed Jimmy to rewrite his own history, painting himself as an outcast forever banished for one youthful slip up. In the process Chuck has gone from person he once tried to emulate to another tool in his conman box; being a lawyer is no longer about impressing Kim or connecting with clients, but a means to an end to grab money and power. Not respect, because damn being respected by the bar association, reinstatement committee and all those other assholes. It's about the win.
Though as we all know, Jimmy has plenty to lose.
Mike's story arc ends on a similarly dark note. After giving Lalo the slip--who knew chewing gum could be so useful for ditching stalkers?--and tracking down Werner, Mike agrees to carry out Gus' orders. It's a long, painful scene as what is understood by Mike but is unspoken--that Werner must die--becomes tragically obvious to the engineer. Werner manages to save his wife's life by picking a fight so she'll go back to Germany, then asks to go out among the stars before Mike shoots him. Like Jimmy's choice to use his deceased brother's memory to get back into law, Mike's decision will have a lasting impact. Unlike the icy super fixer of Breaking Bad, this version of Mike still believed in half measures, was still open to forming an emotional bond with another person. Pulling the trigger on Werner is essentially pulling it on himself.
After operating in different worlds all season, Jimmy and Mike's lives are closer than ever to becoming intertwined, as each evolves (or devolves) into the man Walter White will encounter, use and ultimately ruin.
See ya' next season!
Other Thoughts:
- So what will Kim do now? After Jimmy's latest stunt, she has little to no room to be in denial about the kind of callous, superficial person her boyfriend has become. Will she stay and stake out firm boundaries between their personal and professional lives, or will she realize "Chuck be knowin'" and cut her losses?
- Speaking of Kim, the blank stare she gave Jimmy when he tossed out a horrible plan to set fire to a judge's chambers and rescue her was hilarious.
- From spying to tailing to climbing through the ceiling to get access to Travel Wire's security footage, Lalo has more than proved a worthy match for Mike. It'll be exciting to see them go head up next season.
- No Nacho for the finale, which my fondness for the character aside, was a smart choice. Unless we were going to see Nacho escape, or try to escape, the drug game, we didn't necessarily need another plot line hammering home how trapped he is in his current situtation.
- With Werner and the rest of the crew gone, who will finish the super lab? In any case, Gail is super amped about cooking up that first batch of meth.
- Ernie does a so-terrible-it's-good version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" so well.
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