![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Episodes 4 and 5 in season 3 of Better Call Saul continue the plotline of Chuck scheming against Jimmy— and Jimmy scheming back against Chuck. After Chuck goads Jimmy into rash actions that get him arrested Chuck reveals in 3.04 that he's more interested in ending Jimmy's law career than punishing him criminally. He encourages the criminal prosecutor— who's trying for a felony conviction with jail time— to let Jimmy take a plea. The plea would mean probation instead of jail time but would be serious enough for the State Bar Association to consider disbarring Jimmy.
Episode 3.05 is all about the bar hearing. Jimmy's ready for it, knives out, and Kim is helping him. They know Jimmy could still be disbarred, but they aim to mitigate that risk by showing Chuck for what he is. And embarrass him in the process.
Interesting side note.... I've remarked so many times about how this show could be called Better Call Mike since so many episodes feature fascinating side plots about supporting character Mike Ehrmantraut and his backstory that leads to him being a high level soldier in a drug gang in Breaking Bad. This is the first episode in the series that's all about Jimmy. For the first time in 35 episodes, Mike doesn't appear... at all.
Okay, so back to Jimmy. The plot he and Kim have is to springboard off Chuck's surreptitious audio tape of Jimmy confessing to a crime. The crux of the trial is that Jimmy broke in to Chuck's house to destroy the tape. Chuck, of course, had already made a copy. The tape was a trap. But Jimmy and Kim have a plan for how to turn it around.
Kim acts as co-counsel for Jimmy's defense. There's a bit of character development behind that, BTW, as Jimmy initially tries to stop Kim from getting involved in his defense. He doesn't want to split her attention away from a valuable client she's fully dedicated to. He also doesn't want to drag her down with him. He tells her, paraphrased, "I got myself into this trouble, I'll get myself through it." But after initially rebuffing her offer to help, he accepts it.
Kim scores a small victory early in the trial. Her opening statement is that this case is really about a long-running dispute between two brothers. When Howard, Chuck's law partner is on the stand, she forces him to testify that Chuck had long blocked Jimmy's advancement there. Asked why, Howard said it was because they wanted to avoid the appearance of nepotism. Yet— as she forces Howard to acknowledge— Howard himself is the son of one of the founders.
The prosecution plays the tape. Then Chuck takes the stand to testify about the circumstances of Jimmy breaking in to destroy a copy of it. Howard senses that there's risk in Chuck taking the stand, but Chuck is focused on being the agent of ending Jimmy's legal career. The lights and computers in the hearing room are turned off to Chuck's mental illness.
After Chuck testifies about the break-in, Jimmy takes the lead in his own defense to cross-examine Chuck. He introduces into evidence pictures from inside Chuck's house, showing the bar committee that Chuck lives like a lunatic. He also presses Chuck on his supposed electromagnetic sensitivity. (In scientific fact it's proven not to be a physical ailment but a mental illness.) He challenges Chuck to identify the nearest EM source if he's so sensitive. Chuck sputters a bit, explaining that it doesn't work like that, then guesses the line of questioning is a trap. Chuck accuses Jimmy of sneaking in a cell phone to fool him.
In the first part of the twist, Jimmy reveals that he does, in fact, have a cell phone in his pocket. Chuck, smug from guessing the trap, further guesses that Jimmy removed the battery and explains that's why he couldn't "feel" the presence of the phone. Jimmy shows that the phone, indeed, has no battery. But then comes the real twist.
Next, Jimmy asks Chuck what's in his vest pocket. Jimmy had a pickpocket slip a phone battery into Chuck's pocket almost 2 hours earlier. Chuck pulls the battery out and reacts in sudden terror and pain. Jimmy has established the point that Chuck doesn't really sense EM radiation; he's just a mentally ill person who routinely makes things up. But more importantly than that, he's gotten Chuck rattled.
The bar prosecutor comes back up on redirect while Chuck is still on the witness stand to explain that Chuck's mental illness should be a non-factor in judging the seriousness of Jimmy's misdeeds. Chuck explodes at being called mentally ill and goes on a rant about all the bad things Jimmy has done since childhood. This shows Chuck to be a jealous person harboring a decades-long grudge. Chuck ends his tirade when he realizes that the entire courtroom is staring at him, mouths open.
Jimmy's fate with the bar isn't revealed in episode 3.05— nor is Chuck's— but at this point Jimmy has goaded Chuck into making a fool of himself in front of the State Bar.
Episode 3.05 is all about the bar hearing. Jimmy's ready for it, knives out, and Kim is helping him. They know Jimmy could still be disbarred, but they aim to mitigate that risk by showing Chuck for what he is. And embarrass him in the process.
Interesting side note.... I've remarked so many times about how this show could be called Better Call Mike since so many episodes feature fascinating side plots about supporting character Mike Ehrmantraut and his backstory that leads to him being a high level soldier in a drug gang in Breaking Bad. This is the first episode in the series that's all about Jimmy. For the first time in 35 episodes, Mike doesn't appear... at all.
Okay, so back to Jimmy. The plot he and Kim have is to springboard off Chuck's surreptitious audio tape of Jimmy confessing to a crime. The crux of the trial is that Jimmy broke in to Chuck's house to destroy the tape. Chuck, of course, had already made a copy. The tape was a trap. But Jimmy and Kim have a plan for how to turn it around.
Kim acts as co-counsel for Jimmy's defense. There's a bit of character development behind that, BTW, as Jimmy initially tries to stop Kim from getting involved in his defense. He doesn't want to split her attention away from a valuable client she's fully dedicated to. He also doesn't want to drag her down with him. He tells her, paraphrased, "I got myself into this trouble, I'll get myself through it." But after initially rebuffing her offer to help, he accepts it.
Kim scores a small victory early in the trial. Her opening statement is that this case is really about a long-running dispute between two brothers. When Howard, Chuck's law partner is on the stand, she forces him to testify that Chuck had long blocked Jimmy's advancement there. Asked why, Howard said it was because they wanted to avoid the appearance of nepotism. Yet— as she forces Howard to acknowledge— Howard himself is the son of one of the founders.
The prosecution plays the tape. Then Chuck takes the stand to testify about the circumstances of Jimmy breaking in to destroy a copy of it. Howard senses that there's risk in Chuck taking the stand, but Chuck is focused on being the agent of ending Jimmy's legal career. The lights and computers in the hearing room are turned off to Chuck's mental illness.
After Chuck testifies about the break-in, Jimmy takes the lead in his own defense to cross-examine Chuck. He introduces into evidence pictures from inside Chuck's house, showing the bar committee that Chuck lives like a lunatic. He also presses Chuck on his supposed electromagnetic sensitivity. (In scientific fact it's proven not to be a physical ailment but a mental illness.) He challenges Chuck to identify the nearest EM source if he's so sensitive. Chuck sputters a bit, explaining that it doesn't work like that, then guesses the line of questioning is a trap. Chuck accuses Jimmy of sneaking in a cell phone to fool him.
In the first part of the twist, Jimmy reveals that he does, in fact, have a cell phone in his pocket. Chuck, smug from guessing the trap, further guesses that Jimmy removed the battery and explains that's why he couldn't "feel" the presence of the phone. Jimmy shows that the phone, indeed, has no battery. But then comes the real twist.
Next, Jimmy asks Chuck what's in his vest pocket. Jimmy had a pickpocket slip a phone battery into Chuck's pocket almost 2 hours earlier. Chuck pulls the battery out and reacts in sudden terror and pain. Jimmy has established the point that Chuck doesn't really sense EM radiation; he's just a mentally ill person who routinely makes things up. But more importantly than that, he's gotten Chuck rattled.
The bar prosecutor comes back up on redirect while Chuck is still on the witness stand to explain that Chuck's mental illness should be a non-factor in judging the seriousness of Jimmy's misdeeds. Chuck explodes at being called mentally ill and goes on a rant about all the bad things Jimmy has done since childhood. This shows Chuck to be a jealous person harboring a decades-long grudge. Chuck ends his tirade when he realizes that the entire courtroom is staring at him, mouths open.
Jimmy's fate with the bar isn't revealed in episode 3.05— nor is Chuck's— but at this point Jimmy has goaded Chuck into making a fool of himself in front of the State Bar.
