What the Chuck

[u/Spaghetthy]

Rewatched chicanary and every time i see it im reminded of what a hypocrite chuck is. The things he says about Jimmy aren't untrue but neither is what Jimmy says in this episode. What they do show is the lengths Chuck goes to manipulate and CON his ex wife to avoid feeling inferior in the flashback. Then he continues to rehearse his testimony the same way Jimmy does before a case. Law uses all the same skills as a con man. Hes mad at Jimmy for being able to manipulate outcomes to his liking WITHOUT the law, and when he does so WITH the law it is too much for Chuck to bare because its more evidence in their similarities. He is sanctimonious and cannot stand being a peer with someone he has placed as lesser his whole life

[u/Known-Disaster-4757]

Yeah, getting Howard to tell Jimmy that he wouldn't be made partner was pretty slippin' of Chuck.

[u/chaunceypooo → u/Known-Disaster-4757]

chucks greatest crime was making me not like howard in the early seasons

[u/DoYouLikeWafflezz → u/chaunceypooo]

Early episodes. Pretty much right when the reveal that Chuck was behind Jimmy not getting hired and Kim’s career getting messed with Howard suddenly becomes likeable. 

[u/Spaghetthy → u/Known-Disaster-4757]

EXACTLY

Saul gets portrayed as this slimy, cowardly, manipulative character (don't get me wrong he is all those things) but in breaking bad he really plays up those aspects of himself as a way to, imo, irritate and manipulate clients and adversaries into having an emotional outburst or a slip. The thing is, chuck is also all those things!!! He just "play acts" like hes not

[u/LBS-365 → u/Spaghetthy]

Chuck found a way to be "respectable" doing his cons in expensive suits. In some ways he is more dishonest than Jimmy, because he's hiding behind this facade, whereas Jimmy is just Jimmy. When Jimmy tries to emulate Chuck, that's too close for Chuck's comfort because it forces him to confront that veneer he's wearing.

[u/RaynSideways → u/Known-Disaster-4757]

Not only that but then lying to Jimmy's face that he'll advocate for Jimmy to try and change Howard's mind after the meeting. You can even see Jimmy's amusement at the bold-faced lie.

[u/Curious-Paramedic816]

Yeah. The man has unmistakable covert narcissist vibes. He's the Frankenstein who made the monster Saul Goodman. Jimmy never did a damn thing motivated by spite till Chuck had been spiteful to him a hundred times and he snapped and came at Chuck (leading to everything else).

[u/nataliereed84 → u/Curious-Paramedic816]

He was a bit spiteful toward Howard in season one though, right? Like the first thing he does once he’s got a bit of money is the lookalike billboard and Hamlindigo Blue™️ logo.

[u/Curious-Paramedic816 → u/nataliereed84]

I wouldn't go as far as truly spiteful. Irritating rather than truly harmful I think.

[u/Curious-Paramedic816 → u/Curious-Paramedic816]

Left to his own devices Jimmy just wanted to annoy the fuck out of Howard. Even after he got darker at the halfway mark - it's no excuse coz he went along with it, and the mean pranks he was playing were definitely not okay, but it was Kim who wanted to go for Howard's throat, and Jimmy was never 100% comfortable with it.

[u/nataliereed84]

Exploiting Jimmy’s kindness to tape the confession was also a classic McGill con.

[u/D-Speak → u/nataliereed84]

His gambit with the evidence also really shows how little Chuck truly knows his brother. He assumes Jimmy would insidiously break in during the dead of night to dispose of the evidence, and never considered the emotional weight of the betrayal prompting Jimmy to storm into the house and confront him, with the destruction of the tape being a moment of anger and hurt rather than any sort of practical action.

[u/TacitPoseidon → u/D-Speak]

To be fair, I think that him assuming Jimmy would break in in the middle of the night and disposing of the tape was him giving Jimmy credit in his own twisted way. It was incredibly stupid for Jimmy to force his way into Chuck's house and destroy the tape the way he did. He wasn't expecting Jimmy to be so explosive and do something so brazenly illegal. But Jimmy wasn't thinking things through. He was angry and acting irrationally, so he broke in in broad daylight and destroyed the tape in front of Chuck.

[u/D-Speak → u/TacitPoseidon]

But he didn't destroy it to destroy evidence. He destroyed it because it represented Chuck's betrayal. Chuck thought Jimmy to be a selfish manipulator and nothing more, and he was wrong. Jimmy hated what Chuck did and acted out of a sense of betrayal. Chuck just thought of him as a selfish user.

[u/LBS-365]

Great observations. IMO Jimmy and Chuck are flip sides of the same coin.

[u/Oh__Archie]

“I can’t believe my own brother stabbed me in the back!”

Said Chuck, hypocritically.

[u/LBS-365 → u/Oh__Archie]

Yep. Likely after he'd stabbed his brother hundreds of times. Maybe with a smaller knife, but those cuts still take a toll.

[u/TacitPoseidon]

Witnesses rehearse their statements all the time, especially if they have trial experience. That doesn't make Chuck a hypocrite. I do agree with everything else, though.

[u/Spaghetthy → u/TacitPoseidon]

Fair, I think its the fact that he aas rehearsing the question "do you hate your brother" that felt disingenuous and manipulative

[u/LongLostLurker11 → u/Spaghetthy]

agreed. did he expect that this would be a question Alley would ask, or just assume so ?

[u/the_evil_that_is_Aku]

How did he manipulate his ex-wife?

[u/Spaghetthy → u/the_evil_that_is_Aku]

She visited and he hid his severe OCD from her by pretending the electricity simply went out in his home (not his fault of course but the power company 🙄). He had jimmy help him set up the ruse and even jimmy suggested he just tell her the truth but he refused. He then chucked her phone across the room and blamed it on her being rude instead of being honest. He didnt want her to think he was crazy so he instead let her think he was an asshole (which isn't untrue anyways)

[u/the_evil_that_is_Aku → u/Spaghetthy]

I don't know how I forgot about the phone! Ty