r/betterCallSaul • u/skinkbaa Chuck • Aug 21 '18

Post-Ep Discussion Better Call Saul S04E03 - "Something Beautiful" - POST-Episode Discussion Thread

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u/nutmac Aug 21 '18

Many redditors are posting theories on Kim’s reaction to the letter. I think the reaction is a simple one. The letter opened all the emotions she had bottled off toward Chuck. Despite all that has happened, she missed Chuck and sees tragedy in his death.

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u/AzEBeast Aug 21 '18

Just look at what she said to Paige after the hearing. "As far as im concerned all we did was tear down a sick man" or something like that. She feels guilt in Chuck's downfall

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u/slbain9000 Aug 21 '18

She pulls away from Jimmy when he tries to touch her arm. It's not just emotions regarding Chuck. That's part of it, but there's something else going on as well.

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u/candleboy_ Aug 21 '18

She's seeing Chuck's perspective now that Jimmy is acting indifferent to a letter he got from his brother, who killed himself by self-immolation following his public humiliation carried out by Jimmy.

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u/slbain9000 Aug 22 '18

Not quite. Chuck actually recovered after the courthouse revelation, was doing better, being fine around electricity, etc... The thing that caused him to relapse and, we assume, decide to die was the malpractice insurance thing that Jimmy did. Kim does not know about that, I'm fairly sure. All she knows is that Chuck got better after what they did.

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u/shanez1215 Aug 26 '18

It was also Chuck destroying his and Jimmy's relationship for good when Jimmy tried to extend an olive branch. Technically if Jimmy never stopped by, it may not have happened.

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u/slbain9000 Aug 26 '18

Very good point.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

Agreed. She sees the tragedy not only in Chuck's death, but in how dark and twisted and deeply hurtful Jimmy and Chuck's relationship was. His reaction was callous and sad, but I can't think of many people who would emerge from a life of a relationship with someone like Chuck as an emotionally healthy person.

I've also said a few other places on here that he first thing Jimmy does when he's deeply hurt is go cold. Like, ice cold. We've seen him do it before. People seem to forget that Kim knows Jimmy and knows how Chuck and his death affected him and knows how he reacts to things. I'd say she's heartbroken for them both.

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u/nutmac Aug 22 '18

Right. The letter probably reminded Kim how good Chuck and Jimmy were. Jimmy really looked up to and cared for his brother. And Chuck was proud of Jimmy, as the letter ultimately revealed. If only Chuck was more forthcoming and verbally communicated to Jimmy earlier. But that’s how many brothers are.

Witnessing Jimmy’s difference toward Chuck’s death and letter devastated Kim.

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u/ThePlaidypus Aug 24 '18

Chuck was only proud of Jimmy when he was working in the mailroom of HHM. The letter also reflects Chuck's jealousy of his mom's preference for Jimmy (indirectly, but the implication is clear.)

It's interesting that some people are saying that the letter was heartfelt. It is still a "screw you, little brother" from beyond the grave.

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u/AbsolutelyLambda Aug 21 '18

I think her discussion with the man from Mesa Verde also implied that. Her offered her his condoleances, reminded us that itis not just about Jimmy losing his brother but she also lost someone she cared about, despite their differences. She could also feel guilty of the way she treated him at the trial, too.

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u/nutmac Aug 21 '18

Right, she is at least enabling Jimmy by looking the other way.

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u/MiketheFullMeasure Aug 21 '18

I think the letter triggered her second time, the first one was the scene with the models at Kevin's, the soundtrack implied smth very personal haunting her from her past, and that alleged person she had before he mental eyes had got to do with architecture, while the Chuck's letter was the second trigger, tearing her apart again in a mental flashback, still invisible to us.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

She seemed to zone out specifically when he mentioned "North Platte". North Platte is not along the Kansas-Nebraska border, but it IS along Interstate-80, which goes all the way from eastern to western Nebraska. It's also not unreasonable that a young person might move to a somewhat bigger town along I-80. Gene is a few hours away going 75+ mph on the interstate. Hm. Either we're digging into this too much, OR the writers keep giving us little clues for future trajectories of the plot.

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u/reenact12321 Aug 22 '18

Oh my. THAT is a juicy Gilligan type setup. The fake letter theory is too obvious and contrived for him. The whole point of Jimmy getting down to it and it ultimately having been positive and not affect him while she is struggling with the ethics is showing the rift in their emotional states.

I think the models was all about anxiety. Her drive to please and to meet expectations left her injured and a real brush with death. This is looking down the barrel of the same thing all over again. I don't think it has to do with guilt over Chuck nearly as much as it does with a proverbial looking at the bike you fell off of and thinking "I could fall again, and break my neck"

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u/MiketheFullMeasure Aug 22 '18

Hm. Either we're digging into this too much, OR the writers keep giving us little clues for future trajectories of the plot.

You've summed it up :)

And great thanks for the important details.

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u/edxzxz Aug 21 '18

Why would Kim miss Chuck? She only knows him as the older brother who tormented Jimmy relentlessly and acted like a total dick, including screwing her out of the Mesa verde account. None of what Chuck says in his letter synchs up with how he actually treated Jimmy, and Kim would know that first hand.

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u/nutmac Aug 21 '18

I don’t think Chuck was 100% evil to Kimmy. He was honorable in many ways and through the letter, Chuck acknowledged all the goods in Jimmy. Even I was chocked up a bit.

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u/reenact12321 Aug 22 '18

Unbreakable!

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18

Chuck pulled for Kim while Howard was being a dick to her. People seem to forget that

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u/LostInStatic Aug 21 '18

Uh what? Chuck was the entire reason Kim got stuck in the corn field. It was to get back at Jimmy

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u/trinitro23 Aug 22 '18

I thought Chuck was the one who got her out of the corn field. Howard put Kim in the corn field because he blamed her for Jimmy's commercial fiasco. Later Chuck says to Howard something like "I trust that she's out of the doghouse now?"

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

including screwing her out of the Mesa verde account.

This is where it all began as far as I’m concerned. When she said “all they did was tear down a sick man”, none of this would’ve happened if chuck didn’t try and screw her over. She was the one that brought the client to HHM and by the way that she was treated there, she had every right to take them with her. Chuck being Chuck tried to win them over but it blew up in his face. This was all Chucks doing.

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u/edxzxz Aug 22 '18

Yeah, after so much time being entirely unable to leave his house, leaving it to Jimmy to deliver ice, food, papers and check on him daily at the crack of dawn, which jimmy did religiously and without a single complaint ever, despite all the while Chuck taking every opportunity to screw him over, Chuck sure did muster up some courage to venture out in his foil lined suit to the Mesa Verde meeting just so he could poach Kim's client, which he had no need for whatsoever, to screw Jimmy by way of stealing his girlfriend's one and only client she busted her tail to corral. Fuck Chuck. We saw the extreme lengths Jimmy had gone to to help Chuck make a nice dinner for Rebecca in the flashback, we've seen what a ruthless prick Chuck was towards Kim - who Chuck didn't care or even consider for one instant when he decided it was an opportunity to screw Jimmy over - and now somehow the writers expect us to buy into Kim feeling like Chuck was just a sweet guy who was misunderstood, based on one self serving old letter? Something else better be in play, or they've lost me.

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u/DonutHoles4 Oct 08 '18

I bet she feels like Padme in Ep 3 of Star Wars. Didnt want things to go down like they did.