Chuck manipulates Jimmy, because he secretly hates that Jimmy is a lawyer. He uses anything at his disposal. That includes exacerbating the effect his disease has on him; because Jimmy cares about Chuck.
Full Answer
Apart from the jealousy, Chuck sees the danger in Jimmy practicing law,.He knows that Jimmy will continue to cut corners, cross ethical lines, and eventually become a crooked lawyer. Even though Chuck behaved in morally questionable ways to prove his point, he is right.
Chuck angrily replies that Jimmy is not a real lawyer, having taken shortcuts like online courses and diploma mills. Chuck believes that his brother hasn't changed from his "Slippin' Jimmy" ways, and that Jimmy poses a danger if he practices law. Jimmy realizes what his brother really thinks of him.
A call to the phone company revealed a deleted call to Howard two nights prior, while Jimmy was asleep on the couch. Only Chuck could have made that call. Jimmy accuses Chuck of telling Howard not to let him work on the case, and to not hire him after he passed the bar years prior. Jimmy demands to know why Chuck has been working against him.
Chuck firmly believes that he is protecting people from getting hurt by sabotaging Jimmy's attempts to be a successful lawyer as he claims people will get hurt if the power of law is abused.
No surprise that when we find out that it's Chuck who told Howard Hamlin not to hire Jimmy, it's in part because he thinks the law is sacred, as though he lived under divine mandate to protect it.
Although in the first season it seemed that he was initially supportive of Jimmy, Chuck harbored resentful feelings toward him because of his conman past and the way he completed his legal education and became an attorney. From the second season onward, Chuck transforms into Jimmy's nemesis.
To quickly recap, Jimmy/Saul has had his license suspended due to criminal charges he faced for breaking into his older (now deceased) more successful brother Chuck's home to destroy audio recordings of Jimmy confessing to manufacturing evidence.
In 1993, inspired by Kim's passing the bar exam, Jimmy decided to pursue his own law degree. To do so, he took a correspondence course from the University of American Samoa. After two failed attempts, Jimmy passed the bar exam himself in 2001.
Chuck and Jimmy betrayed each other in an endless circle. Indeed, Chuck couldn't let Jimmy get away with betraying him again. He devised a plan to set up Jimmy to get him disbarred. Chuck didn't only want revenge on Jimmy, he also wanted to end his law career.
He even blamed Jimmy for the death of their father. Chuck discovered that Jimmy had stolen money from his father's store over the years. Six months after the store went bankrupt, their father died. Prior to the start of Better Call Saul, Chuck helped Jimmy get out of some legal trouble.
Chuck had baited Jimmy into breaking and entering his house in order to destroy the audio tape of Jimmy incriminating himself—creating the pretense for Jimmy's criminal prosecution. But then Chuck showed mercy, offering Jimmy a deal to avoid court by confessing.
It turned out Chuck's plan had been to trick Jimmy into committing a crime that could lead to him losing his right to practice law – all of which came to head with a court case which would decide whether or not he would be disbarred – in which Jimmy, representing himself, attempted to bring his brother down.
Jimmy makes a speech to the appeal panel about wanting to do justice to the McGill name, convincing them to reinstate his law license. He then shocks Kim by revealing that the speech was an insincere con. He obtains a DBA application and announces he intends to resume practicing law as Saul Goodman.
In their celebration afterwards, Kim feels some it was truthful, but Jimmy's reaction makes it painfully apparent it was all a show for the committee so he could get his law license back. As he prepares to sign the necessary documents, Jimmy states he'll no longer be practicing under his legal name.
Saul Goodman was inspired by an actual attorney named Ron Bell, whose advertisements are plastered all over Albuquerque's bus stations and television networks. (Watch Ron Bell's actual infomercial next to Saul's fictional one, below.)
With those four words, the transformation of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) into Saul Goodman was finally complete. Jubilant over getting his law license back, Jimmy celebrated by asking the clerk for a name change form.
He was never given a redemption arc, which was a smart decision by the writers because it simply wasn’t necessary. Even in death, Chuck came off as a condescending jerk in his letter to Jimmy, and in the consequences of the selfish decisions he made when he was alive.
And Jimmy bent over backwards to accommodate the changes to Chuck’s lifestyle. Jimmy left his electronics in the mailbox, he did all Chuck's grocery shopping, he liaised with H.H.M. about a buyout — he did everything for Chuck, and Chuck never appreciated it and refused to cut him any slack.
Season 3’s “Chicanery” is widely regarded to be the finest episode of Better Call Saul . With six planned seasons, "Chicanery" is close to the midpoint of the entire series, and it revolves around Chuck taking Jimmy to court over his tampering with Mesa Verde’s address.
Chuck McGill was undeniably a genius, but he didn’t have to rub it in people’s faces . He looked down his nose at everybody, blindly assuming himself to be better than them.
Jack Gleeson’s portrayal of Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones is a prime example. Another is Michael McKean ’s performance as Chuck McGill.
Although Jimmy has faced off against such terrifying villains as Gus Fring and Tuco Salamanca, Chuck was the perfect antagonist for his character specifically. Chuck was the only one who could ever see through Jimmy’s schemes, which removed Jimmy of his power.
Chuck resented the fact that Jimmy was well-liked, despite having obvious flaws, and didn’t think that he deserved to practice the law. Every negative voice that’s stuck in Jimmy’s head originated from Chuck.
When Jimmy was about to be admitted to the bar, Chuck pretended to support him by vouching for him before the bar committee. He also took part in Jimmy's celebrations reluctantly while deep down, he hated his brother for following in his footsteps.
If it weren't for Chuck's hatred, Jimmy would probably still be working at HHM or Davis & Main. We'd never have seen him picking up $7 million for Lalo or linking Walt with Gus Fring. Where's the fun in that?
What makes Chuck a total jerk is that he continued hating Jimmy despite the fact that Jimmy was the only one who spared a few hours every day to take care of him when his condition worsened. Chuck was informed by doctors that he had a mental health condition, but he believed he suffered from electromagnetic sensitivity.
Jimmy gets inspired to become a lawyer by both Chuck and Kim's achievements. Jimmy figures: "If my brother can do it, so can I." It's a shame that their parents loved Jimmy more instead of Chuck, who had literally done everything right.
Eventually, he'd become Saul Goodman, the shady lawyer with connections to drug dealers. And at the end of Breaking Bad, he lost it all and went into hiding to protect his own life.
Nothing bothered Chuck more than the fact that his conman brother had decided to leave his mailroom clerk job to become a lawyer. Chuck felt that law was a clean and decent profession that only belonged to those that had worked hard for it.
Chuck was totally jealous of Jimmy when he really shouldn't have been. He was more successful than Jimmy in almost every way. However, the thing that irked Chuck the most was that their late mother loved the stubborn Jimmy more than him.
In 1992, after having not seen Jimmy for almost 5 years, Chuck helped him avoid serious charges including property damage, assault, and a possible sex offense. Chuck traveled to Cicero to visit Jimmy at his request through their mother.
Chuck finds out Jimmy is becoming a lawyer ("RICO").
After suffering a major relapse of his EHS following his failed attempt to get Jimmy disbarred as well as failing to sue HHM for breach of contract and destroying his friendship with Howard in the process, Chuck committed suicide by setting fire to his house. The fire department, however, officially ruled it as an accident and it was mentioned as such on Chuck’s obituary.
Kim resigns from HHM to launch twin solo firms with Jimmy, and secures Mesa Verde Bank and Trust as her exclusive client. Alarmed, Chuck summons Mesa Verde's legal team to HHM without turning off the office's power beforehand. Though he manages to persuade Mesa Verde to keep HHM, he collapses from the EHS exposure. Wanting to get back at Chuck, Jimmy visits his brother and, while he is asleep, photocopies his Mesa Verde files and doctors the address information. ("Fifi")
Chuck is mentioned by Jimmy during the celebration of his reinstatement. Jimmy contemplates throwing a promotional event selling his remaining drop phones and considers offering a 50% discount for non-violent offenders. Kim is concerned that what Jimmy is planning will encourage his clients to continue their criminal behavior and will reflect badly on Jimmy himself. He tells her that he can't go back to being regarded as "Chuck McGill's loser brother" and insists that his new identity as Saul will give him a fresh start, implying he has changed his name in order to escape from his late brother completely ("Magic Man") .
Chuck sets a trap for Jimmy to make him pay for his shenanigans.
After being house-ridden for a year and a half, Chuck begins receiving checks for $26,000 from HHM. Jimmy thinks it is in Chuck's best interest to buy out his part of the company ($17 million), as he believes that Chuck will not be returning to work due to his illness. However, Howard wants to continue paying Chuck long term, saying that it is an "extended sabbatical". On his way out, Jimmy is followed by Howard, who tries to pass along some documents for Chuck, which Jimmy declines ("Uno") .
As for the meaning, the letter contradicts Jimmy and Chuck's final conversation in season 3, where Chuck told his younger brother, "you've never mattered all that much to me.". The irony isn't lost on Jimmy, who has no discernible emotional response and sarcastically says to Kim, "The man could write a letter.".
This post contains spoilers for the Better Call Saul episode "Something Beautiful ". The latest episode of Better Call Saul reveals what Chuck wrote in his letter to Jimmy. Much of the early part of the drama's fourth season has dealt with the aftermath of the elder McGill's death, and how that tragedy affects those who were closest to him.
The latest episode of Better Call Saul ends with Jimmy reading the late Chuck's letter to him, and we break down its contents and meaning. This post contains spoilers for the Better Call Saul episode "Something Beautiful". The latest episode of Better Call Saul reveals what Chuck wrote in his letter to Jimmy.
He didn't see the Brothers McGill as equals, regardless of what he says in the letter. And since we knew going into the season Chuck's death helps further Jimmy's transformation into Saul, these words should only embolden Jimmy more by the time he's reinstated by the bar.
Chris Agar is a news editor for Screen Rant , also writing features and movie reviews for the site as one of Screen Rant's Rotten Tomatoes approved critics. He is a graduate of Wesley College's Bachelor of Media Arts and Master of Sport Leadership programs.
He was borderline annoyed by all the people expressing their condolences at Chuck's funeral, and was completely dismissive of Howard's theory that Chuck committed suicide once he was forced out of HHM. In last week's "Breathe," audiences learn what Chuck left behind for his younger sibling.
Better Call Saul makes no qualms about Chuck outright despising the fact Jimmy became a lawyer - so much so that he blocked Jimmy from getting a job at HHM (despite the gumption and ambition Jimmy demonstrated by putting himself through law school).
The worst part about it is that while Chuck formulated his plan, he assumed Jimmy would act out of love and tell him the truth. He knows that Jimmy loves him! All time low for Chuck.
A subreddit for the Breaking Bad spinoff "better Call Saul" starring Bob Odenkirk.
Yes! Exactly this! I think what Chuck did this episode was his most egregious attack. He actually thought up a plan to record Jimmy confessing. And that involved realizing that Jimmy cared about his well-being, wanted him to continue practicing law, and cared about all of that enough to be willing to admit to everything to him!
But, on the other hand, Jimmy really did cross a line there. The problem is that they're living in a Greek tragedy, they can't go on without continually escalating the conflict. However, this step probably is an escalation that is very justifiable.
Oh yeah, that good ole Jimmy, out of love for Chuck, just admitted to the felony he committed that embarrassed his brother professionally, made him question his sanity and led to the events that put him in a hospital, and that mean ole Chuck wants him to actually have to face the consequences for his for felony!