Pimento
Written and directed by Thomas Schnauz
Air date: March 30th, 2015
"The law is sacred! If you abuse that power, people get hurt!"
"People don't change. You’re Slippin’ Jimmy! And Slippin’ Jimmy I can handle just fine, but Slippin’ Jimmy with a law degree is like a chimp with a machine gun!"
— Chuck McGill
Jimmy sits outside with Chuck, comforting him over leaving his house without any apparent EHS symptoms. They go back to work on the Sandpiper Crossing lawsuit. Jimmy wins in court when he argues against Sandpiper's temporary restraining order, but comes back to Chuck's to see that Sandpiper has swamped the McGills in paperwork. Chuck convinces Jimmy that the only way to win this case is to bring it to HHM, which can handle large lawsuits. Although Jimmy has vehement objections, he reluctantly agrees. "Hail Satan. I submit to the dark side." That night, Chuck ventures out to his mailbox and picks up Jimmy's phone inside, making a call to someone...
Jimmy assists Chuck by adding a space-blanket lining to his suit for his brother's grand return to HHM, but not before noticing his phone is dead. Chuck is greeted with a round of applause in HHM's lobby. Howard is eager to take the case off Jimmy's hands, but wants to prevent Jimmy's employment at HHM by buying him off with a small counsel's fee and a percentage of the final settlement. "The partners have made a decision." Jimmy angrily quashes the deal. When Kim confronts Howard about it, he reminds her of her place before relenting and privately telling her the truth. Kim goes to the nail salon that night and tells Jimmy, in tears, to take the deal with no elaboration.
Mike takes up Caldera's offer for work and waits in a parking garage alongside two other bodyguards. He banters with an aggressive bodyguard, Sobchak, over having a gun. When their client "Pryce" arrives, Sobchak reveals that Mike doesn't have a gun and dares Mike to take one of his; he easily dispatches Sobchak, prompting the other bodyguard to flee. Pryce, who has clearly never broken the law before, takes Mike alone to his drug deal, who offers advice to him when the buyer arrives: Nacho Varga. Despite everything going smoothly, the payment is twenty dollars short, so Mike insists Nacho honor the deal. When Pryce questions his willingness to break the deal over a small amount, Mike explains he researched Nacho ahead of time and knew he was conducting the transaction without Tuco's knowledge; thus, he had an incentive to ensure things went smoothly. "If you're gonna be a criminal, do your homework." Pryce is taken aback at hearing this word used to describe him, insisting he is not a bad guy. Mike says he never called him a bad guy. "You’re now a criminal; good one, bad one, that’s up to you."
Jimmy goes back to Chuck's and tells him that he'll take the case to HHM. Furthermore, he asks that Chuck threaten to leave HHM to force Howard to hire him. When Chuck hesitates, Jimmy angrily reveals that he knows Chuck doesn't want him at HHM, as he knows that Chuck called Howard before the meeting. Chuck admits he has never regarded Jimmy as a peer, owing to his conman's past and unconventional legal training. Heartbroken, Jimmy tells Chuck he brought enough supplies to last him a few days, and after that, he's on his own. He walks out without a glance back.
Tropes:
- Acceptable Breaks from Reality: Daniel Wormald hand-counts through a stack of cash that's clearly at least ten thousand dollars and determines in less than fifteen seconds that Nacho is twenty dollars short. Impossible, but preferable to a scene of Mike and Nacho staring at each other for ten minutes while Daniel counts through every bill.
- Accidental Pun: While the name "Pimento" comes from Mike's sandwich, "Pimento" also means "dark place" in Finnish, where the most common usage of the word is "Pitää pimennossa", which in turn translates into "to keep (someone) in the dark", which is exactly what Chuck has been doing.
- Actor Allusion: Steven Ogg makes a cameo as the cocky, loud-mouthed thug in the parking lot scene. His mannerism closely recalls another well-known character portrayed by Ogg: Trevor Phillips, probably the most psychotic and trigger-happy protagonist of the whole Grand Theft Auto franchise so far. The message to the audience is crystal clear: despite his age, Mike is so badass that he can outclass, disarm and take down even Trevor. With a single swift motion. While being held at gunpoint!
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear if Nacho's initial payment for Daniel's pills was short twenty dollars by accident or not. It could easily have been a mistake on Nacho's part, as the deal was for tens of thousands of dollars, but it's possible that it was intentional and meant to test Daniel to see what Nacho could get away with in the future. When Nacho asks Mike if actually thinks he'd try to rip Daniel off of a measly twenty dollars, Mike merely says that he's not saying that, rather than assuring him that he knows that that's not the case.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: It really doesn't matter how skilled or badass you are, grabbing a man's gun while it's pointed directly at you is a very bad idea. Someone in Mike's situation in Real Life would have likely died very unceremoniously from trying what he did.
- Awful Truth: Chuck has been sabotaging Jimmy's attempts to become a bonafide lawyer behind the scenes while pretending to respect and support him as a fellow lawyer. Kim is so shell-shocked from finding this out that when she goes to meet Jimmy, she can only tell him shakily while fighting tears to take the deal, for his own good.
- Batman Gambit: Mike employs one to grab all three fees for Daniel's job for himself. He guesses correctly that he can antagonize Sobchak into a confrontation he can't win. He also correctly guesses the other hired criminal, Mountain Man, will hightail it out of the garage after being intimidated by the display. He did his research on Nacho beforehand, and therefore learned that Nacho is doing side jobs behind Tuco's back. He therefore knew that a gun wouldn't even be needed for Daniel's job, as Nacho wants the transaction to go as smoothly as possible without any word of it reaching Tuco.
- Bullying the Dragon: Sobchak spends his entire introduction picking on Mike, not knowing that he's got decades more experience of their kinda work than he does. Their confrontation culminates in Mike disarming one of Sobchak's guns and then punching him in the throat, all without breaking a sweat.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The cocky, macho, multiple gun-toting bodyguard taunts Mike into trying to disarm him. Boy, does he regret it.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mike."Pimento is a cheese. They call it the caviar of the south."
- Determinator: A tragic, negative example. Jimmy points out how dead-set Chuck is about sabotaging him and his legal career by pointing out how painful it must have been for him to voluntarily use his phone to make the call to Howard, as despite his 'training' and demonstrated lack of reaction when his mind's distracted, when he's aware of his surroundings, Chuck's EMS delusions still cause him considerable pain, that he nonetheless weathered just to undermine Jimmy's efforts behind his back. He sounds positively horrified and confused that Chuck went through that much effort voluntarily just to backstab him and render his hard work all for naught, and for a reason he can't fathom.Jimmy: Phone must have felt like a blowtorch in your ear, all that electricity, all those radio waves right up against the side of your head, my god!?
- Dirty Coward: Chuck doesn't have the guts to stand up to Jimmy directly and tell him why he doesn't want him as a lawyer until Jimmy more or less corners him into it.
- Disarm, Disassemble, Destroy: Despite being a senior, Mike's hands are still lightning quick.
- Doing Research: Mike looks into Nacho's situation closely before the deal with Daniel that he's been hired to assist with. Discovering that Nacho is doing the deal without the knowledge of his boss (Tuco), Mike knows that Nacho cannot afford for the meeting to go badly. A shootout, or any kind of violence at all, would potentially get Tuco's attention and alert him to the fact that someone is working on his turf, which could very easily lead back to Nacho, and would almost certainly end with Tuco killing him. Therefore, Mike feels comfortable not bringing a gun to the meet, being the lone bodyguard on Daniel's side, and even threatening to blow up the deal over twenty dollars, as he knows Nacho needs the exchange to happen as cleanly and smoothly as possible.
- Everyone Has Standards: Zig-zagged with Kim Wexler. She's understandably confused and a little irritated that Howard refuses to let Jimmy be part of HHM while also trying to pay him off by taking his own case to boot, and lets her boss know right to his face. When she learns why Howard didn't let Jimmy on though, she ends up pressuring Jimmy to accept Howard's deal anyway, although she's clearly extremely upset that Jimmy has no other choice in the matter.
- Evil Is Petty: When Pryce sees that Nacho's payment for his drugs was 20 dollars short, Mike orders Nacho to pay him the full amount. Nacho grabs a $20 bill and deliberately drops it right before Pryce could grab it, making him chase after it when it gets caught in a breeze.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Jimmy could already barely handle being rejected by HHM again, but he gets much more upset when Kim tries to get him to take the deal. He hopes that at the very least she wasn't bought off "cheap" by Howard. Then he realizes who's really been behind HHM's rejections and is absolutely devastated when he confronts Chuck over it.
- Foreshadowing:
- As well as Chuck actually using a phone before the meeting, Howard glances at Chuck (when Chuck is pretending to be on Jimmy's side) when the meeting is done.
- Mike's speech to Daniel about how a person can be a good person despite being a criminal or a bad person despite being law-abiding (or even law-enforcing) alludes to the Jimmy-Chuck dynamic that starts at the end of the episode. Jimmy is willing to bend the rules, scam people, and even break the law so long as nobody is truly getting hurt, and often does these things for a greater good or to correct an injustice. Chuck has never broken a law in his life and believes strongly in ethics, but proves to be perfectly willing to hurt and belittle innocent people, and even a family member who essentially devotes his life to caring for him, in pursuit of whatever he believes best serves ethics and justice.
- Given Name Reveal: Nacho's first name is revealed to be "Ignacio" in this episode. What makes this a particularly notable reveal is that this ties Nacho in with Jimmy's future as Saul Goodman, recalling that in his first appearance in Breaking Bad, he was bound up and taken to the desert and immediately started screaming "No, no! It wasn't me, it was Ignacio!"note
- Hard Work Hardly Works: The source of Chuck's anger, as it turns out: he resents that Jimmy was able to become a practicing lawyer despite having to do far less work for it.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: The big revelation of the episode — Chuck never respected Jimmy as a lawyer and has been actively working to keep him down.
- Honor Before Reason: Chuck is so convinced that Jimmy isn't a real lawyer and can't treat the law with the respect that it deserves, that he'd allow HHM to lose a massive class action lawsuit worth millions of dollars rather than allow Jimmy a job at the firm.
- Hope Spot: With Jimmy's aid and encouragement, Chuck gradually begins the steps towards overcoming his electromagnetic sensitivity issues, making a triumphant return to HHM and even being inspired to go for a walk around the block. However, Jimmy discovers his brother's betrayal and severs all ties with him, which as seen in subsequent episodes effectively brings Chuck back to square one on his mental state.
- I Gave My Word: To Mike, the core of being a 'good' person, regardless of what side of the law you're on, is to keep your word when you give it. Part of the reason why he's such a stickler for Nacho paying the full amount for Daniel's pills.
- Ironic Echo: In "Rico", Jimmy hopefully prods Chuck with "well, are you proud of me?". In this episode, after he learns the Awful Truth, he mournfully says "I thought you were proud of me."
- Mood Whiplash: Jimmy plays excited little brother telling Chuck he can fake quitting to get Howard to give Jimmy the job, only for his voice to get louder and angrier as he goes on, revealing he realised that Chuck was the one sabotaging him.
- Noble Demon: Mike discusses the concept with Daniel immediately after the deal with Nacho. Mike refers to Daniel as a criminal, as he has stolen a significant supply of drugs from his work and sold them for profit, and Daniel protests that he's not a bad guy. Mike explains that it's possible to be a good criminal, just as it's possible to be a bad cop, and that it's up to Daniel what kind of criminal he's going to be.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Kim learns the truth as to why Howard Hamlin refused to let Jimmy become part of HHM, she loses her Consummate Professional composure when she begs her friend to take the deal, barely stopping short of apologetic.
- Pet the Dog: When Jimmy goes to Chuck's house to confront him in the climatic scene, he's basically already figured out that Chuck is the one who is behind him not getting hired by HHM, and intends to stop working as Chuck's caretaker going forward. He does, however, bring a lot of supplies for Chuck when he goes, as he still wants Chuck to have a few days worth of food and gas while he looks for someone else to make deliveries.
- Pseudo-Crisis: The last episode ended with a dramatic moment of Chuck realizing that he was outside and him dropping his box of papers. This episode opens with him and Jimmy sitting relaxed on a park bench.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chuck gives Jimmy an impassioned one at the end of the episode about how he's not a real lawyer.
- The Reveal: Jimmy and the audience finally discover that it's not Howard but Chuck who's been keeping Jimmy from working at HHM. Chuck admits that he's never respected Jimmy as a lawyer.
- Trying Not to Cry:
- Kim is visibly tearing up as she begs Jimmy to take Howard's deal, clearly feeling sorry for her friend.
- When he's finding out the truth, Jimmy goes from anger to disbelief to trembling and looking five seconds away from bursting into tears.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: A very non-positive example. Chuck would rather risk his own law firm missing out on a slam dunk multi-million dollar case than hire Jimmy to work at the firm, because he's that convinced that Jimmy doesn't deserve to be a lawyer.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- The giant bodyguard's reaction after Mike kicks the macho one's ass is to leave.
- Jimmy does this as well, after The Reveal, he gives a cold summation of all of Chuck's supplies and tells him that "he's on is own" and exits his house, leaving his role as a caretaker for Chuck.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Chuck believes that Jimmy, even after years of keeping on the straight and narrow while working in HHM's mailroom, is not capable of actually being an ethical person and will go back to his old conman ways as soon as he's given the opportunity. Believing that becoming a lawyer will provide just that opportunity, Chuck refuses to hire him as one at HHM, which forces Jimmy to start from the bottom rung as a public defendant. After years of grinding out terrible cases for meager pay and failing to land any clients of actual significance, Jimmy becomes desperate and...goes back to his old conman ways to jump start his career. By the time Jimmy is actually hired at a reputable law firm and seems to have his career on the right track, he's already learned of Chuck's deception and no longer idolizes him, so he almost immediately tanks the job and has nothing holding him back from beginning his transformation into what we see him as in Breaking Bad.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- However intelligent and tenacious the McGill brothers might be, they are still only two lawyers facing against a major law firm. Sandpiper's lawyers dump so much paperwork on them that they cannot realistically complete the case on their own. The only way they could win the case in a reasonable time frame is getting help from another law firm (i.e. HHM).
- Averted in the scene where Mike kicks Sobchak's ass. In Real Life, it is generally extremely ill advised to try and grab someone's gun when it's right in your face, no matter how skilled you are. If Mike wasn't a TV character with Plot Armor, he likely would have gotten a bullet in the brain.
- Underestimating Badassery: Sobchak is so cocky and self-assured that he believes he'll handle Mike without any trouble. Anybody who's watched Mike in action during Breaking Bad will know Sobchak is about to get his ass handed back to him in style.
- Wham Episode: Jimmy discovers that it is Chuck who's been sabotaging all of his attempts to practice law at HHM all along. The episode ends with Jimmy leaving Chuck's house, apparently never to return.
- Wham Line:Chuck: You're not a real lawyer.
