Better Call Saul: Ethics Are Strange

The other videos in this series: (no need to watch in order)

Thanks for watching, feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts!

Post Season 6 Update: Wow.

[nont]

“Ethically? I’m sorry. I must be hearing things. Did you actually just use the word ‘ethically’ in a sentence? You are not Clarence Darrow, Saul. You’re a two bit bus bench lawyer. And you work for me.” - Walter White

[ZEPPELIN]

It wasn't until the scene when Chuck and Jimmy's mother died that I realized how deep Chuck's resentment towards Jimmy really was.

[callumcranstoun]

That line delivery of Mike saying “I broke my boy” makes me cry every time. First class acting

[SamGBSR]

To add to this, I think about 50% of jimmy’s moral calculus is “how fun / difficult would this scam be to pull off?”. He gets so wrapped up in his intricate plans and complicated schemes that the question “is this an ok thing to do?” becomes more and more irrelevant to him.

[slimbean]

Well Howard, that's your cross to bear" is one of the most brutal lines in the show, the look on Howard's face after Jimmy says that crushes me every time

[kalplays]

Jonathan Banks’ confession monologue in season one gets me choked up every time. Such phenomenal acting. One of my top favorite monologues from Film/TV.

[cheesyjamproductions]

I don't think Gus was threatening Mike. When he said "I believe that you understand revenge, " he's probably referring to when Mike tried to kill Hector out of revenge for that Good Samaritan. Gus even says at the time "I am not unsympathetic to your sense of justice." I doubt he even has any idea that Mike killed those two cops, or would even care.

Great video, very excited for part 3!

[davidci]

This show has proved time and time again how much nuance there really is in reality. It's true that Jimmy is wrong and that Chuck is right, it's also true that Chuck is wrong and Jimmy is right, and that it's also true that both of these statements can be true all at once. Ethics is such a strange thing, and this show uses it so incredibly well. Can't wait for you to talk more about Kim, Nacho, and Howard soon too!

[aarondeemer]

16:30 I think the "biblical feel" of Jimmy and Chuck's relationship is actually a strong parallel to the parable of the Prodigal Son. Growing up, Chuck was the one walking the straight and narrow, while his brother was a wastrel. And yet, the approval Chuck sought from his parents for his good behavior always eluded him. Meanwhile Jimmy, who Chuck believed should have been punished for his bad behavior, was always forgiven.
The deathbed scene taken in this context is all about the jealousy of the eldest son toward the prodigal. His mother reminded him that not only was he not favored over Jimmy, possibly Jimmy was favored over him. Jealousy turns to anger, and that's why he refused to tell Jimmy of his mother's dying words.

[BradsGonnaPlay]

I think Howard is truly the most tragic character in the whole series.
One of his oldest friends, Chuck, used him to stamp down on Jimmy and Kim, which in turn led to their unquenchable hatred for the man, resulting in the downfall of his personal life through lies, scams, and outright assault with drugs that ended up sending him to Jimmy and Kim right as Lalo showed up… and to the end, he always took the high road where he could and attempted to better himself.

[brandonellis]

"Howard, that's your cross to bare". Poor Howard never had a chance, along with Nacho.

[cutthroat]

26:11 I actually have a somewhat similar real world experience from my grandpa. My grandpa was a police officer for the Unified Police department (deparment responsible for several of Salt Lake city, Utah's suburbs) in the 1980's. There was actually a fellow cops who hit and ran after killing an kid while under the influence of alcohol. During the internal investigation, my grandpa was assigned to it. Well, upon discovering it was that cop, the other cops in the department told my grandpa told him that if he went through with it. My grandpa would find himself in need of backup and none of them would respond. In essence, they told my grandpa that they were going to let him die. So, my grandpa ended up quitting.

[scilines]

One of the great things about this show is that the characters are all flawed and morally gray— which is realistic. Life is not black or white. Awesome vid.

[andreassopart]

Jimmy repeating the advice of Mike and completely butchering it to fit his own warped image of the world is truly a fantastic detail that makes me love this show, and wish that everyone else would appreciate the small things in the same way.

[nont]

Jimmy is such a very complex character to understand and you nailed it with these videos.
I mean, in case of Walter White, it was clear that he is evil but in case of Jimmy, he is more grey and some of his unethical and ethical moments happened simultaneously that it can’t be separated from each other.

[aldrinmilespartosa]

The sad part of her mother dying, that chucks perspective holds him to not see it is that her mother calls jimmy and not chuck because he was the one gone... she probably wanted to see BOTH of her dearest sons together for the very last time.

Chuck can't see that, it instead fuels his hated of his brother even more after that which is tragic.

[wonder_platypus]

"Since I think limitations can be kinda beautiful in like a ritualistic kind of way."

Yes. Just Yes. Hopefully you meant this in the way I took it because I just love those moments when someone else says something you've been thinking for ages.

When I see artists making their work in a specific medium because it calls to them. That's just freaking beautiful. Maybe its someone using dice to construct a mural. Or maybe its those books that are written without the letter "E." You know those people truly had a passion and wanted to get their minds out into the world in a truly unique way. Art is mind reading. Artists are just telepathic in a very specific medium.

We rely our minds and souls into writing, sculpting, movies and videos. Hell MUSIC. Music is a way in which we literally put emotion into other people's minds.

Art is beautiful.

[daltonrothchild]

The whole part about Chuck’s illness and the internalized stigmatization of mental health issues really hit hard. Very well put.

[hpalpha]

42:55 when Saul asked Mike "when does this go away" I guess on the surface he was asking about working for the cartel, but I think what he really *meant* was his trauma. He gets triggered when Kim is making orange juice, and he loses an easy case in court, and he realized that trauma is ruining his life. Mike picks this up immediately and tells him it gets easier, and some day he will forget about it

[rozohwell]

I don't usually leave comments on video essays but dude, your analysis of BCS, your grasp of ethics and your ability to verbalise your thoughts in understandable ways is such an amazing skill. I loved every minute of this!