So he puts into play an elaborate fake out, quitting Davis and Main, acting for all the world like he has given up and finally accepts his own limitations, and Jimmy falls for it like one of the suckers he scams at bars. He knows how far Jimmy will go to help him, and in the same way that Jimmy exploited Chuck’s weaknesses two weeks ago, now it’s Chuck’s turn to do the same. He knows that deep compassion and caring exist side by side with Jimmy’s morally flexible tendencies. This episode proves once and for all that Chuck understands Jimmy perfectly. For a long time I thought that Chuck’s problem was a fundamental misunderstanding of his brother compounded by jealousy and spite. This season has done beautiful, complex work in making us understand both of their perspectives, but now, when all is said and done, a brutal reality has become clear. What is so powerful about this finale is what it proves about both Jimmy and Chuck. Which makes the outcome of the episode just that much more tragic. Of course Jimmy would put Chuck’s welfare ahead of everything else. Even the big question last week of whether Jimmy would run in or not was swiftly proved moot.
As Ernie says, Chuck is out to get Jimmy no matter what, and Jimmy’s lingering love for his brother has blinded him to the lengths Chuck will go to.
He cares too much to recognise that Chuck, like a legal Terminator, cannot be reasoned with. Even so, Jimmy still spends twenty hours by his brother’s bedside after he sinks into a self-imposed catatonia, and despite a perfect opportunity to have Chuck committed and out of the way it’s clear that Jimmy means it when he says his guardianship is temporary. A bit knocked up, a bit frazzled by all the lights and electricity in the hospital, but medically completely fine. Chuck, as it turns out, is more or less fine. Last week, I was sure that Chuck would be either dead or incapacitated, but naturally Better Call Saul took the route I never really considered and made it seem like the only possible outcome.