#the fact that i had to make it lalo and howard bc jimmy has practically no one in his life who cares about him anymore 💀💀💀 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cinemaocd · 2 years

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Howard Hamlin Had it Coming: Plan and Execution

OK props to the writers for this title because it works on so many levels...

This is the climax of season six. This is the high point, the successful grift, pulled off brilliantly at the last minute and ending with a blurry makeout session while on a conference call. Truly a high water mark for Gisell and Victor! They celebrate by watching Born Yesterday (someday I need to make a whole post about classic film refs in BCS) which is perfect because it is about the intelligence of a supposedly dumb person. Then Howard walks in, the dupe, the dumb guy the pretty face in the Hamlinigo blue tie, looking and sounding a lot worse for wear. He speaks his truth and dies in a terribly matter of fact way at the hand of Lalo.

I think I disagree with almost everyone in the fandom when I say that Howard actually does deserve this comeupance. There are the reasons Howard mentions: "I took Chuck's side too often, I took away Kim's office and put Kim in dock review," but there is more than that.

When the series opens Howard is the principal antagonist to Jimmy. We don't know why but Jimmy is struggling to care for his brother, he has no income, is living in nail salon and trying to get his practice off the ground. Howard offers Jimmy an allowance to help him care for his brother, but Jimmy wants to take his brother's power of attorney and take control of Chuck's money. That would have been a very bad thing, I think, but Jimmy sees it as just another way in which he is treated like a child by his brother and his brother's partner. I also can't help but wonder if Howard isn't happy with Chuck out of the way because he can run HMM like he wants to despite all appearances to the contrary. Howard seems as lost in Chuck's shadow as Jimmy is.

And there is so much more to the situation with Kim than dumping her in dock review. Remember she is the one that got Mesa Verde and they took it away from her. The patronizing way they take control of the case, and push her out of the spotlight is what drives her flight from HMM. It wasn't the office and dock review, it was taking Mesa Verde away that triggered her to leave. You can say yeah well they put her through law school, but hasn't she paid them back for that? Her years in the mailroom alone...She is an indentured servant to them and when she tries to go her own way, they slap her down and punish her.

Howard's patronizing "Charlie Hustle" crap all through Jimmy's mailroom days was enough to earn him the bowling balls. It wasn't all Howard's fault of course, but it couldn't have happened without Howard's complicity. Then there is the Howard's role in the disbarring. Again, it was mostly Chuck, but Howard facilitated and validated it and Jimmy and Kim repeatedly saw him as being in league with Chuck.

I think Jimmy has rationalized Chuck's death and completely blames Howard for forcing Chuck out of HMM. He saw the evidence that Chuck had had a complete relapse. We the audience know that was triggered by Jimmy's visit and his insincere "apology" but I don't think Jimmy can ever accept that. He clings to the fact that he was forced out of HMM at the same time.

Did Howard deserve to die? Fuck no. That was horrible. But from JImmy and Kim's perspective, Howard has always been the bad guy, always been against them, and has profited greatly from both of their hard work and talent. All they want is what is owed to them and the grift is the way to get it. They have balanced the scales by imagining the good work Kim will do with that money. The whole point of it wasn't to destroy him anyway, it was to settle the Sandpiper suit so they could get paid. And Howard sees that as "childish" but actually it makes a lot of sense given that Kim has quit Big Law and Jimmy is recovering from the disbarring. It also makes sense for the elderly residents of Sandpiper. Cliff and Howard want to get more money in theory for the residents, but how many will be around to actually enjoy it? And lets face it they want to get their payday.

I don't believe Jimmy and Kim are souless as Howard says. I think they have acted selfishly and been vindictive when they should have just moved on, but it's because they've both been patronized and put off by Howard that they've done it. When Kim makes the U turn on the highway, she is choosing revenge, not justice. Jimmy is looking to her for moral guidance (a completely unfair and imbalanced part of their relationship by the way) and she decides for them to go ahead with the grift.

I feel like the whole point of this season is the ways in which revenge destroys the people who try to enact it, how it robs them of their happiness and peace of mind and slowly consumes them and becomes far worse than the original grievance or grief. We see this with Jim and Kimmy and especially Gus and Mike as well.

#Better Call Saul #plan and execution

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