Hey now, McGilligans! It’s a sad day in the Bob Odenkirk universe as Garry Shandling, Bob’s one-time co-star on “The Larry Sanders Show,” died suddenly last week. Comedy lost a true innovator and original, so let’s take a moment of silence in his honor.
My apologies for the lo-res, it’s the best I could find. There was also a decidedly off-color clip of a phone call, but it’s a little too NSFW so I thought better of linking, but, if you can, stream either “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” or “The Larry Sanders Show” because they were both so far ahead of their time and cringe-inducingly hilarious. Plus, look how cute Bob was.
Anyway, on that sad note, previously, everyone hated everyone else for various and sundry reasons, some obvious, some not so much. But not everyone hated each other. Kim and Jimmy, despite it all, were still a thing. Especially after Schweikart suggested she hightail it out of HHM and join him at a real, posh firm. Meanwhile my OTP, Macho, had some rough going when Tio came to town and said he wouldn’t kill Kaylee and Stacey if Mike said Tuco’s gun was his, instead of just letting Tuco rot in prison like any normal-thinking person would.
Oh yeah, and even when he’s barely on the show … Chuck still sucks.
The flashbacks keep flashing further back, this time to when Jimmy was a wee little pervert pretending to sweep the floor at his father’s corner market while checking out the Playboy centerfold. Come on, Jimmy was never that classy. He was a Oui reader. Anyway, Jimmy’s perving out when a flim flam man comes in and hustles Jimmy’s dad for $5 because his car broke down and he needs the money so he can get home to his sick son.
Seriously, that’s the most pathetic story, ever, especially when the flim flam man turns down Jimmy’s father’s offer to find him some spark plugs. Jimmy may only be about 12 years old, but he can already spot a con and tries to warn his father, pointing out that everyone in the neighborhood knows he’s an easy mark. Refusing to accept that his shifty middle-schooler already understands the underbelly of society better than he does, Jimmy’s father justifies his patsiness by saying he’d rather give up the money to a con than turn down someone in need. Then he gives the guy $10 just to show Jimmy up before heading back to get the spark plugs.
Man, the Chuck didn’t fall far from their father’s tree, did he? There’s nothing wrong with telling the guy you can’t give him money but you can let him use your phone, or you can get him some spark plugs. But people who use their “piety” like a cudgel just chap my ass.
Nice guys get punched first.
Jimmy’s, too, by the way he pockets the $8 from the guy when he buys two cartons of cigarettes, paying for them from the huge wad of bills he’s likely scammed off of other marks like Jimmy’s dad. Sorry, but I’m with Jimmy on this one. The father was giving out money to every local hustler with a good sob story to the detriment of his own family. Pocket that money, little Jimmy!
Back in the present, Jimmy and Mike cross paths briefly as Jimmy represents him when he goes into the D.A.’s office to say the gun was his and nothing more. There are plenty of holes in that story but no one tries to press Mike on it because he’s Mike and terrifying in his silences.
On his way back to Santa Fe after Mike so rudely pushed Jimmy out of the elevator, he takes a moment to see if Kim’s told Howard about the S&C job. She hasn’t, she’s waiting for the offer before she springs it, because Kim’s pragmatic like that, but she’s excited. Especially since they’ll be paying off her law school loans.
Jimmy’s clearly having an existential crisis as heads back to his own personal prison: D&M’s fauxdobe offices. All this stifling respectability, and Cliff’s sneaky, thieving ways with regard to commercials, has finally become too much for Jimmy, so he calls Omar in to take down Jimmy’s letter of resignation. Omar’s disappointed because he thought Jimmy liked D&M because he worked so hard to get the gig. Why would he give up the perks so soon? Jimmy thinks the condo’s nice and the Mercedes is sweet, but he’s got the signing bonus and that’s all he needs.
The birth of Omy
Omar’s all, “yeah, about that,” it’s a contract and since if Jimmy quits he breaches it he’ll have to give the signing bonus back, in full. Jimmy doesn’t believe Omar, but Jimmy isn’t always that attentive to details so he pulls out his contract so Omar can point out the exact clause. If he quits, he pays back the bonus. Jimmy “casually” says they never had this conversation, he was just thinking out loud, no, of course he LOVES working at D&M. Omar’s a good assistant, and friend to Jimmy so he agrees.