Pretty cool voiceover work in the beginning showing a father-like older brother Chuck reading to Jimmy as kids.
I agree with the Chuck synopsis. Tough to imagine he got out and the house did not burn to the ground after you watch it go so fast in the one room.
So this begs the question, if Hamlin paid Chuck out of his own pocket and yet there were no witnesses to the 3 million dollar check AND assuming Chuck never cashed the check did it ever happen? Chuck did not tell anyone and more than likely did not cash the check yet was paraded in front of the whole firm with a standing applause send off. My guess is Hamlin's next move would be to never allow Jimmy to practice under the name McGill. Something to that effect.
My guess is there will be some issue with Jimmy practicing under the McGill name simply because HHM already uses that name, and there was the big dust up when Jimmy did the billboard stunt after trying to mimic HHM right down to the pinstripe suit.
But, I think the far-reaching issue is the $3 million. What is the time-frame between that lobby farewell and him knocking over the lantern? The curious thing is, did Chuck already know that this was the end? Without the law, Chuck is nothing. That's been his life. His world. And it was just taken away. Without HHM to fight over his malpractice insurance, he couldn't really go it alone. Nor, would he want his name dragged through the mud after what happened with him on the witness stand?
So, would he even have considered cashing the check if he knew his 'life was over'? As you said, I don't think so. And without the check being issues from HHM's accountant, instead of Hamlin's own personal account, my guess is that might be all we ever hear of it.
What's left is any equity Chuck had in HHM that gets divested upon his death. That's where the stipulation from HHM about using the McGill name may come from as they intend to keep the M in the name 'in honor' of Chuck to save face for just recently kicking him to the curb, though to the firm it appears Chuck went willingly.
My second guess is Kim winds up at Hamlin. There is some major rift that will occur between her and Jimmy. You get the feel that she loves the hopeless side of Jimmy because she knows he is a good guy but I get the gist that she doesn't quite know exactly how corrupt he can be.
I watch this show and is all I can think about is how I know at least 5 Jimmy McGills. That guy whose heart is in the right place and is highly intelligent but you've learned to distance yourself from him because he cannot get out of his own way and everything he touches eventually becomes a dumpster fire.
Jimmy comes out of the Sandpiper gig doing something noble in order to save the friendships of old women that he had destroyed yet is hated by every side involved. That is Jimmy to a TEE.
I'm not sure about Kim. That sounds plausible that she winds up back at HHM. But only with a much higher position, and with Chuck gone, that could be a spot as a junior partner given her major account she handles for Mesa Verde. That alone might be enough.
As for Jimmy. Yes, I know several Jimmy's in my life who are the exact same way. They can't help but trip over their own feet no matter how hard they attempt not to. He tries so hard to be 'the good guy' despite knowing he's conning people left and right. It reminds me of Cage's character in Matchstick Men. If they give over their money willingly, he doesn't see it as a scam. It's not like he 'took' their money. And uses that same logic when he himself gets swindled in the end.
Jimmy's heading down a dark road. We know how things go in Breaking Bad. Even near the beginning, he's no saint. So, something pushes him over the edge. And though Chuck's apparent suicide may be the nudge, I think something with Kim is what completely destroys his humanity. After that, it's just surviving. As immoral and illegitimate as needed.
Though he remains oblivious about Mike's level of involvement with Gus, he is aware of it and seems to be entirely at ease with it when Walt and Jesse come to him. Though, there is a story about Jimmy's issue with why he thought someone else had drug him into the desert with his head covered to kill him.
Still really like the Nacho character. From day one he seemed more like a Gus guy than a Hector guy. Very cool and calculated. That last scene with Gus looking to him makes me wonder? I also wonder if Hector's heart attack causes the stroke that essentially incapacitates him? Will be interesting to see where the Nacho character goes from here.
The one thing about Gus is, for a crime boss, he has a very strict code, the same as Mike. Which is why I think they respect each other as much. For as much carnage as they may do, they know the rules of the game. And that's to only deal with those 'playing the game'. The outside world, like the kid on the bike in BB, is to be left untouched. They're not part of the game. They're innocent. It's that ethic, questionable as it may be, is what lured Mike into Gus's business and essentially his right hand man in Albuquerque.
Walt and Jesse (mainly Walt), meanwhile, get involved and though they start to do business with Gus, it's actually making sense why Gus wanted Walt gone. Walt was a problem. Walt had no problem with collateral damage if it benefited him. The low-on-the-totem-pole workers in prison all getting killed was entirely his doing. That's something, I think, Gus never would even consider. But, he was also precise enough he'd never let the low-on-the-totem-pole workers at his restaurants or anywhere along his distribution chain get put into a position where their deaths would be warranted.
Walt was the true problem. Mike said so shortly before he was shot. "We had a good thing," and then before Walt shot him, said that it was Walt's ego that blew everything up. Mostly, he couldn't play by the rules.