Warning! SPOILERS for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 10.
Better Call Saul's Gene-centric episode "Nippy" proves that Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) still feels guilty about the death of his brother Chuck (Michael McKean). Chuck took his own life in Better Call Saul season 3, episode 10 "Lantern" after Jimmy had publicly ruined his reputation in court. The public revelations about the nature of Chuck's psychological condition led Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) to suggest he retire from the firm of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill.
In the immediate aftermath of Chuck's death, Jimmy withdrew into himself, showing none of the flashier and charismatic aspects of his character that would create Saul Goodman. Jimmy clearly felt guilty about his role in Chuck's tragic suicide in Better Call Saul season 3. However, he appeared to absolve himself of this guilt at the end of Better Call Saul season 4, episode 1 "Smoke," when Howard admitted to forcing Chuck out of HHM. Jimmy quickly shifted the blame onto Howard, further fueling his distaste for the lawyer that would ultimately lead to Howard's death at the hands of Lalo Salamanca. However, a brief moment in the flashforward to Jimmy's new life as Gene Takavic heavily implies that he still feels guilty for Chuck's death.
Better Call Saul season 6, episode 10 "Nippy" jumps even further in time than episode 9's Saul Goodman time jump: into the Gene Takavic timeline. Resolving to deal with Albuquerque cab driver Jeff on his own terms, Gene briefly resurrects the Slippin' Jimmy/Saul Goodman character to neutralize this threat to his new identity. Jeff is therefore offered a lucrative place on Gene/Jimmy's Cinnabon mall scam in what is later revealed to be "mutually assured destruction" to ensure Jeff's silence. The scam sees Gene embrace his Saul Goodman and Slippin' Jimmy personas, but as he distracts a mall security guard, these masks slip and reveal James M McGill and his guilt over his brother's death.
Why Gene Really Brought Up His Past As Slippin' Jimmy
In a tense moment, Jeff takes a bad fall while robbing the mall's expensive department store. Unlike Slippin' Jimmy, Jeff's fall isn't part of the plan and risks exposing the whole scam, as well as Gene's true identity. It's at that moment that Gene has to think quickly in order to distract the security guard from checking on the mall's CCTV feed. Gene distracts the mall security guard with a tearful and emotional monologue about his loneliness and the failures in his life. It works, but there's also a deeper reason that Gene chooses this course of action. As Gene, Jimmy gets to unload his regrets about the way he lived his life as both Slippin' Jimmy and Saul Goodman.
Gene asks Frank (Jim O'Heir) if he has a wife waiting for him at home. When Frank replies in the affirmative, Gene responds with "I got no one" in reference to the end of Kim and Jimmy's destructive relationship in the previous episode. He tells Frank that his mother and father are dead. Subsequently, in the most revealing moment, he mentions Chuck. "My brother..." he begins, before dropping his glistening eyes to the table, mournfully. "My brother is dead." he continues, barely able to get the words out. It's a subtle moment in Bob Odenkirk's performance, but it speaks volumes about the guilt that Jimmy still feels for Chuck's death. With Howard dead, Jimmy has nobody left to blame but himself and is forced to confront this guilt during his isolation in Omaha. By jumping further forward in the timeline, Better Call Saul's confessional speech lays bare the impact of the prequel's events on James McGill and the devastating personal consequences of Saul Goodman's criminality.
Better Call Saul continues Monday on AMC.