It’s weird to offer a job to a man, and in return have bowling balls thrown at your
car, and prostitutes sent to your business lunch.
Will Howard Hamlin put up a fight?
Kim and Jimmy have been plotting against poor Howard since the Season 5 finale, or rather,
Kim has been plotting and she’s been gently pushing Jimmy to go along.
Big picture, they are looking to ruin Howard’s reputation to get their hands on McGill’s
cut of the Sandpiper payout sooner.
While the end game scope of their plan remains unknown, to date they’ve planted a baggy
of baby powder on Howard, they tricked the Kettlmans into spreading the rumor that Howard
is a wild cokehead, and they also orchestrated a dramatic scene to make it appear as if Howard
ejected a hooker from his car.
They are trying to create the illusion that Howard is a wild hooker loving functional
degenerate who is nose deep in the Devil’s dandruff.
While rumors of cokehead Howard have undoubtedly now made their way through the grapevine of
his professional peers, so far the main target, in terms of showmanship and theatrics, has
been Cliff.
Without knowing the finer details of exactly what Kimmy and Jim are trying to accomplish
here, it feels like a pretty shitty plan.
Even if Cliff is 100% convinced that Howard is this wild hooker lovin’ cokehead, it
shouldn’t take much explaining for Howard to convince him of his innocence.
The baggy of baby powder, the Kettlemans complaining about Howard being all coked up, Wendy getting
thrown out of the car, or even the ladies of the night from last season, which predate
Kim’s current scheme - the bottom line is, Howard already figured out that scumbag Jimmy
was the one who vandalized his car with bowling balls, and Howard already figured out that
scumbag Jimmy was the one who sent a couple of hookers to embarrass him.
Unless Howard proves to be a complete and total moron outside of his practice, it should
be pretty easy for him to figure out Jimmy is behind this, especially if Cliff saw the
hooker flying out of the car when he just so happened to be at an outdoor meeting with
Kim.
Then with the baby powder baggy, there were several witnesses who SAW McGill in there,
hootin’ and hollerin’ and makin’ a big scene with outrageous claims of anti-Semitism
- Kevin saw him, as did others.
And if Cliff and Howard have a long enough chat about all of this, I’m sure Howard
will remember Jimmy’s prior connection to that scumbag Kettlemans.
So without knowing what Kimmy and Jim are hoping to accomplish with all of this, it
doesn’t seem like a particularly good plan.
But right now, the scheming duo are acting as if this is a huge slam dunk!
They view Howard as a spineless wimp.
Are Wexler and Goodman perhaps underestimating Howard Hamlin?
I think they might be.
Consider another character from the Breaking Bad universe who was long viewed as a total
wimp, the one and only Walter White.
Walt’s DEA brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, had countless reasons to suspect Walt of being
Heisenberg along the way.
But the entire time, Hank was absolutely oblivious.
Walt was never once on his radar because Hank grossly underestimated Walt, viewing him as
nothing more than a little wimp, an egghead, an easy pushover, someone who lacked the mettle
to handle himself like a man in a difficult situation.
When the missing equipment from Walt’s school was connected to meth, Hank didn’t give
Walt a second thought.
Even long after when Walt was supposedly making a small fortune in illegal gamling, leasing
new fancy cars from him and Walt Jr, sporting a nice new watch, and having his OWN CHILDREN
live with Hank and Marie - Hank had no idea.
Hank still saw Walt as a little wimp.
Does that not remind you of the way Kimmy Corleone and Saul Goodman now view Howard?
They view Howard as an easy target, a total pushover, a complete wimp!
And as far as we know, they may be correct.
Outside of his ample expertise in the law, Howard hardly seems like someone who was ever
in the game, and he definitely seems to lack street smarts based on what we’ve seen.
Sure, he’s got perfect hair, he struts around like an elitist big wig, and he knows his
field.
Incidentally, I think Goodman was jealous of Howard when Wendy praised his fake hair.
Even if Howard is unable to convince Cliff that he is the victim of Kimmy and Goodman,
there is another thing worth considering here.
Walt may have grown past the point of being a wimp after he initially made the choice
to break bad, but there is ample evidence that he was indeed a wimp prior to his cancer
diagnosis.
It was when Walt hit rock bottom that he made the choice to break bad, and all of his intellect
helped him in making the transition into Heisenberg, criminal mastermind.
Not only is Howard Hamlin an intellectual giant like Walter White, but Howard seems
like he isn’t far off from hitting rock bottom, either.
Reaching that point where he has nothing to lose.
We know Howard is having problems with Cheryl, and it would be a little convenient for Kim
and Jimmy if Howard’s marital trouble just so happened to be because he was a wilder
hooker-lovin degenerate nose-deep in the Devil’s dandruff.
And I’m also thinking it probably has nothing to do with past sexual relations between Howard
and Kim, or Howard and anyone, although such a revelation would certainly thicken the plot.
But whatever trouble Howard has been experiencing with Cheryl, you have to believe these are
bad times for Howard, despite his enthusiasm over a new client.
In a very real way, Howard is probably still dealing with the guilt for his role in Chuck’s
demise, which has LESS to do with him buying Chuck out when he did, and MORE to do with
ignoring Chuck’s mental illness, the same as Kim, the same as Jimmy.
We can safely assume that one of the only things Howard has left going for him is his
professional reputation, the very thing that Kimmy and Jim are threatening.
When you consider the fact that they are effectively dismissing Howard as a total wimp, and you
consider the fact that Howard may soon reach the point where he has nothing to lose, I
think that strongly suggests that Kimmy and Jim are indeed underestimating Howard, and
I imagine that they might be underestimating him a great deal.
When Jimmy pulled his immature nonsense on Howard last season, it was in response to
Howard kindly offering him a job at HHM.
Jimmy perceived it as something condescending and disrespectful, so he damaged his car and
embarrassed him in front of Cliff.
But I think the reality is, Howard wasn’t being condescending or disrespectful.
I think he was genuinely trying to make amends with Jimmy because of the way he had treated
him previously, where Howard was just remaining loyal to the firm and loyal to his mentor
Chuck.
On some level McGill knows that what they’re doing to Howard is WRONG, and he has hesitated
several times on this, but as usual - the constant throughout the entire series holds
true, Kimmy ultimately gets her way and nudges Jimmy to do what she wants far more often
than not, including here.
Howard actually was helpful in getting McGill the job at Davis & Main, where Jimmy later
gets himself fired after they were unhappy he ran the commercial.
This was all on the Sandpiper case, and it led to tension between Howard and Kim - once
again, almost certainly Howard was acting at least in large part under the direction
of Chuck.
Kim and Howard had other tensions following this long after she left HHM, where she repaid
him the college tuition the firm put out, because she resented Howard holding that over
her.
She also clashed heads with Howard in the aftermath of Chuck’s suicide, where her,
Howard, and Jimmy were passing around their guilt over Chuck like a hot potato.
That guilt still looms.
Howard’s #1 priority was the firm, so he didn’t want Chuck committed because it endangered
the firm.
Kim knew he needed help, but she didn’t advise Jimmy, even if she knew a little push
was all he needed to do the right thing.
But the bulk of the blame is squarely on Jimmy, because he had the power to give Chuck the
help he needed, but his unwavering desire to please and gain the approval of his big
brother prevented him from doing the right thing.
Will his desire NOW to please Kim and obtain HER approval once again prevent him from doing
the right thing?
Kim began growing darker after she was exposed by Acker, but she really began breaking bad
after Jimmy’s incident as the bag man, where Kimmy now has two feet firmly planted in the
game, and she is damn good at the game.
All the same, I believe the evidence strongly suggests that despite being bad-asses in the
game, Kimmy Corleone and Saul Goodman are grossly underestimating that wimp Howard Hamlin,
not unlike Hank previously underestimated that wimp Walter White.
A lot of fans have been wondering what Lalo has been up to since we last saw him, but
I’m wondering what Howard may have been up to, aside from the visit to his therapist.
Surely Howard is one smart cookie, and I believe he will provide strong resistance to those
scheming scumbags.
At the end of the day, the only thing Howard has truly ever been guilty of is loyalty to
the firm that his old man helped build.
That’s it!
Howard does NOT deserve what Kimmy and Goodman are trying to do to him, they are the scumbags
in this situation, and Howard is the honorable player here.
The true hero perhaps.
Except that in order to thwart the scheming designs of Wexler-Goodman, Howard might have
to get a little down and dirty himself.
But one way or another, I’m expecting Howard to put up a helluva fight!
I think Howie has a couple of big time powerhouse aces up his sleeve, even if I suspect things
will ultimately end very badly for poor Howard.
So what do you think?
Will Howard Hamlin put up a fight?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
WAR HOWARD!
Tight, tight, tight, tight!
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
Tell me why!
You didn’t want me then, OK.
You don’t want me NOW?
Explain it!
I always liked you Jimmy.
Remember?
I used to call you Charlie Hustle.
Yeah, I remember that.
He might never be able to practice law again.
I mean he doesn’t deserve that, and who knows if we can pull it off.
I was thinking about our first move, on the Howard front.
We’re doing that?
I thought we were, aren’t we?
We’re not talking about a bar trick here.
We’re talking about scorched Earth.
We’re talking about a career setback.
Why do you do all of this?
We’re doing the Lord’s work here.
If you say so.
Be seeing you.
OK, you would not be okay with it.
Wouldn’t I?
I don’t know them.
Ladies, I don’t know you.
This is some sort of mistake.
Yeah we made a mistake alright.
You can’t take a ride on the Carnival Cruise and only pay for a tugboat.
Mm-hmm.
You know what I’m saying?
I can leave if you need?
No, no!
Look…
I don’t know any Joe Dawg or Tugboat, so we can end this right now.
We ain’t leaving without our cash money.
It’s weird to offer a job to a man, and in return have bowling balls thrown at your
car, and prostitutes sent to your business lunch.
You really, you really had me going there.
Laugh if you want.
But no person in their right mind would behave the way Jimmy has.
Not the first time I’ve seen one of those unfortunately.
Well where did it come from?
Didn’t it just fall out of your locker?
The substance in question being a certain illegal white powder.
That awful woman with the ponytail is a cocaine addict?
No!
Not Kim Wexler!
No!
Howard Hamlin?
Oh you don’t see it right away.
He’s very high functioning.
He’s living a life outside his life.
Yes he is.
As they sometimes say.
Yep.
Son of a bitch!
You twisted empty piece of shit.
Wasn’t that Howard?
I just need you to know that I know.
It wasn’t me Cliff.
No, no, it’s just heavy.
That’s why they hire men.
Looks like Keith Richards with a glass of warm milk, doesn’t he?
The magic phrase is ineffective assistance of counsel.
If your guy wasn’t nose deep in the Devil’s dandruff…
You have the power to help your brother, truly help him.
Ignoring this won’t make it go away.
In the end you’re going to hurt everyone around you.
You can’t help it.
So stop apologizing and just accept it.
I’m so far beyond you!
I’m like a God in human clothing!
Lighting bolts shoot from my fingertips!
You can get so caught up in the idea of winning, that you forget to listen to your heart.
At the end of it he might never be able to practice law again.
I mean he doesn’t deserve that.
What?
I really like your hair.
It’s not, thank you
Cheryl still won’t talk about anything important.
You tried what we discussed?
Yes.
Yes, I did.
You understood what I’ve just said to you?
Yes.
Lung cancer.
Inoperable.
What is this?
That my friend is Albuquerque's public enemy #1
It’s weird to offer a job to a man, and in return have bowling balls thrown at your
car, and prostitutes
You’re done!
You are done!.