Oh where’s my brain?
I keep forgetting to ask you about Nippy.
Nippy?
Oh!
Oh, right.
Well…
One thing that always made Slippin' Jimmy an effective con artist is his ability to
prey on the gullible and exploit their weaknesses.
He could easily identify sheep, and this dates back to the lesson young Jimmy learned from
the culprit who played his old man for a sucker.
Wolves and sheep.
Frank is a perfect example of the gullible sheep Slippin’ Jimmy thrived on.
Frank was gullible, he was predictable, and he was easy to distract.
Just bring him a cinnamon bun and pretend you know a little bit about college football,
and simply watch as Frank Sienfelds his way through the tasty treat with a fork and a
knife.
Not only was Frank simple and predictable, but he wasn’t particularly bright, always
facing away from the security monitors while he indulged.
There are many examples of Jimmy targeting gullible sheep, people like Frank, people
like his old man.
The Kettlemans largely fit the bill too, but another example would be Irene Landry.
Jimmy’s initial plan to get Sandpiper settled early was to manipulate Irene, and when he
was unable to convince her to go against Erin’s advice, Jimmy unleashed a mean spirited ploy
that turned Irene’s friends against her.
This wound up proving to be an example that Jimmy wasn’t all wolf at this point.
He felt guilty about what he had done, and he orchestrated another scheme to make things
right, which hurt his own reputation in the process.But Irene, like Frank - they were
both sheep like Jimmy’s old man in the sense they all blindly trusted the good nature of
others.
Right out of the gate Marion was something completely different, immediately shown to
be a strong independent woman.
If she needed a hand she’d ask for it!
She’s sharp as a tack, and she calls out the cold cuts guy for overshooting her on
the last pastrami order.
Marion is inquisitive, and she knows her tastes.
Jimmy always had a magical way of connecting with the elderly.
So he used Marion as a key part of his plan to get to Jeff.
And she proved to have a heart, inquiring about poor Nippy.
Marion was an important part of Jimmy’s con against Jeff.
When Jimmy looks at Marion, you get the impression he thinks he’s looking at another Irene
Landry.
A sweet harmless old lady whom he could play without needing to take his game out of 1st
gear.
Even after Jimmy gave Jeffie and his pal a stern warning about mutually assured destruction,
Jimmy couldn’t resist her offer to come inside to wash up and help her out with some
groceries.
Again I think Jimmy looks at Marion and he sees a sweet old lady that reminds him of
past clients, most notably Irene.
Then we have Kathy Deutsch, the department store manager.
On the surface, she may appear like many other gullible sheep Slippin’ Jimmy slipped one
past.
After all Jimmy was able to give her a song and dance and convince her to keep the crate
until the next morning.
But just like the case with Marion, Kathy doesn’t exude the demeanor of a typical
target for Jimmy.
Kathy runs a pretty tight ship over there.
While taking inventory, she’s quick to have a scuff mark removed from the floor.
When dealing with the unexpected delivery, there is no confusion on the matter whatsoever,
Kathy knows this is something that didn’t belong on their dock.
And Kathy seems like a detail oriented hard worker with a keen eye.
My take is that given these two strong and intelligent women both fall well outside the
scope of a typical unwitting sheep that Jimmy preys on, and I believe McGill is underestimating
both ladies.
My bet is that Kathy is probably much more thorough and efficient with inventory record
keeping than Jimmy is anticipating.
Kathy runs a pretty tight ship there.
You betcha!
But the more concerning matter is Marion.
We know Marion is smart and observant and inquisitive, we know she loves her beloved
yet troubled son Jeffie, and we know Marion has a heart and once lived in Albuquerque.
When Jimmy looks at Marion, he may see a sweet vulnerable old lady like Irene, but from what
little information we’ve been given about Marion, she seems far more formidable and
independent.
The thing of it is, Goodman’s face was plastered all over the area during the heyday of his
criminal practice.
He was all over on billboards, radios, benches, matchbooks, and television!
Beyond that, she had a troubled son who got in with a bad crowd, and she obviously still
takes care of her son now.
So it’s not a stretch to believe that somewhere along the line, little Jeffie needed a lawyer,
and his loving mother may have helped him with that.
McGill couldn’t resist Marion’s offer to come inside and clean up, because he feels
guilty that he used her in his scheme, not unlike the way he felt guilty when he similarly
used Irene.
Jimmy slipped up when first asked about Nippy, and after a moment of confusion, Jimmy mustered
up a plausible story.
Perhaps there was nothing to it.
But then again, a sharp woman like Marion may have suspected that something was rotten
in Denmark, and her asking Jimmy to help carry in some groceries may have been an understated
clue that she believed something was off about Gene.
Perhaps she remembers the face and can’t quite place it, or perhaps she recognizes
a resemblance to Goodman but isn’t quite sure.
In some ways, their entire final encounter almost felt like Marion was conducting a fishing
expedition.
Hmm.
The point here is that Jimmy seemed satisfied that he had effectively pulled it off.
But I am not so sure he did.
In addition to Kathy, who runs a pretty tight ship over there at the department store, and
in addition to Marion, whom I suspect is far more clever than Jimmy is giving her credit
for - you have that degenerate idiot Jeffie and his buddy, both of whom are total wildcards
in all of this, and they both clearly have less to lose than Jimmy.
I have almost no doubt that Kathy will be quick to pick up on the missing inventory,
which will lead to Frank slacking off, chowing down on his cinnamon bun, amazingly with his
back turned away from all those security monitors!
Then if Marion eventually puts 2 and 2 together, with or without the help of Jeffie, then Gene
will soon rue the day that he chose NOT to return to Ed the vacuum guy!
It almost feels like a perfect storm scenario that will lead to the demise of Slippin’
Jimmy, where after feeling a big high immediately following a period of sobriety, he has set
himself up for his final fall.
But then again, what the hell do I know?
I ain’t exactly Quasimodo over here.
My predictions do, after all, tend to suck out loud.
But what do you think?
Is Saul Goodman underestimating Marion and Kathy?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Thank you for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night!
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos, delicious chicken grilled or fried.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos.
Oh come on you!
Can I give you a hand?
If I needed a hand I’d ask for it.
Thank you very much.
Barbara.
Yes?
Let’s ask maintenance to give this area a polish.
Got it.
I’ll call now.
Is it a pastrami day?
Yeah, uh one and a quarter pounds.
You got it.
Not a pound and a half!
You overshot last time.
Oh.
Sorry about that.
No!
No, no!
Stop!
You are not leaving that thing on my loading dock.
No way!
I pulled right over, I’m screaming my head off “Nippy”!
But he was gone.
Aww that’s terrible.
I hope you find him.
Sammy Hagar.
No!
The red rocker?
Hey, I love him.
I can’t drive, fifty-five.
That’s it!
He fell in with a bad crowd back in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque, huh?
Never been.
Lucky you.
Sir?
Do you need help?
I’m good.
Well Barbara’s right here if you need anything.
Come on girls.
Shame on you!
Oh where’s my brain?
I keep forgetting to ask you about Nippy.
Nippy?
Oh!
Oh, right.
Well…
If you can keep an eye out?
Yeah, I will.
Sure.
I live right over here on Clementine.
This is my route–when I can get this thing going.
He was with a family the whole time, just a few blocks away.
Oh well that’s wonderful!
Yeah.
He’s in great shape, so after all that, a happy ending.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos, delicious chicken grilled or fried.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos.
You know Quasimodo predicted all of this.
What is this?
That my friends is Albuquerque's public enemy #1.
Now I need you to say it, “we’re done”.
Come on.
Say it!
“We’re done”.
Say it.
We’re done when I say we’re done.
We’re done.
You’re done!
You are done!