[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I think it needs to be said that BCS continues to explore the intricacies of morality in ways that other shows simply don't have the acumen to even try.

We've moved on from Jimmy-v-Chuck, where the conversation was 'is being moral is determining from the outset your are 'good' and following a strict set of rules from then on, or is it striving every day to do your best and improve on the past?'

Is moral what you are? Or what you strive towards?

Now, there is an interesting dynamic between Jimmy and Kim.
Both have have a safe, moral, lawful, etc. path.
Jimmy earn his daily wage at the cellular store until his licensure is restored
Kim earn her retainer being constantly available and prepared to meet her client's needs.

It seems on the surface that Jimmy is delving into something devious, dangerous and shady by going out after hours and marketing his wares for their less honorable capabilities. And this surface judgment is reinforced by the 'shady' people he interacts with, and the thugs who roll him for his profits when they spy a chance.

But what is he doing that is amoral? He's being proactive in advancing his employer's interests. He's connecting the [legal] product to people who would eventually think to seek it out themselves [recall, a big plot point in The Wire was the crew sending corner boys up and down the coast to buy burners 1 or 2 at a time at every random convenience store they came across].


He's serving his employer well, and being a good laborer by tapping into a legal need, even if the supposition is that it is a need that eventually fills nefarious purposes.

OTOH, Kim has a clear directive as counsel on retainer to Mesa Verde. They pay her handsomely and she pledges to devote her skills exclusively [or at least explicitly primarily] to their interests. But the same pain, wanderlust and ego drives her to ply her wares surreptitiously as pro bono counsel in the petty criminal courts.

Again, on the surface, her actions are altruistic and noble. But she, unlike Jimmy, is more explicitly undermining her employer's expectations.

I really enjoy how far and wide the show can make you just sit and ponder 'who exactly is in the wrong here? If anybody . . . '

Good post. Like Mike and Gus, this show takes its time. This season has been trodding this out. But something is going to start popping. The characters are starting to hit their character arcs. Almost every one of them. Bcs could have easily taken a shortcut and made Jimmy break bad as soon as Chuck died. No half measures it seems as everyone's on edge on when we hit the tipping point.