yeah, I don't think that Chuck died because of his disability. He died because he pushed every person that he cared about from his life - as well as being deprived of everything that he loved doing. In essence, I think that Chuck was a very depressed man. Losing his social world just unearthed the depression and he took action on it.

See in my opinion chucks death is perfectly placed in the story and any other decision would have been worse. Chucks disability I believe is somewhat a reflection of his emotions. Right before chucks death he lost everything, the court meltdown in chicanery and chucks final words to Jimmy ruined their relationship which chuck cared about deeply, while he wouldn’t admit it. Jimmy doing that whole insurance scam thing lead to chuck being unable to practice law, the one thing he really lived for, which only lead to him trying to sue hhm and somewhat destroying his relationship with Howard. Chuck dying makes complete sense and isn’t due to his disability, it’s more making a statement of how Jimmys actions only make people suffer, but chuck is also to blame for his irrational feelings towards Jimmy that lead him down this path. Hiring an actor who can’t be around electricity to play chuck I don’t think is possible, and for the writers to choose chuck staying alive due to chuck being disabled doesn’t make sense to me. I understand that disabled people need better representation in media but I don’t think chucks story goes against that. If chuck were to kill himself only due to his disability then I would agree. Edit: I also get the point of it’s a larger issue, and even with context it’s something that needs to be changed, but rather than removing tragic disabled characters storylines like chuck (other storylines may be worse and should be criticised however), I think adding more positive representation and non tragic disabled characters is a better solution.

I think you’ll come to appreciate Chuck’s demise as the show goes on. This was a very deliberate decision, and the unresolved feelings between Chuck and several characters is a major piece of the puzzle going forward. His ghost hangs over the cast, in a sense, and his presence will continue to be felt. I also completely disagree that his death is a result of bad disability representation. His death was because he pushed Jimmy away. He actively shoved the last few people that cared about him out of his life and he couldn’t handle the guilt of doing so. He would never admit that he did anything wrong, and it was the death of him.

As soon as Jimmy heard how Howard feels, he offloaded all his guilt onto Howard

Maybe its from my history with substance abuse, but I see it far closer to an addiction allegory than an allegory to a physical malady.. I see it similar, as he needed help, needed to admit it, had the potential to get better with treatment and changing his thought processes, and ultimately fell because his addiction[pride] was more important than his own life.EDIT; actually his addiction is control, which fits the substance abuse allegory, since control, and lack thereof, is a huge recurring thing in addiction. It isnt like the 'bury your gays' trope, where being gay was in itself a death flag. that said, not saying you are wrong or anything, just my POV

I think it's important to note that Chuck was not disabled from "Chicanery", he was disabled long before Season 1 even began. Whether his affliction was real or not, it still effectively made him disabled, and personally I think given that we both see Chuck make ground in getting over his disability (which shows it was not the only cause of his suicide even if he had a particularly bad "episode" before he died), and then we see him tearing down all of his relationships, both professional with Howard and personal with Jimmy, followed by him immediately tearing apart his house and committing suicide, I don't think it's fair to say Chuck killed himself because of his disability. Always appreciate the commentary on representation but I feel this time it's a bit of a square peg

The funeral scene is an interesting one because most people talk about Chuck but very few people ask Jimmy personally how he's doing. A lot of the people who shake his hand are people who Jimmy barely knew; he's just known to them as the brother of this popular man. The final scene is also an interesting one because of the abrupt shift in Jimmy's behaviour the moment Howard says it was Jimmy's insurance scandle which lead to Chuck's death. Jimmy right now is in the postion where the last thing Chuck said to him was how he hurts people and never mattered to Chuck, and now he knows he's responsible for Chuck's death, but the interesting thing is no one else knows that and he keeps it that way. Presenting us this situation is the perfect way to end a season opener.

Honestly as a person with mental illness who's always been in and out of instituions and values accurate and consiserate representation; I've never seen Chuck as anything other than a person defined by their own choices and flaws vs his mental illness. In fact I'd say to a lot of us that identify with Chuck's struggles and idiosyncrasies he's a bit of a comfort character. The suicide came on the heels of three seasons of groundwork and cause and effect- it doesn't disrespect Chuck's character and I believe the show does an excellent job going forward of handling his memory and making sure he resonates with those left in his wake, for better and for worse.

As always, I appreciate your nuanced and sensitive take from the perspective of those with disabilities. The reason Chuck's death didn't trigger that response in me, is because his illness has always been directly related to his relationship with Jimmy. He got sick when he denied Jimmy a position with the firm. He got better when Jimmy was working with him on Sandpiper. And finally, when Chuck told Jimmy that he never mattered much to him, his illness drove him mad. What I'm trying to say, is that it was never really about a mental illness. Rather, it was all a metaphor for guilt and the loss of family. If lesser shows stopped treating disabled people as if death is the only option, we wouldn't have a problem when great stories like Saul, or Hill House resort to those themes, because the unfortunate truth is that suicide and mental illness are sadly linked. Just my two cents, love that you're back! I hope you're not too afraid of the comment section now that you've returned! If it makes you feel better, at the end of season 3 of BCS, a suicide help line appeared on screen at the end of the episode, so anyone who watched it live was spoiled in the same way you were!

It's very very VERY important to keep in mind Chuck telling Jimmy he didn't matter all that much to him and that he would respect him more if he embraced him inevitably hurting people for the rest of the show.

The unresolved tension in Chuck's relationships is absolutely deliberate, I'm confident you'll come to appreciate it. As for discussion on disability representation in media, you bring up a great perspective, and I'm sure the writing staff would be the first to take your point on that. What you say holds true when it comes to holistic analysis on general media trends, but I also want clarify that context you alluded to. The whole Breaking Bad universe is an absolute bloodbath, so much so they had to make up new characters just for El Camino because they ran out. The whole thing is thematically tied around mortality regardless of gender, race, age, class, or ability. There are other characters who commit suicide: Jane's father, Herr Schuler, arguably Walt, and Hector, who is incidentally also disabled and goes out in an insane power move but you can have the same discourse about him if you again strip all the context. Now I don't watch that many shows, but I have never seen a mentally disabled character written with nuance and depth like Chuck. His illness is a major factor in his life, but it is not his only defining feature. He has strong flaws and virtues that are impacted by the illness, but also drive the plot and character arc of their own accord. He's as gray and complex as any other character in this world regardless of ability. The same goes for what leads to his suicide. His love for the law, his loneliness, his toxicity, and his inability to reach out to those who want to help him are all as much a factor as the acute pain of his illness, and in fact the latter is caused by the former. There's also commentary on how Jimmy and the insurance company exploit Chuck's illness to destroy him for their own gain, which tragically rings true to how disabled people are abused in real life. Anyway, I appreciate your commentary. Keep it up!

I remember back in S3 when Kim said "that guy has a lot of energy" to Jimmys commercial and he responded "its just a name" now in this final scene that "energy" shines through again. Its almost like Jimmy will do anything to not feel his true emotions.

i like the conversation you started about how disabled people are portrayed in the media but I think it is important to mention that it was not necessarily the disability which caused Chuck to get to the point he did, but the fact that he felt he ultimately lost against his brother. he was improving through season 3 but it wasn’t until he no longer had the option to practice law that he felt life was meaningless. seems more a circumstantial decision as opposed to one made as a consequence of his disability

I’m so glad you are back to watching this! Your insightful, witty videos always make my day!

Glad you're back. About that scene with the fish. I think your interpretation was spot on. I had other things in mind about that scene but you really said it best.

TYLER! So happy to have your thoughtful, nuanced analysis back. It'll be selfishly hard not having a video every week to look forward to, but I'm sure the wait will be worth it. Your take on Jimmy's behaviour was on point, as always - see ya on the next one!

I don't think an actor with electromagnetic sensitivity exists. lol

Glad you are back! This is my favorite season, excited to see your thoughts on it.

13:45 Actually, it was stablished that it was a mental illness in episode 5 for us the viewers and the characters. It was just chuck the one who didn’t want to accept that until chicanery. In regards of what you say about bad writing, I respectfully disagree. I understand your point of view, but I think it can be interpreted in a lot of ways. For example, I think Chuck showing Howard and jimmy in the last episode that he is a lot better, only for commiting suicide later may raise awareness of this kind of things. There are a lot of cases of people with mental problems that are improving and it looks like they are perfectly fine and then they took their lives and no one can believe it. So showing in this show that this happens may be good. But that’s just another way to look at it. Glad that you are back with this show :)

Deepest BCS reaction ever, Tyler Alexander you are a very smart guy ;)

Finally! I've been waiting for so long... Would you do analysis to Lost?

Glad your back, some of my favorite reactions to this show

glad you are back!!!! I love the better call saul reactions!!

Yaaaaaay, good to have you back!

Glad to see you back to Better Call Saul! Working it into a rotation makes sense too. I love seeing your Buffy and Good Place videos also (and your Hill House videos were wonderful).

Glad to see you back with BCS! Sorry about whatever was going on in the comments, but we appreciate you and your content!

glad to see you back with the bcs!

Yay welcome back!

Am so happy you are back!🤍🤍🤍

I'm so glad you are back reacting to Better Call Saul.

Completely unrelated side note, if you haven’t watched it already, I think you would love the TV show Yellowjackets! 💛🐝🖤

I really appreciate your take on disability representation. I am not sure I totally agree that the actor needs to be of the same class as the minority, but the responsibility of the writers to research and portray such characters is enormous. It might be a good rule of thumb to write about what you know and if you don't know about it and it's important to your writing plan, get someone who does know first hand about that lived experience.

Hm...I broadly agree with what you're saying about disability representation, but I don't know that it applies to Chuck's suicide. Chuck IS able-bodied; he's mentally ill, which can be classified as a disability legally but there are differences in the issues with representation between mental illness and physical disabilities. We never got a specific diagnosis, but I have OCD and I think Chuck basically has an extreme form of OCD -- he has a clear obsession (electricity) and clear compulsions (avoidance of electricity) that he feels so strongly about that he has a psychosomatic response to not being able to perform those compulsions. OCD is strongly connected to wanting control in your life, which is also a main trait of Chuck's, and it is strongly correlated with other stressors, which maps to how Chuck's mental illness gets worse whenever other things in his life go wrong. (As I mentioned last episode, there's a strong parallel between Chuck's obsessive fear of electricity and Walt's obsessive fear of contamination -- they are both deeply unhappy people who are searching for an external source of that unhappiness that they can eradicate instead of looking inwards.) If he had become physically disabled, and he killed himself because he felt he had nothing left to live for, I would definitely agree with your assessment because that is an obnoxiously common trope that devalues the lives of disabled people. But I think Chuck killed himself for much more complicated and realistic reasons that had more to do with his choices in life and his regret over pushing away Rebecca, Howard, and Jimmy than it did with his mental illness (or rather, those regrets manifested themselves as part of his mental illness). So I just don't agree that it's the same harmful trope. (I also don't think the issue of non-disabled people playing disabled characters really applies here either. Mental illness is often invisible and personal, and not something I think any actor or writer should have to disclose, so I'd much prefer to see that represented through care in the writing, which I personally saw here, although others are free to disagree with me on that.) All that being said, I think it's good that you are thinking about these things. A lot of people don't. As for whether it was the right choice to kill him off now, I will say I personally like it, but I'm mostly curious to see how the rest of the show affects your opinion.

Jimmy's whistling after those fucked up words to Howard were soooo similar to Walt's whistling after the kid's murder. Jesse and Kim had an almost identical facial expressions. Insane moments of TV history.

Good to be here again.

I don't necessarily agree with the "he's happy and relieved" thing about Jimmy. I think he's really good at bottling it up things, he felt guilty but the moment he Howard mentioned his part on Chuck's demise, I think Jimmy just shifted guilt and remembered Chuck's last words to him, guilt is useless.

It DOES matter about the context of Chuck's death. It's not bad writing. The creators of this universe gave us Walt Jr. and there was no story reason for him to die, so he didn't. Hell, most of the time we treated him as a perfectly normal kid because that's what he was. We forgot about his condition. Similarly, I don't think we JUST view Chuck as this mentally ill person, it's just that that condition was a lynchpin of Jimmy's story. I don't think it is fair for writers to serve the purpose of representation and making that a priority over the story itself. It's not "on" anyone. The story needed for Jimmy to have this guilt of feeling responsible for Chuck's death, even though I don't think he is actually responsible for it (I don't think butterfly effects count)

Umm I expect only endless praise of this perfect masterpiece from start to finish, any criticism is unacceptable!! j/k glad you're back!! The waits between uploads will be painful but so worth it. 🥰

I don't think Jimmy would've been able to move forward and consequently become Saul if Chuck was still alive. His death was inevitable, and I remember you saying something similar a couple of times. It was just a matter of when they would pull the trigger

we back

I appreciate your thoughts on media representation of people with disabilities. While I believe that Chuck dying makes sense in the broader story of BCS, I still feel frustrated that this is the consistent trope when portraying these stories in general. It's so rare to find realistic, positive representation of people with disabilities, especially those with mental illness of some kind.

Here we go again 😎

You, @ 30:30: "Look... These emotions aren't just gonna go away." You can say that again. Rock on, brother Tyler...

11:10 I think it somewhat excusable when you consider Chuck himself said “people don’t change” Also kudos for mentioning that Howard memorized much of the obituary. You’re the first person I’ve seen to notice that

Quality over quantity.

Charles McGill could never be alive in a world where Saul Goodman reign, charles would stop him easily

finally

Respect the representation monologue, but being disabled, dont wholly agree, however, we are both decent people and can agree to disagree 😊

i forgot my airpods so i’m watching this aloud on a train at 8am in full glam and i have no regrets. what a fantastic comeback!

yay hes back! Screw the spoiler people!!

bros a yapper

You are an excellent TV watcher my guy. How quickly you picked up on Jimmy’s guilt and then immediately scapegoating onto Howard for that guilt is real solid analysis

Dont overtink this man...everything on this show happens for a reason. There is no bad writing here... ttust that tne creators of the show are pros and know what theyre doing ... have they let you down yet?

🙂🦩

WE'RE SO BACK! I MISSED YOU! Edit: 22:11 scenes like this are part of the reason why I love this show. They could've just shown him waving goodbye to his family and not finding the ID card in the car, but they went the extra mile

Yeah it's definitely the shows and movies influencing mentally ill people to end their own lives... And they should've found a suicidal actor who makes himself believe the electricity is the cause for his distress to play Chuck. I swear I don't want to be confrontational because your concerns are obviously coming from a good place, but damn you're letting your emotions get in the way of common sense (not saying the opposite is any better).

Tyler, you make some great points about the portrayal of disability in media. No matter how skillfully a problematic depiction is justified in the writing, it's vital to be conscious of the issues during the writing, and that's probably rare. Thanks for pointing that out.

A character's decision to end themself doesnt convey to disabled people their life is over, the hell are you on about? Bad writing? So tired of this sensitivity shit...

interesting. this...among other things i have issues with this series. it is a good show however far from a masterpiece.

I know you might not read these comments anymore (understandably), but I’m still going to comment for the algorithm’s sake. Also, the new schedule seems manageable and smart. So glad to be back! 🦩