Well, that happened faster than expected. Rather than treating Jimmy’s deception as a hidden parasite on the season, left to slowly fester over the course of several episodes, Chuck meets humiliation in court—and his inability to admit he might have made a mistake, combined with his distrust of Jimmy, allows him to immediately sniff out what happened. (Paranoia pays, sometimes.) Throughout "Nailed," he’s a scary and pathetic figure in equal measure, filled with righteous anger (Jimmy really has done on a number on hundreds of people’s lives, and committed a felony), but allows his personal investment in taking down his brother to provide a plausible cover. Chuck is sick—something "Nailed" reminds us of, at least visually, more than perhaps any other episode this season.
Initially, this makes it seem like Jimmy will get off the hook during an incredibly tense confrontation scene between the McGills and Kim, who appears to be on the verge of going to the cops herself. (Somehow, this conversation manages to induce more panic than Mike's going after the cartel single-handedly.) But Kim stands by her man, using Chuck’s age and illness as a smokescreen, even as she admits to Jimmy later in bed that she knows. Jimmy may be heading down the path of committed amorality, but Kim is still the most interesting character on the show, punching her boyfriend in the car before urging him to make sure there are no loose ends. To that end, he heads back to talk Lance, the guy at the copy place doesn’t talk—until Chuck, showing up in a rage to nail Jimmy, collapses.
For some idiotic reason, neither Lance nor Ernie calls 9-1-1 in the moments after Chuck hits his head on the counter. This puts Jimmy in a real bind: obligated by his love for his brother, and the fact that no one is taking appropriate medical precautions, he should probably run in and try to help Chuck, likely outing himself as a saboteur and felon. Or he could leave, and maybe even hope that his Chuck problem goes away once and for all. (Chuck’s death would certainly explain why Saul never mentions him in Breaking Bad.) Peter Gould, who writes and directs this episode, finishes with a shot of Jimmy’s face, stricken in terror, moving anxiously toward—or away from—the copy shop. What will Jimmy do? Is this his Jane moment? For the first time, it’s hard to say what, exactly, he’s thinking.
Alignment: TBD
