"Better Call Saul": 1.8 "RICO" Quiz

Answer: He had passed the bar exam.

Jimmy had once worked for Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill, no doubt thanks to his brother, but unbeknownst to Chuck, Jimmy had aspired to move up from the mail room. He had received his law degree through distance learning from the University of American Samoa ("Go Land Crabs!"), and on his third attempt, he'd passed the bar exam, allowing him to practice law in New Mexico.

But his desire to move up in the firm was squashed by Howard Hamlin, which could be the reason that Jimmy had such a dislike for him later on.

Answer: Allowance

Mrs. Landry was the "Irene" who won the Bingo game in the "Bingo" episode. She explained that she wouldn't be able to pay Jimmy the balance of what she owed him until she received her allowance next week. Jimmy left, but the word "allowance" puzzled him, and he returned to ask her to explain it.

She told him that her social security and pension checks went to the retirement home and that they issued her an allowance after they took out her fees and expenses. Jimmy looked at the statement Mrs. Landry provided and became suspicious about the price of the expenses (such as $14 for a box of facial tissues).

He then met with some of her friends and reviewed their statements, telling the seniors that the charges looked like a mistake and offered to look into it so that they could get their money back.

Answer: Toilet paper

After confirming with Chuck that the billing by Sandpiper Crossing could be indicative of fraud, Jimmy returned to the retirement center only to be told that they now were banning lawyers from the facility. "We're concerned about solicitation on the premises", he was told, to which he replied, "I'm not a gigolo, if that's what you're implying".

As he was about to be ushered out by two burly workers, he asked to use the restroom, claiming the incident had activated his irritable bowel syndrome. Once in the restroom, he needed to write a demand letter, informing the staff of pending litigation and ordering them not to destroy any documents related to his case, but his legal pad was full, so he wrote the letter on the cardboard backing of the pad, and when he ran out of space, he wrote the rest of the demand letter on toilet paper.

Answer: He had a phone call from Stacey.

What - no sticker check?! It was possible that Mike hadn't heard from Stacey since the Philadelphia detectives interviewed her; at least, Mike seemed happy to hear from her. She wanted him to watch Kaylee while she was at work because her sitter wasn't available. "Anything you need, I'll be there" was Mike's response.

A car pulled up to the window while he was talking with Stacey, and he looked irritated by the intrusion and waived the car through. Given the problems Jimmy had with Mike's by-the-book enforcement of the sticker requirement for parking validation, it was humorous to see Mike allow another car to pass through without even checking their card.

Answer: A dumpster

Yes, Jimmy McGill went dumpster diving in his Matlock suit, although he removed the jacket before taking the plunge. He was looking for the documents the staff had been shredding. While he was in the dumpster among the adult diapers and other assorted waste, the staff came and deposited more trash on him, including one bag that wasn't sealed and emptied on him.

While sitting in the bin, Jimmy received a call from the facility's lawyer, and when asked why he was whispering, Jimmy responded that he was at the opera ("The Magic Flute").

After exiting the dumpster and getting beaned on the head by the lid, Jimmy took out his anger on the dumpster (as he had on a trash can and a door in earlier episodes) by kicking it, only to slip and fall on the garbage he dragged out with him. And the final insult: When he walked around the corner, he saw a nice, clean recycling bin, where the shredded documents had been disposed.

Answer: Interstate commerce made it a RICO case.

This episode's montage sequence featured Jimmy trying to reassemble the shredded documents throughout the night. By morning, he'd only managed to separate the shreds into piles by paper type/color. Chuck admonished him for stealing the garbage, but Jimmy maintained that it was available to the public if it wasn't locked ("that's the standard, right - if animals or vagrants can get in?") Chuck agreed to let Jimmy work on it in his dining room and went to get coffee, but when he came back, Jimmy was asleep, so Chuck took up the work.

When Jimmy awoke, Chuck proudly showed him the invoice. Jimmy didn't initially understand the significance of it, but by buying product from Nebraska, the interstate commerce provisions of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) act kicked in.

As Jimmy later explained to the retirement facility lawyers, "Nebraska, although they both begin with the letter "N", actually turns out to be a different state than New Mexico. Your client accepted shipments across state lines for its enterprise."

Answer: Chuck

Kim was getting ready to leave her office when Jimmy called and asked her to print documents related to several cases from Westlaw, a legal research service. Kim told Jimmy that it would be thousands of pages and needed to know to whom to bill it. Jimmy initially said Howard: "I still remember his code - 1933 - the same year Hitler came to power". Jimmy then asked Chuck whether he should just go over to see Kim and take notes, but Chuck said it would take too long and told Jimmy to use his (Chuck's) code. Kim became concerned when she heard that Chuck was working on a case with Jimmy; when Jimmy stated that Chuck was allowed to work with outside parties according to his partnership agreement, Kim pointed out that the clause was meant for small or pro-Bono cases. Kim agreed to help, but she still seemed concerned.

Answer: To get money for Stacey

Mike had brought a dog to the vet for a checkup, and after the vet gave the pup a clean bill of health, he asked whether there was anything else he could do for Mike. Mike said he was looking for work: "You tell me what you got. I'll tell you what I do". Stacey had asked Mike what she should do with the bribe money that Matty had taken.

She said that she had thought about donating it, but that she had expenses. After Mike told her to spend it, she was relieved because she said it would help them a lot, but she also mentioned that "it was only a drop in the bucket".

This was an interesting scene. Was she merely mentioning that times were tough, or was it a hint to Mike that he needed to come up with money to pay for her silence?

Answer: The lawyer mentioned that there were multiple facilities.

When the lawyers for the retirement facility arrived at Chuck's home for the conference, Chuck had a bit of stage fright. He told Jimmy, "I don't know if I can do this", but Jimmy propped him up and helped him finishing dressing: "All you got to do is sit there and look intimidating".

The main lawyer tried to intimidate Chuck though by stating that he thought Chuck "would be arguing in front of the Supreme Court someday". Chuck did appear to be a bit shell-shocked throughout the meeting; Jimmy did most of the talking, but after Jimmy brought up RICO and the lawyers asked what settlement figure he had in mind, Chuck suddenly spoke up, to Jimmy's surprise, and said $20 million. Jimmy was expecting one or two million.

Although he appeared out of it, Chuck had been listening to the lawyers and had noted that the main lawyer mentioned that the investment company handled twelve facilities.

He told Jimmy that meant there had to be some facilities out-of-state which made this a "multi-state federal class action lawsuit with a RICO kicker at the penalty phase".

Answer: Getting a box out of Jimmy's trunk

Chuck had been waiting for Jimmy to bring him some documents for the case, but Jimmy had left the box in the trunk of his car. He told Chuck that he'd go out in a minute to get them, but then he collapsed on Chuck's sofa. Chuck was engrossed in reading a document; he got up, went out the front door, took Jimmy's key fob out of the mail box, opened the car and got the box.

When Jimmy awoke, he was shocked to see Chuck standing with the box outdoors. It wasn't until Chuck saw Jimmy's face that he realized where he was.

He looked around as if the electromagnetism was closing in on him, and then the sensation was gone. He dropped the box.