Is it realistic that Jimmy's friend from the district attorney's office is so poor?
In Better Call Saul S03E03, Jimmy sits next to his old friend Bill Oakley (played by Peter Diseth) who is a Deputy District Attorney. Jimmy pulls out a burger and fries for lunch, while Oakley's lunch is simply two bags of potato chips. These details were clearly intentional to highlight how poor Oakley is (not working for a private law firm).
Up to this point, I had been extremely impressed with how accurate Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul had been with everything, and the exquisite effort put into making things realistic, but it was a shock to see this particular choice for highlighting Oakley's lack of affluence.
According to this source, the average Deputy District Attorney in New Mexico makes $60,000/year which I would think is enough to buy a decent lunch in Mexico, but without the help of user feedback, it's unlikely we can find what the spread of that average is (for example if Oakley is not the most diligent attorney, his salary could be significantly lower).
Best Answer
I had a slightly different interpretation of that scene. I don't think the details of the scene were meant to highlight how poor DDA Oakley is. I think they're meant to show that he's still stuck in the same grind (although on the opposite side) that Jimmy used to be stuck in when he was a public defender. It's not so much that he can't afford a cafeteria burger, just that he's kept so busy that he doesn't have time for more than a vending machine lunch between cases.
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In Better Call Saul S03E03, Jimmy sits next to his old friend Bill Oakley (played by Peter Diseth) who is a Deputy District Attorney.The autistic female coomer, The dog-killing dad, \u0026 The handsy grandpa | The Depression Chamber
More answers regarding is it realistic that Jimmy's friend from the district attorney's office is so poor?
Answer 2
...is it realistic that Jimmy's friend from the district attorney's office is so poor?
Why not? Maybe he is not really poor, just stingy.
We have no real deep background infos about Oakley.
Maybe he has/is:
- 6 kids
- 3 ex-wifes
- expensive wife or/and girlfriend
- gambling-addicted
- very stingy
- high mortgage(s)
- many insurances, PayTV, expensive hobbies, ...
It doesn't matter how much you earn if the expenses were higher than the income.
Answer 3
The difference in meal isn't intended to specifically prove a wealth gap between Jimmy and Bill. It helps paint the difference between Jimmy and Bill, especially in regards to quality of life.
Jimmy may complain about his life/career, but when you compared the freedoms he has as an independent lawyer to the life of a public prosecutor, you can't help but think that Jimmy's focusing on the bad (not being as rich or successful as Chuck/Howard) more than the good (having it better than Bill).
Bill is an ex-colleague of Jimmy. The main goal of the scene is to show you the difference between past Jimmy and present Jimmy. Bill is merely a representative of what Jimmy's past looked like.
The scene is short, so Bill's character is explained in broad strokes:
- Incredibly busy job, daily grind.
- Unrewarding clients.
- He can't do better than a bag of chips for lunch. Notice that this isn't necessarily a financial obstable for Bill. There are other reasons for this:
- Bill has so many cases that he doesn't have the time to go out for lunch and instead has to settle for the nearest vending machine.
- Much like his career, Bill's food habits are unhealthy and mismanaged. He never aspires for something better. Maybe he complains about his life, but never truly takes action to fix it.
- Money can also be an issue here, but it seems unlikely to be the sole deciding factor here.
To paint the picture more explicitly:
Effectively, Jimmy's holding a burger, begrudgingly looking over (in his mind) at Chuck and Howard who are having a nice steak for lunch. Why does Chuck/Howard get to have a fancy lunch and he only get a burger?
However, behind Jimmy is Bill, who is holding a vending machine pack of chips, begrudgingly looking over at Jimmy who's having a nice burger for lunch. Why does Jimmy get to have a fancy lunch and he only get a bag of chips?
Jimmy is a flawed man. We know this because we know where he ends up in Breaking Bad. Jimmy doesn't make the right choices, and Jimmy doesn't make it big in the end. Just like Walter White, Jimmy will make the wrong choices for (what he thinks are) the right reasons.
This scene is one of the red flags that shows you one of Jimmy's flaws. He's so fixated on others he competes with (Chuck/Howard), that he completely forgets that while he's not as successful as Chuck/Howard, he's still more successful than he was in the past.
This effectively mirrors Walter White's flaw. When he reached the initial goal (getting enough money for his family), he then started competing with other major players because he wanted the territory and fame that comes with being a kingpin. Jimmy is on a similar quest for greatness and forgets about the things he's already achieved.
Answer 4
$60K may seem like a decent wage, but when you add the additional debt carried for 3 years of law school, plus county government isn't going to buy the suits you need to wear to court (business casual that the average $60K office stiff can wear is not an option).... that's not a great return on that particular investment.
Average debt for college grads with loans is about $30K, as of a couple year ago.
USA Today: Average college debt, state by state
Average debt for law school grads who have loans is $148K.
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