| “ | Everybody liked him 'cause he was a soft touch. You know? Every deadbeat in the neighborhood owed him money. You come in here with a sob story, you leave with a pat on the back and a gallon of milk. He... he could've made it work. He could've sold beer and cigarettes to the kids from Mary Margaret's, but oh, no, not him. He was never gonna do what he had to do.
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„ |
| ― Jimmy describing his late father to Marco. |
Charles Willard McGill, Sr. was the husband of Ruth McGill and the father of Jimmy and Chuck.
History[]
Better Call Saul[]
Season 2[]
Chuck describes their father as "the personification of good" and unable to see sin in anyone. He was married to Ruth McGill at one point in his life and together they had two sons: Charles Jr. (named after his father) and James. According to Chuck, Charles worked at many places for many people over the years and it was his dream to one day become his own boss. He eventually opened a small convenience store which he ran with Ruth's help and eventually Jimmy's. Charles was well respected in the local community.
However, according to Chuck, Charles was not a very good businessman and eventually he ran into money troubles and got Chuck to help balance their accounting books while on break from college. Chuck noticed a great deal of money had vanished over the years (nearly $14,000), and suspected Jimmy of having stolen it from the till each time. But Charles insisted that his boy was incapable of doing such a thing. He eventually ended up having to sell his beloved store and he died six months later. He was mourned bitterly by his family and according to Chuck nobody cried harder at his funeral than Jimmy ("Rebecca").
By contrast, Jimmy had an opposing point of view of their father. As he describes to Marco, his father was a pushover who lent anyone in the neighborhood money with a sob story. His naivete was likely equally responsible for their business failing as Jimmy's embezzlement, though Jimmy completely ignores his own actions that contributed to the closure of his family's store and blames his father fully for it ("Slip").
Both Chuck and Jimmy are shown to be right when we see Charles in a flashback with 12 year old Jimmy. He is oblivious that Jimmy shirks on his chores to instead sneak peeks into a Playboy magazine. We see Charles firsthand fall for a customer's made up story about a broken down car and needing money. He instantly starts to give him the money, though Jimmy tries to warn him that the man is scamming him. He tells him all the grifters in town know that Charles Sr. is an easy target. He takes no note, wincing at even the word "grifter", and heads into the back of the shop to get the spark plugs. All the while he remains oblivious that the customer used his money to buy cigarettes, and convinces Jimmy to start stealing from the till to avoid growing up to be like his father, which he does, proving that he did indeed steal from his father ("Inflatable").
Season 3[]
Chuck openly reveals that he blames Jimmy for their father's death and the closure of his store and voices disgust at the fact that his parents were too blinded by their fondness of "precious Jimmy" to realize that he was a thief and stole them blind ("Chicanery").
Charles is mentioned by Jimmy when he and Marco break into his father's boarded up corner store. Marco expresses genuine remorse for Jimmy's parents losing their store though Jimmy doesn't. Jimmy says they were better off never owning the store due to his father being too generous and a soft touch, and overall blames him solely for losing his store, ignoring his own role. ("Slip")
Season 4[]
Charles is mentioned by Howard while reading Chuck's obituary over the phone to Jimmy and Kim ("Smoke")
Personality[]
According to his son Chuck, Charles was the "personification of good", knowing the names of all his neighbors and what was going on with their lives. However, this trait of himself made him very easy to get scammed multiple times without ever realizing it. He also refused to believe that his younger son Jimmy stole from him through the years.
Appearances[]
Better Call Saul[]
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