I like this brief moment where Jim pulls out Strickler’s phone number while he’s talking to his mom. It’s a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ kind of thing (literally, as it happens in the few seconds Barbara’s turned away from him), but I think it says a lot. There are things Jim would rather be doing than looking after his mom. Not even just like fun things but getting enough sleep at night so he doesn't doze in class, though he’d never tell her that, just like he’s not showing her his teacher’s note here. I think he feels a little bad about it, about lying to her, but if he told her or let her talk to his teacher she’d realize its affecting him and make him stop taking care of her, and he doesn’t want that.
But it’s clearly stressful for Jim. It’s clearly affecting him because he pulls out the note. He’s considering saying something. Part of him wants to tell her. Part of him would like to talk to Strickler about everything without the threat of Strickler telling his mom what he says, but he also feels guilty that he’d want that. Because he loves his mother and wants to help her. He doesn't want to feel like he’s complaining about her when she does so much for him, and he doesn’t want his mom to worry about him when she’s already got so much on her plate.
