Better Call Saul had me from its inception. The idea of fleshing out the backstory of Breaking Bad’s favorite criminal lawyer sounded like a trip I’d love to take. I had some early skepticism about how compelling Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould could make Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman, but after three and a half seasons, I need no convincing.
What has proved to be almost more compelling than Jimmy’s descent into Saul-dom is the story of Kim Wexler, Jimmy’s longtime friend in lawyer-ly ambition turned lover. We do not see or hear of her in Breaking Bad, and have every right to assume that sometime before those events, Jimmy had irreparably wrecked her life in classic Slippin’ Jimmy fashion. She has been the straight arrow to Jimmy’s bent crook for three seasons, but this episode showed us what happens when, given enough time and the right circumstances, Jimmy exerts his influence.
It’s been said before that there was always something rotten at the core of Walter White, resulting his his pursuit of his criminal empire. Saul Goodman was always seduced by the con, the easy path, and no amount of resistance could impede his true nature. This episode makes us re-evaluate what drives Kim Wexler, the person we were sure would be fed up with Jimmy’s bullshit by now and recognize that he was toxic. Surely she would come out clean on the other side, or at least we hoped, of Jimmy succumbing to his true nature. But it seems that Jimmy’s dark side is seductive to Kim, giving her a peek at her own, and how much she likes it. Her role as the architect of the scam they’re running on the court system shows how far she’s come from the squeaky clean do-right we were introduced to in the first season. By now, she’s swallowed his deadly poison, and she’s unable to deny the rush of what it’s like to be the one pulling the con.
This character turn is foreboding, bringing with it the dread that Kim may not get out of her relationship with Jimmy relatively unscathed. The further she spirals down with him, the less hope we have of any redemption for her. Once she gets her hands dirty in Jimmy’s criminal ways, they will prove to be nearly impossible to cleanse. With four words, Kim bids farewell to her salvation.
“Let’s do it again.”
Matt