Better Call Saul Character Review: Saul and Kim

Heads up, this review contains spoilers of Better Call Saul and, to some extent, Breaking Bad.

As usual of Vincent Gilligan and his team, Better Call Saul (BCS) is brilliant. Surely it is a pleasant surprise for people who thought this prequel is just trying to milk the success of Breaking Bad. Let’s be real. Even I personally decided to watch it because of how much I was blown away by Breaking Bad, especially with those two last episodes. *chef’s kiss*

For those of you who have watched Breaking Bad and had no or minimal interest in our criminal lawyer, I am with you. Watching Saul helping our meth-cooking duo always seems to be a plot convenience. My initial thought of Saul: Oh, there is this crooked lawyer that helps criminals smoothen things out legally (loosely speaking). It is not surprising at all. Walter White is a genius, but only in the scientific field. So, it is a pleasant and welcomed change that BCS shows how Saul complements Walt as a legal genius.

Of course, talking about Saul also includes Kimberly “Kim” Wexler, our newly introduced character as a partner, lover, and moral compass of our lawyer. Another thing I am glad about this series is that it didn’t only revolve around well-known Breaking Bad characters like Michael Ehrmantraut and Gustavo Fring. The new characters were very well fleshed out. Rewatching Breaking Bad would make you wonder what would these past characters do if they met face-to-face with Walt and Jesse. However, for this review. I would like to focus on Kim because she was essential to the plot and even for Jimmy/Saul. It would be not too far-fetched to say that she is set up to be a second protagonist in the story instead of a supporting character to Saul.

With all that said, there are interesting aspects I think make Better Call Saul a highly praised series and a worthy prequel to Breaking Bad.

A Slip Turning into a Free Fall

When we were introduced to Charles “Chuck” McGill, I was readily rooting for the brothership between him and James “Jimmy” McGill (Saul’s former identity). With all the quirks that Chuck exhibited that Jimmy had to put up with, I thought it a fresh breath of air compared to the deteriorating family of Walter White. By God, I did not foresee Season 1’s finale. I was stung by the betrayal of Chuck’s epiphany from a moral compass to an immoral catalyst.

The brilliance (or rather, the tragedy) of this whole arc was that the viewers didn’t feel betrayed for Jimmy. It felt like being personally betrayed by Chuck. How could anyone not be? From Chuck’s perspective, it is not abnormal to think Jimmy can relapse to Slipping Jimmy, his con-artist initial identity. From the glimpses of Jimmy’s past, he had never been straight and was not showing signs of change until that last prison meeting between him and Chuck. However, viewers did get glimpses of Jimmy trying to redeem himself after he got out of jail. Chuck didn’t know this so at least it is understandable that there is no ground for him to believe Jimmy was sincerely trying to be better and not simply to keep him from returning Jimmy to a cell.

What made my blood boil the most was the revelation that Chuck was actively preventing Jimmy to redeem himself in Jimmy’s OWN way. Chuck really thought that keeping Jimmy grounded in the dirt while he was on his high horse is the best thing for Jimmy. It was a painful realization and only natural for viewers to side with Jimmy. It was worse to also realize that this is also the turning point of Saul Goodman. So, bravo Vincent.

In all honesty, when Chuck barbequed himself, it was simply saddening to see a life lost and not because of his death. Chuck was so consumed by his jealousy of Jimmy that he failed to see that Jimmy truly cared for him far before he bailed Jimmy out of prison. Even Page of Mesa Verde pointed out her perspective as an outsider that Chuck was not a good person despite all of his reputation and merits.

One of the things that the series excels at is truly showing different and personal perspectives of a major event. Most legal professionals saw Chuck’s death as a huge loss to the legal community. So much so that Jimmy did not get his license just because he didn’t idolize Chuck too. Howard, who was close to Chuck more as a professional partner rather than a close friend, treated him as a father figure and even as far as a god. Proven by the huge looming picture of Chuck hanged in the frequently visited meeting room that even his father, the other Hamlin in HHM, was not given the same recognition. Howard took Chuck’s words about Jimmy’s criminal tendency as gospel. He didn’t question why Jimmy treated him poorly. (A hint for him: Howard was ignorant of Jimmy’s condition and he is the ideal version of what Chuck expected of Jimmy). Lastly, there is Kim who knew Chuck as a professional and Jimmy’s brother. She knew the terrible things that Chuck did against Jimmy but also knew that Chuck wasn’t in his soundest mind.

So far I talked about Chuck and barely about Jimmy/Saul even though it was our protagonist who was in a free fall. But viewers would realize that Jimmy’s shift to Saul started from Chuck. Before Chuck’s hate reveal, the most illegal thing Jimmy did was to scam people for their money. Compare that with the events after the revelation and Chuck’s death. Saul was gradually pushing his moral lines until he didn’t have one. You read that right. Even his last attempt to redeem himself was not because he felt guilty about what he did. If anything, the prison bus chanting scene showed that Saul was a tad proud of what he had achieved. The only reason why Saul gave himself up to 80 years of serving time was that he wanted to save Kim. It was not morally driven. It was simply him wanting to pull one last trick for Kim. I personally view it as mostly ego-driven.

One of the early signs of Jimmy turning into Saul was the application for the small photocopier business. Good and honest Jimmy would have accepted the offer, and maybe improve the business along the way. Viewers instead saw how he rejected the offer and even went so far as to play with the unfortunate business. When I first saw Jimmy reject the offer, I thought it reminded him too much of Chuck and also thought he could do better. But later we saw that Jimmy schemed to steal the precious doll sculpture to make ends meet. That was my realization that we were not witnessing Jimmy rejecting. It was Saul and the initial peek into his pride. One might as well say that it was the start of his rise and fall.

My personal favorite was Jimmy’s dynamics with Kim. It was a cushion and a safe point between all the chaos ensuing. Most of all it was beautiful not because of the romance but because of the authenticity. We knew Kim met Jimmy as an honest but slick mailboy. This became a solid ground for Kim to believe Jimmy is capable of good despite what everyone (especially Chuck) thought of. Kim stuck with Jimmy through good and worse. On the other hand, Kim allowed us to see that Jimmy is able to recognize someone who truly cares for him even though they don’t always meet eye to eye. It was the antithesis of what happened with the McGill brothers where Chuck could see the same thing from Jimmy.

Hence, it is natural for my favorite episode to be “Nailed” (S2E9) where we saw that Kim knew Jimmy was perfectly capable of the Mesa Verde case tampering and most probably did it but defended him in front of Chuck either way. It was the perfect episode to paint the chemistry between this partner in crime. Every time Kim was able to Jimmy/Saul to be better, it is not a plot convenience of Kim holding Jimmy’s leash. Kim had shown Jimmy compassion and trust which is more than anyone had given him. It is a good enough reason for him to let himself rot in jail to save Kim. It was very rewarding to see that Kim’s good intentions were not entirely misplaced.

Another thing the show explored is whether we are watching a transformation of Jimmy becoming Saul or it was an uncovering that Jimmy had been Saul’s fake identity all along. The question kept getting asked from time to time. More and explicitly so in the episodes leading up to the finale. I personally think it is the former. Despite the constant reminder of his criminal activities in his early days, he had a line. The identity theft of the cancer patient pictures this when one of his accomplices was against the idea of doing this to the poor fellow. There was a flashback to when Slipping Jimmy would do in contrast to what Saul Goodman actually did. Another earlier example was when Jimmy saved those two scam skaters. Saul Goodman would be busy saving his own life and manipulating Tuco to kill his witness. This is not hypothetical considering Saul kept referring to “eradicating trouble” as the first option whenever it was convenient in Breaking Bad. In short, Slipping Jimmy would only extort money from people whereas Saul Goodman would squeeze every penny from someone even if it means squeezing their blood and life.

A Character of Her Own

I am putting this out loud and clear: if any writer is searching for an archetype of a strong, interesting, and realistic female character, Kim Wexler is definitely a good candidate. I was honestly wary when the series introduced Kim. It gave me flashbacks of the stereotypical, bland, or down-right collection of female characters in Breaking Bad. I trust them to create an interesting plot where everything has consequences and characters evolve from the challenges that arise from these consequences. But I cannot forget the fact that most female characters were very hard to relate to, much less to care about.

Should I list them?

First example, Skyler. Since we were given so much time with Walter and barely any insight into Skyler’s motivation, her presence did seem like an obstacle to Walter’s goals. We got to see and understand how hard it was for her with Walt using the disguise of “saving his family” to be allowed to do such unlawful and risky business. However, her cheating was so surprising, disappointing, and very hard to recover from.

Second example, Marie. She was so annoying in the earlier part of Breaking Bad and too self-absorbed throughout the series’s run. I kept asking myself what role Marie play other than to be a supporting character to Hank, another but more interesting supporting character. Even her appearance as a widow in BCS only sparked sympathy because we already knew her. For me at least, it was simply sad because a widow had to watch the man (Saul) who played a part in her husband’s death getting away with light sentences. It is the same sympathy I had for Mrs. Gomex who only showed up in the twilight of the series.

Third example, Jane. Honestly, there is every reason that she had to go whether Jesse was becoming a meth-lord sidekick or a straight church boy. She was taking every advantage of Jesse and barely had anything in return.

Fourth example, Francesca (in Breaking Bad obviously). Her character was simply a one-dimensional grumpy lady. I am glad we get to see her fleshed out although not as much as she deserved.

Fifth example, Andrea. She was by far the only lawful character that is tolerable, even relatable with how his brother got tangled up with the cartel and was killed. It was a shame that we were not allowed more moments to know her up until her tragedy.

Sixth example, Linda. She was the only interesting character among them. Maybe it’s because we got to see her actively participating in the cartel. But most importantly we saw that Linda, ironically, was too anxious and fidgety for the part but excels anyway. Also, the story even reserves several scenes on how hypocritical she was not wanting to face the obvious consequences of her involvement.

And then there is Kim Wexler. I thought, “Oh no, is she going to be the predecessor of Skyler?” Especially in the early episodes where she kept reminding, even to the point of nagging, Jimmy that his actions were risking his career and professional credibility. But somehow it didn’t feel like Sykler when she first learned about Walt’s criminal side hustle. Granted, Skyler was Walt’s wife and would be much more impacted by the consequences whereas Kim started only as a close friend who gradually became Jimmy’s wife.

Relationship aside, there is a remarkable theme around Kim: trust. As I have mentioned in the previous section, Kim showed Jimmy trust that could not be given by anyone. The closest thing Jimmy had was from Marco, his scam partner. But even Marcon only trusted Jimmy so they could run scams together again.

What makes Kim and Jimmy’s relationship so good is that Jimmy trusts Kim too because she is someone you can trust with your life (in the series it's literal). This might as well become a milestone in the series because every time Jimmy trusts Kim, it propels the story further. Jimmy trusts that Kim will help him after he gave his lending hand with the Kettlemans’ embezzlement case. She did by highly praising him to David & Main. Being in David & Main, Jimmy realized that he couldn’t conform to the law firm’s strict rules and had to go on his own. Jimmy trusts that Kim can get back on her own after HMM treated her like trash. She did by securing Mesa Verde as a client (albeit with Jimmy's secret help) and eventually joined Schweikart & Cokely. By having Mesa Verde and being a part of Schweikart, she realized that her practice was meaningless and became interested in more humanitarian causes. This in turn caused her to push and help Saul to get his share of the Sandpiper lawsuit so they can build their own pro bono law firm. Saul trusts her enough to tell her a potential offer to be “the cartel’s friend”. Not only did she handle the whole fiasco well, but Kim also defended and saved Saul when Lalo confronted him. She had every reason to be upset with him after not telling her the truth about the dessert situation and putting them in danger. If those did not show how much trust Jimmy/Saul had for Kim, I don’t know what is.

Kim Wexler's character also has more depth than Skyler was ever allowed. All we know about Skyler was she is the wife of Walter White and had a problematic sister who happened to be married to a DEA agent. Not really exciting or interesting because she was only defined by her relations not barely by her own character. On top of that, Skyler cheated on Walt when the audience was convinced that Walt did everything he did for his family before the reveal of his true intent. It was very hard to empathize after that.

Compare that to Kim. When we were introduced, Kim was a brilliant lawyer, even at times better than Jimmy. She was ambitious and knew what she wanted. This was shown in the cases she handled. Even she said it herself during the Schweikart interview: I want better.

We were also there when she was exploring her definition of "better". Her original definition was doing things the proper way. At HMM, Kim was exemplary at her job. The only reason she got sacked so many times was that she was handling tough cases and conveniently became the black sheep when things went sideways. Fortunately, Mesa Verde and Schweikart saw her true value and capability. Kim was in a better position by working for them. Her next definition then became doing things that matter. Kim was on a high lane to the common definition of success: a good job with visibly good pay. But it was becoming monotonous and trivial. It was when she started considering doing something worthwhile. After doing her first pro bono case, she got some kicks from it and realized that this is much more meaningful than “helping a medium-sized bank become a larger-sized bank”. Kim was on this track for quite some time before she started to know what Saul does and got involved. Her final definition of better shifted to having fun while doing the right thing. So she started relying on Saul to help her do the right thing. The intention is good but by then we all knew at that point Saul was walking on a more dangerous path. It was no surprise to anyone when things went their way at the expense of everybody else. Mesa Verde was riled up and lost respect for Kim at one point. Howard died and HMM along with him. The Sandpiper case was settled but so many were sacrificed to get there. Seeing all things made Kim quit being a lawyer which would definitely impact her clients. They now have to rely on lawyers that are not as dedicated nor talented as Kim from what we witnessed in how they handled their cases.

Despite all of her flaws, this is what I liked about her character: she was an active participant in all of her choices. Saul made her life more dangerous than it should have but she chose to stick with him. Kim knew the risk of being with Saul and even went as far as to defend him against Lalo. Their marriage was her idea after all. Cornering Howard so they could get the money for the pro bono law firm was greenlit by her. Everyone around her questioned why she chose Jimmy and sometimes patronized her that she could do better. I even suspected that most of them thought Jimmy/Saul tricked her into falling in love with him. But if anyone knows who Jimmy/Saul really is and capable of, it’s Kim. Despite knowing him inside out, Kim loved and cared about Jimmy even during his early transition into Saul.

Another thing I adore about Kim’s character was her choice of becoming a normal (to a point of mediocre) wife and employee. It was initially painful to see her integrate herself into this mind-numbing routine when we had seen her brilliance and potential. I thought it was an temporary attempt to lay low with the whole cartel situation and Howard’s disappearance/death. However, after watching her interaction with on-the-run Saul, it was obvious that she deliberately chose this particular lifestyle. It was the way she convinced Saul to come clean and also being nervous about others knowing her past adventurous life that showed us her act of quitting her life behind is resolute.

To end the analysis of her character, I wanted to put some spotlight on when she came forward about Howard’s death to his widow. Maybe it was her guilt but it seemed deeper than that. Kim could have just told her without evidence to relieve her guilt and kept it “my word against her”. Instead, Kim went out of her way to bring everything to light even if it would cost her everything she had left and had built. Perhaps it was her sense of justice to bring all of it to closure, especially for Howard’s widow and to some extent for Saul too. Whatever the reason was, it only proves the courage and fortitude Kim had to stay strong and sane for so long after all she had been through.