Hey Francesca, how about I follow you home?
No!
For safety!
What?
God you are killing me with that booty!
The idea that Kim Wexler is not only alive in the Breaking Bad timeline, but is in fact
also a major player is an absolutely captivating possibility.
Oh you betcha!
Take it easy!.
Rewatching Breaking Bad, there is absolutely no reason to believe she couldn’t be there.
That doesn’t necessarily mean she is.
It could be a case of clever misdirection.
But that’s what makes it intriguing, is the possibility is, as I see it, very REAL.
Regarding the opening of Saul’s home, a lot of people are debating whether that was
a bachelor pad or whether there was any evidence of Kim living there.
I don’t think we can tell a whole lot from that, because we’re only shown glimpses.
And who knows?
Maybe the more Kim broke bad, the saucier she got.
Remember Saul Goodman is a character she is in the midst of defining right now.
Who’s to say Kimmy and Goodman aren’t into hosting 3somes and orgies?
Maybe that’s why that booty was killing poor Saul.
Hell, maybe even Howard gets involved in the action.
I’m just getting warmed up.
When Wexler is talking to the ADA with regards to their suspicions that Goodman is acting
as a cartel lawyer, Kim referred to McGill as “Jimmy”twice during this conversation,
and Suzanne calls him Jimmy at least a dozen times before Kim finally corrects her, insisting
Suzanne refer to him as Saul, explaining he practices under Goodman..
Kim is internally differentiating Jimmy from Saul.
Kim is basically having a sort of identity crisis when it comes to her husband.
She loves Jimmy, and she sees him as someone fundamentally separate from Goodman, her creation
and current work in progress.
When talking with McGill, Kimmy starts defining the Goodman persona to her preferred specification,
things like the type of car he drives, flashier, the type of clothes he wears, where she’s
transforming him a caricature of himself, where his law office should be, the type of
clients he should be tackling, which still fits Kim’s pro bono passion on some level.
All of these suggestions she makes pertaining to the evolution of the Goodman persona are
basically on full display during the flash forward when Saul’s home is being repossessed,
presumably at some point during the Gene timeline or just before he assumed the Gene alias from
our favorite vacuum repair man.
Jimmy’s problem in his relationship with Kim has many similarities with the relationship
he had with his big brother Chuck, always looking to please him and gain his approval,
even when doing so goes against his and his brother’s own best interests.
Chuck was mentalyl ill and in need of help, but Chuck wanted to leave the hospital and
go home, Jimmy wanted to please Chuck and gain his approval, and Chuck never got the
help he needed.
Will he redeem himself and not make the same mistake?
That is, in large part, what this season boils down to with regards to Kimmy and Jim, and
the relevant precedent is Jimmy’s relationship with Chuck, where in my opinion, Jimmy failed
Chuck and he failed himself.
History is repeating itself now with Kimmy Corleone.
Saul knows they’re going too far with this ruthless plot to destroy poor Howard.
He’s playing along because he wants to support Kim, but on some level he KNOWS what they’re
doing to Howard is wrong.
Supporting evidence for this is building.
First the original discussion about Kimmy’s scheme where Jimmy notes that Howard doesn’t
deserve this.
Then Jimmy shows reluctance when Kim brings it up again and he asks if they’re really
still doing that.
Then most recently, when questioned by Huell about why he does what he does, Goodman sells
some two bit pitch about doing the Lord’s work, Huell ain’t buying it, and Goodman
himself looks as if he has no good answer to that question.
For the longest time it looked as if Kim Wexler was the only thing keeping Jimmy McGill from
going all in on Saul Goodman.
But now Kimmy is actively sculpting the creation which will later become Saul Goodman as we
know him in Breaking Bad, and ironically, the thing that seems to be giving Jimmy hesitation
from going all in now is the fact that deep down he KNOWS poor Howard does not deserve
to be ruined, much like he previously knew that getting Chuck the help he required was
probably the best move
It’s interesting, because last season Goodman threw a couple of old bowling balls at Howard’s
car, and he sent a few ladies of the night to embarrass poor Howie, and these were his
actions after Howard offered him a job at HHM.
It’s also interesting because Howard and Jimmy probably have more in common than they
realize, because I imagine Howard was once just like Jimmy in his desire to please and
seek approval from his old man before and after Howard himself became a name partner
at the firm.
But now Kim is out to ruin Howard, and Jimmy knows this is scorched Earth, and not a mere
career setback on the horizon.
I hope and suspect that Howard will provide stronger resistance than the Slippin’ Couple
is expecting.
I’m just getting warmed up.
The shift in dynamics between Kim and Jimmy became apparent late last season when Kim
first described her scheme to go after Howard.
It’s being reinforced again here, where even Jimmy had no idea what to do when first
given news about the ADA’s belief that he is involved as a lawyer for the cartel.
He asks HER what to do, and cool as an assassin, she breaks it down plain and simple while
strongly implying exactly what it is she wants him to do.
Do you want to be a friend to the cartel, or do you want to be a RAT?
Her insightful instincts into the situation have seemingly surpassed Jimmy’s, and in
a situation where the stakes could never be higher.
That brings us back to whether Kim is indeed some type of big player behind the scenes
in Breaking Bad?
I think there have been some pretty stronghanded hints suggesting such, from the opening of
the repossession, to Kim creating the new Goodman persona and training Jimmy to become
her scheming puppet, and then the way Kim differentiated between referring to him as
Jimmy and Saul during her conversation with the ADA.
We now know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Kimmy was very instrumental in inventing Saul
Goodman as we see him in Breaking Bad.
The big question is, is that all it was?
Did she just help firmly shape who he’d later become, or is she still there working
with him, molding and fine-tuning him behind the scenes, where he is all too eager to please
her and gain her approval.
We have the precedent with Chuck.
And if anything, McGill’s devotion to obtaining Kim’s approval is a far stronger driving
force.
We also know, in the end, Goodman is an irredeemable scumbag.
So if the key to Jimmy McGill’s redemption is not making the same mistake with Kim that
he previously made with Chuck with the overeager desire to please, we know he fails.
The tangible evidence is right there in Breaking Bad.
Now maybe Kim isn’t there in Breaking Bad, and they’re just showing the strong role
she played in his transformation.
Maybe.
If it is a red herring development, it’s a good one that keeps the question alive,
where the possibility alone remains captivating.
But I have a damn hard time believing they’re giving us all of these hints just to say Kim
helped shape Goodman.
I believe Kimmy Corleone is indeed a big player behind the scenes in some capacity.
And as a final thought, consider the words from co-creator Peter Gould, :”I think by
the time you finish watching Better Call Saul, you're going to see Breaking Bad in a very
different light”.
What better represents that sentiment?
Kimmy helping build Goodman and not being around after.
Or Kimmy developing Goodman and pulling the strings behind the scenes in Breaking Bad?
I know what answer works best for me.
So what do you think?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
Hey Francesca, how about I follow you home?
No!
For safety!
What?
God you are killing me with that booty!
I’m just getting warmed up!
You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,
Man Earnie is really going for it.
Yes.
Yes he is.
Yep.
I was a fool, for playing by the rules.
The Gods may throw the…
God you are killing me with that…
You’re done, you are done!