Better Call Saul’s Kim Wexler is not considered a bad person, but a good person who lost her moral compass because of her relationship with Saul Goodman.
Better Call Saul was arguably guaranteed to be one of the best series from the 2010s. This is as the series is touted as a sequel-prequel to the hit AMC series that changed the understanding of creating antihero protagonists, Breaking Bad.
Premised on the life and times of title character, Saul Goodman, whose real name we discover is Jimmy McGill, before the events that took place on the original series.
One of the breakout stars from Better Call Saul is Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler, who is considered Saul’s moral compass because she is innately good. But she does slightly lose her way, since she is influenced by Saul’s actions throughout the series.
Does Kim love Saul?
It can be argued that Kim was more in love with Jimmy McGill than Saul Goodman.
This was clear as early as the first episode, as Kim seemed to be the only one who could calm Jimmy after his fight with Howard after he kicked the trash can, seemingly not for the first time.
Their brief exchange with the cigarette and Kim subsequently picking up the trash can indicates this.
Moreover, the fact that after Kim left Jimmy when he fully embraced his Saul Goodman persona, shows that she was more in love with Jimmy than with Saul Goodman.
Better Call Saul: Is Kim Wexler a bad person?
Rhea Seehorn’s portrayal of Kim Wexler is arguably one of the most underrated performances to have come from of the series.
This is as the lead actress was the major breakout star from the series and the other notable characters that started out with the series had already been established in the Breaking Bad series run.
As such, when we first meet Kim, she is a senior lawyer who is established as the love interest of Jimmy/ Saul.
But as the series continued, Kim became more than Saul’s love interest, she became his moral compass and as he continued to spiral further into his affiliation with the cartel, it seemed that she worked even harder to fight for the disadvantaged, as she turned into a public defender.
As such, the character is not considered a bad person. However, eventually, it did seem that Saul’s influence also had an impact her moral compass as it weakened.
This is seen with the implications of her involvement in the antagonistic relationship between Jimmy and his more successful lawyer older brother, Howard Hamlin, which later resulted in his death.
But upon realising the consequence of her actions, she was not only remorseful, but she divorced Jimmy, suggesting that they were not good for each other, and she went on to live a life which, in a way, was worse than the prison sentence she was facing.
Why is Better Call Saul considered Kim Wexler’s Breaking Bad?
While the premise of Better Call Saul suggests that the series is about Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman and his “breaking bad” trajectory, as the show has since concluded its six-season run in August 2022.
It has been suggested that the series was more about Kim Wexler’s decline and the consequences of her “breaking bad” experience.
As we watched her go from moral and ethical compass fighting for the small and disadvantaged, until she turned on her own morals and ethics in effort to exact what she believed was just.
Thereafter, we could see that the consequences on her were when she realised the error of her ways.
Why was Kim Wexler not part of Breaking Bad?
For five seasons of Better Call Saul, one of the biggest mysteries was what had happened to Kim Wexler as she does not appear in Breaking Bad. As such, there were conspiracy theories shared about what may have happened.
These theories ranged from her dying, turning informant, and going through a witness protection program to working for Gus Fring.
But season six revealed that after her divorce, Kim turned her back to her old life and lived as a completely different person to the strong, opinionated Kim Wexler fans grew to love.
What does Kim Wexler’s change reveal about the character?
When we see Kim Wexler after the events of Breaking Bad, she is a completely different person. Physically, she let go of her blonde, signature ponytailed hairstyle and formal pantsuits.
She became a worker as an employee for a sprinkler company and offered her legal services pro-bono. Moreover, she became less vocal and seemed unable to offer her opinion on anything.
This was arguably meant to suggest that after her divorce, Kim killed her old self as a form of repentance for her previous actions. This decision is argued to be worse than prison, as it is self-inflicted.