What happens to Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul?

Jimmy McGill is the protagonist of Better Call Saul, but Kim Wexler is the beating heart of the show. And with the final episode airing next week, we’re examining how life has turned out for the beloved character. So BEWARE OF BETTER CALL SAUL SPOILERS AHEAD...

Last week’s Better Call Saul – entitled “Breaking Bad” – sent Jimmy spiralling, with McGill taking chances and making mistakes that are likely to get him arrested, or worse.

It all kicked off with a pair of Kim-related phone-calls. First he found out from his assistant that Kim had called and asked if he’s still alive. Which gives Jimmy hope.

He then phones Kim’s place of business, and while we don’t hear what is said between the pair, it has a devastating effect on Jimmy. And this week, we found out why.

What is Kim Wexler doing in the present?

Kim Wexler makes a heartbreaking return in the penultimate episode of Better Call Saul, written and directed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, and featuring a powerhouse performance from Rhea Seehorn as Kim.

Living in the Florida suburbs, and now a brunette, she’s dating a guy who thinks Miracle Whip is a acceptable substitute for mayonnaise. Kim’s working life is little better, making photocopies, writing about sprinklers, and signing birthday cards for people she doesn’t particularly like.

These scenes play out like a depressing black-and-white episode of The Office, and make it clear that Kim is miserable. But you also get a sense that this boredom is some form of penance for Kim, to atone for her past sins.

What was said on the call between Jimmy and Kim?

Kim takes the aforementioned call from Jimmy, and it’s equally grim. It’s been six years since they last spoke, and Kim doesn’t have anything to say to her former husband, with Wexler’s silence deafening.

But Jimmy persists, demanding she say something. “You should turn yourself in” comes the response. This enrages Jimmy, pushing him to do the dumb things he does at the end of the episode, which could be the beginning of the end for the character.

But his tantrum changes something in Kim as well. She heads straight to Albuquerque and delivers a confession to both the courthouse, and Cheryl Hamlin. Holding nothing back, Kim reveals everything that happened to Howard, from fake addiction and murder to fake suicide. It’s a brutal scene, made worse by Kim explaining that due to a lack of physical evidence, there likely won’t be justice for Howard.

Kim then breaks down on a bus back to the airport, and Seehorn is incredible here, weeping tears of regret and relief over finally admitting what she and Jimmy have done. Giving the episode its title – “Waterworks.”

Kim Wexler meets Jesse Pinkman

It’s a depressing place to leave Kim, but also fitting that her final act is to do the right thing. Just several years too late.

But if that’s where Better Call Saul leaves Kim in the present, it isn’t the last audiences see of her, as we also then witness Kim signing her divorce papers with ‘Saul Goodman’ during the Breaking Bad era.

Saul reveals that that Kim didn’t take a cent of the Sandpaper money. He then patronizes her before finally ignoring his lost love, breaking her heart with his final words, “Have a nice life, Kim.”

Then comes a surprise cameo, as while smoking outside the office, Kim meets Jesse Pinkman, the two TV worlds colliding as Breaking Bad legend bums a cigarette off Better Call Saul star. Jesse wants legal advice, asking if Goodman is good at his job. Kim responds: “When I knew him, he was.”

She’s telling the truth too, as Jimmy McGill is the man she knew and loved, while Saul Goodman is now a stranger to Kim Wexler. He’s also part of a past she’s happy to leave behind, no matter how dull and depressing her future might be.

The final episode of Better Call Saul airs next week.