The Relationship between Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill
Thoughts on the relationship between the leading characters of Better Call Saul
I just finished binging the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. I just got to say, "Wow!" This show is television history. What a masterpiece by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. What is embarrassing to me is that I originally gave up on the show after just viewing 4-5 episodes when it first came out. My expectation had been something akin to Breaking Bad, but Better Call Saul is an entirely different kind of show. Break Bad throws you into action quite early on and get you hooked. Better Call Saul is a slow cooker, where you get rewarded for patience.
As someone who got interested in chemistry as a teenager, the whole thing about a chemistry teacher cooking crystal meth had a sort of immediate appeal. The appeal of Better Call Saul was less obvious. But as you watch the series, you realize that the hidden gem is one of the best in-depth character studies on the silver screen I have seen in many years. I want to discuss the show itself, but that will be in a later story. In this particular story, I really would like to elaborate on the relationship between the lawyers Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill (Saul Goodman) because that is one of several relationships which really stand out to me.
The fundamental genius of Gilligan and Peter Gould is how brilliantly they tell stories about relationships. You got the relation between Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. Between Hank Schrader and Marie, Walt and Skyler, Walt and his son Flynn. There is the relation between Jimmy and Chuck. Actually, there are too many interesting relationships to list here.
The reason I wanted to talk about Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill is because I have nearly always disliked Hollywood love stories. Maybe it is because I am a Nordic, I don't know. But to me, Hollywood portrayal of relationships always appear unrealistic. The main characters are throwing themselves over each other and loudly professing their love and affection. With Kim and Jimmy, we saw something entirely different. For many episodes, I wasn't really sure if they even were in a relation.
What was brilliant in my opinion is how us viewers did come to understand that they did care a lot about each other without it being spelled out in big letters. It was the classic "show, but don't tell" advice about story telling. For me, this was very relatable. Possibly because us Nordics are not that explicit about your emotions in general. We express our affection more in terms of actions or subtleties rather than great proclamations of love and affection.
The actress Rhea Seehorn who played Kim Wexler played brilliantly as a person who doesn't have as a habit of showing their emotions explicitly. However, I would say that also applies to Bob Odenkirk, who plays Jimmy McGill aka Saul Goodman. While Jimmy is loud and flamboyant, he too isn't someone really giving into expressing his true emotions much.
To me, this created a relationship which felt more real than anything I have seen in a long time on TV. You know the creators have done a good job when you get worried and worked up about two people who you know for a fact don't exist in the real world.
Ironically, what helps the show stand out as a masterclass in how to make a TV series is that I watched this after both Rings of Power and House of Dragons have been out. Two enormous budget series. As a geek, I have a natural affinity for anything Sci-Fi or Fantasy. Ironically, I am not particularly fond of court dramas or series about Lawyers. The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico also isn't an obviously interesting location to me. Yet setting matters nothing compared to good acting, script writing, character creation and directing. Better Call Saul has that in spades.
While I think House of Dragons was much better than Rings of Power, I could not really relate to any of the characters in either show. One character after the other delivering cheese lines while trying to sound epic and profound just fell flat on its face. Every character just felt one-dimensional. House of Dragons in the Game of Thrones tradition has richer and more nuanced characters, but even that show couldn't really get you invested in any of them.
What makes Better Call Saul work is that it has a lot of humor despite being quite tragic. We know from the onset that Jimmy McGill, despite all his struggled to live up to expectations by his brother Chuck and Kim, that he will fail and turn into the morally flexible scumbag lawyer Saul Goodman. Yet, as viewers we constantly get these little "victories" when Jimmy does the right thing and earns the respect of Kim, Chuck, or Howard. But there is always one step forward and two steps back. Jimmy is expert at self-sabotage.
Kim Wexler is an interesting contrast to Skylar White, the wife of protagonist Walter White, in Breaking Bad. The deep flaws of beloved chemistry teacher Walter White are hidden to the public at large. Most people around him don't know that he is a drug kingpin. Instead, he has the respect, admiration, and love of people all around him. They may see him as a bit dull or pushover, but his son, Hank, Marie, principle and others see him as a really standup guy. Skylar face the challenge that she knows what a scumbag Walter White is, but cannot really tell anybody. She looks like the bitch for not being nicer to Walter.
For Kim Wexler, the situation is the complete opposite. She is in a relationship with a man who has a bad reputation everywhere. Everyone is using every opportunity to tell Kim what an immoral asshole Jimmy McGill is: "Why are you with a guy like that? You can do so much better!"
While Kim knows that Jimmy is a con-man, she also knows that he is a lot more than that. She knows how hard he has worked to become a lawyer and gain acceptance from his brother Chuck, Howard, and others. Kim sees that Jimmy has the potential to be a proper, successful lawyer who can leave the ways of Slippin Jimmy behind (his earlier con-man alter ego). Kim thus makes a point of sticking up for Jimmy because she feels he is being unfairly characterized by everybody around him.
For Skyler, it is the complete opposite. She lives in a world where everybody is unfairly making her criminal husband look like a saint. A big difference between Walter and Jimmy in their relationships is that Walter treats Skylar in a paternalistic manner. She is never let in on anything he does and just told to not worry. While Jimmy is not entirely honest, either, he is generally much more prone to share the world he lives in with Kim. Kim and Jimmy are much more on the same wave length than Walter and Skylar, who live in almost entirely separate worlds.
I think part of the reason viewers often disliked Skylar is that she has to scold him and put him in place because nobody else is. Since Jimmy is held in low esteem by everybody around him, Kim feels much more of a need to stick up for him. Yet, Kim isn't going along with whatever he does. She genuinely tries to push him to do the right thing.
One of the beauties of the show is that they don't put this mode of interaction on constant repeat. At times, we see Kim being the one pushing and encouraging Jimmy to do bad stuff. Kim is not entirely flawless herself. Nor is Jimmy all flawed. There are plenty of times Jimmy is putting in significant effort to help Kim or keep her on the right track. Jimmy regularly fears that he, through his influence, is making Kim a lesser version of herself.
Jimmy may well have dragged down Kim, but I think when they split, there is nothing keeping Jimmy McGill from transforming into the immoral criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.
This show has so many layers, that it will keep me thinking for a while. If you are a Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul fan, let me know what you think. Was there ever hope for Jimmy McGill? How do you think the show compared to Breaking Bad?