Kim Wexler’s character arc was among one of the bigger and more welcome surprises onBetter Call Saul. With the show wrapped up, Rhea Seehorn can now reflect on her character’s journey, and she did just that.
Seehorn talked about the journey that Wexler took from the beginning to the end ofBetter Call Saul. In short, Seehorn loved that nothing but her ownchoices got Kim Wexler to where she was, which opened the door to character development that Seehorn believes viewers don’t get to see in other TV shows.
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In an interview with The AV Club, Seehorn voiced her gratitude for playing a character who changed much as Kim did during her time on the show. “She goes through a lot of character development, and I was so thankful to be able to do that because not all shows allow that to happen. They also let things come up about her that you find out in organic ways.” What Seehorn specifically singled out regarding Kim was her always making her choices instead of life doing that for her. “For me, what always remained true is Kim had her own agency. I know that was important to Peter too. Her with Jimmy is more real because she’s there by choice. She does not need to be there; she wants to be there. She continually fought against people telling her what she is or isn’t, what she’s capable of or isn’t, and whether or not somebody is bad for her or not. She rebelled against that, in the end, petulantly and too far, but she also offered others around her the same thing.”
The reason why Kim’s arc is all so believable is that they establish from the beginning that Kim will not let outside influences dictate where her life goes. Only she does. Not only that, but Kim’s stubbornness in making her own choices was what also led to her morals becoming corrupted through her desire and possible addiction to conning people. While killing people was never something that Kim would have ever done out of her own accord, her choices were what led to the death ofBetter Call Saul’s most morally straight characterand led to her attempting to murder another.
That’s why fans were beyond petrified of knowing what Kim’s fate was going to be in the end. The show established early on that she was Jimmy McGill’s love interest, so viewers figured then that, since she’s not inBreaking Bad, she left Jimmy because of his transformation into Saul Goodman. Once theygot to see Kim' Wexler’s wild sidecontinue to spiral, they started to fear that her story ended with her death. The show brilliantly subverted expectations when they revealed that the reason Kim leaves Jimmy is not that he would eventually go too far, but because she would.
That’s what makes Wexler one of the best characters in theBreaking BadandBetter Call Sauluniverse. She remained unpredictable in a show format that usually falls prey to predictability. How her story ends is the last way in which the fanbase would have seen it concluding for her. Better yet, what makes her a phenomenal character is that, despite her becoming more reckless, she doesn’t double down when consequences rear their ugly head. The morals she had at the beginning never left but were rather ignored until she reached her limit, which is why she was arguably the show’s best character.
Better Call Saulcan currently be streamed on Netflix.
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