Welcome back to “Wexler Watch,†where we do our best to assess the current state of Kim Wexler in the remaining episodes of Better Call Saul.
After the explosive Kim-Jimmy breakup in “Fun and Games†two weeks ago, it seemed possible that we would never see nor hear from Kim Wexler again on Better Call Saul. And technically we haven’t: Rhea Seehorn and her perfect ponytail did not show up on-camera last week in “Nippy,†and they do not appear in this week’s installment, “Breaking Bad.†However, the beginning of the episode doles out some important new information about Kim’s whereabouts while still leaving plenty of open questions for the series to hopefully resolve in its remaining two episodes. Here, what we know (a little) and what we don’t (substantially more) about how Kim is doing after “Breaking Badâ€:
Is Kim Wexler alive?
Since Kim is not a character in Breaking Bad, some viewers have long assumed that she must die at some point between the pre–Breaking Bad events in Better Call Saul and Jimmy’s transformation into Gene post-Saul. But that is not the case. When Jimmy checks in with Francesca, Saul Goodman’s assistant, to take the temperature of things in Albuquerque, he learns the Feds are still hovering. Francesca is being followed, and Kim called to check on her after seeing the news that Heisenberg’s meth business got busted. Kim also asked if Jimmy was alive. His spirits lift upon hearing this, and he immediately decides to call her, which is how we know that Kim Wexler is alive (yay!) and living in Florida (um, yay?).
But how is Kim Wexler doing?
There is no way to know whether Kim is happy, sad, or meh, but the evidence suggests her life is at least a lot less stressful. She works at a place called Palm Coast Sprinklers, a job that, I assume, does not put her in contact with a ton of murderous drug dealers. She also lives in Titusville, a town that seems deliberately chosen for its proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. It’s fitting for Kim Wexler, an attorney who came so close to greatness on her own terms, to live adjacent to a place where people regularly shoot for the stars.
Kim appears to have set very specific boundaries around her contact with Jimmy, which is to say she wants nothing to do with him. When Jimmy reaches Palm Coast Sprinklers and asks to speak with her, we can’t hear what’s said next because of the sound of Nebraska-highway traffic. But Jimmy immediately turns animated and angry, which implies that the receptionist has been instructed not to put through any calls that sound like they’re coming from the con artist Kim once called her husband.
It is clear, from Kim’s call to Francesca to Jimmy’s almost boyish response to hearing about that call (“She asked about me?â€), that neither has forgotten about the other. Even though their relationship is over, they still carry it with them — Jimmy literally, in the form of his Kansas City Royals lunch box, a nod to Kim’s favorite T-shirt. The question now is whether we’ll get to see Kim again on Better Call Saul and in what context. Maybe she’ll visit Jimmy in jail? Or testify against him in court?
And how is Kim Wexler’s ponytail, the barometer of her emotional state?
This is pure conjecture, but I suspect Florida Kim has completely abandoned her ponytail and either lets her hair flow free or pins it up casually when it’s extra hot. The days of trying to look like the put-together professional she was so capable of being? My guess is those are well behind her.