Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn have a serious disagreement about the true meaning behind Jimmy and Kim’s final scene.
Even the stars of Better Call Saul can’t agree on what its ending means. The Breaking Bad spin-off follows Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and all of his many personas as he schemes his way through life. Along the way, he develops a romantic connection with Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), who he manages to drag into a life of crime. Towards the end of Better Call Saul, Jimmy is locked away in prison, but he chooses to keep Kim’s secrets safe. It means a longer prison time for him, but Kim remains protected.
Better Call Saul’s ending gives Jimmy the opportunity to meet with Kim in prison, and they share a cigarette together. Kim leaves the prison, getting one last look at Jimmy as she finally goes. In an interview with Vulture, Odenkirk and Seehorn admit that they interpreted that scene very differently. Check out their quotes below:
Seehorn: I think she comes back. Peter said, ‘I want to write a finale where the characters and the story continue after the screen goes to black.’ I was like, okay, but when I’m asked what I think, I’m going to say she comes back, because I’m a hopeless romantic. I don’t think she becomes the Kim she used to be. But you do see her begin to practice law again. I think she tries to figure out a way to reduce his sentence on the up and up, not with a scam. I do think she returns.
Odenkirk: Wow. I don’t agree.
Seehorn: I know you don’t! Bob’s always like, ‘They never see each other again and they both die in a fiery car crash.’
Odenkirk: [Laughs.] Obviously it’d be awful hard for Saul to die in a fiery car crash. He’s in prison. I just think it really is a goodbye. The word that comes to mind when I think about the journey of that final episode is surrender. The struggle inside Jimmy has always been with what he senses is true or what he should do versus his strange, unique instincts. These are two characters who had incredible intelligence about other people and struggled to have any self-awareness of any real depth about themselves. But in that final episode, they were granted a deep level of self-awareness that they always were capable of. Only with every other option stolen from them did Jimmy realize the only way out is through surrendering. I thought it was beautiful.
Was Better Call Saul’s Ending Kim’s Goodbye?
b
The final season of Better Call Saul sees Kim setting up for life as an honest lawyer. She works pro bono, offering her support to anyone who cannot afford legal aid. She is slowly working to redeem herself, though it is a long and slow struggle. Jimmy is a prisoner, hoping to prove himself as a changed man with good behavior. He never has to rely on scamming anymore. Instead, he is finally a free man. It only took being behind bars to earn that right.
Should Better Call Saul take the route that Seehorn suggested, Kim would be forever tied to Jimmy. While he manages to redeem himself, she would never be able to truly move on from the life that led her down a truly awful path. There might be some element of romance to a potential return visit, yet her final farewell to Jimmy does seem to be that: Final. She strains for one last look at him, then makes her definitive escape. In that light, Odenkirk’s take on the Better Call Saul ending seems to be the most well-founded.
Yet Kim’s tragic ending in Better Call Saul is partially defined by her relationship with Jimmy regardless. She escapes with her life and freedom because Jimmy chose to take the fall for her. Every moment that she avoids prosecution is a consequence of Jimmy’s decision. In that light, she will be forever tied to him anyway, making a few occasional visits little more than a minor detail. Seehorn’s version of events would not necessarily change much. However Kim and Jimmy went on after Better Call Saul, their tragic ending still hangs over their lives all the same.
