'Better Call Saul' Star Rhea Seehorn Talks Kim and Jimmy as Soulmates and Inspiring the Man Who Becomes Saul

Warning: Storyline and character spoilers ahead for the “Bingo” episode of Better Call Saul.

So close! Jimmy McGill same so close to opening his dream office in “Bingo,” but his association with the Kettlemans, as well as his affection for friend — and more? — Kim led him to concoct a plan that finally ended the Kettle-creeps’ plans for their embezzled cash, and his plans for that sweet suite, too.

Jimmy also asked his fellow lawyer Kim to partner with him in his new elder law biz, and though she turned him down, it provided another peek at just how important Ms. Wexler is to the man who will become Saul Goodman. Kim’s portrayer, Rhea Seehorn, talks to Yahoo TV about Kim and Jimmy’s complicated-but-delightful relationship.

When the series began, you couldn’t really put a label on Kim and Jimmy’s relationship, and you still can’t. But we do know more things about them, that they have mutual affection, mutual respect for each other. They just genuinely seem to enjoy each other’s company.
I enjoy very much that, in the hands of Peter [Gould] and Vince [Gilligan] and all of our writers, Tom and Jennifer and Gordon, a male/female relationship with deep intimacy and deep history is not a black and white thing. That it’s not something you can easily put a label on. I love that that is that way, and that they’re so good at implying such rich history. That continues, because that’s their writing. But what’s revealed or not revealed [about Jimmy and Kim’s relationship], I can’t spoil.

Before the season began, Peter told us that the most surprising thing for him in the introduction and evolution of Jimmy was that women in the office started having crushes on Jimmy. That seemed odd, given what we knew about Saul, but now, after these first seven episodes with Jimmy, I get it. Do you have a crush on the Jimmy character?
Oh, that’s so good. And absolutely. It’s very easy to play why Kim wants to be in his company. That’s easy to play. Of course, you get frustrated. If you do actually care about somebody and love them, the frustration, if you think they’re not doing what’s best for them, comes up. What I love about Kim is she’s not a judge. She’s a confidant, but not a judge. I think that’s just one of the reasons that Jimmy can relax around her. Then the audience does get to see this relaxed, very charismatic, sexy version of him.

He also, obviously, has more respect for her than anyone but maybe Chuck. She throws out the idea of specializing in elder law, and he’s off buying the Matlock suit and the Jell-O cups and running the bingo games. Why do you think that is? What does she give him that no one else does?
Kim does not pass judgment. She certainly has opinions and advice, but he gives them right back to her about what he thinks she should be doing. I love that. Never once in the script does it say anything about, when I would go to the nail salon scenes, showing up late at night at a nail salon and his office, basically a broom closet in the back, never in a script was there a line or even a gesture that Kim looked around like, “This is disgusting.” I love that she really does want the best for him. I like to think that that’s what Jimmy gets out of it.

It’s also tough to imagine that either of them have a lot of other friends. They’re both probably lonely people, in a way? Do you think they’re each other’s best friend?
That’s an interesting observation. I don’t know that that’s true, but these are people trying to find themselves, and take some solace in each other’s company. When you see them in these nail salon scenes or on the phone in the middle of the night, there’s something about it, like you said, that does seem like they’re on an island, and then one can only start to wonder, is this the only buoy? Are there other friends for Kim? I do think of her as a loner.

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They both are so smart, and funny, and funny in the same ways. Kim has some great lines. That she refers to the Kettlemans as “those Kettlemans.” And her suggestion that Jimmy make his office look like the front of a Cracker Barrel for his elder clients. What have been some of your favorite lighter moments so far?
There’s been a lot. Something that I love about Kim is that they’re writing her to be this person who’s just as much about what she chooses not to say as what she chooses to say. That’s really fun to play against Jimmy, because Jimmy won’t stop talking, although he’s sometimes at his most quiet around her. But I like that there’s almost the switch of stereotypes there. She’s less emotional, less talkative, less reactionary than the guy. I loved the Cracker Barrel line. It was a lot of fun saying the billboard stuff when I wouldn’t admit to Hamlin that I even talk to Jimmy. And I do like to speak of “those Kettlemans.” My entire scene [in “Bingo”] with the Kettlemans was really fun, all the lines that had pauses in the script, what she chooses not to say, because professionally, she cannot go, “Are you f—king sick?”

Are there still things about Kim, about her past with Jimmy, that you want to know?
Definitely. I make up stuff all the time in my head. There’s this other part of me that loves playing what’s in front of you. We typically get our scripts about three days before we shoot them, and you sometimes get surprised by information. Not that they withhold it from you. It’s just the writers have very smartly given themselves room to explore different stories instead of sitting us down and telling us exactly everything that’s going to happen from day one. I have been constantly surprised and excited to learn new things and fill in more holes.

Since there are only a few episodes left in Season 1, what can you say about the relationships going forward? We don’t know, for instance, if Kim’s work situation was repaired after those Kettlemans came back to HHM.
Yeah, that is something that was surprising to me when I read this script, how quickly Howard turned on Kim. She really has stood up for him to say he’s not a villain whenever Jimmy’s bashing him. She honestly does think it’s more personal than is warranted. When I read the script it was like, “How does Kim roll that into this feeling about how this is the one law firm she wants to be at?” I know she made a mistake, but she’s dismissed into, as Jimmy puts it, “the cornfield,” rather unceremoniously.

You just continue to see all the characters get challenged in in their attempts to find their own destinies. What life throws at them that starts to make them question things about themselves.

At the end of “Bingo,” Jimmy is very dejected. Is he thinking he just lost his last chance at having this legitimate legal operation?
I don’t know. Do you?

Kind of, but then, and I think this is one of those things that make Jimmy so crush-worthy, he immediately answers the phone with his faux British voice and starts plugging away again.
I agree, and it’s the thing that Kim smiles at at the end of the billboard scene [in “Hero”]. But no one can see her smiling. She loves that about him. He’s not a man that can be kept down. He’s resourceful. He is trying to be good, but it seems like the perimeters to do that keep getting shifted on him. Like, “Try to be good in this little box.” It’s incredible to watch somebody fight against that. It raises these great questions of, “Is that his destiny?” We all know what he turned out to be, but did you fight to get there or did you fight against it? We’ll continue to see that journey for him, which to me is great.

Better Call Saul airs Monday at 10 p.m. on AMC.