Better Call Saul 4.07: Jimmy and Kim Grow Apart?

One of my questions early in the Better Call Saul series was, Who's Kim? Specifically, what's her relationship with Jimmy? It was obvious from the start they're friends... but not clear at what level. There was a close camaraderie almost like they were best friends who grew up together, but there was also a sexual tension that was unresolved. Were they exes who'd stayed amicable? Just good friends? Just good friends, but Jimmy was looking to get in Kim's pants? Friends with benefits (already)?

Their relationship did become sexual back in (I think) season 2 and matured from there into one of partners living together. But as it turns out the best description of their relationship is that they're each other's ride or die. And that makes it extra sad that their joint story arc in season 4 is one of growing apart.

The showrunners tell the story poignantly in a split-screen montage at the start of episode 4.07.



Jimmy and Kim are shown going through the mundane motions of life, brushing their teeth in the morning, eating dinner in the evening without talking to each other, and lying down separately to sleep in the evenings. Occasional shots of dates on paperwork show months are passing. Jimmy and Kim still live together, but in most of the clips they're not together together; they just happen to share an apartment.

BTW, many critics and fans criticize the showrunners' use of flashbacks, flash-forwards, and time-is-passing montages. This show and Breaking Bad have used these devices frequently. The complaint is that there's an over-reliance on such devices. It's true, the creators seem to like these devices. But what the "too frequent" criticism misses is that these showrunners routinely do it well. This opening montage in episode 4.07 is one of the most compelling, and saddest, time-is-passing montages I've seen. (The only sadder one, frankly, is the opening minutes of Up!. OMG what a sad way to start an animated feature.)

What's going on here is more than just mundane routine such as eating meals. Jimmy and Kim have actually been growing apart all season, as their careers develop in different directions. The montage shows clips of this, too.



A big part of Jimmy's story in season 4, as I've noted a few times already, is dealing with the one-year suspension of his license to practice law. He finds a job selling mobile phones— but turns it shady and gets into hot water with it. Meanwhile Kim's law career is taking off. She does stumble for a bit early in the season as she questions her purpose in helping regional bank Mesa Verde, her sole client, grow bigger. In her search for purpose she starts doing pro bono work for the public defender's office. It distracts enough from her banking work, though, that it jeopardizes her relationship with Mesa Verde. But she goes to Rich Schweikart, head of Schweikart & Cokely, and offers to bring them a new banking division with Mesa Verde as its first customer. Rich hires Kim as a partner at his respectable firm and makes her manager of a team. So while Kim and her team are working with a senior partner and a bank owner to review plans (left panel above), Jimmy (right panel above) is hawking phones to criminals out the back of a van in a dirt parking lot.

It sure seems like Kim and Jimmy are headed in different directions professionally... and, ultimately, personally. Are they headed to splitsville by the season finale?

Hurry Up and Buy a TV, Tablet, Phone, etc?

Yesterday I wrote about people anticipating shortages due to the new tariff regime. The focus some of my friends were putting on it was food shortages/price spikes. I get that as thing to focus on; food is a necessity. But because it's a necessity it's demand inelastic, so while I expect there will be price increases I don't expect there will be bare shelves in stores as producers shut down and supply chains grind to a halt.

I believe some supply chains will grind to a halt; it just won't be in food. Or at least it won't be widespread in food. I think it will be widespread in consumer electronics— much of which does come from China nowadays, but also Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, too. In fact I believe the start of the supply chain shutdown is already appearing. When I visited Costco over the weekend I browsed their computers and peripherals department and found it greatly downsized.

What's visible today is just the start of something bigger. It takes a while because of the realities of international supply chains. It takes about 3 weeks to ship electronics from Asia to the western US via container ships. Producers and shippers plan their loads in advance. Already US ports like Long Beach estimate a 25% drop y/y in container traffic in May. Once deliveries at ports dry up, all that's left is what's already in the channel stateside, and that's not a huge supply anymore. So I believe the shelves at electronics retails are going to shrink a lot more in the next few weeks.

This isn't news, of course. A lot of people started anticipating higher prices in electronics from the start of the tariff trade war four weeks ago. If you think you need new electronics, a few weeks ago was probably the right time to buy. If you didn't do it then, now might be the last chance before price increases really bite. Major manufacturers like Sony are already announcing that there will be price increases.

BCS 4.08: Jimmy and Kim Run a Con to Defend Huell

In Better Call Saul episode 4.08 Jimmy and Kim run a con to defend Jimmy's associate, Huell Babineaux, from charges for assaulting a police officer. It's odd that Kim agrees to this as her legitimate law career is finally really blossoming, and helping Jimmy commit multiple acts of fraud risks destroying the career she's worked so hard to build. Alas they really are each other's ride-or-die.

First They Try it Kim's Way

Jimmy suggests an approach of discrediting the arresting police officer by bringing up past allegations of drinking and excessive force, hoping to provoke an angry outburst on the stand. Kim refuses to "burn a cop". Instead she takes on the case as a good defense attorney would, starting with doing her research.

Kim investigates how the DA's office has prosecuted other cases of assaulting a police officer. She finds that in all other recent cases the prosecutor has started with lesser charges, or bargained down to lesser charges, than Huell is charged with. She challenges the assistant DA with these comparisons, but the ADA is resolute. Huell is a "repeat offender"— though she identifies only one, minor previous conviction— and won't entertain a plea bargain.



Next Kim tries overwhelming the ADA with her firepower. Recall she's not just any attorney now, she's a partner at a regional firm and manages a team. She rolls in to the DA's office with 3 assistants to file a flurry of motions and warn that they're also looking at filing a civil liberties case. Indeed, the ADA's zealous prosecution of Huell, who is black, plausibly has an element of racial bias. The ADA remains resolute, though. She explains she's unfazed by Kim's "shock and awe" attempt.

At this point I've got to note that as a longtime fan of the TV show Law & Order and many of its spinoffs, I was silently cheering for the ADA being unmoved by the big-dollar lawyer's show of force. But given the context of this show— Kim is a protagonist— I still wanted her to win. Plus, while Huell definitely did the crime, Kim's not trying to get him acquitted. She's only trying to get his charges reduced, amid the specter of apparent racial bias in the DA's office, to a level matching how other defendants have been convicted.

Next They Try it Jimmy's Way

With Kim's straightfoward lawerly approach not working, they agree to try Jimmy's approach— a con— next. Except this con is not Jimmy's idea; it's actually Kim's!

Jimmy writes dozens of letters purporting to be from friends of Huell back in his home town of Coushatta, Louisiana. On a bus to Coushatta he even hires fellow bus riders to help him write these letters.



Arriving in the tiny town, where the post office doubles as the bus station, he carries a sack of letters inside to post, then waits for a bus home.

Back in Albuquerque days later, the judge calls Kim and the ADA in for a meeting. He's overwhelmed with all these letters of support for Huell.



"Why are you prosecuting Santa Claus?" the judge demands of the ADA in exasperation, referring to how the letters are full of glowing praise for all the noble things Huell has done for his community. Noting that many of the letter writers insist they will come to Albuquerque to testify for Huell as character witnesses, the judge orders the ADA, "Make a deal, keep this circus out of my court!"

The ADA takes the sack of letters back to her office. She smells a rat, so she enlists her coworkers to help her investigate. They look up Coushatta on a map online, search for the church Huell volunteered at, and start phoning people who included their phone numbers in their letters.

With a team of lawyers asking questions, it sure seems like they're going to poke holes in this con. They don't know who they're up against, though. "Slippin' Jimmy" is three steps ahead of them. 🤣



More to come!

Keep reading: See how it turns out in Part 2— plus, a fun Easter egg!