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canyonwalkerAt the end of episode 5.06 of Better Call Saul Kim Wexler makes a shocking proposal to Jimmy: marriage.
It's even more surprising because it comes at the end of an emotional fight in which Kim is criticizing Jimmy for taking a con too far. Nevermind that she'd pushed him to do the con in the first place. It involved creating TV attack ads with scandalous, fake accusations against the CEO of the bank she's representing. She wanted to dissuade the bank from evicting small-time homeowners from their land to build a call center. Kim wised up about her ethical obligation as the bank's attorney and told Jimmy she'd changed her mind against the con. But Jimmy continued running with it, and the result made Kim look like an idiot in front of the bank CEO.
Their dialogue at home that night goes:
At that moment I was like, "LOLWUT?! 😱." Where is this coming from? Kim is fed up with Jimmy as he's just jeopardized her job and professional reputation and... so she proposes marriage?!?
There's actually a strong element of logic to it. And a strong element of emotion.
The element of emotion is that Kim and Jimmy are each other's ride-or-die. Kim is ridiculously loyal to Jimmy despite all his shortcomings and despite how his borderline illegal behavior— and occasionally clearly across the line illegal behavior— is a risk both to himself and to her, by association. Plus, we've seen repeatedly that as risky as Kim knows Jimmy's scams to be, she enjoys them.
And that's where the element of logic comes in. Kim realizes that since she can't quit Jimmy, she needs to protect herself— and, by extension, him, too— from harm if his scams are ever found it. And oddly the way to do that is by getting closer together, legally.
As his spouse, she can't be forced to testify against him. That means Kim will never have to take the stand or answer under oath whether she knew about something illegal Jimmy did. She can continue giving misdirecting non-answers or outright lying about it— like she's being doing already. The difference is, marriage means she can't be compelled to answer under oath.
What weird, and also very sad, reason to marry.
It's even more surprising because it comes at the end of an emotional fight in which Kim is criticizing Jimmy for taking a con too far. Nevermind that she'd pushed him to do the con in the first place. It involved creating TV attack ads with scandalous, fake accusations against the CEO of the bank she's representing. She wanted to dissuade the bank from evicting small-time homeowners from their land to build a call center. Kim wised up about her ethical obligation as the bank's attorney and told Jimmy she'd changed her mind against the con. But Jimmy continued running with it, and the result made Kim look like an idiot in front of the bank CEO.
Their dialogue at home that night goes:
Kim: "You win, Jimmy."
Jimmy: "What?!"
Kim: "You win."
Jimmy: "Uh... yeah. But, I mean... Well, we win. Us."
Kim: "No. I didn't."
Jimmy: "What didn't you get that you wanted?"
Kim: "I don't trust you."
Jimmy: "Why?"
Kim: "You played me! You made me the sucker! Again!"
Jimmy: "Again? What... Wait, how could you be the sucker? It was your plan."
Kim: "Oh, fuck you, Jimmy! God! I...I–You know what? I can't do this anymore."
[...]
Kim: "Either we end this now, or..."
Jimmy: "No!"
Kim: "Either we end this now, and enjoy the time we had, and go our separate ways, or..."
Jimmy: "Or what?"
Kim: "Or we're... We're... I mean... Or maybe... [beat] Maybe we get married?"
At that moment I was like, "LOLWUT?! 😱." Where is this coming from? Kim is fed up with Jimmy as he's just jeopardized her job and professional reputation and... so she proposes marriage?!?
There's actually a strong element of logic to it. And a strong element of emotion.
The element of emotion is that Kim and Jimmy are each other's ride-or-die. Kim is ridiculously loyal to Jimmy despite all his shortcomings and despite how his borderline illegal behavior— and occasionally clearly across the line illegal behavior— is a risk both to himself and to her, by association. Plus, we've seen repeatedly that as risky as Kim knows Jimmy's scams to be, she enjoys them.
And that's where the element of logic comes in. Kim realizes that since she can't quit Jimmy, she needs to protect herself— and, by extension, him, too— from harm if his scams are ever found it. And oddly the way to do that is by getting closer together, legally.
As his spouse, she can't be forced to testify against him. That means Kim will never have to take the stand or answer under oath whether she knew about something illegal Jimmy did. She can continue giving misdirecting non-answers or outright lying about it— like she's being doing already. The difference is, marriage means she can't be compelled to answer under oath.
What weird, and also very sad, reason to marry.
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Date: 2025-05-14 10:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-14 05:07 pm (UTC)