What Those 'Better Call Saul' Season 6 Flashback Scenes Mean for Kim Wexler

The penultimate episode of Better Call Saul Season 6's first part put the focus on Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), showing how her past may have led her to come up with her and husband Jimmy McGill's (Bob Odenkirk) Sandpiper scheme.

Titled "Axe and Grind," the episode was directed by Giancarlo Esposito who traded being in front of the camera as Gustavo Fring for a spot behind it.

Kim takes center stage from the outset, as the episode opens with the character in her youth being berated by her mother after she is caught trying to steal a pair of earrings and a necklace from a local shop.

With Kim and Jimmy, aka Saul Goodman, working towards their goal of taking down Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) and law firm Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill for good, the question is what could those flashback scenes mean for Kim's future.

What Those 'Better Call Saul' Season 6 Flashbacks Mean for Kim Wexler

As previously mentioned, at the start of the episode a young Kim is seen being told off by her mother after getting caught stealing, but the encounter doesn't quite end how viewers might expect.

Kim is told off, yes, but she isn't given the slap on the wrist she believes she's in for because after leaving the shop, her mother reveals she swiped a pair of the earrings for her, before telling her triumphantly that she "got away with it."

Esposito makes a masterful turn as a director in the episode, and it's evident by the way this scene later highlights Kim's decision to forgo a huge job opportunity, one that will set her up for life, in favor of fixing her and Jimmy's scheme when a spanner is thrown into the works.

Jimmy was shown earlier in the episode prepping an actor to impersonate the judge that is preceding the Sandpiper case, which aims to get the elderly residents of the Sandpiper Crossing retirement home their money after being overpaid.

Only Jimmy has a chance encounter with the judge that makes him realize he has a broken arm, prompting the lawyer to suggest he and Kim don't go through with their plan. Except she says they have to do it, and turns back to help.

Esposito explained in an interview with Variety that the earlier flashback was integral to understanding her decision at the end of the episode.

"This moment to me is a reflection of Kim's whole life and who she actually becomes. I believe intrinsically that Kim is a good person and has probably deeper lawyering skills than Jimmy does. And yet she falls for the other life; for how long, we don't know," the actor explained.

He added that the earrings she tried to steal are "important" to the rest of Kim's life because she is still seen wearing them in the present day: "They meant something to her. She needed to have the slap on the hand, 'No we don't do that.' But it was all an act.

"She was probably satisfied with being chided by her mother for doing something wrong, needed that parenting direction and then is blown away when her mother comes out and goes, 'Look what I got for you.' It was all a ruse. This is heartbreaking. I think it breaks her in a way that relates to the decision she makes at the end of the episode."

Esposito said that Kim's U-turn at the end of the episode to go help Jimmy has a metaphorical meaning too, as he described the scene as the "perfect analogy" for what is happening in her life.

The Gus Fring star also spoke to the Los Angeles Times, and he explained how the jewelry "play[s] a part" in her life as an adult: "You see them when you first meet Kim.

"Those same earrings have been a mile marker for her whole life and then you get to the end of the episode where she has the whole world in front of her and it's a tragic, missed moment. But it's still a decision."

He said: "Right at that moment, her bullheadedness caused her to forget the dream that she always had for herself that probably would take her away from Jimmy and give her the life she always wanted."

Kim's decision certainly suggests that she is all in on Jimmy's schemes to play the system, but whether this moment will have dire consequences for the character, or not, is yet to be seen.

Better Call Saul's Season 6 Part 1 finale airs Monday, May 23 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.