‘Better Call Saul’ Director Put Hints About Kim Wexler’s Fate in ‘Bad Choice Road’
Fans of Better Call Saul have worried about Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) since the beginning of the spinoff. Kim is not in Breaking Bad, so conventional wisdom suggests she must die before the events of the original series. Season 5 of Better Call Saul has only put Kim in more harm’s way. The episode “Bad Choice Road” which aired April 13 was designed to make you think this was Kim’s last stand.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for the Better Call Saul episode “Bad Choice Road” and for Breaking Bad.]
Thomas Schnauz, the writer and director of “Bad Choice Road” was a guest on The Breaking Bad Insider Podcast with Seehorn on April 14. He said he used the audience’s expectation of the worst to make them sweat for Kim, and even included foreshadowing elements from Breaking Bad. Whether they foreshadow Kim’s ultimate fate remains to be seen. Better Call Saul airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
That was a tough ‘Better Call Saul’ for Kim Wexler fans
In the previous Better Call Saul episode, “The Bagman,” Kim visited Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) in prison when Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) went missing. Now that Jimmy returned with the money and bailed Lalo out, Lalo paid a visit to Jimmy and his new bride. Schnauz wanted the viewer to think Lalo was going to kill Kim right then and there.
“That was my biggest hope, writing the scene, directing it, that everybody thinks that Kim is not going to come out of this alive,” Schnauz said. “I was putting little clues throughout the episode.”
Did ‘Breaking Bad’ viewers spot the oranges of death in ‘Better Call Saul’?
At Jimmy’s first breakfast after his ordeal in the desert, Kim makes fresh squeezed orange juice. Breaking Bad fans might know that oranges are a harbinger of death.
“Kim with the oranges, everybody likes to find these things that mean oh, a character is going to die,” Schnauz said. “The oranges are from The Godfather. We did that with Ted Beneke in Breaking Bad. He runs and trips and knocks over a bowl of oranges and basically breaks his neck and he’s put out of commission. So have the oranges.”
Now we’ll have to look out for oranges for the rest of Better Call Saul.
Kim Wexler was always in the crosshairs
Schnauz had other tricks to make it look like Kim was a target. When Jimmy first returns, Kim looks through his bag.
“Having Kim look through the mug with the bullet hole almost like a sight directed on her, just feeling like she’s done for,” Schnauz said.
Even Seehorn felt Kim’s vulnerability in the staging of the Lalo Salamanca scene.
“Then you have the crosshairs on me when I keep walking,” Seehorn said.
While Lalo is at Kim and Jimmy’s house, Mike is observing all three through the sight of his sniper rifle. Mike doesn’t fire, but until it’s over, the viewer always thinks he could.
“And Mike looking through his scope and you being in direct line between Lalo and Mike’s gun, I hope it works for everyone,” Schnauz said.
