Kim tosses Jimmy's "2nd Best Lawyer" coffee mug into the trash during Better Call Saul's season 6 premiere - and not just because she's against littering. From tequila bottle tops to roof pizzas, the world of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad is packed with objects that convey deeper significance. Jimmy McGill's bright yellow coffee mug is one such object. Given to him by Kim in Better Call Saul season 2, the coffee mug was a gift to celebrate Jimmy landing a job at the prestigious Davis & Main firm, but didn't fit the cup holder of his company Mercedes. Kim hands Jimmy the mug once again in Better Call Saul season 5, this time to celebrate his reinstatement as a practicing lawyer.
The coffee mug received a fatal bullet wound during the desert shootout between Mike Ehrmantraut and Juan Bolsa's men, but Jimmy made sure to retrieve it from the wreckage nonetheless. It was finding the damaged mug that made Kim realize her husband was neck deep in something unforgivable. In Better Call Saul season 6's premiere, however, the couple are heading out to work when Kim makes a point of throwing Jimmy's coffee mug in the nearest garbage can. Though the bullet-ridden cup wasn't going to be holding beverages any time soon, that's not the only reason Kim ditches it.
Appearances from Better Call Saul's yellow coffee mug have previously marked Jimmy McGill's valiant attempts to "go straight" - starting work at Davis & Main in season 2, and promising no more shenanigans after finally winning his law license back in season 5. The coffee mug being shot represented how Better Call Saul's desert shootout "put a bullet" through Jimmy's rapidly fading prospects of becoming a legit lawyer. Kim now throwing the mug away in Better Call Saul season 6 denotes how she's taking Jimmy's wounded, bleeding, barely-able-to-stand hopes of becoming a genuine lawyer, and throwing them in the trash. Season 6's opening two episodes show Kim gently encouraging Jimmy down a darker path by continuing their plan to tarnish Howard Hamlin. That scam will surely condemn Jimmy's career to forever languish in a murky moral gray area, and tossing his mug - the physical embodiment of his legit lawyer-hood - in the trash serves as a neat visual metaphor for Kim's influence as Better Call Saul's final season begins.
Jimmy's "2nd Best Lawyer" coffee mug represents more than just his career, however - it's a symbol of his relationship with Kim. Though the sentiment was very much tongue-in-cheek, the Better Call Saul season 2 gift highlighted Kim's faith in Jimmy when few others took him seriously. That obnoxiously-colored cup has always served as a link between Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn's Better Call Saul characters, and that's primarily why Jimmy was so desperate to retrieve it (bullet holes and all) after the desert shootout in "Bagman." There's a rather worrying contrast between Jimmy holding such affection for the coffee mug that he rifles through the wreckage of his 1998 Suzuki Esteem to find it, and Kim throwing it in the garbage like an empty soda can. It's hardly the most encouraging sign for their marriage and, of course, we know Kim isn't anywhere to seen in Breaking Bad.
Finally, Kim throwing away Jimmy's coffee mug in Better Call Saul season 6 speaks to her natural affinity for criminality. Though the gift initially symbolized Jimmy McGill's efforts to be legit, the cup with the bullet hole came to represent exactly the opposite, and when Kim first discovered it, she was horrified by the trouble Jimmy might've landed himself in. Nonchalantly tossing the same mug into a garbage can, Kim proves she's no longer fussed about the danger her endeavors with Jimmy may bring. It's an attitude seen elsewhere in Kim's Better Call Saul season 6 appearances - sleeping soundly while Jimmy's awake, not believing their actions are "wicked," etc... There's a sense that Kim maybe isn't treading as lightly as she should be. The next bullet may hit more than just a novelty coffee mug.
Better Call Saul continues Mondays on AMC.