Perfect casting brought a whole new meaning to Better Call Saul season 6's Kim Wexler flashback. Her name may not be written above the door, but Rhea Seehorn's Kim has become every bit as important to Better Call Saul as Saul Goodman himself. The Breaking Bad prequel has gradually peeled back Kim's layers, but only delved into her past on one occasion - Better Call Saul season 5, episode 6, "Wexler vs. Goodman," where Kim's mother was exposed as an irresponsible and uncaring parent. Better Call Saul season 6 revisits Kim's past with "Axe & Grind," which is set sometime around her season 5 flashback when a young Kim is caught shoplifting by a store detective.
Her mother arrives and chews the youngster out, dropping classic parental buzzwords like "disappointed" and "should know better." Kim gets off with a warning, but when the mother and daughter leave the store, their dynamic totally changes. Kim's mom actually displays pride in her daughter's audacious theft, then reveals she swiped the earrings her daughter was caught stealing in the first place. As you'd expect from Better Call Saul, the flashback is wonderfully written and directed by Gustavo Fring actor Giancarlo Esposito, but what really makes this scene pop is the actress playing Kim's mother.
Who Plays Kim's Mom In Better Call Saul
The actress playing Kim's mom in Better Call Saul season 6 is Beth Hoyt. Known for Inside Amy Schumer, Dead To Me, and her work with the YouTube channel The Key of Awesome. Beth Hoyt also voiced Pepper Potts in Marvel's What If...? animated TV show. The actress first portrayed Kim's unnamed mother in the initial Better Call Saul season 5 flashback, but that scene took place at night while the character yelled lines from the driver's seat of her car. The new "Axe & Grind" flashback not only gives Beth Hoyt significantly more to work with but liberates her from a shadowy car seat and out into full view. It's a creative shift that totally pays off.
Why Better Call Saul's Kim's Mom Casting Is So Perfect
As Beth Hoyt steps into the spotlight, her ridiculously close resemblance to Better Call Saul's Kim becomes clear. Hoyt has clearly been cast because of her facial closeness to Kim, while her hair and makeup deliberately accentuate the likeness, but the casting's genius goes beyond just Beth Hoyt and Rhea Seehorn looking like sisters. Kim's mom's mannerisms and vocal inflections both hide echoes of future Kim. When Kim's mother asks, "Really? What is going on with you?" the line sounds exactly how Kim might react to Jimmy. When Hoyt utters, "I'd say I'm disappointed but that doesn't even begin to cover it," the delivery falls eerily close to one of Kim's put-downs.
Better Call Saul season 6's flashback sequence shockingly proves Kim's criminal streak began way before she encountered Jimmy McGill, and by pulling scams in the present day, she's actually copying behaviors picked up from her mother. Watching the previous flashback from season 5, Kim and her mother couldn't appear less alike. The purpose of season 6's 1980s visit is to flip the script and reveal Kim actually followed in her mom's footsteps. That groundbreaking twist is made all the more effective by the physical resemblance between characters, with Beth Hoyt's ability to pass for Rhea Seehorn at a glance visually representing how similar both characters truly are.
This Episode Includes Something Important For Kim's Character
The Better Call Saul season 6 episode also includes one important detail about Kim's character that easily goes overlooked. In the flashback, Kim's mother steals the earrings that Kim originally tried stealing, and those are the very earrings that Kim wears throughout the whole of the series. The fact that Kim decides to wear those earrings over any others draws attention to the fact that she's prone to bending the rules, and it just goes to show that the flashback is an important memory of Kim's and that she's reminded of it every day. Kim's decision to wear those earrings consistently proves that it wasn't Jimmy who was Kim's biggest influence when it comes to breaking the law, but her mother.