Kim's future hinges upon a single decision in Better Call Saul season 6, episode 6 - can her light-fingered flashback explain that shocking u-turn? Since viewers are already keenly aware of Jimmy McGill's Breaking Bad future, Rhea Seehorn's Kim Wexler becomes a more focal figure in Better Call Saul's final season. She and Jimmy have co-concocted a plan to disgrace Howard Hamlin and pocket big money from the Sandpiper case, but Kim is very clearly the operation's driving force.

Better Call Saul season 6's "Axe & Grind" finds the couple preparing for their scam's final phase. The stunt involves staged photos of ex-judge mediator Rand Casimiro, and some kind of chemical stimulant that'll likely find its way into Howard's bloodstream. Then, disaster strikes. Jimmy serendipitously bumps into the real Casimiro at a liquor store and spots a broken left arm that completely discredits their falsified photos. Jimmy immediately calls Kim, who's en-route to a career-defining meeting that could make her legal dreams come true. Kim faces a choice - attend the meeting and abort the scam, or forsake legitimacy and ensure the scam goes ahead.

Related: Better Call Saul Finally Debuts An Unseen Character (Why It’s So Important)

Pulling a sharp u-turn in both literal and metaphorical terms, Kim screeches back toward Jimmy, choosing a criminal path over her philanthropic aspirations. To understand why Kim make such an extreme sacrifice, we turn to the opening flashback scene of "Axe & Grind," where a younger Kim has been caught stealing from a department store...

Kim's Better Call Saul Season 6 Flashback Redefines Her Relationship With Jimmy

Jimmy and Kim getting married in Better Call Saul Season 5

For approximately 82.5% of Better Call Saul's timeline, Kim is a studious, professional, rule-following lawyer who happens to befriend - then fall in love with - the former "Slippin' Jimmy." Even in Kim's Better Call Saul season 5 flashback, the youngster is Nebraska's answer to Hermione Granger. It's easy to see why Howard Hamlin might assume Jimmy led Kim astray, but Better Call Saul seasons 5 & 6 prove Kim's natural affinity for criminality when she becomes the one leading Jimmy. Thanks to Better Call Saul's department store flashback, we now know why. Kim's inner con-woman has been there all along, inspired and/or encouraged by her sketchy mother, who showed more affection when Kim stole earrings than when she aced a math test.

Kim was drawn to Jimmy McGill not because of his roguish maverick-ness or the excitement of lawbreaking, but because he reminds her of childhood. Jimmy brings out the Kim Wexler (some might say the real Kim Wexler) previously buried underneath a pile of 1990s textbooks, diplomas and case law. The most important line in Kim's "Axe & Grind" flashback comes when her mother says, "Kiddo, relax, you got away with it" - a direct mirror of Jimmy who, earlier in Better Call Saul season 6, reassured his wife, "You know why you're feeling like this? Because we got away with it!"

The Importance Of Kim's Earrings In Better Call Saul's Flashback

Kim earings in Better Call Saul

The "Starlight" earrings Kim steals as a child - and that Kim's mother then steals for her - reappear in Better Call Saul's present day. As confirmed by "Axe & Grind" director Giancarlo Esposito (yup, Fring can direct too), Kim still wears those earrings throughout season 6 while she's meeting pro bono clients or plotting Howard Hamlin's downfall over dinner with Jimmy. Keeping these earrings into adulthood proves the department store incident became a formative memory for Kim - a day when her mother showed rare, genuine kindness. Kim's emotional attachment to these stolen earrings symbolizes her emotional attachment to walking the wrong side of the law. Had Mrs. Wexler acted like any normal parent in that situation, Kim may not be associating with gangsters and drugging lawyers in Better Call Saul season 6.

Related: Better Call Saul Hints Exactly Where Lalo Is In Breaking Bad

Kim's Flashback Explains Her Better Call Saul U-Turn

Young Kim and mother in a car in Better Call Saul

Kim's u-turn isn't just shocking because she spurns a golden career opportunity, but because Jimmy - hardly a man known for exercising caution - believes they should cut their losses after realizing Rand Casimiro has a broken arm. Kim is absolutely hellbent on making the scam work, however, and Better Call Saul season 6's flashback provides the context necessary to understand why. Kim's mother treated her with coldness and scorn, but showed pride and affection after her daughter got caught stealing from a department store. For Jimmy, scams and cons are largely about freedom, whether that be from "the man" or a successful older brother, but Kim's motivation is more personal. Because of her deadbeat mother, Kim associates lawbreaking with being appreciated and accepted. Better Call Saul's big u-turn doesn't just represent Kim Wexler turning away from a legitimate life, but denotes a return to her earring-nabbing days as Slippin' Kimmy.

More: Better Call Saul: Everything We Know About Jimmy & Kim’s Casimiro Plan

Better Call Saul continues Monday on AMC.