Here’s how perfect casting brings 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’s “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.” Set sometime around her season 5 flashback, 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 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 (none other than Giancarlo Esposito sits behind the camera), 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 YouTube channel The Key of Awesome, 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 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 definitely 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. The physical similarity is so uncanny, you almost double-take to check whether Rhea Seehorn is playing her own character’s mother. Hoyt has clearly been cast because of her facial closeness to Kim, while her hair and makeup deliberately accentuates 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 when Jimmy starts acting strangely. When Hoyt utters, “I’d say I’m disappointed but that doesn’t even begin to cover it,” the delivery falls eerily close to a put-down Kim could’ve thrown toward Howard Hamlin.
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.
Better Call Saul continues Monday on AMC.