WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9
The time jump at the end of Kim isn't in Breaking Bad.
In a devastating scene powerfully performed by Seehorn and Odenkirk, Kim breaks up with Jimmy and points out the human cost of their relationship. Their scams and scheming and Kim's covering for Jimmy's criminal activities have led to the death of Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) and the downsizing of one of Albuquerque's largest law firms. Kim blames herself for withholding the information about Lalo Salamanca's survival because she was having too much fun plotting against Howard with Jimmy. However, as audiences brace themselves for the fallout from Kim and Jimmy's break-up, Better Call Saul leaps forward in time to the tacky palatial home of Saul Goodman, attorney-at-law.
It's unclear what happens to Kim after episode 9, or if the time jump is permanent, but there's a strong reason for deploying it at the moment that it does. Jimmy's relationship with Kim is the final barrier between James McGill and Saul Goodman. Through his relationship with Kim, Jimmy still holds on to the possibility that he could indeed be a good man that deserves her love and the respect of his peers. In identifying how both of them bring out each other's worst traits, Kim finally breaks Jimmy's increasingly loose grip on his idealized version of James McGill. The flash forward to Saul Goodman waking up in a sleazy bed in his sleazy home is a devastating affirmation of who Jimmy McGill truly is and sets up the Saul Goodman character whom audiences meet in Breaking Bad.
Why Jimmy & Kim's Breakup Had To Happen Before Breaking Bad
For Saul Goodman to exist in Breaking Bad, Jimmy McGill has to be dead. Saul is a personification of all of Jimmy's worst excesses and vulgar tastes, something that his relationship with Kim kept in check. Over the course of their plot against Howard in Better Call Saul season 6, Kim was meticulous in her planning and raised their scheme above the small-scale of Slippin' Jimmy's low-level scamming. It was this combination of Jimmy's gift for the grift and Kim's fastidious nature that made them such an unstoppable combination throughout their various schemes during Better Call Saul.
The lofty heights attained by Kim and Jimmy's scamming of Howard and Mesa Verde, and getting Huell exonerated are miles away from the public masturbators that Saul Goodman is defending during Better Call Saul's time jump. Without Kim's influence, Jimmy is, at heart, the same scrappy defense attorney he was at the start of Better Call Saul and the same low-down scam artist that caused his brother Chuck so much disappointment. The jarring cut between Kim and Jimmy's devastating break-up and Saul Goodman's day-in-the-life emphasizes the brutal impact of the ending of the one positive relationship in Jimmy's life. With this final thread cut, James McGill can fully embrace his worst impulses and become Walter White's criminal lawyer, ultimately leading to his downfall and solitary life as Gene Takavic, Cinnabon manager.