I took the model issue to be about the sheer amount of work & staff it was going to require to complete.

That's what I was thinking too. Mesa Verde is growing to big for her to keep up.

Guess I should have read all the way through. Exactly my thinking.

Better Call Saul
 

Kim doesn’t know for sure that Jimmy messed up Chuck for her to get the client right? She knows that losing the client is what pushed him over the edge but if she is starting to accept that Jimmy is ultimately why then she may be starting to feel remorse and guilt about having Mesa Verde and the success associated with it, hence the sadness about the expansion.

Also along with that would be the growing realization that Jimmy apparently has no guilt about what happened to Chuck even though he was a pretty direct cause of it and that she cannot possibly be with him.

Thanks for the explanations everyone...I was watching it on Benadryl so it didn't occur to me at the time. I assume Jimmy eventually pushes Kim away by being Saul.

When this show is over for good I'll probably rewatch BB.

I also think the warmth of the letter from Chuck hit her a bit hard.

Kim's a smart person; she's absolutely put 2 and 2 together and even if she won't fully accept it, she knows deep down that Jimmy is the catalyst behind Chuck's death (and worse, that he did so for her). That was part of the blank stare during the Mesa Verde meeting; a combination of guilt (knowing that she got that account due to the shenanigans) and anxiety over being able to keep up with the expansion. If I'm betting, I'd say it's more the former than the latter. Staffing up isn't that tough; dealing with the nagging belief that your boyfriend indirectly led to the death of his brother for your benefit....well that's a little tougher.

And when she hears the letter from Chuck and it's not the fire and brimstone she'd expected, the 'Chuck is a villain' narrative in her head took a blow. Now I'd imagine she recovers from it just fine, but in that moment Chuck was offering genuinely kind words and was a legitimately sympathetic figure. It rattled her, coming so quickly off the Mesa Verde meeting where she'd had her nose rubbed in that guilt a little bit.

She'll steel back up soon enough, but every moment like that will push them away just a little bit and when they bounce back, it won't be quite as close. Every one of those moments of doubt will make her resolve that much weaker even when she recaptures it. It's like surgery - even when you feel 'right', your body will never be exactly as it was ever again.

With every bobble, Kim and her relationship with Jimmy will be just a little bit more strained even when they don't exactly realize it.

at first I was thinking the letter had to be a plant by Jimmy, but I don't see how it could be done logistically. Those feelings just don't jive with Chuck...

He wrote that before jimmy got his law degree.

But it’s still kinda wonky that he gave him the minimum to keep him from contesting the will and then was overly nice, but the letter was obviously written after he started in the mail room but before he got his law degree and Chuck douched out about it.

I think you overestimate Kim's level of awareness regarding the level of skullduggery between the brothers.

She's aware that Chuck actively tried to put Jimmy down professionally, and she knows Jimmy was fighting back.

But I don't think she's at the place where she's worrying about what Jimmy did to fight back. Chuck was being a bastard older brother and she was on team Jimmy, end of story.

Her emotion doesn't come from sneaking realizations that Jimmy is evil. Her emotion comes from being bewildered how to handle Jimmy's emotional state. She wants to share his straightforward grief and anger, and he's sky high on Nofuxatall. She's waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jimmy can't keep being this cheery and blase based on what she's seen. But until he breaks down on his own, it's not her place to force him into grief.

So I forget...does Kim know Jimmy changed the address on Chucks paperwork to win her the client?

Baby Lee, I’m stealing this. Just a heads up. ROFL

She knows Chuck alleged it. But she also knows how outlandish an allegation it is, and how Chuck went loony and passed out at the Kinkos trying bully the kid at the counter to prove it.

I don't think we've had a scene to firmly establish Kim's suspicions either way. She could think it's possible, but she probably thinks it's crazy.

Ok. Thanks. I couldn’t remember if they talked about it privately or not.

Of course she knows it. There was a tape of Jimmy confessing to it which she heard in court. She never gave much of a damn because she is the one that put in the work to get the account & Howard went out of his way several times to screw her over on that deal. Remember, she put in the work getting mesa verde at a time when Hamlin was punishing her for Jimmy's nursing home commercial incident (which she didn't even know about) by putting her in the basement doing billing. She went out and hustled up that Mesa Verde account all by herself, then Hamlin rewarded her by keeping her in the basement doing billing, not even letting her work the case. Next, she decided to quit Hamlin & start her own practice, the first client she called was Mesa Verde and met with Paige. Paige sounded enthusiastic about working with her, but then Chuck scheduled a meeting with them (mesa verde) and convinced them to stay with Hamlin. Only then did Jimmy execute the "switching addresses" incident. At this point Kim had been screwed over 3 times as it pertains to HHM & Mesa Verde. I don't think she feels much guilt at all over that deal with mesa verde.

I think she probably feels bad about having to expose Chuck in court the way they did and she knows that is what led to his demise, and is torn between that and Chucks hatred of Jimmy and how badly it affected Jimmy. So a situation like the letter from Chuck creates a big time emotional conflict for her. It would have been easier had the letter painted Chuck as the asshole towards Jimmy that she knew.

Still a suspicion. The situation is still so outlandish, and Jimmy so convincing, that he pleaded that he was just trying to placate Chuck while he was in an agitated state.