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Better Call Saul: Everything We Know About Jimmy & Kim’s Casimiro Plan
Jimmy and Kim's plan to discredit Howard Hamlin culminates in one final phase that involves Rand Casimiro and an illicit drug. What do we know?

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

Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler have spent Better Call Saul season 6 scamming Howard Hamlin – here’s everything we know about the plan’s final phase, from Rand Casimiro to mystery stimulants. When Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy encouraged now-wife Kim (Rhea Seehorn) to partake in his criminal antics, he might’ve underestimated the depth of her appetite for wrongdoing. Better Call Saul‘s season 5 finale ended with Kim suggesting they frame Howard Hamlin for “something unforgivable” and throughout season 6, they’ve been putting these dark designs into motion.

Jimmy & Kim’s ultimate goal is convincing key figures in Albuquerque’s legal world that Howard is an unreliable and incompetent drug addict, rather than just an unlikable lawyer who’s actually pretty good at his job. If Howard gets discredited, the highly-lucrative Sandpiper case he’s been negotiating will get settled in a rush, immediately netting Jimmy & Kim $2 million they’d otherwise be forced to wait for. In Kim’s mind, getting Sandpiper’s victims their money quicker is, conveniently, also the moral thing to do…

Phase 1 of Jim & Kim’s Better Call Saul season 6 scheme involved planting drugs in Howard’s golf locker. Phase 2 saw false accusations made against him, while phase 3 resulted in a sex worker falling from Howard’s speeding car as an important colleague sat nearby. Phase 4 looks set to push Howard Hamlin fully into the multiverse of sadness, but what do we know about the last step in Jimmy & Kim’s twisted smear campaign?

Jimmy & Kim’s Howard Plan Ends At The Sandpiper Mediation Session

The first inklings of Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler’s grand finale came in Better Call Saul season 6, episode 5 (“Black & Blue”). Kim already knew Viola, her former Schweikart & Cokely colleague, had been moved to the Sandpiper case, so arranged a catch-up session over coffee. Viola readily revealed the case’s first mediation session was rapidly approaching. A mediation session would typically involve representation from both sides (Sandpiper’s lawyers and the HHM/Davies & Main attorneys bringing the lawsuit forward), and be chaired by a neutral figure. In this instance, the meeting also involves residents impacted by Sandpiper’s negligence.

Mediation sessions aren’t held in the public forum, of course. Better Call Saul season 6, episode 6 reveals the arena will, fittingly, be HHM’s main office. To gain access, Jimmy has Francesca call the prestigious legal firm posing as the daughter of Marnie Stuber (presumably a Sandpiper resident Saul met back when he practiced elder law). The HHM secretary happily tells Francesca the pass code Sandpiper claimants must use to enter the meeting. The final phase of Jimmy & Kim’s Howard scheme must, therefore, involve someone sneaking into that session.

Why Jimmy & Kim Buy A Stimulant Drug In Better Call Saul Season 6, Episode 6

Better Call Saul season 6’s “Axe & Grind” episode finds Jimmy & Kim visiting the vet. Their goldfish is fine, don’t worry, this is Dr. Caldera, the vet introduced in Better Call Saul‘s very first season. When he’s not patching up paws and healing hamsters, Caldera serves as a gateway to Albuquerque’s underworld. An encyclopedia of criminals, assets, resources and contacts, Caldera is the man to see when shady business is afoot, and the purpose of Jimmy & Kim’s appointment is obtaining a stimulant the vet describes as “two cans of Red Bull on an empty stomach.” When Jimmy glances in the mirror a few minutes after taking the drug, his pupils have dilated massively. Whatever Caldera has sold to Better Call Saul‘s scheming lawyers, it replicates the symptoms of someone after taking an illegal substance… cocaine, for instance.

One would assume this drug is intended for Howard Hamlin – hence why Jimmy asks how it’ll affect a man roughly his size. Jimmy & Kim likely plan to spike Howard with this stimulant on the day of Sandpiper’s mediation meeting. He’ll then be wandering around wide-eyed and jittery, confirming Cliff Main’s existing suspicion that the esteemed HHM boss is addicted to marching powder. This step might explain why Jimmy needed Francesca to find out the meeting’s access code – someone must sneak into HHM head office and slip the boss a little extra pep. Drugging Howard so he creates a scene at the Sandpiper mediation session would be a perfect way to properly ruin Howard’s credentials and get the case settled pronto.

Since Kim asks Caldera whether the stimulant will show up on a blood test, Howard will probably wind up in either jail or hospital, but trialing the drug on Jimmy beforehand proves there’s no intention to cause significant harm here. Unfortunately for Howard, safety is far from guaranteed. During Better Call Saul season 6’s vet scene, Caldera only rubs the stimulant onto Jimmy’s skin, creating a milder effect than if an entire bottle of the stuff gets poured into Howard’s coffee. Don’t be too surprised if the legal eagle goes down clutching his chest.

Why Has Jimmy Hired An Actor To Impersonate Rand Casimiro?

Thanks to Kim’s aforementioned coffee date with Viola, she and Jimmy learn the man doing the mediating during Sandpiper’s mediation session will be a retired judge called Rand Casimiro. In class-action civil lawsuits, hiring former judges as mediators is relatively common practice due to their neutrality and experience in the field.

Fast forward to Better Call Saul season 6’s “Axe & Grind,” Jimmy has reunited with his college film crew pals – Joey the director, beret-wearing make-up girl, and mostly-silent sound guy. They’ve also hired an amateur actor who looks vaguely like Casimiro, covering his face with a fake mustache to further resemble Sandpiper’s mediator.

As revealed in the episode’s dramatic final sequence, the film crew staged still black-and-white photographs outside the Saul Goodman office, all revealing “Casimiro” showing something to Jimmy. The purpose of these photos is the hardest aspect of Jimmy & Kim’s phase 4 to decipher. Our best guess is that Jimmy accuses the mediator of either conflicted interests in the Sandpiper case or outright malpractice, since a neutral party shouldn’t be associating with the lawyer (i.e. Jimmy) who brought the suit forward. That would leave the case no mediator and a high-as-a-kite lead litigator, giving Cliff Main little choice but to settle Sandpiper on the spot.

Jimmy & Kim’s Better Call Saul Sticky Notes Decoded

Better Call Saul season 6 previously revealed Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler’s entire Sandpiper plan has been mapped out in sticky notes arranged on the rear side of a painting, and “Axe & Grind” offers the best glimpse yet at this criminal artwork.

Each column represents a stage in the overall scam. The top left sticky note represents a bag of drugs, beneath which a golf course and the word “TOUR” can be spotted. These stickers relate to planting drugs in Howard’s locker during Better Call Saul‘s season 6 premiere. The next column across begins with “KETTLES” before moving down to a carrot and what looks like “DUPED.” Kettles obviously stands for Kettlemans, and the carrot nods to “Carrot & Stick.” Jimmy wanted to buy the Kettlemans’ silence whereas Kim opted for blackmail. From the board’s appearance earlier in Better Call Saul season 6, we know “J. STANGEL” was another note in the Kettlemans’ column. Justin Stangel is Kim’s contact at the IRS criminal investigation department – the man who could bring the Kettlemans down should she give the word.

The board’s third column is mostly obscured by Kim’s body, but from “Rock & Hard Place,” we know it relates to Jimmy stealing Howard’s car and throwing Wendy out of it. Next along is a magnifying glass alongside the word “CASTING” – maybe in anticipation of finding someone to impersonate the Sandpiper mediator. Jimmy & Kim’s fifth column gets a little more abstract with a set of judicial scales, a violin, and “SF OR ABQ.” These sticky notes may connect to Kim’s meeting with Viola – a paralegal who Kim sold a sob story (the violin) to find out where the mediation meeting would be held (Santa Fe or Albuquerque).

The sixth line returns to more familiar territory with a picture of an eye at the top followed by “BPM,” “RED BULL,” “DRUG TRIAL” and “TIMING.” These are all explained by the vet visit earlier in the episode. Second to last, the T-1 column features a cellphone, the code Francesca found out, and “HHM” – all logistical elements of accessing the Sandpiper meeting. Ominously, the final column is simply a mushroom cloud, and while we can probably rule out Jimmy & Kim harnessing nuclear weapons in Better Call Saul, the symbolism doesn’t look promising for Howard Hamlin.