HHM's fate is arguably everything that Jimmy McGill ever wanted, but it signifies a more devastating change for Kim and Jimmy's relationship.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9.
The fate of the fictional Better Call Saul law firm Hamlin, Hamlin, and McGill (HHM) is deeper than it first appears. Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9, "Fun and Games" begins in the immediate aftermath of the deaths of both Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) and Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian). Carrying on with their daily routine so as not to arouse suspicion, Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) follow Mike's instructions to throw the police off the scent, leading everyone to believe that Howard's battle with cocaine addiction led to him taking his own life.
With the death of Howard, and Jimmy's brother Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) having taken his own life at the end of Better Call Saul season 3, HHM no longer has any living senior partners. At the memorial, Kim and Jimmy's Howard plan is revealed to have had another unintended consequence - the downsizing and rebranding of HHM. It's a shocking moment that brings Jimmy's Better Call Saul season 1 arc to a close, but it also has much wider ramifications as the episode continues.
From Better Call Saul season 1, episode 1, HHM has been a thorn in Jimmy McGill's side. The esteem in which HHM is held in Albuquerque - and the McGill name - makes it difficult for Jimmy to create a personal brand. He has regular clashes with Howard about this, including his memorable hero scam from Better Call Saul season 1, episode 4. The downsizing of the firm and its rebranding as Brookner Partners, therefore, gives season 1's Jimmy McGill everything that he wanted. The issue is that Jimmy McGill is dead, and only Saul Goodman remains, with a trail of dead behind him and a broken relationship with Kim. HHM brought Kim and Jimmy together, but their revenge plan against Howard has ultimately broken them, and HHM apart.
HHM's Fate Symbolizes Jimmy & Kim's Entire Relationship
As much as HHM is a symbol of Jimmy and Chuck's troubled fraternal relationship, it's also a symbol of the ill-fated relationship between Kim and Jimmy. The couple's whole relationship has been defined by HHM, where they first met in the mail room. It was Kim who believed in Jimmy's ability to become a lawyer when Chuck via Howard's proxy refused to let him join the firm. HHM always represented Jimmy's Better Call Saul story: the internal conflict between remaining as an ingenious scam artist and becoming a respectable lawyer. Shutting Jimmy out of HHM affirmed to him that he could never hope to become a great attorney like his brother Chuck, Howard, or Kim. While Kim was always Jimmy's biggest supporter, it becomes abundantly clear over the course of Better Call Saul that it's Jimmy's showmanship and unique approach to the law that truly inspires Kim's love for him. Like Chuck and Howard at HHM, she doesn't truly see him as an upstanding member of the legal profession.
This is emphasized by the devastating scenes prior to Better Call Saul's time jump when Kim admits just how toxic their relationship has become and reveals she's leaving. Jimmy pleads with her to stay and desperately offers to change his behavior. With Chuck, Howard, and HHM gone, Kim is the last person left to whom Jimmy feels he has something to prove. With his relationship with Kim now ended, it's time for Jimmy, like HHM, to rebrand. Hamlin, Hamlin, and McGill brought Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill together, but in their desire to part company with it, they've inadvertently destroyed the Albuquerque law firm and their own relationship.
Better Call Saul continues Monday on AMC.
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