Better Call Saul was one of the most successful and well-done prequels to a just as brilliant show, Breaking Bad. Sometimes, I would go so far as to say that Better Call Saul is better than Breaking Bad. The fact that Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould could flesh out a character like Saul Goodman so fluently from almost nothing was awe-inspiring. I loved every second of Jimmy McGill’s backstory, from his rise to his fall. With an almost flawless season finale, there was one thing I didn’t particularly like in the final stretch of episodes. I felt the death of Lalo Salamanca was cheap and easy for such a great character in Better Call Saul.
Lalo Salamanca was by no means a good person. His manipulation and excessive use of violence showed that he was exactly like the rest of the Salamanca. Then there was a charm and charisma that came along with his character. He could be manipulative to get what he wanted and if it didn’t work out, he could always fall back on his violent tendencies. His character arc unleashed a new look for the Salamancas from season four until his ultimate demise in season six. For such a great addition to Better Call Saul, I felt robbed when Lalo Salamanca died so uneventfully in the episode “Point and Shoot.”
Lalo Salamanca Was One of the Best Villains in Better Call Saul
In Better Call Saul, Tuco Salamanca ends up in jail and his uncle Hector has a stroke because of Ignacio “Nacho” Varga. Because of this, Lalo comes up from Mexico to Albuquerque, New Mexico to help keep Hector’s side of the drug operation running smoothly. Just like his cousins and uncle, his rage and intuition focused closely on who they all called the “Chicken Man,” Gustavo Fring. I thought he initially was just trying to mess with Gustavo, but his motivations became more clear: he didn’t trust Gustavo any more than his Uncle Hector, who absolutely despised him. Lalo Salamanca quickly became the mole in the drug operation to provide Hector with any information about Gustavo Fring.
I knew Lalo Salamanca had been formed from a singular line in Breaking Bad (when Walt and Jesse kidnap Saul Goodman for answers). That also meant that his days were numbered on Better Call Saul. It came as no surprise when Lalo followed Mike Ehrmantraut and killed a young worker at a travel agency when he burned it to the ground after breaking in to see the security tapes. The murder of the innocent travel clerk ultimately made Jimmy McGill become a friend of the cartel, becoming Lalo’s lawyer in the case, but Jimmy didn’t know the half of it just yet.
By the final season of Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill had felt the wrath of being a friend of the cartel. While it paid well, it nearly cost him his life and left him with PTSD that made him no longer want mint chocolate chip ice cream (he was eating a cone of it when he was picked up to meet Lalo in the episode “The Guy For This”). In the final season, Jimmy assumed that Lalo was dead, due to the circumstances planned by Gustavo and Nacho, but Lalo survived, escaped, and was seeking revenge. For the final season of Better Call Saul, Lalo went underground, planning how he was going to expose Gustavo Fring’s underground lab.
Lalo’s Death Was Swift, and Sheer Luck for Gustavo Fring
After Lalo Salamanca narrowly escapes death in Better Call Saul, he only lets Hector Salamanca know that he’s still alive. Lalo even staged his death with a man who looked up to him as his don, making it one of the saddest deaths in the Breaking Bad Universe. From there, Lalo does everything in his power to take down Gustavo Fring, knowing that Gustavo helped orchestrate his death. Lalo’s plan is briefly foiled when he notices Gustavo has Hector’s retirement facility wire-tapped, which reveals to Gus that Lalo is still alive. Lalo flips his plan on its head and decides to set up a trap for Gustavo, similar to the trap Jesse set for Walt so he could figure out where Walt hid all of his money.
In the episode “Plan and Execution” of Better Call Saul, Lalo Salamanca utilizes Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill in his scheme to isolate Gustavo Fring in his underground lab. Howard Hamlin becomes collateral damage because Lalo shoots him when he is at the wrong place at the wrong time. Lalo sends Kim, at Jimmy’s suggestion, to ring Gustavo Fring’s doorbell. He makes his way to the unsecured laundromat where the secret underground lab resides. Giddy that he was finally going to catch and kill Gus while recording all of it, Lalo rushed into what could’ve been an epic showdown between two Better Call Saul criminal heavyweights.
When Lalo lures Gus down into the secretive lab, he doesn’t know that Gustavo has a contingency plan loosely in place. Gus was regularly wearing a bullet-proof vest, had multiple security cameras guarding his properties, and had stashed a gun in the underground lab as a last resort. When Lalo continues to pull out the confession from Gus, he smiles with pride about being right about Gustavo all along. As Gustavo verbally eviscerates the Salamancas, he kicks a wire, causing the lights to go off. Gus then grabs the stashed revolver. Gustavo Fring empties his revolver into the darkness toward Lalo, still clicking the trigger long after the bullets have all left the gun. In a climax that had been building for almost two seasons, it’s abr uptly concluded by the blind firing of a gun, because Gustavo was lucky enough to shoot Lalo Salamanca in the neck. Speaking about Lalo Salamanca, Tony Dalton told Variety:
…He wanted to show off and that’s ultimately what became his demise, him basking in the glory.
I felt the final season of Better Call Saul packed many stinging deaths, especially in the last season, but Lalo’s death didn’t pack the same sting as the others. When I think of the why and how behind his death, it seems like the odds weren’t in Gustavo’s favor, and he really survived by chance. Tony Dalton even told Variety:
Yeah, nine times out of 10, Lalo would’ve won. I think even Gus knows that.
Lalo’s Death Informed Gustavo Fring Putting His Guard up When He Goes up Against Walter White
I’m willing to take the good with the bad when it comes to the final episodes of Better Call Saul. While I still feel that Lalo’s death wasn’t the strongest downfall for a character in Better Call Saul, at least it provided Gustavo Fring with a deeper understanding of his safety. There is a brilliant moment after Gustavo kills Lalo in the episode “Fun and Games” where Gus finally doesn’t have his guard up. He sits at a bar and has a lovely conversation with a familiar wine steward. He finally seems to open up a little bit and shows the human side after a chaotic season of cat and mouse with Lalo. However, he quickly realized that so long as he’s doing business with the cartel, he won’t ever really get to stay in those calm moments.
As Gustavo Fring seems to shed his mental armor, after shedding his real bullet-proof vest in the previous episode of Better Call Saul, he comes to terms with his unfortunate line of business where his guard must continually be up. This is prevalent in the showdown that Gustavo has with Walter White in Breaking Bad. Walt and Gus’s war almost lasts an entire season because of Gustavo’s mental preparation after dealing with the situation in Better Call Saul with Lalo. Had it not been for Walt’s intelligence and unwillingness to back down, Gustavo would’ve likely killed Walt.
Lalo Salamanca’s character arc was a beautiful slow-burn collaboration by the many writers of Better Call Saul and the unblemished acting by Tony Dalton. I think that’s why I didn’t like his final demise. I without a doubt wanted to see him go down in Better Call Saul, especially after he killed the innocent bystander, Howard Hamlin, for nothing. Lalo’s death helped complete the full turn of Better Call Saul toward Breaking Bad.
While I didn’t love Lalo Salamanca’s ending in Better Call Saul , I understood why his character had to go. Lalo Salamanca didn’t exist in the world of Breaking Bad, just like the many characters lost throughout Better Call Saul. The only real surviving new addition from Better Call Saul was Kim Wexler, and she moved away to Florida, almost becoming a whole new person. Regardless of how I feel about Lalo Salamanca’s death, I still believe that Better Call Saul is one of the best television shows that exceeded expectations.
