This post contains SPOILERS for Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul reveals how Jimmy McGill gets involved with Gus Fring and the Salamanca cartel. Save for the time Jimmy and Nacho briefly crossed paths in season 1, Better Call Saul has largely kept Jimmy separate from the cartel storyline. However, longtime Breaking Bad fans knew that at some point in the spinoff, these parallel narratives were destined to intersect. The season 2 Breaking Bad episode “Better Call Saul” includes a brief reference to Lalo Salamanca, the character played by Tony Dalton. Lalo was a supporting player in Better Call Saul season 4, but was promoted to series regular this year.
Last week’s Better Call Saul episode “50% Off” ended with Jimmy getting picked up by Nacho while walking on the sidewalk. Reluctantly getting in the car (not that he had much choice), Jimmy was driven away somewhere, and this week’s “The Guy For This” picked up on the thread. At long last, Better Call Saul is finally delving into Jimmy’s complicated history with the Salamancas.
Viewers may recall in “50% Off,” Krazy-8 was arrested. This is where Jimmy comes in. As most could have predicted, Lalo wants Jimmy (or, rather, Saul Goodman) to represent Krazy-8, but there’s a catch. Leery of what Krazy-8 might say to the authorities, Lalo concocts a script for Saul to give to Krazy-8, relaying seemingly accurate cartel information to the DEA. With this, Saul negotiates a deal with Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez where Krazy-8 becomes the DEA’s confidential informant. In a later conversation with Lalo, Jimmy/Saul expresses concern over who he may have just set up, but Lalo brushes it off. When Jimmy attempts to make this a one-and-done incident, Lalo has none of it and tells the lawyer, “You’ll make time” if the cartel ever requires his services again.
What Jimmy’s unaware of is the full extent of Lalo’s plan. The script Lalo wrote for Krazy-8 is a power play to gain an upper hand on Gus within the cartel; it reveals the actual locations of Fring’s dead drop zones so the DEA can seize his money. Lalo suspects that if Gus stops bringing in money, he’ll lose favor with Don Eladio and Juan Bolsa, allowing Lalo to move up the ladder as Gus is eliminated. Going back to season 4, Lalo is extremely suspicious of Gus and what happened with German construction worker Werner Ziegler - to the point where Gus had to put the meth superlab on hold for the time being. Anyone who’s been following the Breaking Bad franchise for a while knows about the intense rivalry Fring has with the Salamanca family, and it’s been intriguing to watch this dynamic unfold over the course of Better Call Saul. Lalo’s latest move sets the stage for some compelling drama as season 5 progresses.
Of course, word gets back to Gus what happened regarding the dead drops (Nacho tells Fring). When Gus asks for the DEA agents’ names, Nacho informs him that only “the lawyer” knows, raising questions if Gus will seek out Saul for his own reasons in a later episode. Even more interestingly is the fact Gus opts to keep his dead drops as they are, willingly sacrificing a large sum of cartel money. Gus is famous for his schemes and staying a couple steps ahead of the competition, so it’ll be fascinating to see what his ultimate endgame here is. In the short-term, letting the dead drops remain gives Lalo the impression nobody talked to Gus, but there’s likely something else at play here.
More: Better Call Saul Sets Up Hank’s Breaking Bad Season 1 Story
Better Call Saul airs Mondays on AMC.
