Better Call Saul S4: The Salamanca Gang
Apr. 27th, 2025 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerAs I described in my previous blog, for season 4 of Better Call Saul I'm organizing my blogs by story line rather than episode because there are multiple long-running subplots that stretch across multiple episodes. Earlier today I wrote about Gus, Mike, and the drug super-lab Gus is building. This blog I'll write about Gus's rivals, the Salamanca drug gang. Gus's story has some overlap with theirs, as you'll see.
At the start of season 4 family patriarch Hector Salamanca has been rushed off to the hospital after collapsing. Gang foot solider Nacho (Ignacio) Vargas had swapped out his heart medication, leading to him suffering a stroke during a stressful moment. Nacho starts to take over as de facto gang leader.
Gus owns a piece of him, though. Gus figures out from observing what happened the night of Hector's collapse and from one of his men getting copies of Hector's blood tests that Nacho swapped the meds. Gus and his men waylay Nacho and a colleague in 4.02, after the two think they've put one over on Gus's gang through their bold use of muscle. Nope! Gus apparently instructed his gang to give in easily to trick Nacho into false confidence while they laid a trap for him. Nacho's colleague is killed, and Gus plays the "I know what you did last summer" threat on Nacho to blackmail him into acting as an informer against his own gang.
Gus applies his coati vengeance to Hector by bringing in a stroke specialist from Johns Hopkins (a world-class teaching hospital, for those unfamiliar) to help Hector recover. The doctor works with Hector on therapy until Hector gains the ability to answer "yes" to questions by tapping a finger on his right hand. Other than turning his head a bit, that's all he can move, consciously. But it demonstrates he's aware of his surroundings and can think. The doctor is optimistic that with months more of specialized therapy Hector could talk and maybe even walk again. But that's when Gus sends the doctor back to her hospital, where a new program named in her honor has just been endowed. Gus's vengeance is to have trapped Hector with a reasonably alert mind in a paralyzed body. And we know from seeing Hector in this state in Breaking Bad that he's going to survive at least 5 more years with no improvement.
It's interesting Nacho is practicing the same behavior he chafed at under Hector because his motives for pushing aside the gang leaders— first his immediate boss, Tuco, then family don Hector— had seemed to be he thought the gang would run better, earn better, and avoid the authorities better, by using less violence as a first resort. That makes me wonder if Nacho's only motivation had been to fight his way to the top. That's odd, because Nacho doesn't present as someone focused on becoming top dog and willing to fight and kill to get there.
Lalo tells Nacho that he's "just here to help" but it's evident that he expects to take over, gradually. He's got the Salamanca name and goes way back with Hector. In ep. 4.09 he takes Nacho to visit Hector at the nursing home, where he regales Hector with stories about their long-past criminal history together. He gifts Hector the hotel-style bell, a trophy from one of their past crimes, that becomes a signature part of Hector's portrayal in Breaking Bad.
Lalo also has familiarity with the cartel bosses down in Mexico. In a meeting with Gus he gently proposes they rebel together. Gus responds, "I am satisfied with the current arrangement," and Lalo backs off, saying he was just joking.
Possibly true to his boast to Nacho that he's "just here to help" Lalo doesn't try to take responsibilities away from Nacho (yet) but instead starts trying to figure out Gus is up to. He stakes out Gus's chicken farm and writes down details about comings and goings. While spying through binoculars he sees a hubbub among Gus's security team. Unsure what's happening but sure it significant, he starts trailing Mike. This is where Mike is pursuing Werner after he fled the super-lab project.
Lalo gets some of the details of what Werner was doing before Mike catches up to Werner and shuts him down. While Nacho is more thoughtful and less violent than the other Salamanca nephews, or Hector, this level of initiative and sophistication is way beyond Nacho. And Hector. I expect season 5 will show the Salamanca gang, now led by Lalo, stepping up to counter Gus's machinations instead of letting Gus run circles around them.
At the start of season 4 family patriarch Hector Salamanca has been rushed off to the hospital after collapsing. Gang foot solider Nacho (Ignacio) Vargas had swapped out his heart medication, leading to him suffering a stroke during a stressful moment. Nacho starts to take over as de facto gang leader.
Gus owns a piece of him, though. Gus figures out from observing what happened the night of Hector's collapse and from one of his men getting copies of Hector's blood tests that Nacho swapped the meds. Gus and his men waylay Nacho and a colleague in 4.02, after the two think they've put one over on Gus's gang through their bold use of muscle. Nope! Gus apparently instructed his gang to give in easily to trick Nacho into false confidence while they laid a trap for him. Nacho's colleague is killed, and Gus plays the "I know what you did last summer" threat on Nacho to blackmail him into acting as an informer against his own gang.
Hector and the Coati
While Gus is working to weaken Hector's gang he surprisingly comes to Hector's aid in the hospital. ...Surprising, because why help an enemy recover? Except that Gus's reasons are diabolic. He explains his intent in 4.06 by telling a story from his youth at Hector's bedside. It's unclear how much Hector hears. When Gus was a child he nurtured a fruit tree to grow fruit he sold to support his family. He caught a coati, a wild animal related to raccoons, stealing his fruit. He trapped the animal and injured it, but it escaped. Rather than pursue the injured animal to kill it, Gus let it live longer— suffering the whole time with a broken leg.Gus applies his coati vengeance to Hector by bringing in a stroke specialist from Johns Hopkins (a world-class teaching hospital, for those unfamiliar) to help Hector recover. The doctor works with Hector on therapy until Hector gains the ability to answer "yes" to questions by tapping a finger on his right hand. Other than turning his head a bit, that's all he can move, consciously. But it demonstrates he's aware of his surroundings and can think. The doctor is optimistic that with months more of specialized therapy Hector could talk and maybe even walk again. But that's when Gus sends the doctor back to her hospital, where a new program named in her honor has just been endowed. Gus's vengeance is to have trapped Hector with a reasonably alert mind in a paralyzed body. And we know from seeing Hector in this state in Breaking Bad that he's going to survive at least 5 more years with no improvement.
Nacho, the New Hector?
As we see Nacho growing into the role of gang leader there's a scene in ep. 4.08 that shows him behaving in ways he chafed at under Hector. When a drug dealer comes in short with his weekly pay-up, Nacho's new subordinate accepts the dealer's apology and tells him to bring the rest next week— an echo of something Nacho did in season 2. Nacho then calls the dealer over and injures him as punishment— which is what Hector forced Nacho to do in that earlier scene.It's interesting Nacho is practicing the same behavior he chafed at under Hector because his motives for pushing aside the gang leaders— first his immediate boss, Tuco, then family don Hector— had seemed to be he thought the gang would run better, earn better, and avoid the authorities better, by using less violence as a first resort. That makes me wonder if Nacho's only motivation had been to fight his way to the top. That's odd, because Nacho doesn't present as someone focused on becoming top dog and willing to fight and kill to get there.
Lalo Takes Over
Nacho's upward mobility in the gang gets halted later in ep. 4.08 when yet-another Salamanca nephew, Lalo, arrives. I swear, Hector has no kids of his own that have ever appeared in the story (BCS or BB) but sure has an endless supply of nephews!Lalo tells Nacho that he's "just here to help" but it's evident that he expects to take over, gradually. He's got the Salamanca name and goes way back with Hector. In ep. 4.09 he takes Nacho to visit Hector at the nursing home, where he regales Hector with stories about their long-past criminal history together. He gifts Hector the hotel-style bell, a trophy from one of their past crimes, that becomes a signature part of Hector's portrayal in Breaking Bad.
Lalo also has familiarity with the cartel bosses down in Mexico. In a meeting with Gus he gently proposes they rebel together. Gus responds, "I am satisfied with the current arrangement," and Lalo backs off, saying he was just joking.
Possibly true to his boast to Nacho that he's "just here to help" Lalo doesn't try to take responsibilities away from Nacho (yet) but instead starts trying to figure out Gus is up to. He stakes out Gus's chicken farm and writes down details about comings and goings. While spying through binoculars he sees a hubbub among Gus's security team. Unsure what's happening but sure it significant, he starts trailing Mike. This is where Mike is pursuing Werner after he fled the super-lab project.
Lalo gets some of the details of what Werner was doing before Mike catches up to Werner and shuts him down. While Nacho is more thoughtful and less violent than the other Salamanca nephews, or Hector, this level of initiative and sophistication is way beyond Nacho. And Hector. I expect season 5 will show the Salamanca gang, now led by Lalo, stepping up to counter Gus's machinations instead of letting Gus run circles around them.
