In speaking with at the AMC Summit in New York last week, Vince Gilligan mentioned that in season four, Better Call Saul will begin to overlap more with characters from Breaking Bad. Gilligan also mentioned a character who was named but never seen in Breaking Bad would be making an appearance, and executive producer Melissa Bernstein confirmed that the character is that of ‘Lalo.’ Moreover, in an interview with Wired magazine earlier this year, Gilligan suggested that Lalo will be “something of a major character” in season four.
OK, but who is Lalo?
The first and only mention of Lalo in either Saul or Breaking Bad comes Bob Odenkirk’s very first episode of Breaking Bad, the episode fittingly called “Better Call Saul.” In one scene, Walter and Jesse kidnap Saul and take him out to the desert where they threaten to kill him.
In what was at the time a throwaway line, Saul says to Jesse and Walter, “Oh no no no no. It wasn’t me. It was Ignacio. He’s the one!” before asking, “Lalo didn’t send you? No Lalo?” before expressing relief upon learning that Lalo had nothing to do with the situation Saul was in out in the desert.
That is literally all we have on Lalo, except that we know that Saul blames Ignacio (who we now know is Nacho) for whatever act for which Saul believes he’s about to be killed.
One popular fan theory, however, suggests that Nacho — who hasn’t interacted with Saul since season one — seeks help from Saul to disappear after the events of season three (recall, Nacho tried — and failed — to kill Hector Salamanca). Saul, as we know from Breaking Bad, knows of a “disappearer,” the man we know of as Ed (Robert Forster), a “vacuum cleaner repairman” who Saul has relied upon to make people disappear, including Walter in “Ozymandias” and later Saul himself, who uses Ed’s services to relocate to Omaha at the end of Breaking Bad.
The theory suggests that Nacho uses Ed’s services to escape Lalo, who could potentially be Hector’s Juárez Cartel replacement. In Breaking Bad, Saul thus believes that Lalo is out to get him for arranging Nacho’s disappearance.
This, of course, is just a theory, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan intend to incorporate Lalo into the story. It does, however, make some sense, although sadly it may mean that Nacho may soon “disappear” from the series.
We’ll find out when Better Call Saul returns on August 6th.
Hat Tip: Brian Davids, host of FilmSchlubs
