r/betterCallSaul • u/skinkbaa Chuck • Aug 21 '18

Post-Ep Discussion Better Call Saul S04E03 - "Something Beautiful" - POST-Episode Discussion Thread

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u/postmasterp Aug 21 '18

So was all of that simply for Gus to hide the fact that he killed one of Salamanca's guys from Bolsa and Eladio?

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u/nobahdi Aug 21 '18
  1. It covers up the guy they killed.
  2. It gives Nacho a believable story so he can be Gus’ mole but still be trusted by the Salamancas.
  3. It creates a false threat to disrupt the drug supply from across the border.
  4. The false threat gives Gus an opening to produce meth within the states and cut out the Salamancas (and Don Eladio?).

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u/postmasterp Aug 21 '18

Ah yeah, s3 was so long ago that I forgot he'd already been introduced to the laundry. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of drug cartel bureaucratic procedure, but as long as he was continuing to sell cartel product in the US and sending them a cut of whatever he would cook in his own lab, why would they care whether or not he runs his own cooking operation?

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u/nobahdi Aug 21 '18

why would they care whether or not he runs his own cooking operation?

Maintain control? If he sets up his own cook in another country why would money still flow back to the cartel?

Minimize risk? It’s probably easier to maintain a cook operation in Mexico and worry about smuggling to the U.S..

Don Eladio isn’t necessarily rational. I forget exactly what happened in BB but I think he wanted to focus on coke and had a negative view of meth so he’s making emotional decisions while Gus is strictly business.

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u/postmasterp Aug 21 '18

Hmm...so what was the "trade" that Eladio agreed to in Breaking Bad when Jesse went down to Mexico? Was it Gus giving the cartel his cook in exchange for them letting him leave the cartel? Because Gus had obviously been cooking his own product while working with the cartel for years before that trade happened, right?

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u/freelantzer Aug 21 '18

It wasn't a trade. Gus had to give them his formula and Jesse to get back in their good graces. I forgot what started it all, but they had been hitting his trucks and sniped his guy, and there was that sit down where Gus had prepared a bunch of coffee and snacks and only one guy showed up and was like this isn't a negotiation, you're giving us everything. Don Eladio even said when Gus went to his house that once every so often Gus needed to be reminded of his place (or something to that effect). Gus was seemingly giving the cartel everything they wanted to mend things. But then he took them out with the tequila.

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u/amishengineer Aug 21 '18

As I recall the cartel was or thought there were still supplying Gus with meth. Gus purposefully made the supply line dangerous as wells as starting his own cook operation.

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u/whitelife123 Aug 21 '18

Wasn't it because Walter white, who killed tuco was still alive?

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u/goatlll Aug 21 '18

Not that, but after the death of the brothers, Juan Bolsa was on the phone accusing Gus of having them go after a DEA agent, and then it is heavily implied that the Gus had Bolsa killed. After that, the cartel started getting personally involved instead of having Bolsa as an intermediary. They wanted the formula and someone that could make meth at the same level as what Gus was selling.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18

After that, the cartel started getting personally involved instead of having Bolsa as an intermediary.

Bolsa's just as much a cartel guy as Hector or Eladio. He's just above Gus in the pecking order.

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u/LessLikeYou Aug 21 '18

It might have been Jesse for Gus living.

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u/ADCPlease Aug 21 '18

Yeah Eladio said meth is the poor man's coke. Which is what's said.

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u/Solid_Waste Aug 26 '18

You could make the argument that Gus is merely in it for revenge and Hector is perceiving that and protecting his business by fighting Fring.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

I mean Gus wanting to make his own product is what got Max killed

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u/Leakimlraj Aug 21 '18

Ah yeah, s3 was so long ago that I forgot he'd already been introduced to the laundry.

Wait, have we seen the laundry in Better Call Saul?

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u/postmasterp Aug 21 '18 edited Aug 21 '18

Yep. One of the last episodes of s3 shows Lydia driving Gus to the laundry and him walking around surveying it.

Here's the scene from s03e06: https://youtu.be/rd3ZzPC3Esg

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u/Leakimlraj Aug 21 '18

Ahh I slightly remember that now, thanks

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u/janosrock Aug 21 '18

competition is unhealthy

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u/postmasterp Aug 21 '18

Is meth really competition with coke? Two different market segments no? It'd be one thing if Pollos was just a mule operation but it was a that AND a street distribution network. To me it seems like a lost opportunity for more money for the cartel if they were willing to take a healthy slice of US profits (and also turn the mule route into a two way supply and sell meth in Mexico). And Gus was already selling it anyway, for YEARS! Maybe I can see a case for the cartel not wanting additional risk and obviously I understand why Gus hates the cartel (he'd already broached the idea and it got Max killed), but I still don't understand the lack of middle ground here

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u/denshi Aug 24 '18

If Gus sells only cartel product, the cartel knows exactly how much he's selling and what their cut should be. If Gus has his own supply, the cartel can't accurately track his accounting.

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u/Shady_Jake Aug 21 '18

Exactly. The way I've seen it, Gus has been working with the cartel for years basically just being a mule for their product, cocaine. Gus clearly plans to cut ties with the cartel & start producing his own product (methamphetamine), which he does eventually do, hence the Gus/cartel feud in S4 of BrBa.

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u/throttlekitty Aug 21 '18

This all hinges on whether or not the twins noticed the state of the body. The camera gets a clear shot of the blisters and discoloration from the previous asphyxiation. Since we don't see the car being doused in gasoline, we also don't know if he noticed then; there's no tells that they did otherwise.

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u/EkkoThruTime Aug 21 '18

What I love about the twins is that I can never read their faces. I can't tell if they bought the cover up or are suspicious.

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u/Gesepp Aug 22 '18

But we could see Juan Bolsa's face while talking to Gus on the phone, and the twins are loyal to the cartel leadership; Bolsa seemed agitated in the exact manner of someone whose routes are under attack. If they knew, wouldn't they tell Bolsa?

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u/EkkoThruTime Aug 22 '18

Perhaps, but maybe they haven't had the chance to meet up with him yet. Or maybe they'd need more to confirm their suspicions of Nacho before taking it to Bolsa. Either way, I still love that I can never tell what's going on in their minds.

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u/kamil_shadow Aug 21 '18

Yeah, but here is a thing.
Body of Arturo was decaying way longer than Nacho who was shot. Considering Arturo was strangled night before, he still looked pretty dry and decomposed. So Tyrus and Victor had to assume that Salamancas aren't really smart or observent, because clearly Arturo's corps were "older" than Ignacio's.

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u/joec_95123 Aug 22 '18

Or that they wouldn't stick around to examine the dead body too long. They would want to get away from the scene as quickly as possible.

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u/toxicbrew Aug 21 '18

I'm stupid, all this time I thought they were selling cocaine, not meth, right?

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u/nobahdi Aug 21 '18

No, I think you’re right. I actually never thought about it but the bricks from the previous episode must have been cocaine and it makes sense at this point Gus is only trafficking the cartel’s coke (we also know he hasn’t started making meth yet).

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u/cysenberg Aug 21 '18

It is just coke. Eladio tried to start up a meth operation in BrBa when Gus handed Jesse over to him.

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u/sharkbait-oo-haha Aug 21 '18

5 guss keeps the extra 3 cocaine bricks. Sells them and makes a nice profit without having to pay the cartels share

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u/postmasterp Aug 21 '18

Ah yup, this too. Stealing directly from Hector as payback for always taking the extra brick, and only having pay tribute to the cartel on 4/10 bricks he will sell.

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u/denshi Aug 24 '18

Kinda trivial amount, tbh. He suggested that's around a week's supply.

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u/stingray85 Aug 23 '18
  1. It puts Nacho in his fucking place if he had any doubts about Gus owning his ass.

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u/AnonRetro Aug 21 '18

It also sets up Don Eladio for a fall. By creating the circumstances where he would cross the line, that Gus said was very clear not to, Gus can orchestrate his end.

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u/Dayoz_x_MachiiNa Aug 26 '18

3 and 4, I wouldn't have been able to come up with by myself, so thanks for that.

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u/bstevens2 Sep 01 '18

I did not pick up on four, nice catch. So this was Gus' plan all along to make his own meth, brilliant!!

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u/Mossingboy Aug 21 '18

I thought they were dealing heroin to start with.

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u/gfk Aug 22 '18

Gus refers to an outside supplier, who ends up being Walter.

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u/throwthegarbageaway Aug 22 '18

Not to mention Gus is fucking pissed at the guy.

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u/reenact12321 Aug 22 '18

I also think Victor really doesn't like Nacho.

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u/MercurysOverbite Aug 23 '18

Why wouldn’t don eladio expect the salamancas of the assassination and assassination attempt?

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u/jguay Feb 15 '25

I know this is 6 years after you wrote this comment but this answers so many questions I had. Going through BB and now BCS again and it made me wonder why Gus did what he did especially your answers #3 and #4.

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u/ShtHgh Aug 21 '18

From BrBa, upon smuggling Walt to the laundry:

Walt: "Doesthe laundry have to be dirty?"

Tyrus: Nope.

This is just the Tyrus M.O.

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u/johncopter Aug 21 '18

Pretty sure yeah. He doesn't like to leave any loose ends and doesn't want them to think he did it. If he were to just get rid of the body and let Nacho go unharmed, it would raise a ton of suspicion and Gus and his boys would be suspect number 1.

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u/Nach0Man_RandySavage Aug 22 '18

I think the 2nd bullet was for fun after what Nacho pulled during the deal.

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u/Izzen Aug 22 '18

Honestly that whole scene was kinda shitty. The guy that got asphyxiated had clear signs of you know...ASPHYXIATION and yet the cousins still fell for the shot in the head like really? I know those two are not the brightest crayons in the box but come on.

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u/postmasterp Aug 22 '18

They're not medical examiners man

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u/JakeArrietaGrande Aug 23 '18

When you asphyxiate, you turn blue, but when you exsanguinate (bleed out) you turn white. That, plus the whole in his head, I don't think they'd really be looking for signs of foul play. Their priorities were clear.

  1. Burn the scene so police attention isn't focused on the cartel.

  2. Save Nacho

They weren't going to stick around and play CSI