How Nacho Overcame Every Salamanca - Better Call Saul

Throughout Better Call Saul, one of Nacho’s main obstacles was the Salamancas. He had a string of bad luck in that each time he got rid of one, another appeared, allowing him to never truly feel safe. In total he had to overcome five different members of the Salamanca family. I thought it’d be interesting to look at how he approached each.

Hope you enjoy!

You can watch Better Call Saul on Netflix:
Or get the series on DVD:

I do not claim to own the clips of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul used. They are used here under fair use for commentary and criticism.

Songs used are taken from YouTube Audio Library:
World War Outerspace - Audio Hertz
The Emperor's Army - Jeremy Blake
Clean and Dance - An Jone

Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Tuco Salamanca 0:19
Hector Salamanca 4:03
The Twins 7:30
Lalo Salamanca 9:18
Conclusion 11:06

#BreakingBad #BetterCallSaul

[theicelander]

I loved Nacho as a character because of his unique journey to redemption.

[transformersrevenge]

He played Gus right too. After the botched Lalo assassination, Nacho was a dead man. Anyone who catches him, takes his life. So Nacho accepts his own fate, but he doesn't accept his father's fate. Gus meanwhile shows distain for Nacho. So Nacho speaks to Gus on the phone, man to man, and lays out his terms. He gets Mike to vouch for that, and turns himself in. And in the end, he pretty much sells the fact that Gus is innocent, and goes out like a man. He knew there was no saving him, but he did accomplish his series long need to protect his dad. And Gus learned something from it too. Gus decided to take Mike's advice on fear not being a reliable motivator. Which is how he played with Walt and Jesse, until both pushed their luck too far.

[ctaviaPony]

You can commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.

[dmagwaza]

Lessons in impressing the Salamancas:

Tuco: Show respect.
Hector: Show ruthlessness.
The Cousins: Show loyalty.
Lalo: Show intelligence.

[BirdGang]

I love that he denied Gus the satisfaction of ever telling Hector that he put him in his chair! That was the best part for me!

[htasul]

I'd never considered his journey through the lens of each of the different Salamancas before. It makes a lot of sense. He was intelligent and crafty, but it wasn't enough.

[InfernosReaper]

It's not that called them "psychos" but that he said he hated *every* one of them, which really made the cousins feel betrayed, because they fought with and bled for Nacho only to find out he hated them and wanted them die all along

[blankeon]

Nacho was a really great character. In his own way he won, even if he was killed. It is very impressive of him when you take into consideration how he had nobody on his side. He could have become something really impressive if he had not gone down the wrong path.

[esotericVideos]

I love the symbolic significance that due to the cousin's blood donation, Nacho technically has Salamanca blood in his veins.

[samalmighty]

I kinda wish you'd culminated this by showing how he ultimately overcame Gus, as Gus was basically the one who did the most harm to him. But great video that shows Nacho's growth!

[stoneharper]

His “you think of me” monologue was stronger than anything Walter White said on Breaking Bad, genuine goosebumps every time I watch it!

[tirasangue]

While the Twins are heavily associated with the whole revenge aspect, I think they are more consistently portrayed as warriors with an honor code. I believe they respected Nacho because despite them knowing he was a lesser fighter (perhaps especially because they knew this), he still put his life on the line to fight alongside them, and they valued his bravery in doing so highly, as sort of a warrior's respect for one another.

[darrenrooftop]

Lalo jumping on sauls car was way more dramatic and over the top in the manga . It’s like he jumped off a cliff, which adds unintended plotholes, because if he can jump and land from such distances, he would be far more physically cunning than what he has represented

[wyomingptt]

I agree that I almost felt bad for the Twins when Nacho was going on about hating the Salamancas, they genuinely seemed sad about his 'turn' lol.

[spartanrh]

I liked these explanations except for how Nacho won Lalo over. Lalo only show of true admiration for Nacho was when Nacho retrieved the drugs from the stash house. What seemed odd was that appeared to be an irrational thing to do. Would be much easier to just cut the losses, but there was more to it. There would have been repercussions if the drugs were found, Lalo knew that immediately and was allready thinking about killing the two subordinates in the car with them, disposing the bodies, replacing them with capable people, the stree of having to wonder what the cops had learned, etc...When Nacho stepped up and asserted himself with to resolve the situation with Bravery, that's when Nacho earned Lalos respect. We see it played out when Lalo is betrayed by Nacho and Lalo returns to kill the entire hit squad that was sent to kill him. It's not that Lalo is just intelligent or charismatic. Lalo is Brave. In the business they are in, they see many cowards, Lalo respects Mike as an adversary for the same reason. Mike is intelligent and resourceful but more important to Lalo is that Mike displays Bravery by remaining calm and coming up with a bold plan to lose Lalo when he was tailing him. It one thing to be smart, and charismatic, but also to be bold, shows the true characteristics of someone with true potential in life. A capable man of destiny. Lalo sees that in Nacho and is genuinely pleased with who Nacho is as a person when Nacho sneaks into the stash house. Nacho was allready useful to Lalo as a 2nd, but when Nacho proved he also had balls and conviction, that cemented Lalos admiration. Lalo isn't intimated or challenged by this, he recognizes this and admires it.

[wisam]

All I can say about nacho is that the man really understands the definition of insanity.

[ollieox]

You always knew that Nacho was going to meet a bad end. But the flowers bloomed in the place where he fell and you feel bad for him. He was a compelling character.

[dashockpixle]

In the end of the day nacho was just too good to let go every time he completed a task he only grew in value to the people he was trying to escape from.

[standx]

I just finished watching Better Call Saul S6:E7 then began to watch this, happy that you’re doing a video on this

[yemmohater]

He switched the pills for ibuprofen, not sugar pills. That's why the pain stops when hector chews them (chewing turns them from long-release into quick-release). Nacho called them sugar pills as a lie/mistake in 603