Better Call Saul Beats Breaking Bad Thanks To One Character
If you’re a fan of Breaking Bad, you already know that the hit AMC original series has a wealth of incredible characters who round out the criminal underworld of the Albuquerque, New Mexico drug cartel. Despite the series’ terrific writing, excellent performances, and top-shelf camera work, the spectacular show still pales in comparison to its prequel series, Better Call Saul. If you’re a fan of Better Call Saul, you already know where this is going, as the character of Lalo Salamanca is the greatest character in the entire extended Breaking Bad universe, and in fact, one of the best in television history.
Lalo’s Late Start In Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul has been described by some as a slow burn, offering a low-stakes, no-explosions narrative for most of its run. Of course, as the show draws nearer and nearer to the Breaking Bad timeline, it ramps up the excitement, eventually crossing over into the high-octane thrills of the original show. Because of this structural design, Better Call Saul doesn’t introduce Lalo until the last few episodes of its fourth season, though he immediately leaves a lasting impression on the story and the audience alike.
Tony Dalton Knew The Assignment
Better Call Saul‘s Lalo is a cousin to Tuco Salamanca, who also briefly appears in the prequel, and a grandson to Hector Salamanca, who spends the entirety of Breaking Bad bound to a wheelchair, using a bell as his only form of communication. The charismatic character is brought to life on the big screen by Tony Dalton, who was previously best known for appearing in numerous Mexican soap operas and other projects that were lesser-known to American audiences.
The style, vigor, and attitude that Dalton brings to the show simply cannot be overstated, as his character offers a level of delightful affability not exhibited anywhere else in the franchise.
Never Meant To Be A Fully Developed Character
Though he leaves a massive impact on the final few seasons of Better Call Saul, Lalo is only mentioned once in Breaking Bad in passing, when Walter White and Jesse Pinkman first kidnap and subsequently hire Saul Goodman to be their lawyer.
In the original show, Saul pleads with his captors, decrying “it wasn’t me, it was Ignacio!” before confirming with them, “Lalo didn’t send you? No Lalo?”
According to series creator Vince Gilligan, the Breaking Bad writers never originally intended to flesh Lalo out as a real character, and intended the moment to be a brief aside that demonstrated just how many shady characters this criminal lawyer has surrounded himself with.
Lalo Quickly Becomes A Fan-Favorite
In fact, when the Better Call Saul crew first brought up the idea of introducing Lalo, Gilligan was uninterested, as he felt that doing so may be a sort of “jumping the shark” moment for the series. As we now know, it was actually the exact opposite, as Lalo rapidly became a fan-favorite character who steals the show every time he appears on screen.
After first showing up in the season 4 episode “Coushatta,” Lalo continues to pop up in every single episode of the series for the remainder of the pre-Breaking Bad timeline.
Elevated The Series In Every Conceivable Way
Better Call Saul‘s only real failure in the introduction of Lalo Salamanca is not bringing him on-board sooner, as the character elevates the show almost immediately. As a Mexican-American actor, Tony Dalton was even able to assist the writers in including some genuine colloquialisms and Hispanic turns-of-phrase in their dialogue that wouldn’t be learned through any Spanish class.
Now that Better Call Saul has officially ended, Lalo may be gone for good, though fans of the program are surely excited to see where Tony Dalton winds up next.
