| “ | Ah, I'm just here to lend a helping hand, you know, make sure the business is running in order. I got a good head for numbers. But listen don't even worry. It's gonna be like I'm not even here.
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„ |
| ― Lalo to Nacho after introducing himself. |
Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca is a member of the Juárez Cartel and is the grandson of Abuelita, the nephew of Don Hector Salamanca and the cousin of Tuco, Marco, Leonel and Joaquin. He serves as the primary antagonist of the second half of Season 4.
History
Background Information
Lalo was born in Mexico and was raised by his uncle, Hector, as an enforcer of the Juárez Cartel like his cousins Tuco, Leonel, Marco, and Joaquin. Like his uncle, he is a sadistic murderer and once assisted his uncle in torturing a hotel proprietor for disrespecting the two of them and burning the proprietor to death and his hotel down, keeping a desk bell as a souvenir of the ordeal.
Better Call Saul
Season 4
Nacho Varga meets Lalo.
Nacho Varga arrives at El Michoacáno where Hector Salamanca runs his business and finds Lalo in the kitchen making food. Though Lalo offers the food to Nacho, stating that it's delicious and a family recipe, Nacho refuses, recognizing that Lalo has been sent by the Salamancas. Lalo confirms this and introduces himself as Eduardo, though he invites Nacho to call him by his nickname of Lalo. Lalo explains that he has been sent to help keep the business running and sits down to meet with the local dealers. ("Coushatta")
Lalo talking to Hector Salamanca.
After his disabled uncle is moved to Casa Tranquila, Lalo and Nacho go and pay him a visit. Lalo addresses Hector, remembering an incident where the two of them burned down a hotel and tortured the proprietor for showing disrespect. Lalo goes on to say that he went back into the hotel as it was burning, and retrieved a souvenir that he has kept for years. He presents the souvenir to Hector as a gift: the bell from the hotel's front desk. Lalo ties the bell to the armrest of Hector's wheelchair, allowing him to ring it for the first time, then speaks to Hector in private about "the Chilean" before leaving with apparent new orders from the Don.
Lalo and Nacho pay a visit to Los Pollos Hermanos for lunch and are greeted by Gus. Lalo enthusiastically compliments Gus for his chicken. Lalo is then invited back into Gus' office, where he thanks Gus on behalf of the Salamanca family for saving Hector's life. He also speculates that Eladio enjoys exploiting the "bad blood" between Gus and the Salamancas, implying that he's seeking an alliance against the don. Gus replies that he is "satisfied with the current arrangement" and shakes Lalo's hand as he leaves. Outside the restaurant, Lalo asks Nacho to drive him to Gus' chicken farm. ("Wiedersehen")
He spies on Gus' operations and later follows Mike while the latter is looking for Werner Ziegler. Mike spots the tail, however, and loses Lalo by driving into a parking lot and then jamming the ramp on his way out, much to Lalo's frustration. Lalo proceeds to pay a visit to the Travelwire Mike went to. When he starts asking questions, Fred is uncooperative and tells him to call the police. While Fred is taking a call, Lalo sneaks above the ceiling paneling and drops into Fred's booth from above. He murders Fred, before reviewing the security footage and seeing the brochures Mike picked up. He calls the hotel Werner is staying in and pretends to be one of Gustavo's men. He questions Werner about the project before Mike interrupts Werner and takes the phone away from him. Lalo realizes he's talking to Mike and greets him before Mike hangs up. ("Winner")
Season 5
TBA
Breaking Bad
Season 2
When Saul Goodman is kidnapped by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and taken to the desert, Saul assumes that it is Lalo who has abducted him and starts begging for his life, blaming Ignacio for what happened, swearing he's always been friends with the cartel. After realizing Walter and Jesse's confusion, he understands he had mistaken them for Lalo and sighs in relief. ("Better Call Saul")
Personality
Lalo is shown to be a cruel, highly intelligent, sadistic, somewhat humorous and exuberant man who is blindly loyal to the Juárez Cartel and his family members. Lalo is shown to be very capable of cold-blooded murder as seen when he brutally murdered Fred in order to discover what Mike was up to and as revealed by a story he enthusiastically recounted of torturing and burning a hotel proprietor to death alongside his uncle and keeping his uncle's famed desk bell as a souvenir. Lalo is shown to be a skilled investigator as well as seen during his tailing of Mike and his search for Werner Ziegler, showing his dedication to accomplishing whatever goal he is focused on.
Murders committed by Lalo
- 1 Hotel Proprietor: Tortured and burned alive alongside his uncle for disrespecting them ("Wiedersehen")
- Fred: Shot to death ("Winner")
Appearances
Better Call Saul
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| Season 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||||||||||
| Season 5 | |||||||||||||
| Season 6 |
Trivia
- Lalo's fate by the start of Breaking Bad is unknown. The revelation that he is a Salamanca suggests that he is more than likely dead as Gus taunts Hector in "Crawl Space" that the entire Salamanca family, aside from Hector, is dead. However, in the episode "Better Call Saul", Jimmy as Saul Goodman believes Lalo to be still alive at the time, however Lalo never appears in person in Breaking Bad. Its possible he died off-screen between the two episodes.
- Lalo drives a 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
- Lalo is the only Salamanca in the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universe to be billed as part of the main cast.