“ | „ | |
― Gustavo Fring introducing the lab to Walter White. |
The Superlab is a large-scale laboratory facility that was located underneath the Lavandería Brillante industrial laundry in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The lab was proposed by Lydia Rodarte-Quayle and financed by Gustavo Fring and Peter Schuler, with the project costing over $8 million.
Construction was organized and supervised by Mike Ehrmantraut. A first construction team, headed by Werner Ziegler, worked from April 2003 to March 2004 on the project, clearing out the space, and beginning preliminary foundational work. An unknown second team was hired sometime after June 2004, finishing the project sometime prior to March 2009. It was constructed for the purpose of manufacturing industrial amounts of illicit methamphetamine and thus played a vital role in the expansion of Gus' drug empire.
Lalo Salamanca investigated the lab, discovering its true purpose and location. He failed, however, to give word to the Cartel. He and innocent bystander Howard Hamlin were buried in the lab's foundation.
The Superlab was capable of cooking between 100 and 300 pounds of meth per week. Its layout was designed by chemist Gale Boetticher, who specified its every detail, including the apparatus required. The lab was utilized by Gale, Walter White, and Jesse Pinkman to produce Walter's signature blue meth. It was destroyed by a massive chemical fire set by Walt after Gus' death.
History[]
Better Call Saul[]
Season 3[]
It is implied that the superlab was originally proposed by Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, one of Gustavo Fring's partners-in-crime and an executive working for Madrigal Electromotive GmbH. The superlab is first mentioned after Gus browses Lavanderia Brillante, an industrial laundry that was for sale. Gus steps into Lydia's car and simply says that, "It could work." ("Off Brand")
Season 4[]
Gus eventually recruits his right-hand man, Mike Ehrmantraut, to help him search for structural engineers who could build the superlab without weakening the foundations of the laundry or attracting the attention of people above-ground. An engineer from France is flown in to give Gus and Mike an estimate on excavating the superlab, but his overconfidence and lackadaisical approach convince them to send him back home. The next engineer, Werner Ziegler, conducts more thorough measurements of the laundry and acknowledges the difficulty of the task at hand. Impressed, Gus decides to hire Ziegler for the construction. ("Quite a Ride")
Gus sets up a remote warehouse containing two double-wide mobile homes, to be used as the living quarters for Ziegler's German construction crew during what is thought will be an eight-month project. Following Mike's advice, Gus installs a minibar and recreational equipment to keep the Germans entertained while they are off-shift. Tensions become immediately apparent between Mike and Kai, Ziegler's best demolition man. Work begins, but the project falls so far behind schedule that it's not even halfway done when the eight months pass by. An accident occurs during the excavation in which another workman, Casper, accidentally backs his front-loader into a support beam and knocks it over, causing it to smash the concrete form for the south wall. This causes a fight between Kai and Casper, which Mike breaks up. Mike wants to send Kai back to Germany, but Ziegler convinces to allow the crew to spend some time outside the warehouse for some "rest and relaxation." ("Piñata", "Something Stupid")
Mike takes the workmen to a strip club, while he and Ziegler spend some time at a bar and talk about their family backgrounds. Eventually, Mike is summoned back to the strip club to settle a dispute involving Kai. When he returns, he sees Ziegler drunkenly divulging details about the excavation to a bar patron he had met earlier; Mike collects Ziegler and drives away. The next day, Mike confronts Ziegler with a diagram he drew on the back of a coaster at the bar, and warns Ziegler to consider how Gus might react if his strict precautions regarding the construction were violated. Ziegler apologizes and promises it won't happen again. That night, Gus visits the excavation site, where Mike tells him that a large rock is obstructing the spot where they are planning to build an elevator shaft and explains that they must blast it. Gus, having been told about Ziegler's indiscretion, asks Mike if he still trusts him; Mike replies that he still has eyes on Ziegler. ("Coushatta")
Despite a minor delay caused by a malfunctioning charge, the blast needed to create the elevator shaft was completed without incident, leaving the basic shape of the superlab complete and setting the stage for the real construction work to begin. However, Ziegler, who had been becoming increasingly homesick during the protracted construction period, broke out of the workmens' quarters in order to set up a rendezvous with his wife. Ziegler was eventually caught, though not before inadvertently spilling some of the details of the project to Lalo Salamanca. Though Mike reassured Gus that Lalo would not be able to determine anything useful from the information, Gus ordered Ziegler's execution, which Mike reluctantly carried out, with the remainder of Ziegler's crew being dismissed from the job and being sent back to Germany. While the superlab was clearly still nowhere near being ready to use, Gale Boetticher reassured Gus that he could still turn the unfinished site into a usable lab. Gus flatly refused this suggestion, however, making it clear that he would not allow anything to be cooked until the lab was fully constructed. ("Wiedersehen", "Winner")
Season 5[]
Gus tells Mike that as long as Lalo Salamanca is north of the border, construction on the superlab is halted and Ziegler's men are sent home. Gus also invents a cover story for Lalo and Juan Bolsa to explain what Lalo learned from Ziegler about the construction. ("Magic Man")
Season 6[]
A paranoid Gus visits the superlab, testing the power cable and hiding a gun in the treads of an excavator. ("Black and Blue")
Having learned of the superlab excavation from Casper, Lalo Salamanca stakes it out from across the street, recording a message to Don Eladio about it. Lalo plans on sneaking it to record proof until he realizes that Gus has tapped Hector Salamanca's phone line. ("Plan and Execution")
After sending Kim Wexler to assassinate Gus, Lalo sneaks into the laundry where he ambushes Gus, killing four of his men. At gunpoint, Lalo forces Gus to lead him into the superlab where Lalo expounds upon what he has learned of Gus' plans into his video camera. As Lalo prepares to kill Gus, Gus distracts him by having Lalo record what Gus really thinks of Eladio and the Salamanca family. As he talks, Gus paces over to the power cable and kicks it, knocking out the lights. Gus dives for the gun that he had hidden earlier in the excavator and Lalo and Gus exchange gunfire. After running out of bullets, Gus turns the lights back on to find that he has suffered a minor bullet wound to the side. However, one of Gus' shots hit Lalo in the neck, mortally wounding him. Lalo dies moments later, laughing as Gus steps on his gun.
Later, Mike Ehrmantraut, Tyrus Kitt and several of Gus' men bury the bodies of Lalo and Howard Hamlin in the superlab foundations. Mike also tosses in Gus and Lalo's guns and the video camera. ("Point and Shoot")
Following Lalo's death, Gus orders Mike to find a new engineer and construction crew and to resume work on building the superlab immediately. ("Fun and Games")
Breaking Bad[]
Season 2[]
The term is first used by Tuco Salamanca in Season 2, who, after having all of his bases raided by the DEA, kidnaps Walter White and Jesse Pinkman with plans to smuggle the pair into Mexico. There, he said he planned to take Walt to some place "far out in the jungle" where his cartel cousins would set him up with a superlab to cook full-time. ("Grilled")
Season 3[]
- "Been working a lot...It's in a laundromat, it's totally corporate...It's like rigid, all kinds of red tape, my boss is a dick, the owner, super dick, don't know if we're ever going to meet him, everybody's scared of the dude. Place is full of dead-eyed douchebags, the hours suck, and nobody knows what's going on."
- ―Jesse describing his work in Gustavo Fring's meth lab to his rehab group.
Gustavo Fring had a superlab put together underneath his industrial laundry property by Gale Boetticher in his move to break away from the Mexican drug cartels. Receiving chemical deliveries every week and fitted with a state-of-the-art filtration system, the facility was capable of producing hundreds of pounds of meth a week - Gus says that he requires a minimum of 200 pounds to make the lab profitable. ("Más")
Gus recruited Walt as his chief chemist with Gale as an assistant, though Gale was later replaced with Jesse at Walt's insistence. The meth produced in this lab was "Blue Sky," and was shipped out across the Southwest through Los Pollos Hermanos trucks, concealed in buckets of frying batter. ("Kafkaesque")
Season 4[]
To keep Walt in check, Gus installed security cameras in the superlab to be able to monitor Walt's activities. He also ensured that either Mike Ehrmantraut or Tyrus Kitt was present at all cooks. ("Thirty-Eight Snub")
Hank Schrader recognized that the industrial laundry was suspicious because it was owned by Madrigal Electromotive GmbH and would be "one hell of a place to hide a meth lab." Hank was still unable to drive so he had Walt take him there, but Walt intentionally got his car into an accident to avoid the visit. Nevertheless, Gus was aware that Walt drove Hank to the laundry. ("Crawl Space")
Following the assassination of Gus, Walt headed to the superlab, where he killed 2 of Gus' guards, who were holding Jesse hostage and forcing him to cook at gunpoint. Walt informed Jesse that Gus was dead, and that they have "work to do". They then proceeded to destroy the lab, by disabling the sprinkler system, spilling hundreds of gallons of flammable chemicals and solvents onto the floor and lab equipment, and rigging an electrical timer to create a spark. They quickly left the lab, wiping their fingerprints away as they exited the basement of the laundry. They pulled the fire alarm and told the laundry crew to leave, just as the timer tripped, and the lab went up in flames. ("Face Off")
Season 5[]
Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez toured the charred remains of the Superlab in dismay that the fire had destroyed any evidence. Hank noticed a camera on the ceiling with great interest. ("Live Free or Die")
Deaths[]
Murders committed in (or around) the Superlab[]
- Four of Gustavo Fring's bodyguards: Ambushed and shot by Lalo in the laundry, to get to Gus. ("Point and Shoot")
- Jose: Ambushed and shot by Lalo in the laundry, to get to Gus. ("Point and Shoot")
- Lalo Salamanca: Shot in the dark by Gus, choked to death on his own blood. Body buried under the Superlab's foundation. ("Point and Shoot")
- Victor: Throat slit by Gus. Body dissolved in acid by Mike, Walt, and Jesse. ("Box Cutter")
- Two of Gus's henchmen: Shot by Walt to free Jesse. Bodies burned beyond recognition. ("Face Off")
Murders connected to the Superlab[]
- Werner Ziegler: Shot by Mike for untrustworthiness. Death blamed on construction cave-in. ("Winner")
- Howard Hamlin: Shot by Lalo, then buried with him under the Superlab's foundation. Death blamed on drug-addled suicide by drowning, body never recovered. ("Plan and Execution", "Point and Shoot")
- Gale Boetticher: Killed by Jesse on order of Walt. ("Full Measure")
Appearances[]
Better Call Saul[]
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Season 6 | ✔ | ✔ |
Breaking Bad[]
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Season 4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Season 5A | ✔ | ||||||||||||
Season 5B |
Trivia[]
- The forklift used in the lab was a Crown RR 5700 Series.
- Real life superlabs are run by drug cartels in Mexico, as references by Hank in "Cat's in the Bag...".
- According to the New York Times, a meth superlab can be defined as a lab producing at least 10 pounds a day.