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- SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!!!!
lalo salamanca is an absolute menace in the breaking bad universe, despite only having roughly three hours or so of screentime. he was a boogieman that haunted the characters even through the breaking bad timeline when he was long gone. lalo was a boogieman that was so persistent and precise with everything that he did that he managed to put the fear of god in gus fring of all characters. he was the most effective salamanca in terms of taking care of business, yet was an absolute enigma given he spawned from a throwaway line. i mean nobody did it like girlypop, he was out here doing the most camp shit like jumping from high places or falling from ceiling tiles. it probably helped that the man that plays him is also batshit insane but we won't get into that.
he became an effective villain from the getgo with his charming personality that masked how sadistic and ruthless he truly was. he most likely picked this up from his years of travelling around taking care of cartel business, a small side note on his character by tony dalton. there's also possible ties to his characterization coming from negan from the walking dead since one of lalo's outfits resembles the man. he's a pretty interesting character with a lot of complex themes since he was remorseless with murdering fred whalen and seeing his grieving parents in court yet was heartbroken upon his beloved staff in his home being murdered by gus' hit squad.
additonally, lalo set in motion several plot lines in breaking bad from gus' long awaited revenge on the salamanca family being the first one to be killed by gus to jimmy mcgill fully becoming saul goodman due to losing kim because she was so traumatized from lalo killing howard in front of them. there are interesting factors that go into lalo's character such as commentary on toxic masculinity and macho culture with him genuinely wanting a friendship with ignacio and how despite being a ruthless cartel member he found a way to ground himself with a passion for cooking. you can even see how hurt he was by ignacio's betrayal and not picking up on his disdain for lalo due to him actually wanting to connect with another person and form a friendship :( . lalo's character is complex and interesting, and it's cool to see someone that was just a funny throwaway line be given so much depth to further solidify the storyline of a prequel's connection to the original timeline.
ok now that i got all of the serious talking points i wanted to say about his writing time to talk about why he's my babygirl chew toy. personally i ♥ villains so it was no surprise he'd be my fave, and given how much he added to the story i rlly liked him bc of how much of a fucked up complex character he is. i also like his fun little quirks such as his love for cooking, or his meticulous nature that can be shown with how he plans everything or down to the way he organizes his money. likeee wow, literal baby girl behavior. typically i find a lot of male villains to be fucking insufferable (*cough cough* homelander *cough cough*) but lalo rlly stuck out to me given how much of a menace he is. nobody in the breaking bad franchise ever had this many characters terrified and shaken up including gus himself so it's hilarious to see this man come along and do so.gallery
- SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!!!!
Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca, also known as Don Eduardo, is a powerful and high-ranking Cartel member and a major distributor. He is the third Salamanca family member to run their drug operation, following his uncle Hector and cousin Tuco. Lalo is cheerful and charismatic, but vicious when the situation calls for it. He is 44 years old.