Why Lalo’s Fate Felt Underwhelming | Better Call Saul Analysis 

I think his death being literally a lucky shot speaks to his strength as a villain. He had Gus, the most cold and calculating character in the show beat. Gus only killed him from a lucky shot. That’s the only way he could have. They were so evenly matched and Lalo even ended up with the upper hand. Lalo’s smile at the end is saying “you lucky son of a bitch, you know I had you”. He’s almost laughing at how he knows how much he had Gus screwed

It worked for me. I always saw BB and BCS as a modern day Western, and the final showdown between him and Gus felt like an old-fashioned gunfight. The tension built up over the first half of S6 paid off well for me.

First time I watched it, I didn't like it that much, but it has been growing on me. I really like all the symbolism it has, and the coldness of it. I also like how Lalo, the charismatic and charming villain has a very minimalist death, and how Gus, the serious and cold villain had a exaggerated, and even epic death. I love that type of contrast

Great criticism. It was also a let down because of the brilliance of how Lalo got to confronting Gus (flying to Germany and following a bread crumb trail of clues). It would have been difficult to write, but I would have loved a more back-and-forth struggle between Lalo and Gus once Lalo returned to Albuquerque -- without giving obvious clues like Gus planting the gun. I'm also bothered by the stupid plan Gus had of kicking the power cables and running for the gun. There are so many discrepancies in that plan. Lalo had a gun on him and most definitely could react faster and shoot Gus before the lights go out. Also, Gus just got a lucky shot which feels unearned. Did Gus expect to get lucky there? If both missed all their shots (which was likely to happen in the dark) then Lalo would easily overpower Gus in physical combat. It's gotta be one of the worst pay offs in the show.

I think it’s fitting. He was so on par with Gus in almost every way. The only way for him to go was literally a shot in the dark.

I like they held back most prequels think bigger is better .

I thought it was a great wrap up to Gus's story in BCS. I was never a big fan of surprises or twist endings solely for the sake of shock value. Lalo's end was realistic yet still iconic. The most important thing is not how Lalo died but that he proved himself a worthy foe of Gus. He really put Fring through his paces.

I find that the circumstances leading to his death make up for the fact that we knew it was going to happen. I like how desperate Lalo is, and that it's framed as being a matter of luck that he was able to almost seal the deal with Gus at all. First, his quick thinking when he realized his "I'm not alive" cover was blown to make Gus and his agents scramble, and the fact that he goes where he's unexpected. These 2 factors make it reasonable that he was able to get into the laundry, seeing as Gus, Mike, Gus's agents, Jimmy, and Kim were all busy figuring out the extent of the bluffs and that they had been played. All of which costed valuable time. Lalo played it in such a way to increase his odds of success, but was ultimately barely outplayed by Gus's incredibly meticulous back-up plans that he has in the unlikely event that such a circumstance should occur. Honestly the inevitable nature of Lalo's death did not detract from how frantic and intense his final scenario proved to be. He improved his odds, but was still ballsy enough to charge headlong into what could have possibly been another trap, which was a calculation he felt was worth the risk. It was a well-played plan, with merely the slightest of factors being what ruined it.

An underwhelming end, but I would be lying if I wasn’t standing inches from the tv screen in absolute awe during the confrontation he had with Gus. The presentation, writing, and acting still did not disappoint.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought this. I was expecting Lalo's demise to be a bit more dramatic, something on the same level of Gus's death in Breaking Bad. The setup was cool by Gus, but for Lalo to come as far as he did, only for him to die in a blind shootout with Gus was underwhelming.

I do think Lalo's death was intentionally pathetic. It's almost shocking in how mundane it is. Like, this tour de force of a character went out like THAT? And I gotta say, for me it worked. But, I wasn't watching the show as it aired, I'm a binge watcher, so that definitely affects my interpretation of the show

The idea of having a montage of Gus's contingency plans would have been a strong improvement. The sequence of events on screen made it look like Gus knew Lalo would come down to the superlab, which is unrealistic

Lalo existed to solve a problem that was inevitable by BCS being a prequel - how to give the characters with plot armor a struggle and bridge the two halves of the show (lawyer and cartel). Nacho, Kim and Howard evolved throughout the series. Lalo had very little character beyond his utility. He was a bigger menace for Saul and Kim beyond the grave than ever for Gus (to say nothing of Howard).

I thought what was gonna happen after Plan and Execution were Jimmy and Kim would be kidnapped by Lalo and would be a plotline for a few episodes. I figured that to help push the PTSD angle. While I really liked Point and Shoot, I was disappointed that they ended that plotline after building up Lalo all season. I would have had a few episodes of that and then use the last 2 episodes to close out the series.. I still enjoyed what they did and loved how it ended but do wish there would have been more for Lalo to do.

I actually didn't watch Season 6 until it was done, so I didn't have the problem of theorizing for weeks about how Gus might take out Lalo. My problem was just that it ended up feeling a bit like dumb luck. Lalo had the upper hand, and honestly, it felt contrived that he wouldn't have been able to get a shot on Gus. They did so well at showing us bits and pieces of Jimmy and Kim's plan to discredit Howard that kept us guessing until it all came together. Similar setup should have been given to Gus's confrontation with Lalo.

I think part of the disappointment some people have can be attributed to the season not being intended to be split into 2 parts. A lot of viewers probably didn't expect him to die so soon after the break but the actual placement of his death in the story makes total sense to me

If Lalo listened and had faith in Hectors first plan he probably would had lived and beaten Gus..and then when he did go with his own plan at the very end Lalo's demise came true because he decided to play with his food instead of just shooting Gus dead...the same way Gus did with Hector...

His death was so underwhelming for such a amazing character. Lalo felt like such a great contrast to the more realistic and serious part of the show, and brought a threatening but charismatic part. The way how he was basically the main threat throughout season 6 made him different compared to the other villains in the BB/BCS universe. Also Tony Dalton is such a fantastic actor. It made me happy to have a Mexican actor who actually spoke Spanish well, and also was a great character. As a Hispanic nothing made me more happier than this. One main factor I liked about Lalo is who simple but effective he is. He isn’t overly complex, but he’s was still so captivating. His death felt like the writers needed the find a way to kill him off. I liked everything up to his death. (Except Gus’s Spangrish Speech) 😂 His felt underwhelming to my favorite character in Better Call Saul. Truly one of least favorite moments in Season 6.

I think the worse part about Lalo’s death was Gus’s “Spanish” speech! Jesus that was terrible! 😂

To me, the most underwhelming part is that Lalo literally has Gus at gunpoint and yet fails to hit him. Gus didn't even disconnect the cable very swiftly. It's completely unbelievabe that Lalo would react so slowly and - to make things worse - miss at that range. I mean, ESPECIALLY not Lalo, since he is repeatedly shown as extremely quick thinking. Does Gus get +100% chance to avoid projectiles when it's dark? Because real life doesn't really work that way. He had a gun pointed at him when he did his little manouver. It takes infinitely more time to do that cable thing AND move out of the way than to just twitch the finger and kill him. Darkness means squat because the gun is already pointed at where Gus is... Next, Lalo fires multiple rounds, misses all, but Gus conveniently pulls a 100% accurate shot in the dark - and in this case, the darkness doesn't matter anymore. Plot armor/bad writing. I wasn't really that bothered with predictability; we already know Gus survives, so the only question is whether Lalo dies, or goes into hiding. If the writers felt the need to kill Lalo (which is understandable, it's unlikely he'd sit through the entire BrBa without doing anything), it could perhaps end with less of a "cowboy shootout" and blind luck, and more with Gus regaining control without dirtying his own hands. Also, if they wanted to get someone's hands dirty, I'd honestly prefer Mike vs Lalo, since both were badass, cold blooded killers and constantly tried to outwit one another over the course of the show.

The only thing I felt underwhelming about the whole thing is the lack of Tuco. I would’ve loved at least one scene with Lalo and Tuco, or at least Tuco leaving prison to take control of hectors business.

Since Gus lives on in Breaking Bad, it likely was always going to feel not as exciting as it otherwise could have been if Breaking Bad didn’t exist. However, I think it was fairly appropriate he died the way he did. Letting himself get so caught up in the moment of having Gus where he wants him and having that turn on him not long after. Great video man, keep up the great work!

I agree that Lalo's death was a bit underwhelming. I think there are a couple of ways they could've made it better: 1. Have someone else pull the trigger. A character for whom it'd be a big character moment like Jilmmy or Kim. But Gus still needs to be the one to put the plan in place and put Lalo in that position and stand over him at the end. 2. Have Lalo discover the gun before Gus can use it but Gus figures out a clever way to get it back and shoot him. 3. Show a montage of Gus planting stuff like guns all over the place. They could've replaced another scene that was meant to show Gus' paranoia with this. Gus placing guns everywhere would've shown his paranoia just as easily as him cleaning the tub with a toothbrush, after all. In order for this to work they would've have had to have done it early in the season before we have confirmation that Lalo is back. One of these could've been the guns in the superlab. Then during the episode of Lalo's death they needed to hint that the Lalo and Gus confrontation would happen somewhere else only for Gus to go to the superlab for some other reason and for Lalo to be there. 4. Never show the gun itself, just imply it. This is more-or-less what happened with Walt and Hector in "Breaking Bad." We never actually see Walt and Hector work together to attach the bomb or anything. There could've been a scene where Gus insists that he has to go to the superlab and argues with Mike about it with Mike not recommending it because it's not safe but Gus insisting. Then not showing what he does there. Only to reveal the Lalo plan when Lalo's actually there. As a bonus this would've kept us in suspense about what the plan was during that entire Lalo-Gus confrontation scene.

Perhaps the writers intended to juxtapose the unpredictability of Lalo with the predictability of his death.

hot take: this was the perfect way to kill him off… it was abrupt and it wasn’t a flashy death. i think that’s perfect. he didn’t need a crazy death like gus. the fact that he died in a gunfight was perfect to me as well

I think Lalo’s killing had a feel of getting it done and not letting it play out too much to infringe other elements of the story. The ultimate killing of Lalo would have been him realising that the Mike who worked for Gus was the same Mike who had the altercation with Tuco and that the subsequent events had something to do with him, including working for Gus. So Lalo would have gone for Mike’s family and some way, it would have been Mike who would have killed him. But I can also see how that might have been cramming too much into the script.

Yes I completely agree, I also feel that they could have done much more to bridge the transition between the two series, thank you Kiwi 🥝

It wasn’t HOW he died that left me underwhelmed. It was WHEN he died. I wish Gus kept Lalo alive for just a little while, tormenting him like a child with a trapped animal…

I think a good way to handle it would have been something like this. In one episode there is a scene where we are shown Gus has a pistol strapped to his ankle concealed by his pants. So I would have shown that, then later that episode show Gus being taken to the lab by Mike but not show Gus hide the gun. Instead toward the end of the episode show Gus getting ready for bed and linger on the fact that his ankle gun is gone. Then viewers would at least have to speculate where his gun went until the Showdown with Lalo when it would be revealed Gus hid the gun in the lab.

Now that I think about it, it's a bit odd that Gus was so impatient waiting for Lalo to strike. Wasn't that like... his whole thing? How patient he is? Like when he waited for hours to catch the coati as a child, or the way he slowly gets his revenge on Hector? Something about Lalo really made him nervous lol

It's funny you just uploaded. I was thinking today about how the "Saul" persona may have been a way to escape his past, but the "Gene" persona was his way of punishing himself for everything he's done. Like he knew he was going to get caught and leaned into it. Which is further proven by the finale.

I liked the way he went out. The fact that Lalo planned everything everything was so meticulously and that it all went downhill in the lab is just poetic

I felt Lalo’s death was extremely satisfying in the sense that it it was such a contrast to how over the top his character could be and what a survivor he was. Dying in a lackluster fashion seemed apropos to me, as it humanized him and showed he wasn’t this perfect villain, and is vulnerable. Also, the laugh and slow dissipation with the blood was really creepy, and I liked that shot a lot.

Lalo was an unbeatedable soldier but lost a gun fight against a chicken man

What adds depth to Lalo’s death IMO is that his situation is almost a foil to gus’ fate in breaking bad. Both lalo and gus were lured in and their downfall was being too focused on their respective enemies.

All I know is that Lalo's death reflects Jane's death. Both characters were going to rat on both Walt and Gus. Therefore, getting attacked in the throat gives it more meaning. I tried looking at it that way because I was disappointed that Lalo's death could have been mysterious or Gus could've at least tripped trying to get his weapon, making things more interesting.

the creator of this video is missing the point completely and once again is leaving his emotional expectations effect his judgement here. the point of this was to simply show that gustavo is always a step ahead of his opponents, hence the drawn out reveal of him planting it. the creators were demonstrating that lalo is one of his earliest opponents that would unfortunatey learn for themself that they arent incharge of the situation

The problem is that this is a prequel and we know Gus isn't going to die but the two of them HAVE to have a final confrontation. I honestly don't know what else you could write that wouldn't make the show stray into sci-fi levels of story telling.

Short answer:- Plot Armour Gus

I DISAGREE I LOVED EVERY MOMENT!

I think the issue was more to do with how blatant the foreshadowing was. One of the things they could have done is as soon as Gus realizes Lalo was still alive, Mike gives him a gun with the camera focusing in on it to ensure the audience knows the type. Later on, Gus goes down to plant the gun like we know he does, but the camera doesn't show us what he does. We just see him go down into the basement. After that, there could be a scene of Mike berating Gus for not packing the gun he gave him, since he's established to have a keen eye for such a thing, and asking why Gus isn't carrying, only for Gus to reply "I don't think it was necessary." Then during the confrontation, the camera shows a close-up of the gun to show it's the same one. At least then we'd have more of a bread crumb trail to follow rather than just being blatantly told.

It's not worse than how Finger died tho

I liked it, lalo proved he was right but also proved Gus couldn’t beat him without luck

It was 'underwhelming' because we knew it was going to happen from the moment Lalo first appeared. That's the thing about prequals. Given the circumstances, they did a pretty good job of creating tension in the lead up to the inevitable.

my friend always says - "why did lalo need to drop the camera to shoot?" Edit: i wish mike saved him somehow

The dumbest part was when Lalo one shots every minion from far away in the dark, and then not insta killing Gus when he kicked the power

Really makes you wonder what BCS could have been if it wasn't a prequel...

I disagree about it being mediocre. Having an idea be expected doesn't make it bad. Everyone knew Lalo was going to die, there was no surprise there, so the writers did what they could to make it as badass for Gus as possible. I had no qualms with the way they handled Lalo's fate.

I'll say it again, the only problem for me was the shootout itself. It felt like Lalo was an NPC scripted without pathing, just to stand there and shoot, reacting to nothing. They should've had him at least cover his eyes or something to make the outcome more believable. Plain bad 'coding'.

I felt that the actual shootout between Lalo and Gus was fairly lame as well. Gus just kinda scurries over to the gun with what feels like no sense of urgency, and while I get that Lalo was shooting in the dark, he seriously couldn't hit Gus once during that whole thing? Not even a stray bullet in the leg or another round to the bulletproof vest Gus wore. It seems lame because we have become so accustomed to seeing Lalo do numerous feats of skill and finesse (sometimes requiring us to suspend our disbelief, which is a whole other can of worms). For him to be reduced to Stormtrooper aim is an insult to the persona of the cold-blooded villain that's been built up during his screen time. Another minor gripe is after Gus runs out of ammo and keeps firing the gun, maybe an extra pull or two on the trigger would be fine, but he rattles off the trigger like another ten times. I get that they were trying to show off the more "amateur" side of Gus, the side of him that, for the first time, we've ever seen him scared for his life, but I felt that it was so poorly executed that it just comes off as silly to me.

I can see your point. It would make sense for Lalo to go out in a blaze of glory, but I think a quieter, somewhat dumb luck death is equally as fitting as it isn't how he would've pictured his own death. I didn't mind the clues being planted as the truth is nothing could've prevented Lalo's death from being predictable. Plus, I usually watch 607 and 608 together (as they pretty much are one long episode) and I find from how big and shocking Howard's death was Lalo's death to be a juxaposition to that is fitting. While maybe a quieter death than expected, it was still a fitting one, and I'm not sure how they could've done things differently without it being over-the-top after Howard's death.

Best antagonist? Geez, it was so UNBELIEVABLE all the super hero stuff that he did. Breaking Bad was mostly based in realism. HOW did he get into the ceiling and then fall down on the other side at the Travel Agency? It makes no physical sense. How was he able to find Werner and later Werner's wife so easily? He had to hid in a hay truck to get into the US, but could travel to Germany with no issue? Just so unbelievable I could predict all the BS he could do.

If we saw Gus putting guns in other places including thr lab it would've kept us guessing at least a little

I think the only reason it felt underwhelming is because it was right back to back w Howards death

Lalo is a metaphore for the series

I think the problem is that we expect it to be this big show down and we expected Lalo somehow survive beyond breaking bad because he was the villain of a final season in with a regular TV show expect her to be a big showdown in the series finale. However, the way the story worked out that couldn’t be the case.

There could have been a twist with Gus hitting one of his guys in the crossfire and the consequences of it.

The death is kinda satisfying because its more than just the final stand off, its the whole build up. Him going to Saul's apartment, killing Howard and misdirecting Mike to catch Gus off guard. The gun was the absolute final resort if Lalo every caught him lacking. Thats why Lalo laughed, because he knows Gus got lucky despite all his protection and planning.

I still wish we could've got a Lalo/Nacho face off. The fact that it just happened to work out that Lalo faked his death just to then really die felt so cheap.

Worst part is that his death was spoiled by episode airing a month early for a group of people

I was hoping that Lalo would be trying to hunt down each of Werner’s guy one by one and die from a freak accident trying to kill each of them so Gus would never know for sure if Lalo is alive or dead and always have to live in fear.

I wish mike and Lalo fought

I totally agree with you about the need to show a few other contingency plans. It could have been done maybe through a montage a bit like the one at the beginning of BCS (season 1) showing Saul going to Court being a public defender ("It's showtime, folks!"). Such a montage could also have demonstrated how preoccupied Gus is with Lalo, how Gus is trying to foresee each and every possibilities, how for the first time, Gus is genuinely scared of someone. But they just showed the one in the meth lab instead... for me, it made the scene not as good as it could have been.

I didn't think that the revolver in the superlab would be used to kill Lalo. Firstly because it just seemed like a random act of paranoia by Gus, like his scrubbing the bathroom wall with the toothbrush. Secondly because I didn't think that Lalo would get that far, into the superlab, just because of how much security Gus had guarding not only himself, but the laundry too.

Lalo was a victim of being a prequel character

I wasn’t bothered by how Lalo was killed off. I think overall, Lalo’s character represented how Gus was still unprepared in dealing with an enemy on par with him. Him figuring Lalo could be lured to the Superlab was correct, but had a lot of uncertainty in its execution (no pun intended!) However, the fact he got a lucky fatal shot on Lalo emboldened Gus, and led to him becoming the man we saw in Breaking Bad. It was the growth the character needed, and shows how clever Walt was in leading to Gus’ death. Not every death in the BB universe needed to be over the top or heartbreaking, and Lalo’s death was just fine for the BCS.

For me it felt like the opposite of Gus' death in every way from a storytelling perspective and considering Gus' death is perfect that's not exactly a good thing

I thought so too on first viewing. But here’s why it isn’t a let down. Lalo was the most formidable fo Gus had to deal with at this time. Gus was able to perfectly execute Lalo as he planned. This filled Gus with over confidence which is what ultimately led up to his demise by Walter White. That over confidence let his guard down. When you look at the two shows as one piece of work, it’s fitting.

I think the whole point of the scene was that Gus was still out smarting Lalo, he had figured out where he would attack and just like with Hector, his hatred for the Salamanca's made him want to be the one to kill him. Hence Mike having a go at him for not telling him about it and he just remained silent. I see Lalo laughing as him realising that this quiet "Chicken Man" full of "big talk" actually was not just all mouth and hid behind a facade. He was as deadly as any of them.

When I first heard the leak of 608 I thought it was going to be a basic episode because of what was said. Then I saw the episode on premiere and yeah it was the same, but somehow seeing it on screen with the visual representation made it so much better to me. I wound up loving the episode. It was predictable Lalo would die by Gus, but the visual representation was great and him being buried with Howard was eerie was hell. I was one of those people between 5 and 6 who thought Lalo would live, but of course I guess it wouldn’t make a lot of sense. I would have liked to see if Lalo did survive and have a part in the Gene story, or if he had a much more explosive death…. But what we got I was fine with since it felt so poetic and visually haunting, which is what made it stand out. Lalo also laughing while dying was the moment that changed it for me.

I think the fact that Lalo's death was essentially pure luck as the result of a last resort measure by Gus (planting the gun) made it great. If that situation happens 100 times, Lalo wins 90 of them. It was literally blind luck and a last resort shot in the dark that gave Gus the win. If we hadn't watched BB and didn't know Gus had plot armor, then Point and Shoot would have been more shocking because most people would have expected Lalo to win any eventual standoff against Gus. He was younger, tougher, more care-free and really, really hated Gus. That's why Gus was so obsessed in season 6. He knew he was outmatched and couldn't relax even for a minute.

I used to think Lalo would show up in the Gene timeline 😅

The fact that they showed the gun again just did it in for me. Any chance you forgot he planted a gun there was ruined. That was a terrible decision.

When I heared Saul say "It wasn't me it was Ignasio" when he believed that he was under heavy threat of death by 2 people who he thought were Lalo assassins, I thought that Better Call Saul was gonna be about Saul and Nacho were conspirering to screw Lalo over with Nacho and Lalo going into hiding shortly after to avoid breaking Breaking Bad's continuity, only for them to show back up once we've entered the Gene timeline. After Nacho died in season 6 however, I thought that Lalo was gonna stay in hiding ontill Jessie reached Alaska at which point Lalo would come out hiding to hunt down Gene.

“Widely regarded as anti-climactic” - What? This video is the first I’ve heard that. The way he died allowed him to retain that invincible aura he had, whilst somehow simultaneously destroying it, and reminding us that he was just a man after all. He wasn’t outplayed in any ultimate or meaningful way. He still had Gus beat, he just got unlucky.

Lalo's underwhelming/understated death is quite appropriate, actually. He's already dead, as far as everyone but Hector knows, and then he just . . . disappears, like Howard does. And the two of them lie beneath the lab for its entire existence. It's a great counterpoint to his usual flamboyance.

While Lalo's death does feel underwhelming to a degree, I think it works because it showcases what kind of character Lalo was. From Breaking Bad, we know that Walt was smart and calculating, so giving him a villain (Gus) that is even more calculating and outsmarted Walt almost every time made Gus feel like a force to be reckoned with (even taking out the cartel in one fell swoop even). While Gus eventually lost to Walt in the end, it showed Gus nature as a grand chess master of sorts, and goes to show how much Walt had to push himself to come out on top against a calm and calculating genius. Lalo on the other hand, made Gus go paranoid with just the sheer idea Lalo was still alive. (Getting Gus paranoid as he was with Lalo was something that even Walt was never able to do) And while Gus did have some precautions in place (the gun in the lab, the passageway to the other house, etc.) the fact that Gus only beat Lalo through sheer luck shows how much of a loose canon and chaotic force of nature Lalo's character was, and was even too powerful for the great Gustavo Fring, the guy Walter White had to take an entire season figuring out to defeat. So while Lalo's death does feel underwhelming on face value, I think of it as a testament to his character that he was such an unpredictable force to be reckoned with, that he had to have been killed only by dumb luck by a master calculator such as Gus. So from how I see it, the way he died just shows how fearsome, chaotic and powerful Lalo Salamanca was.

I think it's fitting, lalo doesn't deserve a big ending because of how vile a person he is, he deserves to lose to luck.

I didn't like how Lalo Salamanca was offe'd either. He survived a surprise visit from a Death Squad but is lured and killed with nearly blind shots/luck by Gustavo Fring! Don't get me wrong Fring was a highly intelligent, cold and calculated adversary but Lalo was all that and what seemed to me more so he deserved a better death.

I personally *loved* this episode, butI think that this is a great analysis! Awesome video!

I agree. That’s one of my only complaints about the show. Even though I like the way they had the shootout in the lab, I feel like it should’ve been a bit longer. It took like 2 seconds and it was over.

TheVividKiwi, here is how I imagined things would end for Lalo. First off let me just say that I didn't expect Nacho to go out the way he did. With that being said, I actually thought I would see a shootout between Lalo & Nacho in some small village/derelict town by the US/Mexican border where there's hardly anyone living in that area. There would be some fist fights and bone breaks between the two men where they just end up killing each other with guns and knives. Then Gus shows up in the ghost town with Mike & his crew, after somehow getting wind of Lalo in a certain area from Mike's men. That's when Gus sees both Nacho & Lalo bloodied to a pulp and dead. Then Mike voluntarily grabs a shovel from the trunk of his vehicle (or from some derelict shack in the town) and buries Nacho. Meanwhile as we see a red sunset with some thin slivers of black clouds hovering above it that somewhat resemble tiger stripes, Gus takes this matter further. With a hideously evil scowl that is so piercing to the naked eye which would be talked about for years after the series concluded, Gus coldly drags Lalo's corpse out onto the middle of the street and then lights it on fire after pouring gasoline all over the body from canisters his men found in Lalo's trunk. The reason why Lalo bought and filled gas canisters was because he was hoping to use them against Nacho and burn him down after killing him - or burning him alive. So after some time has elapsed, we see a silhouette of Gus standing against an orange skyline with a red afterglow of a post sunset as he watches Lalo burn - but it lasts into a short part of the night because Gus keeps pouring gasoline from those canisters on to Lalo to keep the flame going until there's no more fuel. Then we see a sharp cut to black with the sound of the fire crackling, followed by the closing credits. That was all I had in my mind. I would have been satisfied at this kind of ending or something like it.

I didn't think it was mediocre you don't have to kill every villain off in a big Gus like way. That's derivative. Lalo lost because he got outplayed in the chess game. Gus knew how he thinks better than he gave him credit for. And he died because of his own hubris. I thought it was quite fitting and didn't think it was underwhelming. It felt very calculated and well thought out.

I think Lalo's arc had 1 episode less and Gene's, 1 episode more. The solution was simple

Hot take: Lalo appearing out of nowhere and killing howard was not only silly writing but the scene had bad acting from Bob Odenkirk as well.

Lalo still ended it in a drawl by giving Hector the Bell lol, Walter could’ve have taken out Gus without Hectors bell

I think gus giving a speech like nacho shows he expected to die so he was probably surprised he made it out alive himself lol. But yeah it was crazy underwhelming.

After all of Gustavo's paranoid prepping, even showing him plant the gun in the lab, I would have had the Peruvians ACTUALLY locate and kill Lalo in a cartel vs cartel hit. A completely unexpected and ironic death that had nothing whatsoever to do with Gus. Something neither the viewer or the in-show characters would have seen coming.

I just hated how my impatient brain decided to read the spoiler a couple of weeks, maybe days before the episode came out 😭

Imagine having the problem of making a character so great that he has to die or else he breaks the universe’s continuity

I actually liked Lalo’s end. Because Lalo is such a smart, dangerous, formidable opponent, it could only be a stroke of sheer dumb luck that Gus beats him. Literally a shot in the dark. Lalo smiling up at Gus as he dies felt to me like he was laughing at just how lucky Gus gets. And of course, Gus will not be so lucky when he faces off against his next great threat.

Here is the thing for me: Gus had to survive for BrBa, Lalo had to die The final confrontation between him and Lalo needed to be charged with tension Lalo needs to discover the lab And the way it went down needed to be in some context to both characters at that point in time So... Gus feared Lalo much more than any other opponent, which partly explains the gun (only time in both shows he ever uses one). Also it had to be a very high risk strategy because his anxiety/ocd/fear was getting the better of him, he's not someone like Walt who maybe can figure stuff on the fly in high stress situations, and he knew this could have ended badly (it *could* have) but he held his nerve in the crucial moment. Lalo was a victim to Salamanca arrogance, which explains why he was careless - he couldn't foresee Gus leading him to some kind of trap There was no need to over-emphasize the gun and the lighting cable on the final scene, and the mid season pause disrupted the tension a bit, but overall I have no complaints, can't see any other way this outcome could have been reached in keeping with the determining factors above. 7.5-8/10 imo

The whole second half of the final season felt underwhelming to me personally, from the lack of tying some loose ends, like showing more of Mike's storyline and how his daughter-in-law ends up doing or showing us the final steps Jimmy takes to finally become BB's Saul, to the overwhelming amount of Gene's random-cabbie-who-made-his-identity-now-becomes-Gene's-partner-in-pointless-burglaries storyline arc which also walked towards showing us the very underwhelming post BB fates for Kim and Saul and their relationship as a whole. I guess the final season first half build up gathered too much hype that no actually feasible finale could live up to such high expectations to a show that after all was a prequel to an already known story

I think they only reason why I liked the death is because Lalo died because he was over confident thinking he one and when gus dies it’s the exact same way it’s a really interesting mirroring

honestly, all Lalo had to do to win was immediately cap Gus in the head after he was done roasting Don Eladio. Then he just goes back to Eladio and shows him the video proof that him killing Gus was justified.

First I’m hearing that people felt disappointed by Lalos death

I think they needed a few more episodes maybe two or three to properly conclude the lalo plot and gene plot. The end of the gene story line felt rushed and like fan fiction and it's pretty obvious that they had to change the original idea for the Jeff the cab driver storyline after don Harvey was recast which is a shame cos it felt like it was all headed to a very intense conclusion. The lalo death felt underwhelming cos both him and gus have been set up to be and shown to be these masterminds that think multiple steps ahead but now all of a sudden he magically became so arrogant and slips up right at the end despite lalo going through all this trouble to make sure gus didn't find out he was alive, plus we saw lalo survive that whole ambush at his house, survive being attacked with an axe in Germany and survive a jump out of a window from werners wife's house so it felt anticlimactic to see him die to some random shot in the dark from gus that felt like a fluke. It felt like vince gilligan was in a rush to finish the show cos he wanted to move on to other things. I liked most of season 6, nachos death was badass and Howard's death was genuinely shocking but after after episode 8 I lost a lot of interest.

All that build up gone to waste. You don't just put him in the front cover for nothing, he's practically the series' main antagonist at that point. It was insane. Also, the cable thing was so bad. A man with almost impossibly quick reflexes and thinking gets caught off guard by a slow kick, and he stood STILL!

I think Gus should have put blanks in the gun and let Lalo find it. Lalo can be like "Killing you with your own gun is so funny." Shoots Gus pretending to be shot then gets the upper hand.

Gus always has so many goons and an expert like Mike. And to think he wouldn't just be packing...why all the elaborate Chekhov's Gun? The real issue was boiling all the interesting reality of the cartel down to just Salamanca and Lalo.