Better Call Saul S6 Proves A Major Breaking Bad Event Almost Didn’t Happen

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Gus Fring's cartel massacre represents a landmark Breaking Bad moment - Better Call Saul shows how differently events could've played out. In Breaking Bad season 4's «Salud,» Gustavo Fring orchestrates a mobster masterstroke by poisoning Don Eladio in his own home alongside all his high-ranking capos. This power play completes Fring's long-gestating plan to assert total control over regional meth operations, whilst simultaneously avenging his lover, who was killed by Eladio's cartel two decades prior.

Better Call Saul season 6 — the prequel's final season, set four years before Breaking Bad  — finds Giancarlo Esposito's character still bending the knee to Don Eladio, feigning loyalty and biding his time with utmost patience. Any moves Gus Fring makes against the cartel in this era (killing Lalo Salamanca, for instance) must be executed in absolute secrecy to avoid Eladio's suspicion, building towards that fateful day in Breaking Bad season 4 when checkmate can finally be declared.

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Fring and Eladio's working relationship becomes more fragile as the years pass and Gus grows bolder, but the Don treats this subversion like Gus is a child testing his parents' boundaries, acknowledging in Breaking Bad, "I had to spank you… Once every 20 years, you forget your place." Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9 («Fun & Games») goes much further, revealing Eladio actually knew Gus harbored a burning, intense hatred towards him. After their meeting with the Salamancas, Eladio utters, "When I looked into your eyes… hate." If the Don knew how Gus felt, he could (and probably should) have done something about it, either by exercising more caution around his bespectacled