S05.E01: Magic Man

[ShadowFacts]

2 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I would love to find out who Gus was in Chile and what the Santiago incident that Lalo referred to was 

In Breaking Bad did Hank once say something about Gustavo being untraceable or similar? Memory fails. But if so, and the DOJ can't turn up anything, what does that suggest? I could well be thinking of someone else entirely.

 

[Bryce Lynch]

15 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

In Breaking Bad did Hank once say something about Gustavo being untraceable or similar? Memory fails. But if so, and the DOJ can't turn up anything, what does that suggest? I could well be thinking of someone else entirely.

 

Yes, Hank said that he could find no record of a Gustavo Fring in Chile. They found records of him emigrating to Mexico in 1986 and then to the US in 1989.  Gus blamed bad record keeping in Chile under the Pinochet regime. 

The timing is interesting, because Pinochet was in power until 1990.   So, apparently the "Grand Generalissimo" had to leave Chile during the Pinochet regime, and assume a new identity in Mexico.  

Could he have crossed Pinochet and been forced to flee?  Or did he commit some atrocity while serving Pinochet and they faked his execution and smuggled him to Mexico?

Eladio said he was still alive only because Eladio knew who he really was.  That suggests that Fring still had some influence at the time or perhaps that Eladio respected what he did in the Santiago incident  and let him live for that reason.  

Given Lalo's question to Bolsa about whether the Santiago incident was also business, it could be that Eladio approved of what Fring did in Santiago, but the Salamancas did not.   Since the Salamancas are total animals and Eladio seemed to be a bit more reasonable, it could be that what Fring did was a good thing.  

His actual word to Hank were:

"Pinochet's government was guilty of many sins. First and foremost were human rights abuses. But it was also notoriously unreliable at keeping records. l'm sure if you keep digging"

The fact that he criticized the Pinochet regime, could just be him hiding in plain sight and playing the good citizen.  But, it could also suggest that he become disillusioned with it and betrayed it.

The line about finding him if you "keep digging" was probably just a throwaway line. But, the writers could backfill on that and maybe have an empty grave in Chile, where Fring was supposedly buried, under his real name, after he faked his death.  

There are a lot of great  ways the writers could fill in the blanks in Fring's past.  I really hope they do.  

 

[ShadowFacts]

13 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Yes, Hank said that he could find no record of a Gustavo Fring in Chile. They found records of him emigrating to Mexico in 1986 and then to the US in 1989.  Gus blamed bad record keeping in Chile under the Pinochet regime. 

The timing is interesting, because Pinochet was in power until 1990.   So, apparently the "Grand Generalissimo" had to leave Chile during the Pinochet regime, and assume a new identity in Mexico.  

Could he have crossed Pinochet and been forced to flee?  Or did he commit some atrocity while serving Pinochet and they faked his execution and smuggled him to Mexico?

Eladio said he was still alive only because Eladio knew who he really was.  That suggests that Fring still had some influence at the time or perhaps that Eladio respected what he did in the Santiago incident  and let him live for that reason.  

Given Lalo's question to Bolsa about whether the Santiago incident was also business, it could be that Eladio approved of what Fring did in Santiago, but the Salamancas did not.   Since the Salamancas are total animals and Eladio seemed to be a bit more reasonable, it could be that what Fring did was a good thing.  

His actual word to Hank were:

"Pinochet's government was guilty of many sins. First and foremost were human rights abuses. But it was also notoriously unreliable at keeping records. l'm sure if you keep digging"

The fact that he criticized the Pinochet regime, could just be him hiding in plain sight and playing the good citizen.  But, it could also suggest that he become disillusioned with it and betrayed it.

The line about finding him if you "keep digging" was probably just a throwaway line. But, the writers could backfill on that and maybe have an empty grave in Chile, where Fring was supposedly buried, under his real name, after he faked his death.  

There are a lot of great  ways the writers could fill in the blanks in Fring's past.  I really hope they do.  

 

It could be very interesting and why have Lalo mention the Santiago incident if they weren't going somewhere with it. You bring up lots of possibilities that I am not imaginative enough to ever think of. If he had become disillusioned with Pinochet would he have gone in the direction he has gone? Not sure. We do know that he had a penchant for torturing animals. I would never rule out that he committed human rights abuses/atrocities and found his own vacuum cleaner man. As you say, the Salamancas are total animals, they wouldn't mind dealing with another one, and maybe Eladio neither admired nor respected whatever he did, just had him in a position where he could use him. The way Gus does with Nacho (and everyone).

[Clanstarling]

2 minutes ago, ShadowFacts said:

It could be very interesting and why have Lalo mention the Santiago incident if they weren't going somewhere with it. You bring up lots of possibilities that I am not imaginative enough to ever think of. If he had become disillusioned with Pinochet would he have gone in the direction he has gone? Not sure. We do know that he had a penchant for torturing animals. I would never rule out that he committed human rights abuses/atrocities and found his own vacuum cleaner man. As you say, the Salamancas are total animals, they wouldn't mind dealing with another one, and maybe Eladio neither admired nor respected whatever he did, just had him in a position where he could use him. The way Gus does with Nacho (and everyone).

These are all good theories. My take was always that Fring had some backer who was more powerful than Eladio. I assumed he was the son of someone important and/or dangerous in Chile who could pull strings in Mexico.

[PeterPirate]

I agree they've given us so many specific breadcrumbs about Gus' background, they should fill in the backstory.  In fact, I wonder if they gave us that much because they intended to do so sometime down the line.  Gus, after all, was introduced in BB after Saul Goodman, and a Saul spin-off was already in the offing from the get-go. 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by PeterPirate

[Dobian]

As soon as this episode started I was reminded about why I love this show so much.  The camera work and cinematography,, the wide angle lenses, forced perspective.  It's like watching an old Stanley Kubrick movie.  Albuquerque and even that shopping mall in the present become living, breathing characters in the story.  BCS is so refreshing compared to most of what's out there on television.

[PeterPirate]

Excellent analysis of the artistic cues inside the episode.

 

Frankly, I'm not one to spend much time looking for such things myself, so this is really helpful to me. 

[peeayebee]

That was really interesting. I'm so tempted to watch more of his analyses, but I spend enuf time on my computer as it is.