Lalo Salamanca

Conception and development

Tony Dalton made his debut as Lalo Salamanca in the fourth season of Better Call Saul, specifically the episode "Coushatta," in July 2018. The character had previously been referenced in a Breaking Bad episode titled "Better Call Saul," which also introduced the alias Saul Goodman and named "Ignacio," later revealed as Nacho Varga. According to Vince Gilligan, the writers always planned for Lalo to be a significant figure, requiring careful attention to past character actions.

Both Gilligan and Peter Gould struggled with how to bring him in, viewing him as a kind of bogeyman from Breaking Bad's second season but without a clear personality or motives. Gilligan took the blame for the delay, since Gould wanted Lalo introduced as early as season one. Gould eventually decided Lalo had to stand apart from the rest of the Salamanca family and serve as a worthy rival to Gus Fring. He praised casting directors Sherry Thomas and Sharon Bialy for choosing Dalton, noting his combination of charm, joy, and menace, as well as the charisma of a 1940s movie star. Lalo's name, Gould explained, pays tribute to the Argentine American composer Lalo Schifrin.

Character biography

Eduardo Salamanca, known as Lalo, is a nephew of Hector Salamanca, who works as an enforcer for Don Eladio’s cartel. When Hector has a stroke that leaves him unable to move or speak, Lalo comes up from Mexico to run the Salamanca drug business in Albuquerque, paying closer attention to daily operations than his uncle ever did. This worries Ignacio Varga, called Nacho, who secretly caused Hector’s stroke and works as a spy for Hector’s rival, Gus Fring.

Lalo visits Hector at the nursing home and gives him a call bell from a hotel front desk—a souvenir from a time Hector killed the hotel’s owner and burned the place down after being disrespected. Lalo fastens the bell to Hector’s wheelchair so Hector can tap it with his only working finger, his right index, to communicate. Next, Lalo goes to Los Pollos Hermanos and meets Gus, thanking him for helping Hector and covering his medical bills, but he also starts watching Gus’s employees to map out their routines.

While keeping an eye on Gus’s chicken farm, Lalo spots unusual activity tied to Werner Ziegler’s escape. He tails Mike Ehrmantraut as Mike follows Werner’s trail to a Travelwire store. After Mike and Gus leave, Lalo goes inside and asks the clerk, Fred Whalen, what Mike was looking at. Fred refuses to answer, so Lalo kills him, watches the security footage Mike saw, and sets the store on fire.

Lalo then phones around to hot springs resorts until he finds Werner, pretends to be one of Gus’s workers, and tricks Werner into talking about the meth lab being built beneath Gus’s laundry. Mike reaches Werner and cuts off the call, but knows Lalo now has dangerous information. He tells Gus, who decides Werner must die to keep Lalo from learning more. Mike takes on the job and kills Werner.

Reception

Critics have widely praised both the character Lalo Salamanca and Tony Dalton's portrayal, with some calling Lalo one of television's finest villains. In a review of the episode where Lalo first appears, Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone noted that Dalton makes a strong initial impression and expressed hope the role would be more than just filling a gap viewers had long forgotten. Sepinwall also singled out the final scene of "Bad Choice Road," where Lalo confronts Jimmy and Kim, as one of the series' best, highlighting the performances of Rhea Seehorn and Dalton.

Steve Greene of IndieWire compared Lalo to Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men, observing that Lalo blends the unpredictable impulsiveness of his cousin with the false friendliness of his chicken-franchise rival. Greene credited Dalton for making Lalo's poisonous, affected smile work, especially given the character's blatant disregard for personal harm. Brian Grubb of Uproxx wrote that it is almost unreasonable how good Lalo is, calling it showing off to introduce someone so charming, evil, and perfect after five seasons of this show and the entire run of Breaking Bad.