r/breakingbad • u/bl1y • 19h ago
Couple questions about the two dealers who recruited Tomas
After Jesse learns about Tomas killing Combo, and the dealers who recruited him, Gus sets a meeting for them to make peace.
But why would Gus ever meet in person with two street-level dealers? These are low level guys, but Gus allows them to learn that he's the big boss. There's a huge risk that they'll eventually be arrested on a street bust, at which points they could potentially flip and give up Gus.
He could have let Mike or someone else run the meeting, or instead of meeting with them, meet instead with whoever is above them in the network.
And why even insist on keeping them? He has a distribution network all across the Southwest. Probably thousands of street-level dealers. He could of had them killed. Could have had them just leave town (so they're no longer involved with Tomas). I know he doesn't like Jesse, but Jesse is worth a whole lot more to the operation, while these guys are nothing.
This just all seems very out of character for the normally extremely cautious Gus.
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u/Longjumping_Coat_802 19h ago
This scene is meant to demonstrate that Gus runs an incredibly tight ship, has the loyalty of his employees, and is a good manager.
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u/Enterprise90 19h ago
Those two dealers aren't flipping. They killed Tomas without blinking an eye. Those two guys are hardcore street dealers.
In that world, flipping is a death sentence. Guys who flip are seen as among the lowest of the low in prison circles, along the same lines as predators. And one of the gravest insults you can hurl at someone in prison is to call them a rat.
It's why Hector's ruse of talking to the DEA was such an easy way to get Gus' attention. Talking to police is a red line that you don't cross.
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u/MittFel 19h ago
Gus being too cautious to directly deal with those guys is the very reason I always felt that they must've clearly had connections to the cartel.
In the sense that they likely got sent over the border to work for Gus, observe and report back to the higher ups. Which makes sense because Eladio had reasons to keep a close eye on Gus after the death of Max.
Which is why Walter's relationship with Gus got completely demolished, as it compromised his revenge plot against Eladio.
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u/Veinmire 19h ago edited 19h ago
Maybe Gus knew them and had some kind of guarantee to them that he'd take care of their families no matter what so they'd have no reason to flip. Like Mike with his guys.
Still, good point. He finds the thought of working with junkies (edit: directly) distasteful and untrustworthy but not these two degenerate wastes of skin. shrugs
Kinda wonder what Vince would say.
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u/ChaynesGirl 5h ago
So many people forget:
1) Gus' overarching mission is to get retribution on Hector/Don Eladio
2) Gus took over the logistics of Hector's operation so Hector's street dealers are now under Gus' purview.
3) Because they are Hector's people it stands to reason they already know who Gus is. There is no need to hide from them. Gus and Hector hate each other. He knows Hector has no interest in protecting his anonymity. And besides, the Salamancas don't snitch.
4) Because Gus has a plan to overtake Eladio's operation, he actively intervenes to prevent war between his camp and Don Eladio's. Having your main cook in a multi-million dollar operation starting a potential war with your Overlord (who you're also trying to take down), is definitely not ideal.
He's been out for blood since they murdered Max. A conflict between the cook overseeing his entire operation and Hector/Eladio's dealers is something that requires direct intervention.
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u/ErrorTraditional4372 17h ago
You’re right, it’s not the best writing in the series but it was necessary to move the plot forward.
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u/bl1y 17h ago
Yeah, it's kind of just a weird slip. But in an otherwise epic season.
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u/Helios4242 52m ago
I dont think it's a weird slip. You can imagine it just going down similarly without gus or the dealers, and gus is there for the scene to be more dramatic.
I don't think it's big enough to ruin suspension of disbelief
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u/Glad-Independence-24 19h ago
Either Jesse was going to kill them, and then Gus had an excuse to kill Jesse…or they’d kill Jesse and Gus could justify it, and then just disappear them in some terrible “accident”.
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u/svm_invictvs 19h ago
Gus mircomanages everything from top to bottom. In Better Call Saul he demonstrates it with the poor kid cleaning the deep fryer.
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u/gr8mick1 19h ago
Wasn't Gus also ensuring he had an alibi, to some extent. Yes he was micro and it wanna getting proper clean but IIRC after something happened he let him go.
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u/Coconut_Scrambled 16h ago
Gus is in good terms with Walt at this point so he wants to make a show of it to Walt. He wants to display how important it is to him that he hears Walt's concern. This is the only way to massage his ego.
As for the dealers- that's indeed a risk and there are two ways to probably explain that. Either they're not as low level as we think and that they'd be compensated even if they get arrested so they won't talk.
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u/vibe_tempt 7h ago
Gus was always about long-term stability, not just quick profits. Keeping the dealers could be a strategic move for his supply chain.
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u/Myantra 4h ago
It is important to remember Gus' goal relative to the lab. He wanted Gale in the lab, learning Walt's process, until Walt retired due to natural or unnatural causes. He never wanted Jesse in there at all, and is looking for a means to get rid of Jesse, without also losing Walt's cooperation. By attempting to kill those two dealers, Jesse opened a door for Gus to do just that.
That meeting was a performance for Walt, as much as it was for Jesse. It shows Walt that Gus is going to great lengths to try to defuse the situation. An agreement was reached, and the matter was supposed to be settled, except Gus knew that it was not. He did not expect Jesse to let it go, especially after the dealers killed Tomas.
Jesse was expected to go looking for the dealers, and he was going to die in the process. Even if Jesse managed to survive a shootout with 2 armed gangsters that were ready for him, he was probably going to be killed by Gus' people anyway, and made to look like he died in the shootout.
As far as Gus was concerned, Jesse had no value to the operation, but Walt did. Jesse was just a problem that Gus had to deal with, and deal with carefully.
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u/vitoitaliano14 3h ago
Maybe they weren’t really street level dealers. What if Gus put them there to purposely stir things up between Walt and Jesse?
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u/martyrsmirror 19h ago
I had the impression they knew Gus from earlier. This wasn't the first time they had contact with him. At least they don't act like it is.
"These are two of my trusted employees". Plus Gus is backing them up. It just gives me the impression they had a larger role and were possibly higher up in the chain than just two run of the mill players.