Better Call Saul Season 6: Why Nacho is A Perfect Breaking Bad Antihero (2023)

FAQs

Is Nacho an antihero? ›

First introduced as a mid-level cartelman on Better Call Saul, Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) became one of the Breaking Bad universe's best problem-solvers.

Mando considered Nacho the only character in Better Call Saul that was "breaking good", as "an ambitious person who believes in a morality outside of justice" and trying to improve his situation, making him "heroic, romantic, and transcendent".

Ignacio "Nacho" Varga is a major protagonist in the crime drama series Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad. He is a calculating, intelligent career criminal and the right hand man to Tuco Salamanca, heir to the crime family of the same name.

Against his will, Nacho later became an informant to Gustavo Fring after being blackmailed by him.

Breaking Bad is about how power can corrupt anyone, even a bumbling small-town chemistry teacher with terminal cancer. That is why Walter White is the ultimate antihero: unlike Tony Soprano (who is in therapy), White is past the point of redemption.

An anti hero is a narrative protagonist who is defined by their own self-interest. The anti hero often feels rejected by society, and veers down a self-destructive path that results in isolation or death.

While Jesse Pinkman is technically a villain and someone who would typically be hated on most shows, in Breaking Bad he is the most likeable character. While he cooks meth, kills people, and generally just causes problems for people, he is showcased in a really positive way.

Mando explained to Variety that Nacho's final act was one of sacrifice, and by doing so he guaranteed that Gus would protect his father, who never approved of Nacho's reluctant life of crime.

So when he confirms Nacho had tampered with Hector Salamanca's medication, he uses this to his advantage. Nacho works for Gus now on Better Call Saul after Gus reveals that he knows what Nacho did in "Breathe." This puts Nacho in a perilous position as he must be a double agent in the Mexican drug cartel.

Nacho flees as the assassins enter and kill most of Lalo's family and guards. Lalo kills all but one assassin and then tells him to call the middleman who arranged the attack and report that Lalo was killed. Lalo realizes Nacho has betrayed him and angrily strides away from his house.

Why does Chuck hate Jimmy? ›

Although in the first season it seemed that he was initially supportive of Jimmy, Chuck harbored resentful feelings toward him because of his conman past and charisma, in addition to Jimmy's approach to his career. From the second season onward, Chuck transforms into Jimmy's nemesis.

Don Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Chuck McGill) of Better Call Saul and a posthumous antagonist in Breaking Bad.

In "Hermanos", Eladio says that when he ordered Max killed, he spared Gus because of his unstated but apparently powerful connection to Chile.

He is also the business rival and arch-nemesis of Gus Fring, whose drive for revenge was created by Hector when he murdered his boyfriend, Max Arciniega, in front of him under Don Eladio's orders.

Since the beginning of Better Call Saul, Nacho worked for the Salamanca family—first for Tuco and later for Lalo—after Tuco's incarceration. Despite being involved in a world of drugs and violence, Nacho retains a virtuous moral code that causes him to resent members of the Salamanca family.

We didn't know it back then – perhaps even Breaking Bad's creator Vince Gilligan didn't fully understand – but Skyler was the precursor for the modern antiheroine, a character type who's only just now showing up on screen.

On TV, Saul Goodman was a supporting character in AMC's Breaking Bad but becomes the antihero in popular show Better Call Saul. Antiheroes are also very popular in YA fiction.

Heisenberg is definitely evil, but he's not entirely to blame. Miranda kidnapped him when he was a child and infected him with the Cadou parasite, which is the source of his powers.

What Is the Difference Between Anti-Villain and Anti-Hero? While an anti-villain might be a villain with some redeeming features, an anti-hero is a heroic character without the conventional charms. They might do the right thing, but mostly out of self-interest.

Hero with an F in Good: Has good intentions, but fails at being good. He Who Fights Monsters: A character's anti-heroic qualities can lead them to become just as bad as the villains, or in the worst cases, becoming a villain themselves.

Is an anti-hero still a hero? ›

Answer: An anti-hero is a type of character in literature who lacks the qualities of a traditional hero, like morality or a clear interest in rules. Anti-heroes are not the villains of the story because there are reasons to cheer for them, despite their complex motivations and questionable actions.

Todd Alquist Is the Sociopathic Villain of Breaking Bad's Final Season. Here's What to Remember Before El Camino.

Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton)

Lalo Salamanca is the evilest man in Better Call Saul, and may even be eviler than Jack Welker of Breaking Bad. Lalo Salamanca is simply a psychopath. His way of thinking is different than most people's.

Nacho realizes telling the Salamancas and cartel leaders that Gus had no role in the attack on Lalo is the only way to protect Manuel, but will also result in his own death. He places a farewell call to Manuel, then surrenders to Gus in exchange for Mike's guarantee of Manuel's safety.

After Bolsa and Gus visit Hector and promise him vengeance for Lalo's supposed death, Gus realizes from Hector's demeanor that Lalo is still alive.

Amber | Breaking Bad Wiki | Fandom.

The ultracompetent attorney who married Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), the man most likely to bring out the shadier side of her character, never appears in Breaking Bad, which led some viewers to assume she would die before Saul finished its run. But as Monday's series finale confirmed, Kim Wexler lives on.

To establish this story, Gus kills Arturo the next time he and Nacho come to pick up the Salamanca supply of drugs, and has their car driven to the remote desert and fired repeatedly into it, and then critically wound Nacho to make it look like a rival gang attacked and stole the drugs.

During the fiery three-way desert showdown between Nacho, Gus Fring, and the Salamancas in Better Call Saul season 6's "Rock & Hard Place," Nacho gleefully admitted to Hector's face that he was responsible for putting the indomitable mob boss in a wheelchair.

Why did Lalo smile when he died? ›

Lalo died smiling as a nod to the maniacal personality he carried throughout life, but also to stress the satisfaction he derived from having been right about Gus. The familiar, creepy smirk was one final act of rebellion. Even in his most painful moment, he refused to let Gus see a glimmer of defeat on his face.

Nacho, Tuco's partner in drug dealing, wants him dead because Tuco is a homicidal loon — a fact that will not come as news to anyone familiar with his history.

Because of the rivalry between Gus and Hector, Lalo becomes dedicated to disrupting Gus' legitimate restaurant business Los Pollos Hermanos and Lavandería Brillante, as well as his reputation with the cartel. Unlike his other rivals such as Walter White, Gus was highly fearful of Lalo due to his cunning and resilience.

Now that Better Call Saul's final season has made its way to Netflix, there's no better time to look back at the Chuck McGill suicide. Jimmy "Saul" McGill's older brother Chuck died by his own hand in a house fire, and the show clearly sets up the reasons why.

But the supporting cast are given plenty to do as well, including character actor Michael McKean, who plays Chuck McGill. One of the subplots of the show follows Chuck's obsessive compulsive order (OCD), a mental illness where people suffer from intrusive thoughts and compulsions.

He knows deep down that Chuck's ailment and eventual death has to do with his actions. But that truth is too painful for Jimmy to face. It's classic denial. He told himself he didn't care, and acted like he didn't care, so he didn't have to deal with his own feelings.

Up to this point, Gus is portrayed as the smartest person on the show, matched only by Walter White in Breaking Bad. In spite of this, Lalo is able to believably outmaneuver him at nearly every turn.

1 Jimmy 'Saul Goodman' McGill

With electric confidence, fast-talking, and an unbeatable drive to succeed; there's no way Jimmy McGill can't be the best character in his own show.

Most notably, Lalo Salamanca has been the most significant villain of Better Call Saul and easily rivaled those of the original series. He might be charismatic, but he's also unpredictable and psychopathic.

But it seems to me like Gus hates Nacho because he threatened to take away his chance for a long and painful revenge for Hector. I think that perhaps if anyone else tried to kill Hector Gus would not congratulate them but they would become his enemy.

Why did Gus stop liking Walter? ›

Immediately upon meeting Walter, Gus did not like him or want to work with him because he felt that he is sloppy and works with a drug addict.

The most likely reason that Don Eladio didn't kill Fring was that he knew he had an established distribution network set up and it would cost money and time (and risk exposure) murdering Fring and then trying to either obtain his routes or start new ones.

Gus is known to have ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), and he most noticeably has a form of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

Gus's goal was to destabilize Walt, he didn't care about Jesse. He considered him dangerous because he was a drug addict, but he knew Walt psychologically needed to have control over Jesse. So Gus took Jesse away slowly and designed experiences to instill false confidence in him.

Breaking Bad

He has his Los Pollos Hermanos trucks, which store meth in them, hijacked by the Cartel's men. Eladio sends one of his men, Gaff, to Gus so he will give him the recipe for Gus' Blue Sky meth, the true reason for the sudden hits against him.

Mando considered Nacho the only character in Better Call Saul that was "breaking good", as "an ambitious person who believes in a morality outside of justice" and trying to improve his situation, making him "heroic, romantic, and transcendent".

Tuco's right-hand man, Nacho Varga, realizes that associating with Tuco is a risk that could end badly for him, so he decides to betray Tuco and enlists Mike Ehramantraut to help.

The overriding intention behind Mike's Better Call Saul safe-swapping trick was to ensure Nacho's death without casting suspicion over Gus Fring.

Chizome Akaguro or Stain is a former vigilant, villain and antihero in mangá / anime My Hero Academia.

Ignacio "Nacho" Varga is a major protagonist in the crime drama series Better Call Saul and a posthumous character in Breaking Bad.

Who is the antihero in Thor? ›

Loki appears as a major antagonist turned anti-heroic major protagonist in the Thor movies, set in the MCU. He was portrayed by Tom Hiddleston.

The result shows that the novel portrays Michael Corleone as an antihero for having the identical characteristics of an antihero proposed by Wilson et al. (2013), namely empathy, humility, self-awareness, flexibility, and an ability to acknowledge the uncertainty.

An anti hero is a protagonist who lacks all the heroic qualities needed to be a hero. They are most often not evil or immoral, but they do lack all the traits of traditional heroes such as bravery, nobility, and virtue. And they add in some of their own, like aggression, cynicism, and other character imperfections.

Updated November 18th, 2022, by Darby Harn: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduces Namor The Sub-Mariner to the MCU. Perhaps the greatest antihero in Marvel Comics history, Namor walks a fine line between hero and villain.

Having taken on the role of inside man in Gus Fring's plan to assassinate Lalo Salamanca, Nacho was quickly fingered by everyone as being key to the plot. The cartel wanted him, the Salamancas, too, and Nacho was forced to hide in a puddle of oil to escape them.

Tuco's right-hand man, Nacho Varga, realizes that associating with Tuco is a risk that could end badly for him, so he decides to betray Tuco and enlists Mike Ehramantraut to help.

Loki – Thor's archenemy and adoptive brother.

Thorr Odinson is a villain from the Avengers and is an evil alternate reality version of Thor Odinson as well as a member of the Tyrant Avengers.

Korbinite alien Beta Ray Bill can lift Thor's hammer with ease.

Emilio "The Wolf" Barzini is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and in its 1972 film adaptation, in which he is portrayed by Richard Conte.

Who is the weak Corleone brother? ›

Fredo is weaker and less intelligent than his brothers, and so has little power or status within the Corleone crime family. In the novel, Fredo's primary weakness is his womanizing, a habit he develops after moving to Las Vegas and which earns his father's disfavor.

Don Vito Corleone

One of the most powerful characters we meet in The Godfather is Vito Corleone. Though Vito is not the main protagonist of the film, many audience members still idolize his character.