WARNING: This story contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the midseason premiere of Better Call Saul.
Over the course of its six seasons, the prequel series Better Call Saul has been fleshing out the back stories for many fan favorite characters from Breaking Bad. That most notably includes telling the complete story of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), the conniving attorney who represents Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in the Breaking Bad timeline. But there has long been one particular mystery that wasn't explained until the airing of "Point and Shoot," the eighth episode of season 6 of Better Call Saul.
In Saul's first Breaking Bad episode, the attorney refuses to accept a bribe from Walter, not knowing at first who he's really dealing with. Walter and Jesse proceed to kidnap Saul before driving him to a burial plot in the desert, though it's just a scare tactic to get him to agree to represent one of their dealers who'd gotten busted. As Walter and Jesse are masked, Saul initially assumes that these are two men hired by "Lalo" to execute him.
"No, it wasn't me, it was Ignacio, he's the one!" Saul exclaims in fear. When he realizes the two don't know what he's talking about, Saul adds, "Lalo didn't send you? No Lalo?"
The two meth cookers confirm they don't know Lalo, at which point Saul breathes a huge sigh of relief. It's a curious moment, as Saul has still been kidnapped by two strangers and taken to a burial plot for reasons yet to be revealed. Even so, he's still thrilled to learn that whomever these people are, they're not with Lalo. It makes one wonder what exactly has Saul so terrified of this unknown person.
Lalo Salamanca Is Around in Breaking Bad (Sort Of)
Better Call Saul previously introduced Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca, and from the start, Michael Mando had been playing Ignacio "Nacho" Varga. Fans rightly presumed that these two men were the "Lalo" and "Ignacio" spoken of by Saul in that Breaking Bad scene, but it was still a mystery as to why Saul was so terrified of Lalo.
Of course, part of that mystery was explained in the midseason finale, "Plan and Execution," which culminated with Lalo shooting dead Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) in front of Saul and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). In the new episode, Lalo tied up Saul with orders for Kim to travel to Gus Fring's house and kill him. Lalo also reminds Saul that it was Ignacio who introduced the two, and Saul swears that "it was Ignacio" who acted alone with whatever he did, mirroring the same dialogue Saul says in Breaking Bad. Lalo leaves soon after, but before he departs, he tells Saul that he'll return, leaving Saul to stare at Howard's lifeless body.
The next day, after Gus has managed to kill Lalo, Mike assists Jimmy and Kim with removing Howard's body from their apartment. Saul is clearly worried about Lalo returning, but Mike says repeatedly that "he's not coming back." Mike does not specifically state that Lalo has been murdered and will be buried underneath Fring's secret meth lab. Saul has already made the mistake once before of believing Lalo was dead after Lalo faked his death, and with Mike's vague answer about what happened to him, it stands to reason Saul will always be afraid of Lalo returning one day to finish the job. And when that happens, Saul will fall back upon his initial plea to Lalo, in that it was Ignacio who had betrayed him, as seen in Breaking Bad.
There are still some more mysteries to be solved in Better Call Saul. There are five episodes left and they premiere every Monday on AMC and AMC+.