Yeah, I’m sure Gus’s legit side is entirely well-run by the book, so it’s not like he’s out the cost of a restaurant, just whatever deductible and loss of revenue while it get fixed up. It might even work to his advantage - if Lalo didn’t specify one Gus might have chosen one that he wanted to move to a new location. I think the Salamancas are used to dealing with small operators who can’t afford that kind of insurance coverage or are operating semi-illegally, and don’t realize that Gus would be unlikely to suffer much from the blow.
It’s kind of the same thing with Jimmy dropping bowling balls on Howard’s car - he’ll pay the $500 or $1000 deductible and be in a nice rental for a few days or weeks while they fix the dents and windows, and then he’ll be done with it. (My not-that-impressive insurance will do that for me and I’m sure Howard’s is better). Or for that matter sending around Howie’s Hookers - Howard is going to be the talk of snickered conversation for a few weeks even though most people probably don’t believe it, but it’s not going to make a significant difference to the fortunes of HHM.
Yeah, that little nod was great. And if you missed it in my big post, the fact that the frozen chicken that he used to start the fire was the only chicken in the entire walk-in freezer. “Our product is always fresh, never frozen!”.
To make it clear to the investigators (and the Salamancas) that it was arson and not an accident. Can’t hurt to have the police get curious about why someone might want to torch a Los Pollos Hermanos as well.
The fire won’t destroy all of the evidence of vandalizing, there will be smashed equipment and graffiti that doesn’t fit the fire pattern. This makes sure that Gus (and the authorities) know that it is not an accident.
That’s exactly the question an arson investigator would ask. And the answer is: a criminal who wants to send a message. And why would a criminal want to send a message to a chicken restaurant?
I guess. If I were a mobster arsonist trying to send a message, I think I’d just start the fire and spray paint some kind of graffiti message in the parking lot. It’s a lot of effort to smash a bunch of stuff you are going to torch anyway.
Yeah, but you’re not a Salamanca*. When it comes to pointless violence, the Salamancas go the extra mile.
*or someone pretending to be a Salamanca. Remember on BB the cousins pointlessly torched the coyote truck they shot up, sending huge clouds of smoke into the air, which could have brought people to investigate.
I’ll second this; I know it’s quite fundamental, but I never quite groked the whole cartel thing, why there’s essentially internal competition, where Bolsa is in the tree (I get that Don Eladio is at the top) etc.
I only realized I didn’t get it myself when my GF who’s up to season 2 asked me to explain to her and I sounded like the world’s most famous bullshit merchant (you know who I’m talking about).
Is there a good link to walk me through the relationship? Then I might get it a bit better why Gus has to let Lalo seem to win right before, presumably, offing him.
I found the juxtaposition of these really interesting.
If you take Jimmy at his word during his unhinged explosion, he really believes in the grandeur of what he’s doing - Slippin’ Jimmy Rex, bestriding the worlds of law and crime like a colossus, playing a game no-one can even understand etc. etc.
But we have just seen him be really affected and almost thrown off his game by the sight of the grieving family. And we know that all that big speech boils down to is: “I lie and cheat and swindle to get vicious crime bosses off the hook for the murder of innocents.”
Obviously Jimmy has to reconcile these two perspectives on what he’s doing, and obviously we know which way he’s going to jump. But I’ll be interested to see how honest he is with himself about the upcoming decision to stop caring about the people who get hurt. (Compare Mike, who has made peace with his new career and is now emotionally stable again.)
Will Jimmy get as far as “I am a *criminal *lawyer” - will he, like Mike, play the hand he’s dealt and be honest with himself about the viciousness and harm he facilitates? Will he openly state that even to Kim? How long can he keep pretending he’s some great player of a game and not a sleazy corrupt shitebag?
Oh and in terms of my thoughts for this episode, I liked it. It actually dealt with some of my complaints with the previous episode:
Jerkass Jimmy
Well they showed him conflicted and still grieving over his brother, which provides a bit more justification. I didn’t entirely buy the whole explosion with Howard, but that’s a quibble rather than saying the whole thing didn’t work or make sense.
Lalo’s end
Well Qadgop the Mercotan was spot on with his prediction of course, and this storyline is indeed playing out in a fun, and logical, way.
Marriage proposal
Ok, they’ve explained that it’s at least partly for convenience / legal reasons. But this is contradicted a little by how happy Kim is. When you think through the whole thing of rage followed by a decision made for convenience followed by being tickled pink (so to speak)…I’m not sure it completely holds up.
But good on Jimmy though – he’s married someone smart and beautiful and the whole thing was over in minutes and cost $25…it’s a boy’s fairytale wedding
Plus as a bonus, the Mesa Verde scene was very good, and everyone was (back) in character.
