What’s to prevent Hector, insulted and angry as he is, from killing Nacho’s dad now? I’d imagined he’d have the cousins drive him straight to the upholstery ship.
Killing a civilian like that is going to bring tons of scrutiny from law enforcement, which is the absolute last thing the cartel wants. Hector is probably smart enough not to do this himself; if not, Bolsa and Gus would probably make it clear that killing Manuel was not going to happen.
Well, then, Nacho didn’t need to insist that Gus not have him killed, did he?
I think at this point, Nacho knew that this was the best play he had, even if it isn’t a guarantee. There’s no plan where his father isn’t in at least some danger. Even if Nacho had managed to avoid capture, his dad didn’t seem like the type who would drop everything and go on the run. And even if Nacho somehow managed to talk him into running, there’s still a chance they could be found - it happened to Gene, after all. And the Cartel will be motivated to find them, since Nacho getting away undermines their power.
This way, he focuses all their anger on him, and they see that the person most responsible has paid with their life. Going after his dad now, after Nacho is dead, buys them little, and maybe costs them a lot. Plus, Fring now owes Nacho, and Nacho knows that at least Mike will try to pay that debt.
It’s not great, but considering the point he’s at, it’s the best he can get.
I agree with all your reasoning, here.
But the fact remains that Hector is a vindictive SOB and may not be amenable to reason.
From a story-telling viewpoint, too, it doesn’t hurt to remind the audience that Hector is an awful person. (So I wouldn’t like to bet actual cash that Nacho’s dad is out of danger. If the show is at least partly about the fact that the drug business inevitably kills the innocent as well as the guilty–and I think it is–then Papa remains at risk.)
Gus is a psycho planner who was quite prepared to use a threat to Nacho’s dad to get Nacho to surrender himself, but that rationale no longer applies. He’s also a vindictive coati murdering bastard who might well have taken revenge on Sr Varga out of pique but that’s why Nacho asked not for Gus’s word (which he rightly suggests is worthless) but for Mike’s. We the audience know that Mike is prepared to die to protect dad, and so does Gus. But Nacho had to keep his end of the bargain.
As to the Salamancas, they almost certainly do want to make a public display of what happens to traitor’s families, but it’s reasonable to assume (alhtough I admit it’s a bit shaky) that Bolsa will tell them to back off and keep low profile.
The bit that does feel like a plot hole to me is why Gus left the motel number in the safe. Even if Lalo were safely dead, it’s reasonable to assume that Nacho might be killed slowly with plenty of time (and motivation) to mention Gus’s involvement.
Certainly, once Gus has established (after setting up the false letter in the safe) that Lalo is alive and the Salamancas know it, he desparately needs Nacho to stay well out the cousins’ hands, ideally by dying. At which point, surely a call to your watcher to either move Nacho or kill him (preferably both) seems like the smarter move than sitting on your hands and hoping. Was the timing just that tight?
The most generous word I could apply to the convoluted motivations here is “confusing.”
IIRC, Mike left the motel in the safe. Perhaps it was his way of making sure Gus gets Nacho out when Gus gets a report that the Salamancas know where Nacho is.
Mike only did that on Gus’s orders though. “Not my call”.
The point about planting the motel info is that it will bring the Salamancas down on Nacho. Mike wouldn’t do that off his own bat because he doesn’t believe in killing people you’ve sent into harm’s way. Gus did do it with the intention of the Salamancas offing Nacho cleanly, but it was a hell of a stupid risk to put them in the same place because if Nacho spends any time able to talk then he’s got every reason to drop Gus in the shit. Gus has got a guy watching Nacho and a plan to “pick him up” by the side of the road in two days. There is just no need to involve the Salamancas. Let them find the body by all means, but don’t put them in earshot of a living Nacho. Arguably a bit of panic from Gus, who doesn’t always think straight around the Salamancas.
I did think it was a nice character detail that when team Gus want to break a safe, they get a hi tech drill and neatly take out the lock in situ. When team Salamanca want a safe opened, they flip it over and hack it open with a big bastard angle grinder, sparks flying.
I thought it was neat how ADA Ericsen seemed to be unsure whether to talk to Kim about Jimmy or not, before Kim floored her with her demonstration of lawyerly honesty and integrity.
And then… “What do you want to be? A friend of the cartel or a rat?” 
Yeah, contrast with Nacho’s dad, whose simple advice to Nacho was to tell the police everything and thus make all right.
Obviously that’s incredibly naive. But it’s also the obvious moral course of action. And Kim’s framing is incredibly pragmatic. But equally obviously, is helping a brutal murderer get off scot free.
“Because of you (Jimmy/Saul), our kids are in public school!”
When she gave that speech she seemed so convinced that what she was saying was true that I honestly checked, more than once, that the Kettlemens were who I thought they were, and then I’d watch the scene again because I thought maybe I misunderstood it. They fucked up and are mad at him for not cleaning it up as well as they(she) wanted. Reading a few things, I’m reminded that they (she) did the exact same thing when then initially met with Jimmy.
Reminds me of a friend. She got a DUI after rolling her car over. A few years later, she was drunk and rolled another car, but this time she left the scene and turned herself in a few days later. She was mad that her lawyer only got her offense down to Leaving the scene of and accident. She wanted the entire thing wiped from her record. I couldn’t convince her that after getting caught drunk driving three times (it was her second and third offense) she should be thrilled she didn’t end up with jail time.
The point of killing someone’s father (or kid or SO or whatever) is either to make them suffer as an object lesson or to deter objectionable behavior. Once Nacho is dead, there is no point to killing his father.
So why does he make that such a big deal of that as a condition to agreeing to die?
It could be used to deter others.
Some thoughts on this week’s episode:
“The guy who got his head smooshed? Used to be a client of mine.” Turns out Jimmy/Saul wasn’t lying to Walter the first time they met.
Fun cameo from Wendy. She wasn’t totally on the pipe yet at this point in the chronology.
I’m actually really enjoying Ed Begley Jr. as Cliff Main. The character manages to have a ton of gravitas without coming off as pompous.
I really wanna know the story of the couple living in the security house. Are they actors, or tied to the cartel in some way?
Who moved the cone?!?!?
The (of course) Beemer
Jimmy done up like Howard was absolutely hilarious! I laughed so hard when he first showed up.
And we finally get to see the strip mall that Saul sets up in - temporary, lol.