I read in a magazine (can’t remember which- E.W. probably) that some of Margolis (Hector Salamanca)'s gestures were based on his mother-in-law who spent years as an invalid stroke victim, but some of the tics and other gestures were deliberately written in to mimic the side effects of certain heavy duty anti-psychotic medications. When they did Hector’s flashback scenes (the one at Don Eladio’s pool and one where he was- ahem- playing with* his twin nephews) he didn’t do these gestures because he was unmedicated then.
I love that kind of attention to detail. Margolis got some “booos” on this board and elsehwere for what was apparently a really unbelievable Spanish accent, but he was great in all the wheelchair scenes.
*playing with here meaning attempting to drown one to teach both a life lesson
Off-topic but totally fascinating: blowflies will tend to colonize a corpse almost immediately, and because of this and their consistent development pattern, they can be used as very accurate indicators of the time elapsed since death:
I wonder if Walt (who I almost feel like calling him Heisenberg now) is going to try and use Mike’s granddaughter as leverage. I think that would end differently than using Jesse’s girlfriend’s son as a pawn since Mike is naturally more suspicious in general and more suspicious of anything Heisenberg does in particular.
What I love about Breaking Bad is that on most shows- even pretty good ones- it’d be a foregone conclusion that Walt will do that since he has a history of it and means and motive and all, but on this one you have no idea.
I do hope that we learn some more about Gus’s past. Not that it’s likely his original name anyway, but is Fring believable as a Chilean surname?
My knowledge of Latin American history is pretty dismal. Do the Germans have a history of business relationships with Chile, like the Dutch do with Guatemala? I’m thinking that Gus and Lydia might go way back together.
So far, I think the Banks (Mike) is getting as much face time if not more than Cranston (Walt)…his character certainly has been getting some of the choicest lines in these first two episodes…and he’s becoming a very deep and complex character.
There could be a connection. “Fring” does sound more German than Hispanic. Could Gus and Lydia have some possible family connection (common ancestry) rather than husband/wife/lovers?
You know what? The new dressing should be called Fringenfranch (or Franchenfring?) in honor of Gus!
Although in all seriousness I think you could be on to something - I did a search for family genealogies with that surname and the majority are German.
Remember that Mike was going to be Lydia’s No. 2 victim. The shooter had Chao set Mike up and was waiting for him. So as far as Lydia was concerned, Mike was going to be dead. That’s another reason I don’t doubt Mike was going to kill her.
Oh yeah, I was rooting for the bitch to die (kinda knew that she wouldn’t though, due to the fact that she’s obviously emerging as a character of some importance).
Nice. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Lydia is the great-granddaughter of the founder of Madrigal Electromotive, the kid is Fring’s, and Lydia knew Gus when Pinochet was still in power. You heard it here first (of course I’m gonna be wrong on all three counts).
Speaking of plot holes: this is not a big one, but it may have been something I just missed:
In season 3, Hank had his second opportunity to take a higher position in El Paso, but gave it up because of his obsession with Heisenberg and partly because of his PTSD. When they finally give up on him, the promotion goes to his partner Steve Gomez – there was even a little party where Hank congratulates him and presents him with the little idol he was given during his previous stint in El Paso.
Did Gomez ever go to El Paso? Did the show ever explain why he didn’t, or why he came back?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the kid exists only to create conditions under which Mike couldn’t just sneak in and shoot Lydia. He had to wait for the nanny to put her to bed and then leave, which gave her a chance to plead and for him to think about the kid (about the same age as his granddaughter), and to realize that he had a chance to make some money to rebuild his gd’s college fund and perhaps pay off the remaining (9?) people on the DEA’s list.
Lydia was Fring’s connection to Madrigal’s other divisions, nothing more…
Hank or the other DEA agent interviewing Mike mentions 11 people on the list. Picked that up while watching the episode again. Didn’t catch it the first time.