r/breakingbad • u/Juscelino_Vaanchig • 1d ago
mild plot hole in S4 Spoiler
When Gus hires Walt initially, it's as a (highly paid) employee with the freedom to leave after his term is up. After Walt orchestrates Gale's death, it's obvious the relationship between the two is more akin to hostage and hostage taker, with Gus wanting Walt dead but being forced to keep him on so he can continue making product.
So, in S4, with it abundantly clear that Walt is a loose cannon, highly dangerous, and quite intelligent, why does Gus not make it his overwhelming (even singular) priority to find a replacement for Gale who is unconnected to Walt so he can do away with Walt? He has millions of dollars and contacts across several continents, as well as daily recordings of the lab and everything Walt does. Why is he spending time orchestrating Don Eladio's death (which he could do some other time when he visits Mexico) rather than dealing with the principal problem facing his business? For a man who is supposed to be very intelligent, Gus in S4 doesn't really act like it.
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u/MittFel 1d ago
As Jesse tells Walt, it likely took Gus many years to find someone as talented as Gale. And even then the product was inferior to Walters.
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u/ChestMental8566 23h ago
And it took Walt only several months to train a suitable replacement from a barely literate junkie. Also, the "inferiority" of 92/99 is just a flex, in their trade nobody would really care about it.
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u/nachos_mahdude 23h ago
It's not a "flex" thing. You can cut it more, and that marginal difference will end up being a ton of more money in the long run. And they all care about money.
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u/AddlePatedBadger 23h ago
No, it's a silly conceit to make the show work. It makes as much sense as Gus walking out of an exploded room with half his face blown off. But it's ok, it's all part of the fun. It's a dark comedy not a realistic exposé of the drug trade.
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u/EllipticPeach 22h ago
In the show they do say that the jump between 92 and 99% doesn’t seem like a lot but it actually is huge
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u/ChestMental8566 21h ago
Only Gale said that and it didn't make much sense then either. He meant it in the sense that achieving such purity is very impressive, but the fact was that it wasn't required in their trade. They weren't making microprocessors, or medicine, or anything. They were, as Mr. Pinkman very astutely put it, making poison for people who don't care. I guess, Gale was geeking out at the prospect of meeting, working with and learning from the genius who managed it, and Gus, to their mutual detriment, agreed to indulge him.
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u/JoeMcKim 20h ago
In real life meth is nowhere near 92%, realbmeth cooks are probably more similar to Todd's in the 70s. And making a better product doesn't make you more profitable. Junkies are chasing highs, if they have to busy twice as much to get there than they will. Its not like they're going to clean up there act if the product don't meet their standards.
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u/SilverNeptuneAbyss 21h ago
Yeah but that's just made up tv show stuff
Walt's stuff is 99% pure? From a chemistry standpoint 99% is fucking garbage toilet water.
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u/Knee_Fight 23h ago
Are you really asking why Gus is focused on doing a thing that has been his primary driving goal for years by this point, and is finally within his grasp? It's not like killing Don Eladio is some minor thing that he just randomly decided might be nice to do. That is his 'principle problem.'
Beyond that, I mean... he did find someone else to cook for him without Walt. Jesse. As they literally say in the show, it's not easy to find a genius chemist who can make the formula AND be trusted to know about all the criminal stuff. Gus can't just put out a want ad.
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u/DeepestGreySea 23h ago
Exactly.
A lot of folks didn’t seem to pick up, however explicit, that everything Gus was doing was to kill Eladio and torture Hector.
Yeah…he was a meticulous businessman who would have been happy running a meth empire after he executed his plan…but everything we saw on the show was designed so he was important enough to a) prove he was the “best at meth” for his pride, but primary to b) force the cartels hand and offer them a cook: first Gale, then Walt, then (in desperation) Jesse.
Like…Gus only became the purely emotionless revenge robot he became after Max was executed.
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u/b3an3r1998 1d ago
He'd been working with gale for years (shown in BCS) can't just find some high level chemist willing to work a meth superlab in 10 mins, would take years.
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u/RealAlpiGusto 23h ago
….Because he would need to find: (a) a professionally-trained chemist capable of achieving superior results (even just Gale’s level); (b) someone willing to cook meth; (c) who Gus could trust; and (d) who would also trust Gus. You can’t exactly throw a Craigslist ad up or start hitting up recruiters. He spent years and years prepping Gale, you can’t just immediately start over.
Gus’ only option was Walt and Walt came with someone who could take over the lab. It would be infinitely easier to earn Jesse’s trust than it would be to start from scratch.
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u/ChestMental8566 23h ago
And yet, apparently that's exactly how such people are recruited in reality. Anonymous send-outs through messengers, offers of a lucrative job. Sure, you don't shove a guy from the street straight into the super-lab, but come-on, don't tell me they couldn't have set up some sort of vetting process.
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u/sirius4778 23h ago
The show makes a point several times that Gale was a unicorn. It is extremely hard to find someone who is A. Qualified to make meth at scale and manage a super lab and B. Interested in that level of risk exposure. People who are that accomplished can make a great living within the law. Gale is someone that Gus had built a relationship of trust with over the course of many years.
Imagine how hard it would be to even broach asking the question to someone. It's such an enormous risk just to offer the job to a potential candidate. Walt was a loose cannon that's true but he had no other options after Gale was killed. As far as Don Eladio, that was an immediate existential threat he had to deal with. Tensions with the cartel had been mounting for several episodes in a short term sense but also for decades. He also wanted revenge and was in a position to take it.
Most importantly, decisions that a character makes that you disagree with aren't a plot hole in any sense.
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u/gigi-kent 20h ago
There's no plot hole in there if you try to apply a bit of critical thinking and maybe stop scrolling your phone while watching the show.
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u/Failure456Mil 1d ago
Because Gale could only cook to 96% Purity and finding someone who could cook to 99.1% Purity is shown to be impossible in the show.
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u/Juscelino_Vaanchig 23h ago
Yes but Gus was happy with 96, it was Gale who convinced him to go for Walt.
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u/Failure456Mil 23h ago
And Gus had good reason to keep that 99.1% Purity to remain in Download Audio's Goodbooks for his ultimate plan of revenge.
Plus as the commentors already noted at this stage Gus was grooming Jesse to replace Walt and Walt caught on to this and told Jesse it.
In his usual unhelpful way.
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u/TheVenerableBede 23h ago
I’m going to start calling Don Eladio Download Audio from now on.
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u/Failure456Mil 23h ago
Same he had such aura along with Gas Stove-Fridge, Nike Man Clout and Doritos. They were my favourite characters in Battery Car Soul.
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u/DeepestGreySea 23h ago
The entire motivation for everything Gus was doing was to kill Don Eladio and torture Hector. They weren’t secondary things he could do later. It was only once Eladio was gone that 96% became acceptable. I don’t think you appreciate how rare it was to find Walt..a chemist who can make 99.1% pure meth. It was what gave him the edge that motivated the cartel to consider him important.
What you’re describing are character choices…how Gus was blinded by ego…not plot holes. But like…he was on the verge of killing Walt…up until he was killed. It also seems that Tyrus was learning the recipe more accurately than Victor was.
An example of a plot hole is that Gus, as meticulous as he is in everything he does - including cooking and cleaning - would have been the perfect person to learn how to cook meth, which would have avoided all his problems (and made the show boring). Maybe he wouldn’t be able to beat Walt’s 99…but he could surely beat Jessie/Gale’s 96.
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u/Juscelino_Vaanchig 21h ago
This is a man who has waited years, possibly decades, for the opportunity to kill Don Eladio. It may be his most important goal, but he is clearly willing to wait. Why not wait a little longer until his house is in order?
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u/osi4000 Reasonably happy 21h ago
Finding someone completely new who could make that pure of a product AND was willing to work for a drug dealer and take the risks that comes with that, could've taken YEARS and why bother when he already has Jesse, who knows Walts recipe and is likely going to give up on Walt sooner rather than later?
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u/martyrsmirror 20h ago
Dealing with the cartel's interference and war against his operation. He can't put that off because it's already underway before Gale's death, as seen in Full Measure. And fending off Hank's investigation.
Active clandestine chemists involved in the illicit drug trade are probably already working for the cartels or other major crime rings. Gus would probably have to recruit from the universities again, not something that can just happen overnight. Long term plan, yes.
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u/Thebritishdovah 14h ago
Because Walt's product was as pure as possible and finding someone who can replicate it is a very long shot. It's why he starts using Pinkman as he views him as easier to control. Walt, he just kept wanting more and more because he felt entitled. Had he just shut up, cooked, he could have funneled the wealth to his family, die as a beloved family man instead of a known kingpin.
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u/R0factor 9h ago
Gus had put a lot in motion against the cartel and had to act in that timeframe. I’m sure the only reason he hired Jesse was because he wanted a 3rd option to use as bait with Eladio. He could have easily talked Walt out of it when the topic of Jesse came up. It’s not like Walt could quit working for Gus and live to tell about it.
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u/heartofglazz 7h ago
That is not a plot hole. That’s a character making a decision you do not agree with or fully understand.
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u/Exotic_Source_8431 1d ago
Gus was already grooming Jesse to replace Walt