Lalo Feats Doc

This is all of Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca's feats and statements.

By - Saul Badman. Special thanks to OverLordThresh for helping popularize the doc, Dax PMFT
and Cento for helping with multiple interpretations.

Red - Strategy, Planning, Tactics, Setting Traps

Blue - Observation, Perception, Cold Reading, Information Gathering

Orange - Emotional Intelligence, Social Skills, Adversity Capacity, Psychoanalysis

Green - Manipulation, Deception

Pink - Logical reasoning, Logical prediction, Anticipation, Trap evasion, Intuition, Intuitive
Prediction

Cyan - Full Scale IQ, Fluid Intelligence, Crystalized Intelligence, Knowledge Application, Overall
Intelligence
 Yellow - Other

Feats

Before the show - Lalo's family runs an integral part of the cartel and Lalo was a veteran leader
of the cartel second only to Eladio, and on the same level of authority as people like Gus. He led
men, drug trafficking operations etc. He's an experienced fighter and leader. - experience,
leadership.

S4E8 50:00 - Lalo tests Nacho as he heard Nacho was fairly smart. So after he offered him
some food he cooked and they made small talk, Lalo says "it's a special recipe, a family secret"
while talking about the food he made to see if Nacho can use context clues (for example, Lalo
cooking himself a meal in a cartel owned business despite never being seen there, suggesting
he's not an employee) to figure out he's a Salamanca, to test if he's actually sharp. When Nacho
figures it out Lalo says "they told me you were smart", confirming it. This will not be the last time
Lalo tests people, the pattern will become clear as Lalo tests his opponents and allies more in
various ways throughout the show/doc. - cold reading.

S4E9 28:30 - Lalo has suspicions Gus might be involved in Hector’s incident, and is working
against the Cartel. He decides a test is in order to see where Gus stands.

In Gus's office, Lalo uses multiple methods to try and Make Gus break character or composure,
even if ever so slightly just so he could notice and determine his intentions.

Firstly, Lalo flatters Gus, saying how building his restaurant chain from scratch is impressive
and how great his food is. Meant to achieve: lowering Gus's guard by making Lalo appear
casual and non threatening, concealing Lalo's real intentions, gauging Gus’s reactions and how
his facial muscles contract and move during a usual conversation (for Lalo to later notice
anything “unusual”, he has to know what “usual” looks like first).

Secondly, he thanks Gus for helping Hector during Hector's incident, and says how grateful he
and his family are. Meant to achieve: making Lalo look sincere, seeing if Gus was sincere in his
attempts to save Hector and thus if he holds any resentment towards him.

Thirdly, he switches to Spanish when he's about to say the most reaction worthy stuff yet - shit
talking Eladio, talking about how he enjoys the bad blood between Gus and the Salamancas.
Him switching to Spanish promotes Gus to answer in Spanish, this was intentional. Lalo did this
as lying in your native tongue is harder than lying in a foreign tongue, at least in this context. I'll
elaborate.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29745713/

This study by the National Library of Medicine found a few interesting things. Lying in a foreign
tongue is both easier and more difficult in a foreign language - sounds contradictory to what I
previously said but the devil is in the details.

The reasons for why lying is easier/difficult in a different language are crucial here. It's more
difficult because speaking a different language take a heavier cognitive load, this makes sense,
telling the truth simply requires recalling things, while lying requires inventing things, taking into
account how believable they may he, how possible they may be, what the person you're lying
too knows because that could change the lie, etc, and speaking in a different language already
requires higher cognitive load than speaking your native language as it requires extra
concentration on pronunciation, finding the correct words for what the person is describing and
sentence structuring.

The reason it's easier is because speaking a different language is less emotionally arousing.
Yes, less emotionally arousing. The study found that slurs, curse words and so on cause less
emotional reaction when said/spoken in a different language, when compared to one's native
language. This follows for the emotional effects of lying. There are multiple theories for why this
is the case, the main one being the context the languages were learned in.

Usually, one's native language is taught in their home, by their parents. A loving, comforting,
safe environment where the person learning the language learns it from the people they love
and trust the most in a natural and easy process, thus the person associates the language with
the emotions felt and associated in/with said environment.

In contrast, most second language are taught in schools, a strict, colder environment where
there isn't a profound connection between the person teaching the language and the person
learning it (hopefully), and thus a much weaker emotional connection to the languages.

And so, both of these factors were found to basically cancel each other out and thus lying in a
different language is about as difficult as lying in native language.

However, the first factor doesn't really apply to Gus does it? Taking the time to think about
words and structuring the sentence is not something fluid and regular speakers of a language
deal with, it's something intermediate speakers, people who are still learning the language,
haven't spoken it in a long time, or who aren't fluid in it deal with, Gus is none of these. Gus has
been a fluid English speaker for years. So for him, it stands to reason lying should be, even if
slightly more difficult for him in his native tongue.

This isn't the end of it though.

The reason Lalo decides to switch to Spanish is because Gus's native language is Spanish, it is
the language Gus spoke to his family and childhood friends growing up, and the language he
still speaks to any relatives and old friends. His usual usage of Spanish is sincere and honest
compared to English - the language in which he uses as a drug lord that deceives customers
daily, deceives businessmen and local politicians, and likely tries to trick his fellow Cartel
members.

So switching to Spanish could unconsciously cause Gus to have a more difficult time concealing
his real feelings and intentions due to his habit of being more honest with this language.

Meant to achieve: spotting signs of resentment and or hatred towards Eladio, spotting signs of
resentment and or hatred towards the Salamancas.

And lastly, Lalo says he was just joking with him, and that he would be crazy to go up against
Eladio. Meant to achieve: seeing if Gus has any actual intentions to kill Eladio.

During the conversation, despite Gus’s extraordinary composure, Lalo manages to spot the
cracks he created in Gus’s facad using these methods, and perceives Gus’s underlying
resentment towards Eladio and the Salamancas, his vengeful intentions to kill Eladio and take
over the cartel and his cautious nature. These were perceived by a combination of infinitesimal
details, such as minor changes in Gus's tone frequency at key moments, certain micro
expressions lingering for a moment too long, and so on.

From this point forward, Lalo acts against Gus on the basis of knowing he's planning on
betraying the Cartel, and even later mentions to Bolsa how he believes Gus still holds
resentment towards Eladio and the Salamancas.

In this tactic, using multiple verbal traps Lalo manages to ever so slightly break Gus’s
composure, and to anyone who knows Gus that is no small feat. The main reason this tactic
works though is because Gus had no time to potentially prepare responses for Lalo's questions
as he not only didn't know Lalo would come, but also because he didn't know much about Lalo.
Lalo knows his family and also knows they were in contact with Gus, and thus he knows what
kind of expectations Gus has for the Salamancas, and that he is an outlier in his family. He uses
these facts to leave Gus no room for preparation and begins his barrage of verbal tactics.

After this conversation, Lalo also partly psychoanalyzed Gus as well. Understanding not only his
main motivations - being hatred and resentment towards his fellow Cartel members, model of
operating being using one carefully put together facade of a polite, grateful, hard working
businessman making him a pleasant person and model immigrant, this is displayed not only by
his mannerisms and tone of speaking but by the fact he's in his restaurant actually working
alongside his workers despite being the head of a seven restaurants chain, making him seem
humble, down to earth and likable.

By the difficulty of making Gus crack he understands the caution Gus takes with every step he
makes, and that secrecy is of utmost important to him, which makes extra sense considering his
plans with the Cartel.
During this entire conversation, Lalo keeps his act of the casual, charismatic, cheerful guy even
when finding out Gus is planning on betraying the Cartel, killing Eladio and that he hates them
deeply, managing to keep himself composed despite the obvious implications and immediate
anger and dislike - potentially hatred he felt for Gus, the man who in his eyes might have
poisoned his beloved uncle.

With a partial understanding of Gus and his motivations, Lalo leaves the restaurant satisfied.

Worth noting that Lalo understood that if Gus wasn't stopped he would kill Eladio. This
conversation happens in Better Call Saul episode 9 and Gus kills Eladio in Breaking Bad
episode 10, likely as a homage to Lalo's prediction of the event. Bravo Vince
- direct manipulation, EP, EU, EM, EF, acting, verbal deception, psychoanalysis, logical
prediction, tactics, cold reading, info gathering, observation.

S4E10 11:40 - Lalo spies on Gus and his delivery line to collect information with goggles, he
collects the numbers on his delivery tracks, the times they leave and return, and maps out the
layout of the perimeter. - information gathering.

S4E10 33:20 - Lalo attempts to gaslight an office worker into giving him something mike looked
at, but fails. Then, when the worker looks away while answering a call, Lalo thinks about a
solution to get what he wants. He quickly closes the door and switches the sign from open to
closed, then breaks a piece of the ceiling, enters the vent and drops behind the glass, on the
side of the worker. He thinks for about two seconds and executes for about eight seconds.
Furthermore, he does all of this in complete silence. - verbal deception, improvisation, PSI,
tactics.

S4E10 35:40 - (context) Werner is a German architect that was hired and flown from Germany
to New Mexico by Gus to build a meth lab. He's not a goon of Gus in any way shape or form, he
can't handle himself, and he isn't a seasoned criminal.

After Lalo gets access to the cameras he observes Mike taking a bunch of brochures of a few
hotels and that Werner took a sum of money for something.

Lalo already knows Werner’s name and that he was an important figure that was somehow
connected to Gus.

So in these few seconds (4-5), Lalo connects his deduction:

- Werner is obviously doing something wrong, because there's no reason Mike wouldn't
know where he is if they were working together, Mike having to find him means
something went wrong. Why? The drug business Gus operates is top secret, and the
construction Werner is building even more so because Gus needs to hide it not only
from the police, but from the cartel as well as he's working against them. Wener is
 confined to one facility and he isn't allowed to leave, he's only left once after getting
permission from Mike for him and his boys to go to a pub to drink, and Mike
accompanied them all through the evening. When Werner got a little too drunk and just
told some people he's an architect, Mike quickly pulled him aside, as he was revealing
too much information. A German architect being in New Mexico was already too much
information to be exposed to random people.

The operation they're doing is so top secret even the most miniscule amount of
information getting leaked is a problem. Werner is in one place all day and mike is
responsible for him, of course if mike doesn't know where Werner is it's a problem.

Now, lalo didn't know ALL THIS.

But he knew:

- Gus had to keep everything secret, and a (Werner is a german name) German guy in
Albuquerque already raises suspicion, with Gus being an extremely cautious individual,
it's extremely likely Werner would be confined to one place only during his stay, and
even if not, at the very least, he'll have people watching/monitoring him at all times. As
Mike was responsible for him, naturally a situation where he wouldn't know his location
would be a disaster. And at this point, Lalo already knew Mike was responsible for
Werner.

The way Lalo knew which hotels to call was by seeing the specific row Mike took the brochures
from, the row only had a few brochures.

With this, Lalo was able to anticipate Mike will call each of those hotels and ask for werner, and
he did the same.

We knew he deduced Mike's plan because he took the same course of action as him, and we
know he deduced most of the situation with Werner (Werner doing something wrong, defying
orders/running away) because the plan to pretend to work for Gus would only work in that
scenario. Why? Because Mike is the only person who contacts and informs Werner. Lalo could
have easily guessed this because it has to work exactly like this, otherwise any person can
easily scam Werner for information by pretending to work for Gus. That's why only Mike does it,
which Werner knows. What makes this situation different? The fact that Werner wouldn't willfully
answer Mike's calls, because he knows he's doing something wrong, and Mike will just scold
him and order him to come back. So it makes sense for Mike or Gus to try and contact him
through someone else. Lalo took advantage of this fact. He found the correct hotel, got Werner
on the phone, and proceeded to pretend that he worked for Gus to gain as much information as
possible. He did it by calling Werner’s hotel and saying he calls on behalf of Gus, after Werner
asks Lalo if Gus is upset, Lalo asks "what do you think?" In a tone that suggests the question is
rhetorical, despite Lalo not knowing why Gus would be upset. This question, on the surface
could be interpreted in two ways:
 1. Lalo simply asks to genuinely find out what Werner thinks.

2. The second, is basically a way to scold Werner for doing something wrong, implying
Werner should know what he did wrong. (Lalo knew Werner was doing something wrong
at this point, further proven by this, but he didn't know what he did wrong), and got him to
spill more information while appearing as one of Gus's men. Lalo knew Werner would
take the question this way.

Essentially it's an ambiguous question that achieves multiple purposes and can be interpreted in
two different ways.

From Werner's answers, Lalo was able to gain the following intel:

- 1. Gus was building something.

- 2. They were currently working on the south wall.

- 3. Werner was one of the people working on it.

Werner goes silent afterward, after saying his name a few times, Lalo smiles and says:

“Mike… is that you?”

Confirming his anticipation that Mike will be there looking for Werner.

After that taunt, Mike hangs up the phone, but it was too late as Lalo has already gained great
intel. - verbal deception, direct manipulation, anticipation, deductive reasoning, observation, cold
reading, information gathering, abductive reasoning, tactics, FRI, fluid Intelligence.

S5E1 17:30 - When Nacho mentions there's nothing wrong, Lalo notices when Crazy 8's head
swiftly turns in a sharp manner before quickly turning it back, and realizes something is actually
wrong, he asks what's wrong and when Nacho answers that some people complained about the
quality of drugs being down, he orders them to go with him to figure out what's wrong, mostly as
an opportunity to gather information, as he doesn't think it's a coincidence. He does manage to
gather valuable information regarding the quality and manufacturer of Gus’s recent batch of
drugs he distributed. - observation, information gathering, EP, social awareness, intuition.

S5E1 21:26 - Lalo is presented with some bags of meth, all identical looking to the naked eye.

Supposedly, there may be something wrong with some of the meth.

To illustrate how impressive this is, I'll show what he saw directly.
Aa further proof if was completely identical looking, nobody else but him recognized anything
anything with how the bags looked, not the few dealers in that apartment, who you'd think would
be able to differentiate bags of meth from bags with meth and a miniscule amount of cocaine
after dealing with drugs, specifically meth for so long, or Nacho.

The only reason Lalo was even there is because the drugs supposedly “went down in quality”, in
reality they just hit slightly less hard due to a small amount of the meth being replaced with
cocaine. - perception, observation.

S5E1 28:40 - Gustavo lies about the reason some of his recent drugs are down in quality and
Lalo sees through him.

Gus is an important figure in the cartel, who uses his chicken restaurant chain to deliver drugs
over the border and launder money. However, he plans to overtake the cartel from Eldaio and
become the main leader in his place. He constantly deceives Eladio, Bolsa, Hector and other
cartel leaders in meetings, and conversations. On top of that, Gus has to deceive the police,
local population and local politicians regarding his restaurant and business, daily. He donates to
the police and other organizations, and generally makes himself a part of the community to put
on the mask of a kind business man, a person of the people, all as part of his fake persona. Gus
is an expert liar that spends a considerable amount of his waking hours deceiving people.
Despite all that, he still didn't manage to deceive Lalo. - EP.
S5E2 25:30 - Lalo plays poker with a few people including crazy 8, and wins against him despite
having a worse hand. He raises big as a bluff, predicting crazy 8 will fall for it by his subtle facial
expressions and mannerisms, and he does. Showcasing his great poker face. - acting, EP,
logical prediction.

S5E3 5:00 - The main reason Gus is trusted with power and influence within the cartel despite
not really being one of them is his impressive financial results, so Lalo plans to sabotage Gus
financially to sever his ties to the higher ups in the cartel. This tactic is simply the first step in
Lalo's plan.

This grander plan will be expanded upon later in the doc.

So, when crazy 8 gets arrested Lalo thinks of a way to take advantage of his arrest. Firstly, he
has nacho get saul to a meeting location. Then convinces Saul to get in on the plan using a
carrot and stick tactic, promising money if he agrees to cooperate and violence if he doesn't. An
extra layer of this tactic is testing Saul, to see if he could be useful in the future, and to see if he
can be trusted. The tactic begins with Saul coming into the interrogation room claiming to be
crazy 8’s lawyer, then using confidentiality to get him to memorize an act, then leaving for a
moment. with this act together they'll deceive the DEA.

When talking to the DEA, crazy 8 tells them he wants to spill information. Then, just as crazy 8
begins talking Saul barges into the room and urges crazy 8 not to talk, but when crazy 8 decides
to still talk, Saul offers them a deal, that if he spills information they drop any charges, of course
though, any information he spills could be completely false. This is an act, Saul barging in and
so on, that is meant to be seen through. The two agents "see right through" the act and get up
to leave, but just before they do Saul says the deal would be dependent on the information
crazy 8 gives them being true and leading to arrests, they agree to negotiate and Saul manages
to get crazy 8 protection as well.

The fake act was meant to make the situation believable, and the first worst deal also had the
effect of making the second deal (who granted was better) even better in comparison.

Them seeing through the fake act was part of the plan, Meaning Lalo predicted their thought
process and actions, mainly how they'll react to the initial offer and that they'll accept the second
offer, and the fact that it'll be the DEA and not the police interrogating crazy 8. He predicted their
response by a few means, firstly his experience dealing with the DEA as a seasoned cartel
member, knowing what kind of deals they get often, which deals they get less often, what type
of tricks criminals/lawyers often try to pull on them, on what conditions are they allowed to or
incentivized to accept a deal, knowledge about how rats (snitchers) are often dealt with in the
streets, etc.

The predicted thought process went like this:

- This drug dealer agrees to talk, let's hear what he has to say.
 - His lawyer suddenly barges in pleading him not to talk, after they discuss for a bit they
suddenly want a deal that guarantees his release if he talks.

- Obviously a trick to make it look like what he has to say is of value, he'll give us useless
information and then walk out free, a common trick.

- After our refusal of the initial deal they offered a deal with conditions, one that depends
on results. This is obviously a much more agreeable deal, why didn't they start with that?

- Well, assuming their information is correct, snitching could put crazy 8 in danger.
Therefore it would be worth trying first getting a deal that doesn't endanger him. Even if it
isn't accepted they don't lose anything by trying.

- This explains their take fake act in the beginning, and their second deal with conditions,
therefore their information is likely correct. This deal is worth taking.

Crazy 8 gives them 3 locations (and the times) where money is being delivered. A lot of money
that Gus would lose when the police confiscate. The great thing about this tactic is that if the
money isn't at the locations, Lalo would know someone talked, and the only two people who
knew about this tactic are Nacho and Saul, so he'll know if one of them is a mole for Gus. Lalo
then goes on to keep using crazy 8 as a rat for the DEA, snitching on more and more of Gus's
thugs, drug dealers, informants and cash drop points. This is the first time Lalo outsmarted Gus.
- indirect manipulation, logical manipulation, tactics, planning, persuasion, logical prediction,
abductive reasoning, EU, information control, misdirection, FRI, Fluid Intelligence, Knowledge
application.

S5E6 15:30 - as stated by Nacho, Lalo has multiple methods in mind in order to make the
bosses think Gus isn't worth it. Hitting supply lines, going after his restaurants, making his
customers sick, shutting down power, busting open pipes, as a few examples. - methods.

S5E7 13:50 - Lalo asks Saul about something related to Kim, and as Saul wants Lalo to have as
little personal information about him, his personal life and especially Kim, he makes up a bluff,
and Lalo sees through it.

Saul is an expert con man, the entire show is about him trying to change from the sleazy
bastard he is who constantly plots schemes to deceive and trick people into a decent lawyer. It
goes without saying Saul is a master at bluffing, making up lies on the spot, gaslighting people
and all matters of deception. Yet he's unable to deceive Lalo. Lalo could also tell the reason for
Saul trying to deceive him. - EP, EU.

S5E7 21:30 - Gus gets Lalo arrested in an attempt to stop his barrage of sabotage tactics, and
so the authorities are alerted to his existence in New Mexico and his fake identity, making Lalo
incentivized to return to Mexico after bailing himself out/breaking free.
Gus does this because his plan is to assassinate Lalo in his own home, for that he needs Lalo
to go back to Mexico. Gus understands that he can only kill Lalo in Mexico because if Lalo was
killed in the US, in New Mexico which is Gus's territory, it would make him the prime suspect for
the murder in the eyes of the cartel.

Although Lalo doesn't know about Gus’s plan to kill him, he understands why Gus would want
him imprisoned and back in Mexico, so he won't be able to continue sabotaging his operation,
even if temporarily so.

Lalo also understands that in the current position, they can't kill eachother. For the same reason
Gus knows he can't kill Lalo.

Lalo gets a phone smuggled to him while in prison and calls Nacho, telling him to brun down
Gus’s restaurant.

This does a few things.

Firstly - it deals a massive financial blow to Gus, furthering Lalo's financial sabotage plan.

Secondly - it tests Nacho's loyalty and resolve, as by this point Lalo is quite impressed with
Nacho, and plans on introducing him to Eladio as a respected cartel member. And so, one last
test is in order.

Thirdly - it forces Gus to do everything in his power to set Lalo free. Instead of what Gus
envisioned, Lalo struggling with his own power to be set free, he basically sends Gus a very
clear message “I'll continue to sabotage you for as long as I'm here, so you better make sure I'm
out of here as soon as possible”. This ensurs Lalo is set free.

Gus miscalculated a few things, mainly that 1: Lalo will understand most of the situation
(basically all of it minus why Gus really wants him in Mexico)
2: he'll be that bold
3: he'll risk Nacho

And thus Gus orders Mike to make sure Lalo is set free, Mike gets Saul to be Lalo's lawyer, and
a hearing regarding Lalo's bail out is set. - EU, indirect manipulation, logical manipulation,
tactics.

S5E8 35:50 - Lalo figures out why Kim came to visit him as soon as she tells him she's Saul's
wife, which is that Saul still hasn't arrived with the money. He figures this out mostly by seeing
through the false calmness Kim is putting on, seeing she's actually a nervous wreck. He also
figures out Saul didn't run away with the money since Kim came to visit him, if Saul had run with
the money he had no reason not to take Kim with him. These realizations are mostly due to
Kim's emotional state. He manages to calm Kim down so she won't alert the authorities. -
abductive reasoning, EU, EP, EF, FRI

S5E9 30:55 - before Lalo leaves Hector, he says "family is everything", making his already fairly
clear motivation completely clear. Everything that he's done up to this point was for his family.
Beating, killing and threatening people. Suffering great injuries, performing incredible feats while
being injured and in pain, facing death/risking his life constantly, etc. Lalo's motivation and
willpower are simple yet incredibly strong, about as strong as realistic motivations can get. - EE,
ER, metacognition.

S5E9 39:30 - Context: Saul is ambushed after receiving the 7 million dollars the Salamanca
twins took out of Lalo's savings and gave him to bail Lalo out of jail. His car gets destroyed in
the process. Mike saves him, and they walk out from the desert to a road until they find a gas
station, Saul gets serious sun burns in the process. After returning the money to Lalo, Lalo asks
what took him so long, Saul gives him a fake story about his car breaking down, Lalo doesn't
buy it.

Now, Lalo knew a gang was going to try and steal his money from Saul, and that Gus was going
to intervene and ensure Lalo gets his balling money because he wants Lalo back in Mexico.

If Saul came back without any trouble, it would be possible to assume the fight between Gus’s
men and the gang happened before they reached the spot where Saul got the money.

However, Saul's car being destroyed, him coming late by a couple of days, and lying about why
he was late all together is too big of a coincidence.

So Saul was definitely involved in some shootout, Lalo just had to figure out why he didn't want
him to know about it.

The information Lalo had at his disposal:

- Saul was in some type of shootout, that's how he car was destroyed/damaged.

- He didn't want Lalo to know he was in any shootout.

- The person/people who saved Saul were Gus’s men.

- Saul didn't know Lalo knew one/some of Gus’s men were going to intervene and save
him.

Saul lied because telling Lalo the truth wasn't in his best interest, why is that?

As we established, Saul doesn't know Lalo knows Gus’s men were going to save him. Therefore
telling Lalo the truth establishes that fact, that he was saved by Gus’s men.
Saul doesn't know exactly why he was saved or the exact details of the conflict between Gus
and Lalo, he only knows they're antagonistic to one another.

And from Saul’s point of view, Lalo doesn't know Gus’s men were going to save him, so the
obvious conclusion Lalo would reach from the fact Saul was saved by Gus is that Saul is either
a maul for Gus at worst, or has some connections to him at best (this part being true), both
being bad for Saul as both would turn Lalo antagonistic towards him.

This is how Lalo figured out Saul had connections with Gus. - EP, EU, abductive reasoning,
intuition, FRI, fluid Intelligence.

S5E40:10 - To confirm his suspicions, Lalo drives to where Saul said his car stopped working,
just to confirm with 100% certainty he lied about his story.

From the car window, he spots the tracks of a car on the desert sand, tracks that are a few days
old at this point.

They lead him to a dumped car, Lalo jumps down to investigate it and spots two small bullet
holes at the bottom of the car. - observation, perception.

Throughout the show - Lalo displays his expertise in a few fields:

- Gun usage and weapon mastery, whatever it be various pistols or assault rifles and so
on.

- Some proficiency in drugs.

- Expert mechanic.

- Lalo is a chef.

- Various displays of street smarts and deep understanding of how the criminal world
works.

Most of the instances where we learn about Lalo's skills are when he uses them to his
advantage, rather than through statements.

Lalo also speaks perfect Spanish and English throughout the show, additionally, when traveling
to Germany Lalo displays moderate ability to speak German, ordering a drink in German and
recognizing a German word because it’s similar to the same English word, on top of the fact
navigating in Germany alone likely requires some level of German by itself. - VCI: information,
VCI: vocabulary, crystalized intelligence, learning ability, knowledge application.
S5E10 28:40 - when asked about an unimpressive sum of money Eladio got from Gus, Lalo
says it's excellent to not raise suspicions he has an agenda against Fring. After that, he reveals
a key to an expensive car he bought for Eladio, with a big sum of money being in the car’s trunk.
This is a successful attempt to please Eladio and improve the Salamanca’s standing in the
cartel, ESPECIALLY now that Bolsa (Gus’s boss and the man who got Lalo imprisoned) and
Gus aren't providing well financially. It's part of a grander contingency plan to make Eladio
replace Gus, as the reason Gus and Bolsa aren't providing well is due to Lalo's sabotage back
in New Mexico, making his sum of money and competency look even better in comparison,
making giving the Salamanca family more power in the cartel seem like a wise decision. - verbal
deception, direct manipulation, emotional manipulation, tactics.

S5E10 49:20 - while assassins are trying to kill him in his own house and are murdering his
friends and workers, suffering injuries, suppressing fear, anxiety, grief, anger at the realization
he's been betrayed by Nacho and outsmarted by Gus, Lalo keeps a calm attitude and level
headedness, and even manages to think of a way to get out of the situation for the sake of his
family and to get back at Gus. - EM, EE, AC.

S5E10 49:20 - after Lalo spots the assassin dressed in black outside his window in the dark
while talking to his worker, he uses the worker as a shield, takes cover then uses a pan full of
hot oil to dismantle one of the assassins as he gets closer. Then, he makes his escape to the
bathroom, lifts the bathtub to reveal a secret tunnel which goes out the house for emergencies,
and goes in the tunnel. This is the first step in his strategy, but it's important to understand why
he takes the course of action he takes. Lalo quickly understands that trying to run away might
not be his best option.

Even though he can run away, he's injured and will now have a constant target on his head.
Instead, there's a way he can take care of the assassins, prevent future assassination attempts
and put himself in a better position to counter attack against Gus.

Lalo decides to keep the entrance to the tunnel open so the assassins will see it which would
lead them to think he ran away, and they would attempt to go in the tunnel to save time chasing
him, this would put any assassin crawling through the tunnel in a vulnerable spot, and the rest of
the assassins would think he escaped the perimeter as the assassins who saw the tunnel would
inform them Lalo escaped, lowering their guard.

After exiting the tunnel outside his house, Lalo hastes back into his house, taking a few
assassins by surprise and finishing them quickly. When he gets back to the bathroom, two
assassins are still crawling through the tunnel. He grabs an assault rifle from a dead assassin,
and fires the gun into the tunnel from above, catching the two unassuming assassins off guard,
who have no option but to die.

He later tracks the last assassin and before killing him he forces him to tell his boss they (the
assassins) finished the job, making Gus (and later Eladio, the Salamancas and the police) think
Lalo is dead, which would give Lalo time to prepare his next move, as Gus would no longer
consider him a threat or make any moves against him, presuming he's dead. Lalo thinks about
this strategy in about ~ four seconds when he's about to close the bathtub. For the strategy to
work, he has to estimate:

- The amount of time it would take him to exit the tunnel, which means estimating the
distance to the exit of the tunnel and his crawling speed.

- The amount of time it would take him to return into his house, which would mean
estimating the distance between the tunnel exit and the house.

- The amount of time it would take the assassins to find the bathroom, which would
require him to consider the last spots he saw each assassin in.

- The amount of time it would take them to exit the tunnel, estimating their crawling speed.

- And in this same window of time, he also thinks about the strategy to beat them.

He has to estimate these factors because time is an extremely important variable in this
situation.

If Lalo doesn't manage to exit the tunnel before the assassins find it, they simply unload into the
tunnel and he's dead.

If Lalo does exit the tunnel and goes into the house but the assassins crawling through the
tunnel manage to exit it before he gets back in the bathroom he has to face them head on
without the element of surprise.

Without the right variables falling into place this strategy would have extremely low chances of
survival, compared to the option of just running away, yet Lalo decided it was the right path to
take. Now let's see how he knew it would work.

How did Lalo estimate the length of the tunnel? Well firstly here's a few things we know.

Firstly, the tunnel is too long and too dark for someone to estimate its length just by looking from
its entrance.

Secondly, Lalo crawled through the tunnel once. Obviously Lalo was responsible for the
creation of the tunnel, and had a test run to make sure it's functional, and what he can expect if
he would actually need to crawl through it.

With this in mind, Lalo transferred the memory of the tunnel from his long term memory to his
working memory and visualized it in order to estimate its approximate length.
What are the dimensions of the tunnel? One assassin, after crawling through more than half of
the tunnel, estimates it to be *at least* 100 meters in size.

As for its width:

The shoulder width of the average adult male is about 40 centimeters. Lalo is a healthy, 180 cm
adult male, so no reason to believe his shoulder width should be any smaller.

As we can see, Lalo can easily fit inside the tunnel, with quite enough space for his shoulders,
potentially enough for even double his shoulder length.

As a low ball, about 70 centimeters should be accurate.

So the low ball he had to visualize is 100 meters × 70 centimeters.

Mid ball would be 120 meters × 75 centimeters.

Highball would be 140 meters × 80 centimeters.

Naturally, he did this in the same 4 seconds he formulated his strategy and took account for all
the other variables.

How do we know it was ~ 4 seconds? Well, when Lalo is about to enter the tunnel he's about to
close it but then stops, thinks for about ~ 4 seconds and decides to leave it open. This proves
he thought about the strategy and its logistics in that time, because if he thought about it
beforehand he would have just left the door to the tunnel open without trying to close it.

Lalo's estimation/prediction of the speed in which he and the assassins crawl. Obviously, he
knows his own crawling speed, but in this case his leg was injured, so he could estimate he'd
crawl slightly slower than his max speed.

On account of the assassins being, well.. assassins, Lalo can guess they're fit and in solid
physical condition. Lalo himself is also fit and in well physical condition, so he estimates their
crawling speed can't be too far than his own max crawling speed, however, taking their gear into
consideration - their protective combat uniforms with ammo and other gear equipped on it, as
well as the rifle they're carrying, their crawling speed would have to be hindered, likely slower
than his current one.

It's important to note that if even one factor was wrong, the strategy wouldn't work. Even if one
variable wasn't accounted for, it would fail, but it didn't.

He uses his negative emotions to aid cognitive tasks (memory, strategizing, etc) while
formulating the strategy, as seen by his facial expressions and attitude. - observation,
perception, cold reading, strategy, FRI, PSI, VSI, WMI, battle IQ, improvisation, logical
manipulation, indirect manipulation, long term memory, EE, AC, information control, abductive
reasoning, logical prediction, trap evasion.

Lalo stated himself that he sleeps only for about 1-2 hours a night. This amount of sleep per
night is considered sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation causes increased aggression, and
hyperalgesia, meaning an increased sensitivity to pain. These two facts makes Lalo's EQM
even more impressive in this situation, considering he was injured, and very obviously extremely
mad. On top of that, Lalo functions daily on this level of sleep, making his emotional control
even more impressive when you realize he's managing increased aggression and extra pain
sensitivity every single day. - EM, AC.

After this episode, Lalo abandons his previous plan of sabotaging Gus until he gets replaced by
Don Eladio as he realizes that won't be possible anymore with Gus trying to kill him.

So now I will summarize his grander plan which was abandoned to make it clearer.

This plan relies on the relationship between Gus and the cartel.

Gus wasn't born to a cartel family. He didn't organically join as a thug and climbed up the ranks.
He isn't friends with any of the cartel leaders. He was thrusted into this world, getting a bloody
welcome when his friend and business partner got murdered by Eladio.

So Gus isn't one of the cartel, he's not completely trusted, and his unsightly entrance to the
cartel made people fear he may hold resentment for what was done to him and his friend, but
overtime he managed to deceive almost all the cartel leaders into believing it's behind him and
he holds no grudges, almost all.. besides Lalo and Hector.

So Gus isn't really an “authentic” cartel member, but he's still respected and trusted with some
level of power. This relationship Gus has with the cartel, where he gains protection, authority
and is trusted with influence, is built solely on him managing to provide well financially, more so
than the Salamanca family.

Knowing this, Lalo plans to sabotage Gus’s operations so much that he will be replaced.
Of course, securing evidence that Gus is conspiring against Eladio and showing it to Eladio
would be ideal, but that's easier said than done. So while trying to secure evidence, Lalo's
financial sabotage plan serves as a contingency in case he wouldn't be able to find evidence.
Many of the steps he takes further both plans.

Firstly we have the tactic in the office where Lalo learns about Werner Zigler’s situation. Purley
an information gathering tactic, mainly serves the securing evidence plan.

Secondly we have the Crazy 8 tactic, where Lalo uses Crazy 8 to indirectly inform the FBI of
locations where Gus’s money is being delivered, and to test Saul and crazy 8.

This tactic achieves two purposes:

1. Furthers the contingency by financially sabotaging Gus, with hundreds of thousands of

2. Tests the loyalty of both Saul and Crazy 8, and their abilities to perform. Serves Lalo well
in the long run to know who he can trust, whether it be trusting their word or abilities.

So information gathering and financial

Thirdly we have the prison tactic.

This tactic serves three purposes :

1. Destroying Gus’s restaurant, a massive hit to Gus’s operations.

2. Again, it tests Nacho's loyalty and determination. At this point Lalo was quite impressed
with Nacho and considered having him meet Eladio as a respectable member of the
cartel, so one more test was in order.

3. Setting Lalo free from jail, so he can

Next is the Eladio tactic, where Lalo showers Eladio with an extravagant car and lots of money
specifically at a time where Bolsa and Gus have less to offer, flipping the image in his mind that
Gus provides more than the Salamancas.

Beyond that, Lalo sets up another contingency in case an attempt on his life is made.
Lalo sets up multiple look-alikes of him around the territory he controls, all matching his general
build (height, frame, etc) in case he needs to fake his own death.

Furthermore, we know he switched their dental records with those of himself. He did that so if
he needed to fake his death, he could burn the body of one of them, and the only part that could
be used to recognise them are their teeth, which will match the records.. of Lalo.

Another aspect of this plan is the pressure Lalo's first contingency applies to Gus and how it
helps his main plan.

Lalo's financial sabotage puts Gus in a tough position, because if he's replaced his entire plan to
take control of the cartel crumbles.

This forces Gus to either:

1 - fight back against Lalo's financial sabotage.

2 - speed up his main plan.

Both options force Gus to stretch his resources thin and make suboptimal decisions as he has
no better options.

For example, the Wener Zigler situation created by Gus trying to speed up his plan, resulting in
Werner and his men working under conditions they couldn't mentally endure, which resulted in
Werner disobeying orders which gave Lalo the opportunity to gather crucial information.
Demonstrating the fact Gus revealing more of his cards gives Lalo more opportunities to spy on
him and his men, gathering information.

This dynamic - sabotaging → info gathering → sabotaging etc perfectly strikes Gus’s
weakness - his need for secrecy by forcing him to act, play his cards, make moves
rather than slowly and quietly playing the long game by continuing with his plan to
take over the cratel, then gathering crucial information in moments of vulnerability.

Lalo's psychoanalysis of Gus lets him understand how Gus operates, thus he deliberately
makes a plan that forces Gus out of his comfort zone, making him fight in a way he's not used
to.

In simple words, Lalo made a style of planning specifically suited to counter Gus, and on top of
that, he was also multi-tasking by making it so that the formulation of one contingency was also
helping his main plan.

Overall, this plan includes one five separate tactics, some preparation, and a lot of information
gathering.
In essence, Lalo was working towards a main goal while simultaneously building multiple
contingency plans. Of course, I didn't mention every single instance of Lalo's information
gathering as that would be unnecessary. - planning, EU, EF, psychoanalysis, influence building,
relationship management, emotional manipulation, fabrication, indirect manipulation, information
gathering, FRI, fluid Intelligence, knowledge application.

S6E1 11:10 - Lalo silently disassembles a pair of scissors to use one half as a weapon to kill a
woman and her husband. Moments ago, when the woman told her husband to go shave, Lalo
told him to keep a mustache as it would look good on him, the real reason he told him that is
because properly trimming a mustache takes more time than just shaving it, giving Lalo extra
time to silently murder the wife while the husband is in the bathroom, then sneaking on the
husband as he's done shaving. After he kills both of them he burns the husband's body beyond
recognition to serve as a decoy, as his supposed dead body. Earlier the wife also mentioned
Lalo paid for the husband's dental care, the real reason Lalo did this is so he could replace the
dental records of this man with the records of himself. This is to fake his own death, so after he
burnt the man beyond recognition the only feature that could identify him is his teeth. It's
important that everyone thinks he's dead so he won't have a target over his head and that he'll
have the element of surprise. The man was one of the look-alikes of Lalo mentioned earlier. -
tactics, information control, verbal deception, fabrication, concealment.

S6E1 50:10 - Lalo calls Hector’s retirement home. When reaching the receptionist, he
deliberately speaks in Spanish first to see if she knows Spanish. When she says she'll direct the
call to someone who knows Spanish, Lalo says it's fine as he knows English as well. After
confirming that she doesn't know Spanish, Lalo can freely talk to Hector in Spanish without fear
of her listening in. - cold reading.

Between S6E1 - S6E5, Lalo manages to get to Germany and track down Werner's wife. Let me
describe the conditions he did it in.

He:

- Was partially injured

- Had no men to command

- Had at least 2000 pesos, but it can't be much more since it would need to be an amount
he can carry on his person, so not a lot of money, certainly not enough for a flight

- Had a pistol with a few rounds and a truck with unknown amount of fuel

Gus, the authorities and the rest of the cartel thought he was dead, and he had to keep it this
way, which means a few things.

He:
 - 1 - couldn't use his connections (without killing them after), as any person who knows
he's alive could leak that information, and that is too great of a risk. Meaning Lalo had to
kill any
person who recognised him, so using his connections became much harder and
troublesome. On top of that, Lalo barely (if any) has people who he trusts. The only one
we know for sure he trusts is Hector, who couldn't help in this situation.

- 2 - had to stay under the radar and be stealthy, as Gus's men were still lurking around.

- 3 - he couldn't board a flight with his regular passport, because he's presumed dead. His
passport wouldn't work, yet he got to Germany anyway.

Despite all this he got to Germany and somehow tracked down Werner's wife.

How did he do it? This is how.

We know Lalo had more than 7 million dollars ready for when he needed a bail. We also know
he had an underground tunnel in his house for emergencies. Lalo is a wealthy criminal who we
see has precautions for various situations, it's extremely likely he had a fake passport ready at
some location, which he took without being recognised.

As far as finding Werner's wife, as Lalo stated there were only 27 people named Werner Ziegler
living in Germany, so he could check which one recently died and track down his wife from
there. Lalo is about to cross the border to New Mexico in order to kill Gus, but gets the idea to
get evidence that Gus is going to betray Eladio after a phone call with Hector instead, and so he
decides to travel to Germany, then get information from Werner's wife. - information gathering,
abductive reasoning, FRI, fluid Intelligence, tactics.

S6E1 52:37 - Lalo discusses with Hector what his next move should be. Lalo says he's going
back to New Mexico to kill Gus, but Hector protests. Lalo goes through the Spanish alphabet
and Hector dings at the letters to communicate his preferred idea to Lalo. Three letters in and
Lalo guesses the word, which is the Spanish word for evidence.

He counters, telling Hector he looked for evidence for months but found none, then has some
sort of realization, and says he knows where to find the evidence.

After this, Lalo travels to Germany, tracks down Werner's wife (we'll call her M) and attempts to
seduce her to extract information out of her.

What did Lalo understand in those few seconds? How did he know M is alive and in Germany?
From what he knew, she was going to meet her husband in New Mexico, Werner Ziegler, which
he knew Mike found.
Lalo could easily deduce Werner was killed as he worked on an extremely secret project for
Gus and directly disobeyed orders, Gus was not going to let someone unreliable and
untrustworthy with knowledge of what he's doing live, considering one word to the authorities
can foil all of his plans.

However, shouldn't M have been killed as well? She was just on her way to New Mexico to meet
her husband after all.

Also, why would Lalo think she would be open to his advances? After all, her dear husband just
died a few weeks ago, a still very early departure, especially considering how long they've been
married for. Of course different people have different ways to cope, but a middle aged wife
moving on so quickly? There's no way Lalo planned on trying to seduce her, that is poor
planning right there. Or is it?

I will explain Lalo's thought process and how he reached his conclusions.

Firstly, let's confirm that a few things Lalo for sure knows.

1: Werner is dead - common sense deduction considering the information he has.

2: He has a wife - Travel Wire documents.

3: If his wife is alive, she must not know anything about Werner's business with Gus, or is bribed
to keep quiet about it - common sense.

Firstly, it's extremely unlikely Werner would tell his wife anything about his work at New Mexico
relating to Gus, as 1 - he's not allowed to, 2 - that would put her at risk and 3 - it would put his
marriage at risk.

So it follows M doesn't know anything about the operation or Werner's work.

Knowing this, we can understand killing her isn't necessary. However, it is safer and more
convenient isn't it? A dead man tells no tales after all, however, in practice it actually isn't.

Lalo, being in the cartel business for years, is experienced in not only killing people, but
disposing of them as well, and thus has an understanding of the difficulty of the whole ordeal,
killing someone, covering it up, disposing of the body, etc. It's even more dangerous in this
situation as M is not a citizen of New Mexico and thus her disappearance would invite unwanted
attention.

Knowing Gus's cautious nature and his constant pursuit of secrecy, Lalo can easily deduce he
would rather take the safer option, that being M not being killed, if possible. Mike would prefer it
as well, being good natured (at least in comparison to his pears) and it also meaning less work
for him, and Werner himself would obviously prefer it as he wouldn't want his wife to die.
All of this is amplified tenfold when we consider M hasn't landed yet, which Lalo knows (Travel
Wire documents).

Knowing all of this, Lalo can understand they would try to get her to immediately travel back to
Germany upon her landing, the only question remaining is with what method.

Obviously she couldn't know the truth, so she had to be deceived in some way. Lalo knows it
had to be Werner who made her return to Germany, as any other person doing it would be
suspicious, “why is this person I don't know telling me to go back home and that my husband
can't make it to our vacation? Why can't he tell me himself?”, and suspicious are the last thing
they would want to raise, especially considering that if Werner died shortly after some random
man told her to go back home she would likely alert the authorities.

Anything practical wouldn't really work either. Werner telling her he's sick or injured would make
her want to see him even more to take care of him or at least be there for him, potentially
making her want to see him even more out of concern. Work also wouldn't work. If he tells her
he can't be with her due to extra work poping up, there's no reason she can't enjoy the hotel
they already paid for and a vacation at New Mexico alone. Not to mention it's possible they can
potentially finish the extra work earlier than expected, still giving Werner and M some vacation
time (from her POV).

No, it had to be something else. It had to be something that would be guaranteed to work, give
no information about the real reason why, and wouldn't raise any suspicions. Being an asshole
checks all three boxes. Just Werner directly telling his wife to go back because he doesn't want
to see her, would sure to send her right back, as it would upset her and make her not want to
see him anyway.

Lalo understood not only this, but its implications as well.

What this means is that the last interaction M had with Werner was negative. Him yelling at her,
telling her he doesn't want to see her. This would not only leave a bitter taste in her mouth,
there are obvious implications to Werner's actions. Why would he suddenly not want to see her
after specifically inviting her? After not seeing her for so long? And renting a hotel for the both of
them? The obvious guess would be that he's cheating, and wants to share the hotel room with
his lover instead of his wife. Those are thoughts that must have crossed her mind, from her
point of view it's the most reasonable explanation.

Of course, all of this doesn't mean she hates him. It's only speculation from her side after all to
and his death hurt her deeply. But their negative last interaction and the looming thoughts of him
cheating in her mind makes it highly likely she'll be ready to move on sooner than she would
otherwise, or at the very least would have a justification for trying to move on sooner rather than
later, or use distasteful methods of coping.
This feat was performed in 3-4 seconds.

This is how Lalo knew she was alive, in Germany, and how he anticipated she would be open to
his advances. - deductive reasoning, abductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, anticipation,
cold reading, psychoanalysis, EU, FRI, PSI, fluid Intelligence, knowledge application.

S6E5 39:01 - Lalo decides to investigate further into Gus's connection with Werner and goes to
Germany, then tracks Werner's wife. He manages to smoothly start a conversation with her
(seducing her) by sitting next to her and chit chatting with the barman while convincingly faking
an American accent, knowing the barman will ask him where he's from, and so he says New
Mexico and mentions the name of the city Werner's wife almost had a vacation in. During the
conversation he manages to subtly get her to expose valuable information. He then escorts her
back to her house. He breaks into her house the following day and finds valuable information
that leads him to Werner's friends. During their conversation, Lalo also confirms the wife has no
idea what actually happened with her husband Werner and by means of emotional perception,
and thus decides not to directly investigate her. - EP, EF, direct manipulation, emotional
manipulation, charisma, information gathering, tactics.

S6E6 27:00 - after Lalo tracks down Werner's friend called casper and begins chasing him (we'll
call the friend C), C enters a dark warehouse to even the odds against Lalo as Lalo has a gun
while he only has an axe. He planned on ambushing Lalo in the warehouse. Lalo understands
he's disadvantaged in the warehouse and that C plans on ambushing him, but he has a counter
in mind. Lalo has a card he got from Werner's wife, with it he managed to find C’s hiding
location, and behind the card there's a small, sharp metallic blade. Lalo predicts C won't kill him
immediately for two reasons.

1. Is that he's a regular civilian, unlikely that he killed someone before, unlikely to possess
a killer instinct, has no experience with violence and would therefore hesitate.

2. He would like to know how Lalo found him, as he's trying to stay hidden in the middle of
the forest, and knowing how he was found could determine his next actions, for example
if the way Lalo found him can only be performed once or only by Lalo, he may not need
to relocate.

This would give Lalo an opportunity to show him the card, and as C gets close to read it
(because he won't want to let go of his axe, he won't take the card in his hands and will have to
get closer to read it, especially since it's so dark in the warehouse) Lalo will slash him in the
face, then steal his axe. So, after Lalo gets ambushed, he falls to the floor. He then puts on an
act, convincing C he's in so much pain he can't walk and can barely talk. C asks how he tracked
him down, and Lalo shows him the card. While distracted reading the card, Lalo quickly slashes
his face with the blade hidden behind the card and steals his axe. He then proceeds to torture
the information he needs out of him. Important to note that he puts on the act that he's in so
much pain he can't even talk or walk while he's injured. - acting, concealment, fabrication,
information gathering, cold reading, tactics, setting traps, trap evasion, logical prediction,
abductive reasoning, EF, EU, FRI, fluid Intelligence.

S6E7 5:00 Lalo spots a small exit hole from the sewers, from which the laundry can be seen. He
then enters the sewers from a different entrance and navigates to the spot where he can watch
the industrial laundromat department called "Lavanderia Brillante" as he knows underneath it is
Gus's secret meth lab (or meth lab in the making) due to the information he got from Werner's
friend, to spy on the movements of gus's people. - information gathering, observation, VSI.

S6E7 36:45 - Lalo calls Hector’s nursing home again, speaking in Spanish first to see if the
nurse speaks Spanish as well or not, because if she doesn't he knows she can't listen in on him
talking to Hector in Spanish.

However, something peculiar happens. The line takes slightly too long to reach Hector, and Lalo
immediately realizes the call is bugged.

3 seconds to be exact. Last time Lalo called Hector, it was about 15 seconds, this time, Lalo
shuts the phone when the call still hasn't reached Hector after 18 seconds.

It makes sense for two reasons. No one else ever calls Hector or make attempts to contact him,
and Hector is disabled to the point he can't even move so he's stationary, meaning the nurses
always know where he is.

That's why it makes sense for the call to reach Hector fairly quickly.

Under normal circumstances this wouldn't merit such conspiracies, but in a game of life and
death against Gus there are no coincidences.

This is how Lalo realized Gus knew he was still alive, and that he bugged the call. - observation,
abductive reasoning, PSI, FRI, knowledge application, fluid Intelligence, crystallized methods.

S6E7 38:00 - this is where Lalo's strategy to corner Gus begins. He calls the line which he
knows is bugged, and talks to Hector, saying "Gus can expect a surprise this evening", implying
he's going to target Gus that same evening. This was done to let Gus know he's going to try and
kill him. This will be important later.

He thinks about this strategy for between 10 and 60 seconds. We know this because he calls
Hector to let him know he plans to attack Gus (in order to deceive Gus) about a minute after he
finds out Gus had bugged the call. That part of the strategy is crucial to it, it enables the entire
strategy, so he must have thought about it in that time frame. He gets visibly frustrated after he
finds out that Gus bugged the call and calms down about ten seconds before he calls Hector, so
it's possible he thought about it only in those ten seconds
In the same episode he enters Saul’s house and kills Howard. After that (an episode later), he
sits Saul and Kim down, and begins talking. He tells Saul that he will give him a pistol, a
camera, the keys to his cars, and Gus's address, and he wants Saul to go to Gus's house, ring
the bell, and the moment the door opens empty the magazine, then take pictures where it's
possible to clearly see the head. He doesn't say the name "Gus", but describes a black man
with glasses. And if he calls the police or doesn't come back after twenty minutes, Kim is dead.
Saul manages to convince him to give the mission to Kim instead of him, so Kim goes instead
and Saul stays with Lalo.

After Kim leaves, Lalo ties Saul to a chair, gags him, turns on the TV and maxes the volume so
Saul's grunts won't be heard. Then he leaves.

When Kim arrives at Gus's house, just as she's opening the door, Mike and his goons dismantle
her from behind and bring her into the house for questioning as Gus watches from a camera in
the same house. As Kim hysterically tries to explain what's going on, she tells them Lalo
Salamanca threatened them to go to that certain address and kill a black man with glasses, and
that if she didn't, he'll kill Saul, she told them he's still there with Saul.

Meanwhile, Lalo breaks into the laundry owned by Gus with the meth lab underneath it. There
are three reasons he was able to do it so smoothly. One is that there was less security than
usual, as a lot of Gus's people are guarding his house and the perimeter around the house,
because they were given information that Lalo is going to try to kill Gus tonight earlier that day..
by Lalo. This is why the earlier phone call Lalo made was important.

Second one is that from the people who did guard the laundry, most went to Saul’s apartment in
order to catch Lalo, as Lalo told Kim he would kill Saul if she didn't come back after 20 minutes
or call the police, which means he would have to be there with Saul, and the last time Kim saw
Lalo was in their apartment. She of course told this to Mike, which then called for reinforcement
and went to catch Lalo and aave Saul who Lalo knew had connections to Gus/Mike and served
as their corrupt lawyer, giving them interest to keep Saul alive.

Third one is because there was no one watching the security cameras the moment Lalo broke in
through a vent. We see that one of Gus’s men comes into the camera room (that is in Gus’s
house) just a moment after Lalo slipped through a vent in a hurry. Dumb luck? Well, we must
ask ourselves a question first. Where did the guard come back from? Especially in such a
dangerous and important situation there was no way he could have just left his post right? For
him to do that and there being no other person replacing him, something of equal or greater
importance must happen no? Something that requires his immediate attention. Like someone
coming to kill Gus knocking on his front door. By sending Gus the message he's going to kill him
that night, Lalo doesn't only put Gus on edge, but all of his men as well. All of them are
expecting an assassination attempt made by the same guy who survived one by 7-9 assassins
simultaneously. Not only that, but he puts the attention on Gus’s house, diverting attention from
the laundry. And just in that moment, someone knocked on Gus’s front door. Making the
security guards either come out of their room guns blazing expecting an attack to occur at any
moment, or walk towards the cameras in the room showcasing Gus’s front lawn, backyard, front
yard, the living room where they interrogated Kim, etc, expecting something that would require
all of their attention to happen. After all, even after Kim was detained, this could still be a
distraction. And it was, just simply a distraction from something else entirely. Naturally, this
wouldn't leave Lalo with a lot of time to break in, so his timing had to be perfect. He knew the
amount of time it would take Kim to arrive at Gus’s house by car, and timed his break into the
laundry based on that. Naturally, it was a risky move, but not a reckless one. A calculated risk if
you will. Even if this part failed, his strategy wouldn't fail immediately, it would just make things
harder on him. This will be elaborated on further later on.

After Mike finishes questioning Kim, he takes a few men from Gus’s house and calls multiple
others standing watch in the laundry to Saul's house to hopefully catch Lalo and save Saul,
further diluting Gus’s forces.

After Gus hears what Kim had to say, he realizes something is off. Sending Kim to kill him is
such a poor attempt on his life, it was obviously not going to work, Lalo had to know that. This is
the exact deduction he made:

P1 - The assassination attempt on Gus by Kim would obviously fail, there was no shot some
random civilian with a pistol would be able to kill Gus in his own home. Any regular individual
with proper information about Gus would understand that, and especially someone as intelligent
as Lalo.

C1 - The assassination attempt serves some other purpose, other than to kill Gus.

P2 - The assassination achieved two things - it wasted some time, and diluted Gus’s men.

C2 - The assassination was a distraction.

P3 - The only other thing that can destroy Gus other than his own death is information about the
lab reaching Eladio, Lalo obviously knows this as he spent months investigating Gus and his
business.

C3 - The assassination attempt was a distraction so Lalo could film/gather evidence of the lab’s
existence.

P4 - The laundry has fewer guards and that's how Lalo was able to enter it, however that is
because more were assigned to guard Gus’s home because Lalo said he was going to try and
kill him that night, and because he sent Kim to try and kill Gus in his house, However, now it's
revealed the laundry was Lalo's real goal.

C4 - Lalo's phone call and sending Kim were both acts of misdirection so he could enter the
laundry, and this was all part of his strategy.
This was part of Lalo's strategy of course. Thr entire strategy benefits from Gus being intelligent
enough to realize this. Lalo's understanding of Gus was potent enough to anticipate the exact
deduction Gus would make. This was possible due to Lalo's extensive psychoanalyzation of
Gus and his repeated tests. Lalo created a situation where he could break into the laundry, Gus
would know he was there and would come to confront him as well, but wouldn't realize Lalo
would be expecting him. And so Lalo would be able to get evidence of the lab to Eladio, and kill
Gus preventing any future retaliation from him.

And even if he did know, he wouldn't have a choice since he couldn't just let Lalo record the
secret lab and run away. Lalo basically managed to anticipate Gus's thought process and
actions by creating 3 fake strategies,

the first - killing Gus in his own home by sending Kim with a pistol, which Gus was meant to see
through and he did. This was so Gus would realize Lalo is in the laundry.

The second - sending Kim in at attempt to Kill Gus, Mike and his men apprehending her and
being told of Lalo's location, so they would walk into some trap trying to catch him. This is why
Mike was so cautious and brought so many men with him surrounding and investigating the
perimeter (as well as outright stating this might be a trap). This one was to make Mike send
extra man to the apartment.

The third - getting evidence of the lab and escaping. This was so Gus wouldn't realize Lalo was
there waiting for him.

And the real strategy being getting evidence of the lab, killing Gus then escaping.

Alongside those three fake strategies are three traps.

1 - The phone call.

2 - luring Mike to Saul's apartment.

3 - Luring Gus to the laundry.

It is important to realize Gus had no confirmation of any of this and was purely relaying on his
own reasoning and intuition, so for example, after seeing through the fake third strategy Gus
would decide to order Mike to not take the men guarding the laundry with him to capture Lalo.
This could have massively backfired if Lalo was indeed laying a trap for Mike back at Saul's
apartment, then Gus would have multiple men and his valuable right hand man.

That's the point of the strategy, the “fake” strategies are actually routs Lalo can possibly take it
he pleases, making the misdirection that much more potent, serving as an impenetrable shield
of deception. This works exceptionally well against Gus, the cautious man who always thinks
thrice before acting, considers all possibilities and plans accordingly, who now has to face a
situation where he can't cover for all possibilities. A strategy designed to counter Gus, with
multiple possible situations and one best situation which Lalo anticipated.

However, although the strategy was built around this being the best case scenario and the one
most likely to happen, Lalo made it so the strategy would still work or at least have a good
chance of working even if Gus made different choices/would realize different things.

It's important to realize how adaptable this strategy really is. Let's look at every possible
scenario.

- Gus doesn't see through the third fake strategy.

- Results - he doesn't come to the laundry, Lalo gets proof of the secret lab, gives it to
Eldaio, Gus's plot to betray the cartel is revealed.

- Gus doesn't see through the first fake strategy after Kim is sent.

- Results - same as last one.

- Gus sees through the real strategy after Kim is sent.

- Results - decides he needs to come anyway, to stop Lalo from getting proof of the lab,
worst case scenario for Lalo. The confrontation is more difficult as Lalo doesn't have the
advantage of surprise but he can still win. Lalo still knows they're coming, still has the
advantage of being there first so he can hide and prepare an ambush, and as we know
Lalo isn't new to defeating multiple armed men alone. Gus dies and Lalo escapes with
the evidence. Gus's plot gets revealed.

- Gus sees through the real strategy before Kim is sent, after Lalo's phone call. This is
extremely unlikely, as there's no real proof Lalo has known the phone was bugged
before this, but let's say Gus somehow figures it out.

- Results - Gus doesn't have extra personal defending his house, and instead defending
the laundry. In that case, Gus’s house is vulnerable with less protection, meaning Lalo
can get through the minimal defenses and kill Gus.

- Gus sees through the second fake strategy but not the real one.

- Results - He decides to come and catch Lalo by surprise, gets ambushed, dies, Lalo
gets evidence of the lab and escapes.

- Gus decides to open the door to Kim instead of Mike and his men detaining her for some
reason.
 - Kim kills Gus, Lalo escapes the laundry with the evidence and Gus’s plot gets revealed.

- Lalo's indirect manipulation of the security guards in Gus’s camera room doesn't work,
and they see him breaking into the laundry.

- Same results as what actually happened. Gus comes into the laundry knowing Lalo is
there, but doesn't know Lalo is expecting him. It's only slightly worse for Lalo as he has
less time to find a place to ambush Gus from.

The strategy works in every possible scenario.

The one where Gus comes into the laundry but doesn't expect Lalo to know he's coming is the
best one of course, Lalo gets the evidence he needs and Gus gets killed so no war between the
cartel and the men loyal to Gus will happen.

Gus not coming and Lalo escaping with the evidence is the second best case scenario, as
although Gus is alive, his plot is still exposed, the cartel turns on him, and the position of the
Salamancas in the cartel is secured.

Gus coming into the laundry knowing Lalo expects them to come is the worst one by far, as the
confrontation has the potential to become much more difficult. It's impossible to know the exact
percentages of Lalo's success in this scenario, but it should speak volumes to the adaptability of
the strategy that under such bleak circumstances, Lalo’s strategy still has a decent enough
chance to succeed, even in the absolute worst case scenario.

However again, it's important to note the strategy is designed around the best case scenario
happening, as it's the one Lalo anticipated happening.

When Lalo breaks into the laundry, he does it from a large fan on the wall closet to where the
entrance to the lab is, knowing Gus would immediately come to the entrance. As anticipated by
Lalo, Gus and his goons arrive. The fan doesn't work as Lalo disabled it while entering. He
knew this would catch Gus's attention, and Gus's men would naturally focus their attention at
whatever Gus was focusing on, and so he uses those few seconds they're distracted to ambush
them from behind. He kills the four goons, then takes his camera and starts recording, telling
Gus to open the entrance. The plan was to film the lab, kill Gus and escape before “they arrive”.

Who are “they”, well, Mike and his men, who according to Lalo will arrive in about 13 minutes.
How did Lalo know this exactly? Well, just like how he anticipated Gus’s actions, he anticipated
Mike’s.

Lalo knew that upon seeing that Lalo wasn't in Saul's apartment, Mike would make a somewhat
similar deduction to Gus's deduction, only that the possibility of Lalo being in Saul's apartment
and trying to trap Mike and his men there is crossed out, and that's why Mike will be able to
make the deduction.
Basically, gauging their levels of intelligence, Lalo anticipated Gus would make a deduction
Mike won't, but then Mike will make a smaller, easier to deduce version of the same deduction.

This strategy almost works, but after they enter the underground meth lab, just before Lalo is
about to kill Gus, Gus asks for one last speech, to say what he really thinks about Eladio in front
of the camera. Lalo chuckles and gives him a minute to talk. As Gus passionately throws insults
at Eladio and the Salamancas, he slowly moves towards the power outlet. He swiftly kicks it,
shutting off the lights. He runs towards a pistol he remembers is in the lab while Lalo tries to
shoot him in the dark, hitting, but at a part of his body where Gus is wearing a protective vest.
Gus then takes the gun and aims at the source of the noise and shoots, hitting Lalo at the chest
and neck. - strategy, setting traps, anticipation, direct manipulation, indirect manipulation, logical
manipulation, emotional manipulation, concealment, misdirection, inductive reasoning,
deductive reasoning, abductive reasoning, EU, EF, FRI, fluid Intelligence, knowledge
application.

S6E8 40:00 - Lalo got hit in the chest and the neck, he's laying on the ground bleeding to death.
He's still conscious, but instead of crying or cowering in terror for his imminent death, he smiles
and laughs at Gus.

Although odd, it fits Lalo's character perfectly.

Lalo was a warrior who lived by a “live by the sword and die by the sword” mentality.

Despite his immense hatred for Gus, he also enjoyed their cat and mouse game to a certain
degree.

Despite the immense pain he felt, the realization he disappointed his family - the only thing he
cares for in the world and that they're done for, the realization he's about to die, even in death's
door he refuses to give Gus the satisfaction of seeing a defeated, scared, beaten down Lalo and
choses to laugh at the absurd luck Gus had hitting him in complete darkness, using his
immense hatred for Gus, and his own amusement of the situation.

Giving Gus one last smile, conveying a “well played”. This is the end of Eduardo “Lalo”
Salamanca, also known as the goat. - EE, EM.

Breaking Bad, S2E7 31:20 - Walter and Jesse kidnapped Saul Goodman.

They took him to the desert, in the middle of the night, his head covered in a sack while both of
them wore masks.

They put him down in front of a grave they dug and took his sack off so he could see it.

He begins desperately crying for mercy, saying he isn't at fault, completely hysterical.
As they tell him to calm down he asks them if Lalo sent them, and when they say they weren't
sent by Lalo Saul completely calms down, relieved it wasn't Lalo who sent them.

Kidnapped in the middle of the desert, in complete darkness, kneeling in front of a grave
supposedly dug for him, behind him two men with guns and masks, and Saul is simply relieved
by the fact Lalo isn't involved, so much so he visibly calmed down despite the circumstances. -
EF, fear inducement.