Talk:Magic Man (Better Call Saul)

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What are the Salamancas selling?[edit]

I know the two drug buyers in 50% Off say they're buying "glass" (meth). But in Magic Man, Gus tells Juan the cover story that he replaced cartel "product" with "methamphetamine" he purchased locally. I think he's making a distinction between meth and something else, otherwise he'd have simply said he replaced stolen cartel meth with inferior local meth, or stolen cartel "product" with inferior local product. Add Gus's distinction between "product" and meth to the fact that Eladio had Max killed because Eladio wanted to distribute cocaine, not methamphetemine. In addition, the reason Gus wants a meth lab in Albuquerque is so he won't have to rely on cartel cocaine from Mexico. When the cartel finally does decide to sell meth during Breaking Bad, Gus pretends to offer them Jesse's services and the cartel dons are eager to accept -- because the cartel's cooks are producing an inferior grade of methamphetamine.

I might be wrong here, but it seems to me the whole point of Gus's machinations is that he wants to produce meth on the US side of the border, but the cartel wants to stick with bringing cocaine from Mexico to the US. Therefore, the Salamancas are selling cocaine, not meth.

Anyone else care to weigh in?

Billmckern (talk) 15:10, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I am pretty confident from all that back story that the cartel is always smuggling cocaine up to the cartel throughout the BCS and BB timeline, and that Gus would rather do meth, as you described. The only reason meth comes up here is that (as we know from next episode) Nacho replaced some of the meth in for cocaine on Gus' demands to create Werner's cover story. --Masem (t) 16:16, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Nope:

https://i.imgur.com/sBe90eh.jpg

Yes. Before Breaking Bad the cartel is selling cocaine. Before, as in during Better Call Saul.

The whole point of Gus's animosity toward Hector and Eladio is that they killed Max because they preferred to keep distributing their cocaine to Gus and Max's meth. And the reason Gus wants a lab in the US is so he can produce meth which will enable him to end his reliance on cartel cocaine from Mexico.

In addition, the reason Gus brings Jesse to Mexico during Breaking Bad is that the cartel is unsuccessful in its own initial attempts to produce meth, so Gus wants it to look like Jesse is helping them. If the cartel was already making meth, they'd know how to make meth, and wouldn't need Jesse to show them how to make meth.

Billmckern (talk) 11:42, 30 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]