Why Did Gus Kill Victor? Who Played It In Better Call Saul?

Why Gus killed Victor instead of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) at the start of season 4 of Breaking Bad is key to understanding the mind of the Breaking Bad, the bad guy. When Breaking Bad season 2 premiered, Jeremiah Bitsui’s Victor worked as Gustav Fring (Giancarlo Espositogoon).

Victor was the brutal enforcer of Gus’ drug enterprise, much like Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), who made sure things ran smoothly for his master. Interestingly, in one of the most gruesome moments in Breaking Bad history, the man he worked for slashed his throat.

Better Call Saul, the show that came before Breaking Bad, showed that Victor had worked for Gus long before the events of Breaking Bad. Victor supervised Gus White’s meth superlab in Season 3, where Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse worked.

Walt was afraid he would be replaced by Gale Boetticher (David Costabile), another chemist, after being introduced to the group. Walt planned to kill Gale so he could take charge of all meth production by himself, but Jesse ended up carrying out the deed. Jesse fatally shot Gale in the flat before Victor could intervene.

Who Played Victor In Better Call Saul?

American actor Jeremiah Bitsui got a great break when he was cast as Victor. His acting career began when he was five years old, and he played Mickey in the Japanese film Mickey’s House.

Following his roles in Natural Born Killers and A Thousand Roads, Jeremiah portrayed Eagle Flies in the 2018 version of Red Dead Redemption 2. The actor from Los Angeles landed a job in Breaking Bad and later played the same character in the smash hit prequel series Better Call Saul.

He stated this about his character, Victor: “At the beginning of it, I think that I found Victor finding himself in a spot where he’s, I don’t know, maybe a little bit more fresh on the team, maybe more elevating in his status, which he’s delighted about.

“And then, in the end, there’s a cruel aspect of him where I feel like he’s done all this, and he sort of revels in it to some extent,” she continued.

Gus’ Arturo Killing In Better Call Saul Shows A Consistent Approach To Murder

Season 4 of the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul features several revelations, including Gustav Fring’s use of murder to control the people he’d rather have alive. Back in Better Call Saul season 3, Nacho tries to take over Hector’s position in the Salamanca drug business by substituting Hector’s prescription with phony placebo capsules, forcing Hector to have a stroke.

Though the cartel overlords designate Nacho and Arturo to replace Hector, Gus asks Victor to follow and examine the two. In Better Call Saul season 4, episode 2, “Breathe,” Gus confesses that Nacho is responsible for Hector’s stroke. When Nacho and Arturo strong-arm their way into taking more drugs than they were intended to form Gus’ facility, Gus ambushes them and suffocates and kills Arturo with a plastic bag.

Gus tells Nacho he knows how Nacho placed Hector Salamanca in a wheelchair but that the Salamancas don’t, while Victor and Tyrus frame Arturo’s death as a gang homicide. Like Gus killed Victor in Breaking Bad, Gus killed Arturo in Better Call Saul to assert complete control over Nacho, who’s more beneficial to him alive.

Better Call Saul’s insight into Gustav Fring reveals a genuinely horrible man – one who disturbingly kills not just as a kind of punishment but as a threat of penalties yet to come. Gus’s long-term planning is evident from the fact that he told Nacho Hector wasn’t intended to die just yet.

The Breaking Bad series finale showed that it took a genius like Walter White to outsmart Gus. Even after his death, viewers of Better Call Saul still want to see more of Giancarlo Esposito’s legendary bad guy, Gustav Fring.

Who Played Victor In Better Call Saul?
Who Played Victor In Better Call Saul?

Why Did Gus kill Victor?

Gus killed Victor to serve as a warning to Walt and Jesse. By then, Walt and Jesse’s relationship with Gus was in disarray. Gus demonstrated that nobody is safe with him by coldly eliminating a key player in his enterprise, Victor.

While Gus probably already knew that Victor understood Walt’s culinary method inside and out, some fans feel that Gus might have thought twice about killing him if he had known it.

Neighbors who spotted Victor at Gale’s apartment building suspect that Gus was the killer. The neighbors would have described Victor’s appearance to the police when they arrived to investigate the murder, which posed a severe threat to Gus’ entire business.

Furthermore, Gus saw a sketched image of Victor when he went to the police station to talk with Hank Schrader, who was beginning to suspect Gus’ actual motives. Gus realized that Victor’s antics had brought unnecessary drama concerning Gale’s passing.

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