Summary
- Lydia Rodarte-Quayle was an important figure in Walt's meth empire, but she wasn't a real threat and was easily assassinated.
- Victor was just a henchman who showcased Gus's power, and he was disposed of when he jeopardized the operation.
- The Cousins were frightening killers, but they lacked depth as characters.
From Gus Fring to the Salamanca clan, there are a ton of iconic villains in Better Call Saul. As the saga of a mild-mannered chemistry teacher who “breaks bad” and becomes a ruthless drug lord after being diagnosed with cancer, there are very few characters in the Breaking Bad universe who don’t fit the description of a villain. Walter White began the story as an antihero, seemingly doing bad things for a good reason, but by the end of the series, when it was clear that he was just a power-hungry megalomaniac, he’d become a full-blown villain.
Since the show’s spin-off, Better Call Saul, revolves around the *criminal* lawyer who helped to keep Walt’s empire afloat, it introduced even more villains to this shared fictional universe – and expanded on the ones that already existed with more depth and character development. A throwaway line from Breaking Bad about a man named Lalo resulted in the creation of one of TV’s greatest villains in Better Call Saul. From Gus’ rivals in the cartel business to Walt’s rivals in the meth trade to Walt himself, the most fearsome monster in Vince Gilligan’s gangster-infested Albuquerque, the Breaking Bad universe is full of unforgettable villains.
14 Lydia Rodarte-Quayle
Lydia was killed with sweetener
Lydia Rodarte-Quayle was a key figure in Walt’s business expansion when his meth empire went international. But as a villain, she never really felt like a real threat. She threw a couple of spanners in the works, but as soon as Walt wanted her out of the picture, she couldn’t have been easier to assassinate. All he had to do was swap out her stevia for ricin and she essentially poisoned herself.
13 Victor
Victor is just an expendable henchman
Victor is just a henchman working for a much more intimidating baddie. Rather than being depicted as a powerful villain himself, Victor is used to show how powerful Gus is. After he was spotted at Gale’s murder site, putting the whole operation in jeopardy, Gus brutally killed Victor with a box cutter. Gus killed Victor to send a message to Walt and Jesse that he could do the same to them. Victor himself was expendable.
12 The Cousins
The Cousins are cool, but don’t have much depth
Marco and Leonel Salamanca, better known simply as “The Cousins,” are two of the most frightening killers in the Breaking Bad franchise. Whenever they show up, it draws the audience to the edge of their seats, because it means someone is in grave danger. But, as characters, they were never given much depth.
11 Tuco Salamanca
Tuco is a terrifying if one-note bad guy
Raymond Cruz is a magnetic screen presence in the role of volatile Tuco Salamanca, commanding the audience’s attention, but he ultimately became a one-note character. He’s a hothead who flies off the handle at every opportunity, but that rageful shtick gets old pretty quickly. Still, his unpredictable behavior made him an interesting antagonistic force in the early days of Walt and Jesse’s drug business.
10 Tyrus Kitt
Tyrus is another henchman like Victor – but more competent
Much like Victor, Tyrus Kitt is a loyal henchman under Gus’ employment. But unlike Victor, Tyrus isn’t made to look weak for the purpose of making Gus look stronger. Tyrus is a more capable henchman and has the coldness and the competence that made Mike Ehrmantraut such a fascinating character.
9 Juan Bolsa
The cartel boss is surprisingly chill
Juan Bolsa, the cartel boss in charge of both Gus Fring and the Salamancas’ respective businesses, wasn’t particularly intimidating. He was nowhere near as terrifying as Gus or the Salamancas themselves. But that was only because he’s so powerful that he doesn’t have to intimidate anyone; he has countless employees to do the intimidating for him.
8 Jack Welker
As a white supremacist who enslaves Jesse, Jack is doubly evil
After Walt got rid of Gus, his next business partner was Jack Welker. This partnership showed that Walt had truly given up on any semblance of morality, because Jack is the leader of a white supremacist gang. There’s no limit to what Jack will do for an easy buck; when Walt skipped town and Jack wanted to keep the business afloat without him, he simply enslaved Jesse by chaining him to a meth lab.
7 Don Eladio
Don Eladio is arguably the most powerful villain in this franchise
In of power, Don Eladio is the big bad of the Breaking Bad universe. From Gus to the Salamancas, almost all the other Breaking Bad villains answer to Don Eladio. Don Eladio commanded so much respect from the criminal underworld that Hector Salamanca bought him a big, lavish mansion.
6 Hector Salamanca
Hector can’t speak, so his character is conveyed entirely through his eyes
Since Hector Salamanca can’t speak, actor Mark Margolis had to play the part entirely with his eyes. He deftly conveyed the fury of a betrayed gangland leader. The fact that he had to go through the alphabet and ring a bell on each letter to communicate created nail-biting tension in the most mundane dialogue scenes. The character was expanded and deepened in Better Call Saul, which depicted Hector before his disability and showed the ultimate betrayal that made him disabled in the first place.
5 Todd Alquist
Todd’s blend of violent sociopathy and childlike naivety is deeply unsettling
Jack’s nephew Todd Alquist was initially hired to replace Jesse as Walt’s partner-in-crime, but it quickly became clear that Todd was essentially a version of Jesse without a conscience. When a little boy witnessed the train robbery, Todd didn’t hesitate to shoot the boy dead. Jesse Plemons gave a deeply unsettling performance as Todd, draping his sociopathy in a strange childlike naivety.
