WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 8
Why does Lalo laugh shortly before he dies in Gus Fring planted a secret weapon at his superlab in Better Call Saul season 6, part 1, the subterranean construction site was destined to host one final battle between he and Lalo Salamanca. Thanks to his Breaking Bad absence, audiences also had a pretty good sense that Lalo wouldn't emerge from Better Call Saul alive. Nevertheless, few were expecting to witness Lalo's death as early as the midseason premiere.
Lalo Salamanca uses Jimmy and Kim as decoys for creating an opening in the superlab's tight security. Gus Fring realizes what's afoot and bolts to the lab in person, where Lalo quickly and easily seizes control of the situation. Having already prepared the field to his advantage, Gus cuts the lights, grabs his hidden firearm, and blasts Lalo from the shadows, finally settling their feud for the ages. As a victorious Gus looms over his downed, bleeding opponent, Lalo looks up at his killer and emits a weak, gurgling laugh. Why the strange reaction?
First and foremost, Lalo Salamanca laughing as he dies marks an appropriate farewell for this particular Better Call Saul character. Tony Dalton's fiery villain has a deserved reputation as a hot-headed maverick, willing to make bold gambits his fellow Salamancas never would. Despite his penchant for brutal violence, Lalo also goes about his work with a permanent smile, only letting that trademark grin slip on the rarest, most grave of occasions. It's appropriate, then, that Better Call Saul season 6's "Point & Shoot" finds Lalo quite literally laughing in the face of death. He's meeting the grim reaper with a smile, never losing that "live by the sword, die by the sword" attitude, even as the light is dying. Perhaps there's also an element of surprise behind Lalo's death laugh in Better Call Saul. Though he never took Gus Fring lightly, Lalo honestly believed he'd won their little war. With video footage of the superlab and an unarmed Gus at the end of his barrel, the Chicken Man surely had no way out. Even a dying Lalo Salamanca apparently can't help but marvel at how, once again, Gus was two steps ahead.
How Lalo's Smile Flips A Better Call Saul Season 6 Death Trend
Before Michael Mando's Nacho took his own life in Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3, he delivered a stirringly bitter Emmy-worthy diatribe against the cartel. Shortly ahead of Howard's sudden murder, Patrick Fabian gave a similarly poignant final speech that perfectly captured Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler's criminal transformations. This trend of epic monologues preceding major Better Call Saul season 6 deaths is broken by Lalo. Running video commentary and a handful of gloating comments aside, Lalo doesn't have an awful amount to say in his final Better Call Saul scene, and it's actually Gus Fring who spews oral fire, verbally assaulting Don Eladio, the Salamanca family, and the entire cartel operation.
Lalo's exit isn't defined by eloquent words or some ionate inner hatred he's finally unleashing. Instead, Tony Dalton's character departs Better Call Saul's mortal plane with a laugh that simultaneously encapsulates his roguish attitude, his respectful iration toward Gus for besting him, and an acceptance that his nine lives have finally run out. It's a tailor-made ending for a character who broke the Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad mold.
Better Call Saul continues Monday on AMC.