Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Fictional Characters: 93

****SPOILERS TO FOLLOW****
93: Gustavo Fring
Created by Vince Gilligan and portrayed by actor Giancarlo Esposito for the show “Breaking Bad”
First Appearance: 2009

I know I post at the top of every entry that spoilers will follow, but I really must insist that you rethink whether or not you are going to press on through this character article if you aren’t completely caught up with Breaking Bad. If you are, press on. If you are NOT, then don’t be a doof. Stop reading, check the show out on Netflix, and then get back to me. If you don’t want to watch the show, then GTFO. Anyhow…

The thing about Gus, here, is that he is the most calculating bad guy and most interesting character in recent fiction. From moment one, we are introduced to a man who owns and manages a string of chicken restaraunts and, in the end, is the most dangerous criminal in the entire tri-state area. So dangerous, in fact, that he is hated and loathed across the Mexican boarder for his activities, his endeavors, and his business deals. So much so that people try to kill him at all times, and not just Walter White, his reluctant and dangerous meth cook.

By the end of the second season, we’ve been shown that Walter can handle any low-level thug with great ease. And by the end of the third, he’s shooting people at point blank range, driving over them with his car, and making threats and sticking to them at every turn. So he needed to wage war against someone of equal – if not greater – intellectual power. And that man is Gus. Always two steps ahead of Walt and Jesse (and even the DEA and, hell, his old Mexican cartel adversaries… well, everyone aside from some C4 strapped to a wheelchair), he manipulates, commands, and exerts pure will over all those he surrounds himself with. He is unmovable, and he is remorseless.

At his most threatening, though, he is cool and calm, always level-headed. Even when facing down Walter in the middle of nowhere, threatening to kill his family and newborn daughter if he dares to interfere again, his voice is steady and his words chosen with care. He is not a man to waste time on talking if there is no need, and he is not a man to take brash actions where simple logic can take their place. He doesn’t care if people want to see him, yell at him, argue with him, or even enter into formal and civil debate with him over any subject. No, Gus would rather bide his time, wait for the appropriate moment to act or speak, and then does so with actions that speak far louder than words.

AGAIN! SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!

Part of what makes a character great, especially an antagonist like Gus, is that – when they die – you are mad to see them go. Gus exits the Breaking Bad world during the finale to season four in an explosive final moment that, if you’re like me, has made you both insanely excited for Walter, but twice as upset over never getting to know, with any great detail (there are always flashbacks, of course) this guy’s true backstory. His most powerful enemy, the head of a giant drug ring in Mexico, seemed to know so much more about our man Fring and his exploits in Chile, and even the DEA has a hard time finding out any information about this guy prior to running his fast food chain, stateside. Who was he? Will we ever know? It doesn’t matter. His head-to-head, brain-to-brain think-off with Walt made the entire run of season four gripping and thrilling.

Gus leaves quite an open hole in the show, too. This two-faced (pun, by the way) man was not only the head of a crime circle, but between he and Walter (through all four seasons) have systematically been taking out lower level flunkies, enforcers, and even major players in the drug underground. Now, with Gus out of the picture, all that’s left is Walter. Will Walt become the new Gus? Who knows. Who cares? All I know is, I’ll miss this guy and his ever-present sense of unease-inspiring cool.

Favorite Portrayal:
Well, he’s only on the show, so… there’s that. But, when Esposito was told to play the guy as kind but shrewd, but with a secret, he did so with great success. Even up to his death, Gus was portrayed with a level of secrecy that only this guy could pull off.

Favorite Quote(s):
“What does a man do, Walter? A man provides. And he does it even when he’s not appreciated, or respected, or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he’s a man.”

AFTER SLICING HIS OWN MAN’S THROAT:
“Well? Get back to work.”

Favorite Moment:
First difficult one of the list. There are so many to pick from. But I’m going to have to stick with his complete and total mass murder of the Mexican crime syndicate that wanted him dead. Its brutal, calculated, and perfect. So perfect, in fact, that he calmly drinks his own poison to ease the worries of those he intends to kill. Then he times how long he has before it starts to take effect, then politely asks to be escorted to a bathroom – during a drunken party, no less, where all of his enemies are gathered in one place, drinking poisoned booze (EXPENSIVE AND RARE BOOZE NO LESS) – where he folds his jacket with care, bends to his knees before the toilet, and with a second to think about it all, places two fingers down his throat to induce barfing so as not to die. Then he goes out, rejoins the party, and watches people die all around him. Granted, he himself is afflicted, somewhat, by the poison, but not enough to kill him, and not so much that he doesn’t get a few “goodbyes” in to the bastards that jacked him up in his youth.

Smooooooth.

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Added September 15, 2016
I do believe we’re getting more Fring in “Better Call Saul” Season 3. The hints are all there. I’m ready.