Do you think Lalo was ever poor? Or it's a completely unrelatable person situation? Because for a rich kid he blends in very well.
it's an interesting idea... I personally have always figured the Salamancas were well-connected and rich by the time he was born, but... by my count, Hector was about 20 when Lalo was born. we can say that older Salamancas were already dealing drugs/in the cartel/from well-off families by then and it kept them comfortable until later when they became millionaires officially, but then again, in canon -- I know they don't digitally de-age, so this is a little unreliable, but let me cook -- Hector looked to be at least in his 40s-50s by the time the Eladio poolside scenes began. timelines are hard... whatever, work with me here.
we also know that the cartel didn't even start dealing the (more profitable) meth until after Gus joined up and convinced them to switch gears. they were dealing cocaine before, which, sure, the cartel would still be full of millionaires from that, but maybe their operation was smaller? less of it to go around?
so let's spin a yarn: if Lalo's family was poor until at least the age of 18 (when TD says he was shipped off to a "good school" in the US, which would require both visa and school money), what would that be like? I imagine his family was always involved with drugs in some form, be that using or dealing. users becoming dealers is not at all uncommon, after all.
so, little Lalo, not yet a cartel prince, family scraping by on drug money without being affiliated with any official organized criminal groups... he knows what it's like to want for more. knows exactly why, for example, Nacho joined up (and sees himself in him).
let's think. Lalo, maybe 15, dealing where he shouldn't because it's all he knows and he wants more money he can't get in his family's tiny little patch of unofficial "territory." business-smart even in those days -- little Lalo all holed up in the sparse libraries nearby, learning English just so he has more options to read about business and money and all that stuff.
the cartel in bcs was apparently built by Eladio and the Salamancas. maybe it was Eladio's family who was rich and well-connected, but the Salamancas who worked street-level as muscle and dealers. maybe Lalo is the reason. streetwise and book-smart kid running around, making schemes to muscle out the competition, catching the attention of Eladio's family, who had been dealing longer, more, still new, still without a huge grasp on the market, but they see potential with young Lalo Salamanca and his ruthless family.
maybe Lalo is the way he is because he NEEDED to be. smiling because you make friends and connections that way, hurting people because you get their money and (frightened) loyalty that way. going off to college a few years after his actions introduced his family to Eladio's. coming back to see that they're millionaires now. letting it get to his head because he was so instrumental in it. being resentful when Hector takes the lead and the credit. (you can stay at Casa Tranquila, tio. they have such good care!)
he doesn't want to go back to that early life of smoke-thick rooms and cigarette burns and drunk parents who would rent you out if it meant getting another hit. he doesn't ever want to feel what it's like to not be able to afford something ever again. to not get what he wants.
so what if Lalo isn't spoiled because he grew up a pampered cartel prince, but because he DIDN'T? because he thinks he deserves every penny he and his family have? because he's terrified of the idea of being destitute again? because if all it takes to be rich is a little ruthlessness, a little willingness to hurt people the way he was hurt, why should he ever try to act any other way?
but it comes out, his past, just a little, when he's playing poker with the guys, or chatting with a corner store clerk, or helping an abuela across the street. it comes out in the crinkle at the corners of his eyes, and his genuine laughter, and his relatable, friendly body language, everyone's friend, people pleaser, look at Lalo, he's so nice! you'd hardly even think he was born into the cartel (because he wasn't, because he never thought his life would turn out this way, because sometimes he wonders what it would be like if he had the chance to go back and rewrite history).
maybe this Lalo would understand why Nacho poisoned his uncle. maybe he'd see Manuel working hard for an honest life, and Nacho charmed by the cartel's dazzling facade, and empathize. maybe, if Nacho were to tell him about the blackmail, he wouldn't skin him alive. maybe he'd kiss him and tell him "I get it" and "I'm sorry" and maybe even "thank you." maybe he'd try to help Nacho get free, even if that meant sending him to Canada with his father and never, ever seeing him again. maybe that's the right thing to do.
maybe he doesn't want to do it, though, because he wants to keep getting what he wants. maybe he's selfish.
WELL ANYWAY like I said, I tend to think of him as being born into wealth even without the cartel and being super spoiled because of that, but this certainly was fun to think of and ramble incoherently about! thanks, anon!
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