Latino Characters Killed Off on ‘Breaking Bad’
Breaking Bad, one of television's most critically-acclaimed crime dramas, gained quite the reputation for violence during its five season stint. And, a great deal of that violence was inflicted upon its Latino characters. *SPOILER ALERT*
The sweeping acts of death and violence against Latinos on the show are in no way comparable to the miniscule amount of non-Latinos who die. And, it isn't to say that all these individuals are villains, because many, or at least a third, of them aren't, but because the show was based in New Mexico, thusly has a high Latino population, it somehow seemed "appropriate" that the execution of Latinos occur more often, even though many of the show's main players are white? And, most of the white characters on the series that died either died because of Walt or they were personally killed by Walt. Though, he has quite a bit of Latino blood on his hands, also.
In that case, it simply boils down to Walt being a terrible, maniacal person.
He plays it cool well, but he is hot-tempered, and he only truly cares for his children; not other's children, not his wife, not his friends and not his associates. Whenever Walt even feels that someone is trying to bend him over a barrel or in any way undermine him, he makes sure that they are taken care of. Walt isn't beyond poisoning a child, allowing a girl to choke on her own vomit, or shrugging off the deaths of more than 160 individuals in a plane collision that he indirectly caused.
The AMC series about a chemist-turned-chemistry teacher, who 'breaks bad' and becomes a methamphetamine "cook," after being diagnosed with lung cancer, has an expert ability to grab its viewers' attention through unexpected plot twists and wild acts of violence. The show's protagonist Walt White (Bryan Cranston), upon news of his impending death, decides that he wants to leave behind money for his family. He decides to produce meth because he sees that selling drugs is highly lucrative.
He goes on to create the most chemically pure meth to ever be seen on the market. In this venture, White hooks up with Jessie Pinkman (Aaron Paul), a former student of his. And, together, the two men ruffle the feathers of a lot of very dangerous and powerful men -and a lot of those men happen to be Hispanic. Let's review:
Domingo Gallardo Molina aka Krazy-8 (Max Arciniega) was a major crystal meth distributor. He and his cousin Emilio tangled with Walt and Jessie over territory and distribution, and this resulted in Emilio dying of asphyxiation and Krazy-8 by strangulation.
That death was followed by the death of No-Doze (Jesus Jr.). No-Doze was a foot solider for Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz), a sociopathic Mexican drug lord. When Tuco thought that No-Doze questioned his or Walt's intelligence, he decided to beat him to death. Gonzo (Cesar Garcia), another man who worked for Tuco, was instructed to dispose of No-Doze's body. He chooses to hide the body in the trunk of an elevated car in a junk yard, but the car above dropped, crushing Gonzo's arm, and he bled to death. Gonzo's disappearance caused Tuco to become suspicious, as he thinks that Gonzo wen to the police. So, he kidnapped Jessie and Walt, and drove them to his disabled grandfather's home. Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), Walt's DEA agent brother-in-law, found Tuco's grandfather while searching for Walt. A shootout ensued, and Tuco was shot to death by Hank.
Tortuga (Danny Trejo) was a Mexican cartel member and a DEA informant, and when he was found out, he was beheaded by Leonel Salamanca (Daniel Moncada) and Marco Salamanca (Luis Moncada) and place his head on a tortoise.
Tuco now dead, Walt and Jessie decide they want to boost their enterprise. They sent out men to sling drugs on the street, and when Mexican cartel caught wind of this, one of Jessie's friends Combo Ortega (Rodney Rush) was murdered by a 10-year-old gang affiliate, Tomas Cantillo (Angelo Martinez). And, that boy is later murdered by gang affiliates. Also, Tomas' older sister Andrea (Emily Rios), who Jessie becomes involved with later in the series, is shot in the head by Todd Alquist (Jesse Plemon) to punish Jesse for trying to escape after being captured.
To retaliate for Tuco's death, Leonel and Marco go after Hank. During the altercation, Hank is badly injured, but he manages to shoot Marco in the head and sever Leonel's legs, but Leonel is finished off by the cleaner/hit man Mike Ehrumantraut (Johnathon Banks), under the orders of Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), the owner of a chicken franchise, a drug kingpin and a real business man. Juan Bolsa's (Javier Grajeda) death was also ordered kit by Gustavo, who Juan was shot to death in his home. And, Gustavo personally poisoned Don Eladio Vuente (Steven Bauer) and his entire cartel, in an act of retaliation.
Walt fears that Gustavo will take his life after repeat disagreements, so he utilizes one of Gustavo's known enemies, Hector 'Tio' Salamanca (Mark Margolis), Tuco's grandfather. Walt rigs Hector's wheelchair with a bomb, and when Gustavo decides to pay Tio a visit, he detonated the bomb and killed himself and Gustavo, blowing off half of Gustavo's face.
Steven "Gomie" Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) is Hank's DEA partner and a good friend, and he's the only other DEA agent to know that Walt is Heisenberg. He is shot down in a shootout when trying to arrest Heisenberg.
Breaking Bad may have concluded Latin America is producing its own remake of the hit show. And it's called Metastasis, starring a character that is appropriately named Walter Blanco. It will star Diego Trujillo, Roberto Urbina, Sandra Reyes, and Julian Arango.