“ | I'll weather this, I always do. My brother's a police chief, I got connections, they'll get me through. And when I get proof, and the others find out what you've done? Maybe we come pay you a visit, maybe— [a crash is heard in Bolsa's hacienda] Que eso? [...] Que eso? Ve y mira! [...] QUE DIABLOS ESTA PASANDO?! | „ |
~ Bolsa's last words and his threat to Gus upon discovering his betrayal. |
Juan Bolsa is a supporting antagonist in the crime drama series Breaking Bad and a major antagonist in its prequel series Better Call Saul.
In his characterisation, he is the underboss of The Cartel who served as one of their co-founders along with his leader Don Eladio. He was also the representative in a collusion between the Cartel's ruthless Capo Hector Salamanca and his sworn archenemy Gustavo Fring, the latter being a drug kingpin and major narcotics distributor who served under Bolsa's supervision until he eventually betrayed Bolsa by having him killed as part of his revenge campaign against the Cartel as well as the Salamanca Family over the death of Gus' romantic business partner: Max Arciniega.
He was portrayed by Javier Grajeda.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
In General[]
- Even though Bolsa has some standards, he usually does evil as natural as breathing despite them.
- While he does have some comedic effect, Bolsa is mostly stoic and taken dead seriously in universe.
- When Bolsa deduces that Gus orchestrated Marco Salamanca's death and Leonel Salamanca's death, he threatens to find evidence against Gus and expose his motives to the Cartel.
- Although he was initially presented as rather affable to Gus, he subverts this right before his death after finding out about his betrayal of the Cartel and threatens to "pay him a visit".
- While his death has tense and horrifying music in the background as it happens, it is not played for sympathy at all and he deserved it for forcing Gus to watch Max die and ordering Tortuga's brutal death.
- He is shown to have two bodyguards at his house, but it's not known if he cares for them given the aforementioned bodyguards only appear in 1 episode and never again. Not to mention he even causes their deaths by sending them to investigate when Mexican federals raid his home and shows no sadness or anger when they are fatally shot.
- While he isn't as heinous as Don Eladio, the latter has far more resources as the primary founder of the Cartel. Meanwhile, Bolsa is just a don with bodyguards, a gun and a cellphone at his disposal.
Background[]
- He collaborated with his boss Don Eladio and their Capo subordinate Hector Salamanca in founding The Cartel, one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the United States.
- Upon Hector killing Max Arciniega, Bolsa pins Gus to the ground to force him to watch the corpse of his lover bleed out. This event causes Gus his drive for vengeance and plan to destroy the cartel and wipe out the Salamanca family, which lasted for two decades.
- He trafficked methamphetamine alongside Gus to bring as much profit as possible.
Better Call Saul[]
- Upon witnessing Hector's stroke, he and Gus run dummy loads across the border to find Hector's culprit.
- Although Bolsa chided Lalo for killing Fred Whalen, a money transfer employee, this is mostly pragmatic, as Bolsa didn't want attention to be drawn towards the Cartel.
- Hires a team of mercenaries to kill Saul Goodman to prevent Lalo from getting out of jail via bail money, and would have killed Saul had it not been for Mike Ehrmantraut saving his life just in time.
- Attempts to have Nacho Varga killed by the Cartel after holding him hostage, but fails when Nacho decides to sacrifice himself by shooting himself in the head to avoid being tortured by the Cartel and to keep his father safe.
Breaking Bad[]
- When he learns that Tortuga works for the DEA and planned on selling out the Cartel for his own personal gain, Bolsa decides to punish him by having the Cousins decapitate Tortuga before having his severed head placed on a tortoise and letting the Cousins rig it with a bomb to lure the DEA agents Tortuga worked with into a trap, and upon one of the DEA members pulling Tortuga's head off the tortoise, the bomb explodes, killing one agent and wounding several others. This also gives Hank Schrader PTSD from the events.
- This inhumane scale of animal cruelty, especially to send a message, officially pushes Bolsa over the Moral Event Horizon.
- In his final moments, he screams at the federal who was sent by Gus to raid Bolsa’s hacienda and intends to kill him with his gun only to get shot by the federal upon opening the door.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- While he ordered the most brutal death in the franchise, he still fails the heinous standards to Gus Fring, Hector Salamanca and Lalo Salamanca who do worse with similar resources, as well as to villains with less resources, such as Jack Welker, Todd Alquist, and the Cousins.
- He displays a sense of understanding at times, such as chiding Lalo for killing an innocent employee (even if it was pragmatic), being disgusted by Eladio mocking Hector’s disability and otherwise showing compassion for the latter’s condition, and informing Nacho before his execution that there are "good deaths and bad deaths" in the case that he cooperates with the Cartel.
- He is authentically loyal to Don Eladio, often extending his best (or morally worst) efforts to guarantee success in their schemes.
External Links[]
- Juan Bolsa on the Villains Wiki
- Juan Bolsa on the Breaking Bad Wiki
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