I saw this image circulating on the former bird site for irrelevant reasons, and realized it reads slightly differently to me in light of what we discover (or confirm, at least) about Gus during Better Call Saul. When we first see this play out in Breaking Bad, it's not hard to see what Gus is doing here: Walter is tapping out of the meth game, so Gus preys on his toxic self-image to get him to keep going "for his family." Gus knows, and Walter later realizes, that Skyler and Walt Jr. were never why Walter started cooking in the first place; "I did it for me" and all. This is a convenient lie to bait Walter into continuing to serve Gus's plans.

Except Gus's words also come from a strangely authentic place. There are a few times across both shows when Gus lets people in on what he's really feeling, like when he confides in Mike to tell him they're both driven by revenge -- again, a manipulation tactic, but one that reveals something about Gus in the process: he's only doing any of this because the Salamancas murdered Max, the only man we know he ever loved. In this scene, even though Gus would say anything to get Walter to agree to cook more meth, he does so in a way that can also refer to his revenge scheme. A man provides for his family; the only way Gus thinks he can provide for Max, a dead man and the only character he would truly consider family, is to orchestrate absolute retribution on his killers and their entire family.

"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," Gus says after this, to really seal the deal with Walter. It's kind of easy for Gus to yap about this, since he's created a restaurateur persona who is appreciated in the community, and is respected by his crew in his real life as a drug kingpin. But Gus is not loved. He certainly doesn't love himself, and as we see in his final BCS scene, he won't allow himself to be loved by another, because he is locked in a perpetual state of grief over Max's death. A large part of Gus never left the side of Don Eladio's bloody swimming pool, and is still mourning Max during Gus's horrific final moments.

In reality, Gus's pursuit of revenge is just as self-centered as Walter's decision to make meth. It won't bring Max back, and he can't know whether Max would have even wanted such a thing; the only purpose it really serves is to, well, give Gus a purpose. But just like his statue in the compound, Gus's revenge is formally dedicated to Max. "Providing" for Max by exterminating the Salamancas is Gus's lie to convince himself that at its core, his mission is justified. In manipulating Walter, Gus accidentally echoes his own vulnerability, revealing to us -- however briefly -- that both men had much more in common than they'd ever know.

i've not seen breaking bad but whenever I see pictures of giancarlo esposito at conventions and stuff he looks absolutely sick of his life, is that like a gus fring in-character thing for him or is it an ian mckellen doing the unlimited blade works chant situation