Gustavo "Gus" Fring is a respected business owner whose legitimate operations include the fast food chicken restaurants Los Pollos Hermanos. Gus also distributes Walt's blue meth throughout the Southwest.

After their first deal, Gus offers Walt $3 million to cook meth for three months. Walt declines, lamenting the bad decisions that cost him his family. "A man provides," Gus lectures, whether he's "appreciated, or respected, or even loved." Walt begins cooking again, supported by Gale, the fastidious assistant Gus installs in the superlab he provides for Walt.

When two cartel killers (the Cousins) travel from Mexico to kill Walt, Gus intervenes, steering them instead toward Hank. The DEA agent survives the ensuing ambush, killing one Cousin and seriously wounding the other.

Walt grasps the extent of Gus's reach when they meet at the the hospital where Hank is recuperating. While consoling Marie, Gus recalls meeting Hank at the DEA and seeing the donation jar for Walt's surgery.

"I investigate everyone with whom I do business," Gus tells Walt privately. As Gus leaves the hospital, the surviving Cousin suddenly dies. Amid the commotion, Gus's operative Mike discards a syringe and slips away unnoticed.

Walt later confronts Gus on the "much deeper game" he played to put heat on the Mexican cartel and corner the Southwest meth market. “I respect the strategy,” Walt tells Gus, leaving the meeting with a $15 million per year meth production deal and the businessman's guarantee of the White family's safety.

Gus calls down to the superlab one day to invite Walt to dinner. As the two eat at Gus's home, Gus offers to help Walt avoid mistakes that he himself made starting out. His first piece of advice: "Never make the same mistake twice."

Walt and Gus's relationship deteriorates after Walt kills two of Gus's dealers in order to protect Jesse. Gus reveals Walt's cancer diagnosis to Gale and orders him to quickly master Walt's meth-making process. Walt, anticipating Gus's strategy, hatches a plan to murder Gale.

Gustavo Fring Quotes