Better Call Saul is full of strange choices via its untrustworthy protagonists, but why did Mike switch Nacho's safe? Audiences know veteran and career criminal Mike Ehrmantraut from his dealings in Breaking Bad, but viewer favorite character Nacho Varga is wholly original for the spinoff series. Calculating and intelligent, Nacho may have started out working at his father's upholstery shop, but soon found himself rising the ranks of the Salamanca cartel becoming Tuco's most trusted enforcer and lieutenant of Hector and Lalo. Unfortunately, he also became a target of Gus Fring, being blackmailed into becoming an informant.
Nacho's life of crime became too much to handle, and he died in Better Call Saul season 6. Nonetheless, Nacho was arguably one of audiences' favorite BCS characters. Nacho had few things, but one thing he did have was a safe. However, one of the most confusing moments in Better Call Saul season 6 sees Mike Ehrmantraut on Gus' orders wheeling in a separate safe of the same make and model into Nacho's home and replacing it. Considering that Mike seems to care for Nacho, and Nacho almost views him as a mirror of his own father, the whole event seemed rather off. So, why did Mike switch Nacho's safe?
When And Why Mike Switched The Safe In Better Call Saul
Mike switched Nacho's safe because he had to get Nacho killed without implicating Gus Fring. Michael Mando's Nacho was having a rough time when Better Call Saul season 6 began. The Salamancas knew he betrayed them by facilitating an assassination attempt on Lalo, and the crime family is not known for their cool temperaments. With Nacho on the run, Mike (Jonathan Banks) told Gus Fring's secret mole to burrow up in a motel room they've organized and await pickup. This scene, along with the Better Call Saul safe swap, were crucial developments in the ill-fated father-son-like relationship between Mike and Nacho in Better Call Saul.
While Nacho sat tight, Mike spent the opening sequence of Better Call Saul season 6, episode 2 "Carrot & Stick" breaking into the runaway's house. After ejecting the previous occupants of Nacho's home, Mike instructed a lackey to crack Nacho's safe while barking its measurements through a cellphone. Once the job was complete, Mike solemnly bagged the items within (stacks of cash and fake IDs for both Nacho and his father) before Victor arrived with a brand-new safe, which was wheeled into the exact position where the old one previously stood.
Mike then put Nacho's cash into the new safe (not all of it, of course...), pocketed the fake ID for Nacho's dad, and added an envelope that wasn't there before. When Juan Bolsa (Javier Grajeda) arrived at Nacho's house later in the episode, Bolsa cracked the new safe and opened this envelope to discover a motel phone number. However, the answer to "why did Mike replace Nacho's safe?" isn't answered immediately. Nonetheless, Mike switched Nacho's safe on the orders of Gus Fring himself, and it all culminated in a tragedy.
Mike switched Nacho's safe to ensure Nacho's death without casting suspicion over Gus Fring. Nacho represented the only concrete link between Gus and the attempted assassination of Lalo Salamanca, and that's a loose end Fring wanted to be tied. One of Gus' men could kill Nacho, but that'd scream guilt almost as loudly as a confession. Instead, Gus orchestrated a scenario whereby the Salamancas kill Nacho. The plan began when Mike sent Nacho to a specific motel. Fring then used the safe to point the Salamancas toward Nacho's location without drawing attention to himself as the true culprit. This culminated in the tragic death of Nacho in Better Call Saul.
Everything Mike Changed In Nacho's Safe
The key to Gus' plan and the answer to "why did Mike switch Nacho's safe?" was the envelope Mike planted in Nacho's safe. Inside was a bank statement detailing payments from a mysterious source – falsified transactions implying Nacho was paid to betray the Salamancas by someone other than Gus. On the bottom was the phone number to Nacho's motel, so when Juan Bolsa called it, he knew exactly where his target was hiding. The Better Call Saul safe swap con was Mike's only foolproof way of getting this envelope inside without Juan Bolsa getting too suspicious, which would've happened if Mike just left the envelope on the coffee table.
Notably, Mike also pocketed the fake ID for Nacho's dad Manuel Varga, which is about fulfilling Mike's promise to Nacho in Better Call Saul about protecting Manuel from the cartel. Gus Fring's master plan simultaneously succeeded and backfired. As the Chicken Man predicted, Juan Bolsa raided Nacho's house for clues, cracked the safe, and found the planted envelope. Bolsa fell for the ruse and, as per Gus' plan, sent the dreaded Salamanca Twins after Nacho.
Even though a huge firefight erupted, however, Nacho survived and escaped. By this point, Gus had also learned Lalo Salamanca was actually alive, and Mike pointed out how big a problem they'd have if Nacho was captured and interrogated. Gus finally agreed to bring Nacho in unharmed. This eventually led to Nacho's greatest scene in all of Better Call Saul - his suicide. It was a standoff featuring a few key players, but Nacho's decision to take his own life had reverberating consequences and his death wasn't avenged until Breaking Bad season 4 when both Hector and Gus were killed with a pipe bomb.
How The Safe Connects To Nacho's Suicide In Better Call Saul Season 6
Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3 "Rock and Hard Place" saw Nacho killing himself in front of the cartel lieutenants, but since Mike kept the fake ID for Nacho's dad from his safe, did Nacho actually win the game? Nacho and the Salamancas' history practically ensured that he would be tortured by Hector, which Nacho escaped, albeit tragically, through his suicide. By not ratting out Gus to the cartel, Nacho's last display of loyalty kept Mike safe from Gus' wrath. It's somewhat unfair considering the answer to "why did Mike switch Nacho's safe?", but it does speak to his character.
Apart from serving as the hiding spot for Nacho's escape plan for him and his dad, the safe also revealed that Nacho wasn't an ordinary gangster – he knew how to plan ahead. In the end, Nacho Varga also finally did what his dad always wanted him to do: On his own terms and in his own macabre way, Nacho got out of the game. Nacho's death was assured with the "why did Mike switch Nacho's safe?" question alone, and he didn't have much of an option with the Salamancas and Fring wishing him dead. Nonetheless, it was one of the saddest deaths on Better Call Saul.
Where Nacho Was In Breaking Bad
There are a ton of characters that crossover between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, however, Nacho Varga isn't one of them. It sure seemed like the Better Call Saul safe swap was setting up a much bigger arc for Nacho, and considering that he was one of the characters that audiences loved the most, it was surprising that he only managed to be in the prequel. Since Nacho died in the final season of Better Call Saul, it makes sense that he isn't a major player in Breaking Bad. However, that didn't mean his death didn't have an impact on the latter series or that he wasn't mentioned.
While Better Call Saul made it clear that Nacho died, it hasn't stopped audiences from positing fan theories that he could still be alive during Breaking Bad. Some seem to think that Nacho was on the run during Breaking Bad, still being pursued by Fring and the Salamancas. Other theories suggest that Jimmy helped Nacho fake his death, and he is subsequently hiding out somewhere. Nacho was mentioned in Breaking Bad, specifically when Jessie and Walt confront Jimmy for the first time and he believes that the cartel sent them. Better Call Saul's Nacho was also shown in a picture in the post-2010 fake documentary American Greed: James McGill.