Most impressive climb to the top in the Breaking Bad underworld?

[Franky Family]

Considering the following material:

Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Film

Who would you say had the most impressive rise to power in the underworld given their lives and stories in the Breaking Bad Universe? Try to consider what it took to reach the top of their 'profession' given their entire lives. It should be interesting, because we have the most information and content on Saul Goodman, to be precise. His story can be traced back to his childhood. Walt only references himself once as a child, vaguely, when talking about his father and the trauma of him dying. And arguably, it's ambiguous as to whether Walt was telling the truth or not during that story

 

[Grinchy]

I'm going with Gus. Walt is a smart motherfucker with a personality disorder who never could have achieved what Gus achieved. Gus wasn't doing everything just for the benefit of stroking his own ego, and that's the core of what kept Walt moving. Walt never could have built the same empire Gus did.

Saul would be another good choice and I feel like I could argue why he is above Gus or why Gus is above him.

 

[infinitys_7th]

I'm going with Gus. Walt is a smart motherfucker with a personality disorder who never could have achieved what Gus achieved. Gus wasn't doing everything just for the benefit of stroking his own ego, and that's the core of what kept Walt moving. Walt never could have built the same empire Gus did.

Saul would be another good choice and I feel like I could argue why he is above Gus or why Gus is above him.

I know there was a skit joking about it, but Walt was unironically a much more intelligent Hal from Malcolm in the Middle, right down to the inferiority complex. Most of his big wins when in a confrontation come from him literally sperging out and doing something drastic rather than careful planning.

 

[Franky Family]

I'm going with Gus. Walt is a smart motherfucker with a personality disorder who never could have achieved what Gus achieved. Gus wasn't doing everything just for the benefit of stroking his own ego, and that's the core of what kept Walt moving. Walt never could have built the same empire Gus did.

Saul would be another good choice and I feel like I could argue why he is above Gus or why Gus is above him.

I'm currently undecided, but to play devil's advocate here... I would say that you need to consider how rapidly Walt was able to reach the very top. He did overcome Gus and essentially dismantled his entire empire piece by piece. If Walt vs Gus was a chess game and both were considered grandmasters, then Walt was down maybe 8-10 points in the endgame and got a checkmate with just a pawn, knight and his king. Gus underestimated and blundered to lose everything. Walt's ascent was borderline miraculous. Which trumps Gus's steady plotting. How long did it take Walt to go from high school chemistry teacher to become America's Most Wanted criminal? Maybe a year or two it was? I'm not sure but Walt was responsible for what he did in a matter of like a year or two while it took Gus years and years to slowly build up his drug empire. But at the same time, we have to give credit to the fact that Gus was completely hidden in the shadows the entire time while Walt dropped the ball eventually. Not a soul outside the drug game except ASAC Hank Schrader suspected Gus of anything. Even Hank's superiors were telling him to take off the tin foil hat but Hank was sharper than that, and relentless in his pursuit

It's difficult to say who is the most impressive, because Jimmy went from conartist, to imprisonment, to pretty much a homeless dude with some ambition, flipped a switch and next thing you know he's unstoppable. Literally too bright to be stopped as a lawyer, he can finesse himself and others out of nearly anything. He even managed to hold it together for years after Walt fucked everything up. Jimmy and Walt were the brightest, I think Gus was sharp too, just more rigid and unyielding and resourceful. Gus was meticulous and thorough, while Walt and Jimmy were geniuses

 

[Franky Family]

I'm not sure that it's even feasible to select now, there are so many things to consider. Walt's pinnacle is arguably the highest there is. He made the product, he ran the show while trying to lead a family, he's the one who got Jesse in the game and had to carry him halfway in because he truly wasn't meant to be there in the first place if we're being honest here, and also Walt's operation affected several states as well as possibly other countries. We know his product was being distributed in the Czech Republic at the very least so his empire stretched all the way from his territory in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Europe

It truly is difficult to write off Jimmy though... From family disfunction, to prison, to semi homelessness all the way to where he got with all his family essentially being gone, lost his best friend, Chuck pulled the carpet from underneath him and the life he had just started to build for himself and worked so hard for was basically thrown in the dirt and claimed to be no good. Absolutely crushing. Society slowly killed the man known as Jimmy McGill? Or did Jimmy only slow his roll and continue on a path he never should have been on in the first place? Jimmy fought to stay above water for so long, and somehow never allowed the world to break him even though he was kicked down countless times. But it was his cunning coupled with the career path he chose that lead him astray. It was only natural that he'd look up to Chuck being around him so long, as he is his brother...

Idk if I'll be able to come to a conclusion because Walt's intelligence, Jimmy's charm and finesse coupled with his intelligence, and Gus's planning and command are all kind of equally impressive when I think about it