re: How vanilla do you expect Gus to be this weekend?

The beauty of Gus' system and the reason it works is because he operates like a magician. I'm not saying he doesn't have a big playbook that he can bring to bear, but he does get a ton of mileage out of Vanilla. In fact, Vanilla is integral to the plan.

Meaning: the Magician shows the audience something the same way 5 times ("Vanilla"). They think they know what they are seeing. Then a wrinkle, and Boom, big play.