Yeah, I think Hector's inclusion is another element of it, because as bad as Gus is, I think everyone wanted to see him finish his revenge... Instead, he was prevented from that and murdered. In the same episode as Walt poisoned a child and lied to Jesse to make him hate the guy he was starting to like.

And, you know what, I'll cop to it: the Gus and Max story does make me totally sad and sympathetic, because when I see it, I'm like, damn, what would Gus have ended up like if that hadn't happened? Of course, there are also implications that he was up to some scary shit in Chile, so... who knows, I guess. LBR, the mystery also helps a lot, and the high-level competence.