Jakob Otto is the main character in the popular Netflix series, How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast). His character is given the Saul Goodman treatment with his prequel film, Buba. That is the character’s name in the series, and the film serves as an original story.
As a child, he lost his parents in a car accident. His brother, Dante, survives, but Jakob is raised by his violent, angry, and possessive grandmother. Why wasn’t Jakob on the trip? That’s because he secretly signed up for a break-dancing competition. Which was headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio, and believe it or not, as the film states, the uber-famous movie star was a break-dance champion.
He had his first kiss there. A girl named Jule. It was the best moment of his life. He feels so guilty, and to his grandmother’s delight, Jakob hurts himself whenever he feels something good to balance out his life. A life that continued where his brother, who suffers from foreign accent syndrome (FAS), now has an American accent. He has grown up as a disgusting, pompous mess with a rat tail.
The brothers now run a con game in their town, where Dante accidentally smashes his brother with a car. The car owner will hand over cash to avoid the police and possible prosecution.
Dante exploits his brother’s superhero-like ability to take the pain. Jakob has now woven this coping skill into everyday life. So much so that his profession is as a stuntman at a local German Western show, he is set on fire daily, and he leaps from a balcony. He meets Jule, the girl who gave him his first kiss. Jule owns a local tattoo parlor in town and gets tats all over his body. He utilizes areas of the body like elbows, between his fingers and toes, and even inside his bottom front lip—places with the flimsiest skin so that Jakob can feel the utmost pain.
The brother auditioned for the Albanian, and they have no faith in Dante, but love Jakob and come to respect him. They are now a part of the crew, and their associates are known as the “fake Albanians. ”
Soon, Jakob becomes the star of the group. His penchant for taking an insane amount of punishment for each score gains him everyone’s respect. They give him the name Buba, which refers to Albanian folklore. This is known as a harmless animal being “led astray by the demon Boller and then turns into a heartless monster.”
Remember how I said the real Albanians named Dante and Jakob are the fake Albanians? Well, it turns out the brother’s new bosses are fake Albanians themselves. Why? As a way to create intimidation without actually having to do much intimidation. So, when the Otto’s beat up a member of the real Albanian mob, everyone was now in big trouble.
Dante also has an issue with Jakob finding love with Jule because it will mean his number one resource is his little brother’s ability to get the job done by being able to take pain.
Buba finds out that his brother has been faking his condition. Dante tries to frame Doro for the murder by storming Yeta’s wedding. The plan is to kill them all. That is when the Albanian’s son, along with Jule’s daughter, shows up to take back some cocaine they feel is rightfully theirs. Jules gets the bat signal, and we discover her backstory — she once worked for the Albanian as a muscle.
Yes, some others are killed, but Alex and his group are now shot. Before Jules warns Buba that they must leave or be ready because the Albanian is coming for them, Dante accidentally shoots and kills himself.
The final scene is an extension of the film’s first, as we see Buba accidentally shoot himself with a 3D-printed gun. There are post-credit scenes where we see Buba riding along with his crew members and breaking a pistachio shell, which has been an issue for him his entire life.
His brother always said Buba had good luck, which shocked him since he seemed to enjoy the lousy kind his whole life. Perhaps the breaking of the shell means his luck has hit its peak.
