That’s kind of the thing about the Narcos franchise: It’s an aggressively mixed bag. At times, specifically the opening two seasons of the original Narcos, centered on actor Wagner Moura’s portrayal of Pablo Escobar, it’s been as good as anything Netflix has aired. It also maintains a bitterly cynical view of the War on Drugs, a view that this misbegotten and murderous policy has well and truly earned over the decades since its launch. There really aren’t any good guys on this show; even the noble DEA agents who’ve anchored it since its inception are complicit in ruining lives, and sometimes ending them outright. This is a welcome departure from your average cops-and-robbers show, even if it still has cops and robbers as its beating heart.
And to be sure, this episode has a handful of impressive cinematic moments. The opening car chase, the raid on the drug house, and the murder of Aguilar are all shot in single takes, alternately immersing us in the action and giving us a god’s-eye view of the violence. I could get used to a show that’s this thoughtful in its deployment of “oners,” in industry parlance.
On the other hand, it can sometimes feel that, like Amado’s crashing plane, the franchise is coasting on fumes. Narcos’ third season, focused on the Cali cartel in Colombia, never reached the heights of the Escobar material; Narcos: Mexico’s first two seasons focused on Diego Luna’s Guadalajara cartel founder Félix Gallardo, a character who never amounted to much more than the sum of his suit-wearing, chainmoking, unsmiling parts.
But Félix is gone now, powerless and imprisoned, while his former capos like Amado are free to make their moves (and plunge Mexico into bloodshed). If the original Narcos suffered when the charismatic crime boss at its center was removed from the playing field, there’s an equally good chance that Narcos: Mexico will benefit from Gallardo’s exit, as power grows diffuse and more interesting bosses emerge. Here’s hoping that a more powerful show emerges as well.
I reviewed the season premiere of Narcos: Mexico, which I’ll be covering all season, for Decider.
Tags: decider, narcos, narcos: mexico, reviews, TV, TV reviews