Perhaps the best Netflix original, “Narcos” gave us the story of Colombia’s biggest underdog and the world’s biggest kingpin: Pablo Escobar.
On Nov. 16 Netflix released “Narcos: Mexico” as a companion series to the original. Running concurrently with the events of Narcos, this series focuses on drug trafficking in Mexico as season one kicks off with the rise of the Guadalajara cartel.
The rise of this particular cartel is a struggle. If you can put a face to, “good morning, let’s get this bread,” picture that of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. An ex-cop turned marijuana grower, Miguel rises from the literal ashes of Sinaloa to build an empire. After the Mexican government hunts down and sets every field ablaze, Miguel approaches each major grower and dealer at a time to form a network of unified drug traffickers. Facing an impossible feat, he relies on his secret weapon: really, really good kush.
Poised and controlled as the face of the business, he lets his bad boy right hand man take care of the actual growing.
While Miguel rises through the ranks, a new DEA agent comes to town and starts to crack down on the rising shady business in Guadalajara. Hotheaded Agent Kiki Camarena faces his own struggles between being the only Mexican in his workplace and the only one trying to do his job, to taking care of his pregnant wife.
Another plot line worth mentioning is Rafael “Rafa” Caro Quintero, the grower, who gets mixed up with the seemingly clean-cut spoiled daughter of a big time politician in a steamy affair. They call themselves Bonnie and Clyde. It’s actually pretty cute.
If you have an interest for thrilling historical fiction about the marijuana and cocaine trade, then perhaps you’ll enjoy “Narcos: Mexico” for its warm, but moody aesthetic.
