*A general note for everything I write related to the Narcos franchise. In discussing this show, I’m talking about it in the context of a dramatic series, with the people in it as characters being portrayed. I know that Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo isn’t actually a character like Walter White or Dexter Morgan are, but for the sake of these reviews, I’m going to talk about him as if he is. My feelings toward the real-life person are very different.*
Excited to revisit this show for Y tu Luna también! As I’ve said before, Diego Luna shifted from an actor I liked to an actor I definitely wanted to see more of during my Star Wars rewatch in 2021. However, his work in Narcos: Mexico was what took it to platonic crush/special interest level for me. This series is what made me go, “Oh, okay, I need to see everything this guy is in.” Let’s get started!
In the late 1970s, the farmers of Sinaloa are responsible for growing most of Mexico’s marijuana. When the army cracks down harshly on the growers, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo hatches a plan to avoid future disruptions/pushback by partnering with their more privileged distributors in Guadalajara. Armed with his friend Rafa’s revolutionary new strain and the connections of the cynical boss Don Neto, Félix sets the wheels in motion to make his vision a reality. Meanwhile, DEA agent Kiki Camarena requests a transfer to Guadalajara after repeatedly being passed over in Fresno, but his new posting isn’t what he expected.
We’ll start with Kiki and the DEA side of things. The Narcos franchise has pretty much always had a dual narrative, telling the story from the side of the narcos as well as the law enforcement. It’s obvious that Kiki has drive, balls, and ingenuity, but as a brown Latino in a mostly-white office, he’s not able to advance in the way that he hopes—not to mention, when the Fresno PD break up a sting where he’s working undercover, the cops show their entire racist asses, calling him ”Chico” and refusing to believe he’s a federal agent until his white coworkers vouch for him. Kiki hopes that Guadalajara will be different, and it is, but this doesn’t exactly go his way, either. As he starts to understand how deeply the whole operation is hampered by the corruption that surrounds it, he quickly realizes that the DEA office very is empowered to do very little.
Our narrator for the series is unnamed for now, not any of the characters currently on the show, but it’s clear that he aligns with the DEA side as well. He remarks about marijuana, “They say it’s a gateway drug, and it is,” and he has a whole voiceover comparing drug dealers to cockroaches. At the same time, though, the nameless narrator doesn’t go for an easy Uncle Sam rah-rah attitude. At the start of the episode, he introduces the story as being “about how a bunch of institutions, some you’re supposed to trust, got together and started a war.”
Then, of course, we have the narcos. So far, the main characters we’ve gotten to know are the Sinaloans. They come from more working-class roots than their flashy Guadalajara counterparts, and Félix posits that that’s why the army targets the growers instead of the traffickers—the government can’t stand to see “a bunch of Sinaloan farmers getting rich” off their crop. While there’s a whole ecosystem of the marijuana business going on here, it’s clear that these men are also cowed by the Guadalajara traffickers, not wanting to irritate them, or worse, embarrass themselves in front of them.
A strong cast all around. I always enjoy Michael Peña, and he gets the job done as the intense but earnest Kiki. This show was the first place I saw Tenoch Huerta Mejía, who’s now known for playing Namor in the MCU. He costars as Rafa, the trouble-prone but genius “florist” who develops a game-changing new marijuana strain. (I need to note the allegations that came out against Huerta last year.) The show also gave me my first look at Joaquin Cosío, who I’ve since seen pop up in Gentefied and Maya and the Three. He brings a great presence to Don Neto, who begrudgingly arranges a meeting for Félix in Guadalajara but then tells the traffickers there that he only came along to “babysit” Félix. The narration is provided by Scoot McNairy, who played Gordon on Halt and Catch Fire.
Then, of course, we have Diego Luna. Félix is immediately an interesting character, rolling up in a police uniform when Rafa has taken sanctuary in a church to hide from the scorched-earth military. Félix offers to “help” the soldiers by getting Rafa out of the church to avoid bloodshed and manages to talk his way into being allowed to leave with him in custody, only for the show to reveal that Félix and Rafa are actually partners.
Much of what we see from Félix here doesn’t involve such overt falsehood, but he’s consistently a person who isn’t what people assume he’s going to be. Whether he’s urging his Sinaloan bosses to make a more advantageous deal with Guadalajara, making a wildly bold move to get what he wants, or using his knowledge to concoct a story the right people will believe, he’s frequently underestimated. But even as those around him find him naïve, uppity, or punching above his weight class, he manages to stay in the game based on the strength of his ideas.
In Luna’s hands, Félix is calm and calculating, an observer of human nature who “sees the angles,” to borrow a phrase from Scrooge McDuck of all people (not a character I anticipated thinking of as I began my Narcos: Mexico rewatch.) When he’s congratulated for his plan to prevent the army from finding most of Rafa’s special strain, Félix shrugs off the praise, saying, “Predicting is not planning.” He sees what they have in Sinaloa compared to what the traffickers have in Guadalajara, and when Don Neto argues that they’ll be nobodies to the traffickers, Félix argues, “We’re nobodies here, Don Neto.” We don’t really see him rise to the insults that people toss his way, content to stroke other men’s egos if that’s how he can get what he’s after. It’s a strong introduction to a fascinating character.
First impressions:
Recommend?
In General – I would. The complex dynamics and politics of Narcos: Mexico drew me in right away. There’s some definite copaganda at play, and it’s a series that dramatizes events that have created a lot of suffering, so I do understand that it’s not for everyone. But when viewed in the context of a story, it’s really well done.
Diego Luna – Yes. Even though I know this is only a taste of what’s to come, Luna comes in strong out of the gate.
Warnings
Violence, drinking/smoking/drug use, language, and strong thematic elements.
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