
*Spoilers for the end of episode 7*
A lot going on in this episode. Pieces are moving around the board to come to a head at the end of the season, and here, we see a major move. But at the same time as the future is being set up, things from the past are still rippling up to the present.
The DEA has just struck the Guadalajara cartel a major blow. They’ve located Rafa’s marijuana fields and seized/burned everything. Everyone is jumpy, but Félix insists that they just keep their heads down. Coke is where the real money is now, so as long as no one does anything stupid, they can take a hit on the fields. But he’s the only one who’s interested in keeping calm. Rafa is equal parts depressed and enraged, Félix’s partners in the government are nervous about exposure, and Amado gets more than he bargained for when he tries to get Acosta on board with the future of Félix’s vision.
We’ll start with Amado and Acosta. In the last episode, Félix made several big unilteral moves within the organization, one of which was to send Amado to Juarez to help manage Acosta’s crochety self. The old trafficker has been stuck in the past, and Amado is both annoyed and impatient as he sets out to modernize the plaza, but things quickly take a turn for the unexpected. I like these scenes because I love how utterly unimpressed Acosta is by Amado—“I don’t listen to a bastard who pisses sitting down,” he says. Likewise, his old-school approach is very hands-on, and while it’s admittedly a waste of resources, there’s something to respect in Acosta’s attitude as he explains, “I don’t send anyone to do shit I can do myself.”
After losing his fields—which accounted for 1/3 of all U.S. marijuana consumption at the time—Rafa is a mess. He already was angry that Félix was neglecting the weed in favor of coke, and now he feels outright betrayed. And his plants, his babies, paid the price. In his anger and grief, Rafa decides to quit coke cold turkey, which is an understandable impulse but pretty wild and ill-advised. This plotline features a hallucination sequence that’s just fantastically done. It manages to be both understated and obvious at the same time, which is quite a feat.
As for Kiki, seizing the fields gives him a big win, and he’s flying high as he hopes for approval on more tangible action from the U.S. government. One of his co-workers is happy at the thought of riding off triumphantly into the sunset with a transfer back to the States, but surprise, surprise, Kiki wants to see what happens next. He doesn’t fully conceptualize the kind of enemies he’s just made.
A big part of Félix’s job is convincing people things are fine when shit goes down. Stop people in-fighting, stop people retaliating, make the promises and trust that the infrastructure he needs to pull it off is going to show up. Here, after a very public show of force by the DEA, he’s consistent on messaging, but nobody’s listening.
He insists that the bust is where the DEA’s case ends, that he’s plugged any leaks and no one else is going down. But when he’s in bed with the Mexican government, the word of a narco who’s just taken a serious hit doesn’t mean much. His government pal is laser-focused on making the problem go away, and Félix’s only goal is trying to convince him not to make things worse in an over-hasty effort to fix them.
One thing I like about Diego Luna’s performance is that, if nothing else, Félix pretty much always maintains a degree of control over himself. He rubs elbows with a lot of people who look down on him, but even when he’s trying not to freak out himself, he clings onto a shred of dignity and is still able to project confidence. When his government friend hints at his plan for a response, Félix shuts him down flatly, refusing to rise to the bait of his insinuations.
“They call you the Godfather. And you’re afraid to get your hands dirty, Félix?” his government pal asks. Steadily, Félix replies, “Not even close. But I am afraid of panic. Turns out it’s bad for business.” As usual, he finds enough calm to do the smart thing instead of the emotional thing. It’s just a question of whether he can get the right people to go along with it.

