Y tu Luna también: Narcos: Mexico: Season 2, Episode 6 – “El Dedazo” (2020)

*One spoiler from episode 5.*

We head into the second half of the season with an episode that ups the ante all around. Whether you’re looking at the cartel’s operation, the DEA’s investigation, the feud between Tijuana and Sinaloa, or the lengths Félix is willing to go, the stakes are getting higher and higher.

As regular disruptions of senseless violence keep breaking out between Sinaloa and Tijuana, Félix attempts to lay down the law, but there may not be peace to be had between the plazas this time. At the same time, he’s seeking new political alliances. The DEA follows intel on Amado, who’s buying new planes to support an enormous increase in traffic, and Isabella and Enedina look to ramp up their own operation.

In the last episode, Félix’s big confrontation with Cali went south immediately. They anticipated that he was moving against them and cut their own separate deal with Guerra, breaking his monopoly. Without that leverage, he couldn’t go ahead with his plan to force the Colombians to pay them in cocaine instead of currency and was left floundering for a reason why he called the meeting. He wound up saying they needed more product, agreeing to move an exorbitant amount of coke that his cartel is in no way prepared to handle.

Hence Amado buying planes. This puts the DEA in a strong position. They’re tipped off to this development by their inside man, and with the cartel rushing to increase their infrastructure ahead of the monster shipment, Walt and co. are preparing for them to get sloppy, at which point they plan to swoop in and make the biggest bust of all time.

The Tijuana vs. Sinaloa stuff in this episode is interesting, because it reflects how quickly “fun and games” can turn real. At first, their escalating violence is almost cartoonish, and the show plays it for entertainment—Ramón maims the hand of Cochi’s favorite mariachi, Cochi responds by flattening a few Tijuana guys with a steamroller. But as the episode goes on, the level of violence doesn’t change, but the severity of it does.

In the first half of the season, Félix was so focused on his Colombian plan and his DEA issues that he kind of dropped the ball on dealing with these tensions; he offered distracted commands and mild solutions that would only work if both sides were behaving reasonably, which neither were. So here, as the situation spirals out of control, Félix finally steps in more actively. But it’s gone on too long for pragmatic fixes. He’s been distracted, and Benjamín has grown bolder in his absence. Félix’s nephew won’t be placated anymore.

While he’s dealing with that, Félix is also courting a new government alliance. His old pal Mr. X isn’t likely to become president anymore, so at the start of the episode, he has a meeting with the new candidate’s brother. His purpose is twofold: 1) buy himself more political cover and 2) get in the way of one of Guerra’s political relationships after Guerra blew up his Colombian deal.

But things aren’t going Félix’s way here, either. We’ve seen Félix make his pitch to numerous people across the series, tailoring his approach for what people want/need and finding his way to get them to say yes, and Diego Luna is always great in them. But what’s interesting about this scene is how it doesn’t work. Throughout, we watch Félix take in new information and adjust on the fly, retuning his internal dials to try and find something that’ll work, but the candidate’s brother isn’t picking up anything he’s laying down. What’s more, he has to do all this without giving away his frustration, anger, or confusion. It’s not until he leaves the meeting that he exclaims, “What kind of fucking politician doesn’t want money?”

Other Doctor Lives: The Importance of Being Earnest (2025)

I’ve been waiting for this production to come to National Theatre Live ever since I first heard about it last year. Ncuti Gatwa doing Oscar Wilde? Yes, please! While the play isn’t up on the streaming service yet, it was available to stream on YouTube for one week only back in March. So, since I’m taking a break between Twenty Twelve and W1A, I obviously knew what was the first Other Doctor Lives project I wanted to review in the interim!

Algernon gets quite the tale from his friend Ernest—who, it turns out, isn’t Ernest at all. He confesses that his real name is actually Jack. A respectable young man with a country estate and a ward under his protection, Jack invented a “wicked brother Ernest” in London, giving him an excuse to go into town whenever he wants to drink, play cards, and generally be less than respectable. Only now, he’s in love with Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen and wants to marry her…but first he has to confess who he really is. Meanwhile, Algernon’s never been to Jack’s house in the country, and if his friend is giving up the name Ernest, it seems like the perfect time for Algernon to start using it in his stead.

This production is so much fun! I read The Importance of Being Earnest back in college, but this is the first time I’ve seen it performed. It’s just a terrific romp all around. Oscar Wilde’s dialogue sparkles, as it rightly should: the sly commentary, the cheeky witticisms, the winking references. All fantastic! The staging keeps the farce brisk, the romance is frothy with a bit of spikiness, and the banter volleys between the characters like a tennis match. Also, there are some nice interstitials in front of the curtain to keep things moving during the set changes, such as Algernon modeling wardrobe choices while he packs for an excursion.

And can I just say: for a play that prominently features two male/female romances, this production is so gloriously gay! Algernon opens the show playing the piano in a pink ballgown. There’s flirty banter between Algernon and Jack and a homoerotic rivalry between their respective love interests. There are Outfits!!! galore. Everything is camp, everything is arch, everything is fun. There’s voguing during the curtain call. This is the gayest ostensibly straight show I’ve ever seen, and I think we can all agree that’s what Oscar Wilde would’ve wanted.

The whole cast understands the assignment and plays their roles to the letter. Hugh Skinner is great as Jack, bewildered by the tangled web of his own making and incensed at Algernon for cheerfully making everything worse. Ronke Adekoluejo is a firecracker as his would-be fiancee Gwendolen, and Eliza Scanlen (Beth from the Greta Gerwig Little Women) is an absolute hoot as his ward Cecily. Sharon D. Clarke, who played Grace during the Thirteen era of Doctor Who, is a splendidly imposing Lady Bracknell, serving court every time she enters the room. Meanwhile, Julian Bleach, another Whoniverse alum (most recently as Davros during the Twelve era) does double duty as both Algernon and Jack’s manservants.

And then we have Ncuti Gatwa, who is just a delightful force of nature as the incomparable Algernon Moncrieff. The costumes are excellent, the poses are camp, and the wit is delicious. He handles all of Algernon’s clever lines with charm and humor, and he handles all the scheming with puckish enthusiasm.

I loved Algernon when I read the play, and I adore Gatwa’s performance here. This is a man who is utterly and inescapably himself, even when he’s pretending to be someone else. Regarding his piano playing abilities, he declares, “I don’t play accurately—anyone can play accurately. But I play with wonderful expression.” He eats when he’s hungry, bored, stressed, excited, etc., and makes no apologies for it. He lives for drama and has an answer to everything. He causes trouble and refuses to be shamed for it. Gatwa plays Algernon with music in his movements and a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Yes!!!

Accent Watch

RP.

Recommend?

In General – Definitely. This production is such a good time!

Ncuti Gatwa – 100%! Gatwa is totally in his element here—he just exudes Algernon!

Warnings

Suggestiveness, drinking, and thematic elements.

Yu tu Luna también: Narcos: Mexico: Season 2, Episode 5 – “AFO” (2020)

*Episode premise spoilers, which include a few spoilers from previous season 2 episodes.*

Another strong episode. Not as many moving pieces as some—today, the action is centered around a few main plots, with different characters moving in and out of each one.

Walt’s team has received intel about the friction between Sinaloa and Tijuana, and they have a prime opportunity: with the Sinaloans removing all their cocaine from the Tijuana plaza’s warehouse, they hope to catch the Sinaloans trying to move it across the border. While that goes on, Enedina and Isabella make moves on their own operation. Meanwhile, Félix finally has everything in place to get the Colombians where he wants them, and he takes Amado along with him to the meeting. But as we’ve seen with Félix’s dealings with Cali in the past, things don’t go as expected.

Chapo’s big plan in the last episode, of course, was to construct a tunnel to cross the border from below. The Sinaloans toil to set their plan in motion, but as they move their coke, they have both the DEA and a resentful Benjamín on their tail. It’s interesting to watch Walt’s team investigate here. Part of what’s been holding them back is their superior attitude toward some of the traffickers they’re trying to bring down, and we get some nice dramatic irony as we see them laugh about the prospect of the Sinaloans simply trying to drive trucks full of cocaine across the border, when we the audience know what they’re really up to.

Isabella can be a frustrating character. Her whole thing in season 1 was about wanting to be a player, getting angry when she felt like Félix strung her along without ever really intending to give her her due. But watching her try to build her own enterprise this season, her plays aren’t thought through very well; it’s only now that she’s partnering with Enedina that things are starting to happen. Isabella never seems to think big enough, while Enedina is the one who comes up with a savvy, strategic plan. Don’t get me wrong—I think sexism played a definite role in Félix dismissing her in season 1. But I also think he probably recognized that she has more ambition than ingenuity and wasn’t overly useful to him beyond her connections.

In the first half of the episode, we see Félix more from Amado’s perspective than his own, which makes for an interesting shift. Amado is jumpy when Félix shows up unannounced in Juarez, and he quickly tries to cover for Acosta, then gets swept off on a mysterious trip to Panama. We often see how the plaza bosses are intimidated by Félix as they talk about him in their interactions amongst themselves, but when Félix is in the scene, he’s typically the focal point character. Following Amado in these early scenes gives a different insight into him.

This is an instance where Félix’s careful calculations fail him, because they depend on people doing the logical thing. And in their business, where power often has greater currency than money, that just isn’t something he can rely on.

Not that Félix is entirely driven by financial sense, of course. He’s been quietly seething over the Colombians all season, and he thinks he finally has them where he wants them, that he can force their hand into more favorable terms for his cartel. If anything, based on his past dealings with Cali, he’s too confident, calmly telling Amado, “I’ll explain the Colombians’ future to them.” That’s why, when the rug gets pulled out from under him, it hits so hard.

Once again, Diego Luna is fantastic, but in an entirely different way than he was in episode 4. There, Félix knew he was on thin ice from the start with the CIA but had to walk into the belly of the beast anyway, risking his neck with his eyes wide open. Here, he thinks he’s realizing the culmination of months of planning, only for Pacho to knock him so casually off kilter. As with Stechner in the last episode, there’s a sense that Pacho is enjoying taunting Félix, although he’s doing it in a more unspoken manner. And Félix, in turn, has to try not to react, not to let the Colombians see him get rattled.

It's not until after he gets home that he lets his fury out. Félix is definitely a character who holds grudges, but he frequently keeps them contained, plotting instead of lashing out. In this episode, we get one of the rare examples of him truly exploding at someone, venting his anger at the weak link in his chain. He’s incensed about the disrespect, but also the pure fact that someone has upset his carefully laid-out plan, going for the easy money grab and quick dig rather than sticking with his meticulous long-term payout. And this outburst doesn’t bring him any satisfaction or resolution—when he puts down the phone, he’s plainly in distress, physically sick as he tries to figure out what he’s going to do next.