Y tu Luna también: Narcos: Mexico: Season 2, Episode 4 – “The Big Dig” (2020)

*Episode 3 spoilers.*

And already, we’re nearing the middle of season 2. I don’t know why, but it feels like this show is going by really fast for me. This is a good episode, and Diego Luna is incredible in it.

At the end of the last episode, the DEA got Zuno in custody on American soil, and now he’s ready to name names. As Zuno prepares to testify before a grand jury, Félix knows he’s in jeopardy, along with his government partners and his plan to put pressure on the Colombians. He takes a huge risk to try and protect his operation. Meanwhile, there’s a new tax on the Sinaloans for using Tijuana’s infrastructure, and Isabella has a proposition for Enedina.

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned Chapo by name, but he’s been a part of the show since early in the first season. For much of the series, his part has benefited from dramatic irony, contrasting what we know about El Chapo with the eager-to-please narco who’s loyal to Félix but frequently the butt of the joke among his friends. But here, we get the start of Chapo making his mark. As I’ve said before, the Sinaloans have had to traffic their share of the cocaine through Tijuana because they’re not on the border, but with the prospect of the new tax cutting into their profits, Chapo brainstorms ways to get around it.

Isabella has been looking to strike out on her own ever since Félix dropped her near the end of season 1. She’s smart enough to know she needs a partner to do that, but so far, everyone is too afraid of retribution from Félix to work with her. It’s interesting to watch her approach Enedina, another woman who’s been tired of being underestimated and dismissed by the men around them. Despite their similar grievances, they’re such different characters, and Enedina isn’t an easy mark. “What’d you expect?” she asks. “Turn my back on our family because we’re both women?” Isabella, equal parts savvy, ambitious, and scorned, replies, “Why not?”

This is an excellent episode for Diego Luna. I feel like Félix is always the most fascinating when his feet are really held to the fire, and with Zuno’s testimony hanging over his head, he’s determined to find a way out. We see him visiting Don Neto in prison, but he’s less than forthcoming with the advice. He tells Félix, “You’ve got all these people around you, but the truth is, you’ve got no one. ‘Cause you chose a bunch of dirtbag lawyers and politicians over your friends.”

I like watching Félix navigate this situation, reaching out to someone he betrayed last season. It feels like a no-brainer that Neto wouldn’t be in a forgiving mood, but for Félix, it kind of makes sense. He’s still working with the government, even though they threw him under the bus with Kiki’s abduction; he hasn’t forgiven them for that, not by any stretch, but he prioritizes what the business needs and puts that over his own anger. One of Félix’s recurring flaws is that he tends to think others will do the same when they frequently don’t.

So without Neto’s help, he’s left to find a solution on his own. Félix is a smart guy, but the Americans are about to have him dead to rights, and it’s going to take a masterful play to get out of that. He comes up with a plan that involves enormous risk and zero room for error. The scenes where he meets with CIA operative Bill Stechner are far and away the strongest in the episode.

A few weeks ago, I talked about Luna’s performance in the season finale and mentioned an earlier post I’d written that goes into his scene with Calderoni in more detail. This is the other big scene included in that post, another instance where Félix backed against the corner with only one card left. I just love watching these scenes, seeing him frantically make his move when there’s no guarantee it’ll work and the consequences of a miscalculation are dire. If anything, he's even more desperate here than he was in the season one finale, in part because Stechner enjoys using his lack of English against him; Stechner provides an interpreter for their conversation but withholds translation at critical moments just to watch Félix squirm. Luna plays this so well, Félix’s fear and panic warring with his determination to make his play.

Joel Fry-days / Other Doctor Lives: Twenty Twelve: Series 2, Episode 5 – “Catastrophisation” (2012)

Look, I’m not ashamed to admit that my interest in Twenty Twelve shoots up dramatically when Joel Fry is in the episode. No disrespect to David Tennant, whose narration is always enjoyable, but I’m 100% in this for Fry/Karl from here until the end of the series.

We’ve done a time jump—it’s now four weeks out from the Games, assorted characters have different hairstyles, and last-minute concerns are being addressed. Ian and Graham attend planning meetings on security and “catastrophisation,” headed up by high-ranking members of the Metropolitan police and recently joined by an American delegation there to iron out security arrangements for Michelle Obama. After previous bids fell apart, Kay is now scrambling to find a permanent use for the Olympic Stadium after the Games, and Siobhan and her team are tasked with rebranding an information packet to assist with public transit during the Olympics.

Shoutout to Ian as he tries to lead a distracted commission through a busy breakfast meeting. He tells them, “I just wanted to get ahead of the game a bit, or should I say ahead of the Games?”, after which he pauses and glances around the table, then awkwardly continues with his agenda when nobody acknowledges the joke. He has his hands full with the catastrophisation committee as well. Not only are they trying to reassure the Americans that all security issues are under control, they’re also dealing with a rash of incidents involving starter pistols that have been doctored to fire live rounds. And Graham’s presence at important meetings has never been all that helpful.

Several episodes ago, Kay and Fi were fighting over the future of the Stadium from a sustainability vs. legacy perspective, but now it’s the hot potato that no one wants. Kay is scraping the bottom of the barrel, variously courting a rinky-dink football club and a dog track. When she informs one man, “Sustainability isn’t actually about easy solutions, it’s not about being popular,” he replies, right on cue, “Oh, you might be all right then.”

Some nice David Tennant narration lines today. Here are my favorites:

• “Aware of the crucial importance of the occasion, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Crane has come up with what amounts to nothing short of a statistical breakdown.”
• “When Walthamston Greyhound Racing Track finally closed in 2008, it was the final straw for lifelong Irishman Brian McLoughlin” – I just love that character description!

Our character of the week is Barney Lumsden, played by Alex Beckett. He’s another member of Siobhan’s PR team, her “information architect.” I hadn’t realized it, but he actually appeared back at the start of the show too, with the launch of the Olympics website. I’m highlighting Barney today because he’s on my shit list for his treatment of Karl.

The dynamic with Siobhan’s team is much the same as it was in episode 3. They’re in two scenes instead of one this time, but we follow similar comedic beats: the team pitches their ideas to Siobhan, riffing as they go, until they hit upon something she likes. Barney explains the problem with the information packet, saying, “What we found is, with words, you get too many of them, what happens is, you get like this blehhhh.” Meanwhile, Siobhan reassures them that the whole point is coming up with a catchy enough title that people don’t feel the need to actually read the packet. She likens it to airplane safety instructions: “They’ve got shit like buckles and, I dunno, whistles and stuff. And they’re having a good time, everything’s cool. I don’t need to listen to this—I’m good.”

Karl’s dynamic within the team is the same as well. Barney and Coco, the third member of the team, energetically riff, complimenting each other’s ideas and feeding off each other, while for the most part Karl just quietly repeats key words and tacks on the odd “yeah.” Because every time he does timidly put forth an idea of his own? Barney immediately dismisses in a faux-nice way that feels condescending. Here, when Karl offers a different spin on one of their branding ideas, Barney turns to him and says, “Yeah, that doesn’t actually mean anything?” (He always shoots Karl down with this lilting “statement in the tone of a question” voice.)

This is Karl’s second episode, and I’m not saying I’ve reached the “I’ve only had Arlo for a day-and-a-half” stage, but I have a lot of affection for this guy. Joel Fry’s performance is endearing and quietly funny and the way Barney treats Karl is already making me mad. While it’s true that his ideas aren’t always good, Barney and Coco’s aren’t either—they just have the good fortune to be the sort of bad ideas that Siobhan loves. But Barney never critiques anything Coco suggests, only Karl and always Karl. This man can’t add a single thing to the conversation without Barney telling him it doesn’t work. Contrast that with Siobhan, who actually is a semi-helpful manager during this pitch session. She recognizes ideas she likes, and when she hears things that are off the mark, she steers them in a better direction: that’s too many words, that’s too short, that’s too serious. In this scene, she encourages creativity by using the wrong idea as a jumping-off point to find something better. But whenever Karl tries to speak, Barney stops the idea in its tracks so there’s nowhere for it to go.

Which leads me to an important point: critiquing Karl isn’t Barney’s job! Barney’s not his boss, Siobhan is, and Siobhan doesn’t talk to any member of her team, including Karl, like that. I can’t tell if Karl’s actually an anxious person or if he’s just had it drummed into him because Barney jumps down his throat every time he plucks up the courage to open his mouth. Also, I imagine the show’s not intending this, but I don’t ignore the fact that Karl is the only Black person in the room—the only recurring BIPOC in the show, in fact—and it’s a bad look for Barney to incessantly nitpick his Black coworker. Just let my man talk, good grief!

Narcos: Mexico: Season 2, Episode 3 – “Ruben Zuno Arce” (2020)

This is an important episode, as we see different elements of the plot starting to affect one another. We also see hints of Félix’s weaknesses beyond his business concerns. Forward movement happens on all the major plots.

Walt’s team sets their sights on their next target, and their operation has now gotten them on Félix’s radar. In between juggling inter-plaza squabbles, Félix tries to shore up protection for the cartel against the Americans. Elsewhere, Amado reluctantly helps Acosta in his efforts to end an old feud once and for all.

I’ve said before that Amado and Acosta make an interesting onscreen pair, and in this episode, Acosta puts Amado through it. It’s not just that they’re made to remove a guy from his hospital bedroom and beat him for information, and it’s not just that Acosta is pulling Amado into an armed standoff. It’s that Amado is expected to do all these things without Acosta telling him anything. When Amado first pushes him for context at the hospital, Acosta completely ignores it, instead replying, “Just watch my back.” Later in the episode, Acosta tells him, “Enough with the questions,” and Amado explodes, “Then give me some answers!”

The next move is made in the escalating tensions between Tijuana and Sinaloa. At his sister’s urging, Benjamín takes their grievances to Félix in the hopes of securing a better position for their family. After Benjamín thanks Enedina for her suggestions, she replies pointedly, “I’ve got lots of good ideas.” She’s been a good addition this season. As we saw with Isabella in season 1, there are women in this ecosystem who have the intelligence, ambition, and ruthlessness needed for the cartel, but they’re being shut out from being major players. It can be a bit “you could be a great drug trafficker, but sexism is holding you back!”, but I like it when stories show flawed or amoral characters experiencing bigotry. After all, it’s not something that only happens to the blameless.

As per the title, Walt’s team is now after Ruben Zuno Arce. He’s Félix’s friend who introduced him to his uncle in government in season 1, and even though he isn’t that important in and of himself, he’s a very tangible link to some of the big fish the DEA hope to catch, including Félix as well as a number of government officials. If they can get Zuno in their pocket, they stand to open all manner of doors.

Félix is definitely rattled by what he’s hearing of this American operation, but he’s doing his best to convey strength within that, coldly telling his bought-and-paid-for DFS leader to take care of this for him and standing firm against suggestions that he go into hiding. Knowing that the DEA is still on the warpath would be bad news for him under any circumstances, but he’s especially focused on his plans to make an important move with Colombia and doesn’t want anything to get in the way of that.

It's while he’s dealing with all this that he gets Benjamín’s call about the Sinaloans. In what might be Félix’s motto for keeping the cartel together, he tells his nephew, “Jealousy hurts business. Money is lost. This comes to an end, today.” You can feel how done he is in this conversation—if everyone would just put their personal shit aside, they could all get on with raking in money hand over fist, but no one seems to care about that but him.

Another bold move Félix makes to protect the cartel comes when he confronts his government partner directly. Much like his interactions with Cali always seem to back him into a corner, his interactions with the government are frequently a balancing act of dominance and submission. Félix is very assertive in this episode, reminding Mr. X, “You’re going nowhere without my money,” as he insists that the government do their part to keep the DEA away. At the same time, though, he has to keep his cool and not rise to the bait of Mr. X’s insults. Mr. X tells him to lay low, saying, “Run off. Scurry into the hole rats like you crawled out of.” Some of this, yes, is about Félix being a criminal, but it also has a strong classist undercurrent. Félix isn’t just a “rat” because he’s a drug trafficker; his government partner wants to remind him that, no matter how much money he earns, he’ll always be trash simply because of where he comes from. When Félix asks Mr. X what he knows about ancient Rome, borrowing an analogy from the previous episode, he immediately sneers, “I guarantee [I know] more than you.” And even though Félix knows how powerful he is and how much he’s accomplished, he needs to respond evenly, “I’m sure you do.” It’s fascinating to watch how he navigates this rage-inducing dynamic—the way Diego Luna plays it, it’s as if we the audience can see the reaction that Félix isn’t showing to the person who’s insulting him. I’m not sure how he manages that, but it’s really effective.