We’re rounding the second half of the season now, and things are getting intense. I really enjoy the way Félix’s storyline is paced throughout the show, and I think this marks an important turning point for him.
Now that Félix’s deal with the Colombians is fully off the ground, his cartel is running “the fucking Fedex of blow.” But even as they’re making more money than ever, Félix is increasingly beset by interpersonal minefields, both in the business and in his own family. He’s all too aware that any one of these issues could torch everything he’s built. Over at the DEA, Kiki is preparing to pack up shop and move his family back to the States, but he can’t resist one final gambit.
There’s a lot going on here. Don Neto suffers a personal crisis that has him spiraling throughout the episode. Isabella is ready for her cut of the business, and the machismo world of the plazas has that moving too slowly for her. Rafa is feeling neglected as all of the cartel’s resources shift to transporting coke, leaving his marijuana to rot. And Nava from the DFS is as slimy and strongarming as ever. You’d almost have to admire his dedication to dressing down Félix, if it weren’t so stupid and shortsighted. Here he sneers, “Don’t think that by wearing that stupid suit, you suddenly become one of us.”
This episode really highlights a particular similarity between Félix and Kiki, even though they’re drastically different in most respects. Both men have a dog-with-a-bone mindset that won’t allow them to let things rest. As Félix goes all in on cocaine, and as Kiki goes all in on stopping him, they both risk blowing up their own lives in the pursuit of what they want.
This is another strong episode for Diego Luna. It’s not accurate to say that Félix is indifferent to relationships or immune to posturing. Clearly, he’s not. If relationships didn’t matter to him, he’d have cut his losses on Rafa when he started causing trouble. Instead, Félix wracks his brain here trying to figure out where Rafa fits within the new system. And if he was entirely above the bravado and petty squabbling, Nava’s digs wouldn’t get under his skin like they do. Rather, he’s generally good at putting the bravado/squabbling aside for the sake of the business, but he does have his limits. When he gets pushed too far, that seemingly unflappable veneer drops pretty decisively.
Much of Félix’s role on this show has been about managing people: massaging egos, reassuring jittery fears, smoothing out rivalries. He created an ecosystem where everyone works together for the benefit of the whole cartel, but he’s feeling the weight of maintaining all that. Even though he’s mostly willing to put their immense wealth and position above all else, so many of the people working under him are ready to torpedo it all in a fit of pique, and keeping them all in line has him strained. When he realizes that the plates he’s spinning at home are also starting to wobble, he considers how much this cooperation is worth to him.
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