*Episode premise spoilers, which includes a major spoiler for the end of episode 8.*
Penultimate episode, people! Things are going down in a big way. This episode gets intense, both viscerally and emotionally.
At the end of episode 8, Félix’s government pals arranged to have Kiki kidnapped. He’s now being held and tortured to try and determine what he knows. As Kiki’s boss Jaime confronts numerous barriers of bureaucracy and corruption in trying to search for him, Félix attempts to deal with the fallout from this unforgivable move.
Obviously, this is a dreadful turn of events. It’s been hanging over the show all season, since the pilot forewarned us about Kiki’s abduction, but it’s still brutal to see him tortured, to see his wife Mika full of fear and panic for him, to see Jaime coming up against brick wall after brick wall as he tries to convince any government agency or law enforcement operation to care about this missing agent.
Under those circumstances, it’s not surprising but still gross to get a serious copaganda moment. Jaime and the DEA guys are busting their asses to try and find Kiki, and the Mexican intelligence officer sent in to run point is blatantly shady as hell. When he’s replaced, however, the new guy signals that he’s the real deal when Jaime says, “Still waiting on the warrant [to check out some potential leads]” and the officer replies, “What’s a warrant?” Cue the jocular back-slapping and camaraderie, ugh.
Before I get into talking about Félix, I want to reiterate that I’m talking about Félix as a character, not Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo the real person. Also, I want to emphasize that I’m viewing this through the show’s version of events. Within the story, Félix is not responsible for Kiki’s abduction; once it’s been done, he signs off on the interrogation, but the initial escalation is portrayed as his government partners acting without his knowledge, and in fact against his express advice from episode 8.
So within that context, Félix is definitely concerned but trying to hold steady. In his mind, abducting a DEA agent is far more damaging than whatever intel he might have uncovered during his investigation, because now it’s bringing the full force of the DEA’s wrath down on them. But he says, “We focus on what’s ahead, not waste time on what’s done,” making his best efforts at damage control.
Félix is very much in character here, making a forceful show of confidence as he holds tight to the notion that steady, rational moves will save them. But the more the DEA bears down and the more his allies flail, the harder that is to maintain. He insists, “We manage the business. The only thing that keeps us alive,” and he coldly tells the DFS man in his pocket, “I’m getting tired of reminding you who you work for.” However, the cracks are starting to show, and the DEA’s crusade hits much closer to home than he’d like.
Diego Luna is fantastic in this episode. I’m continually impressed with his ability to project such authority in a relatively quiet way—Félix’s voice is rarely the loudest in the room, and he’s often surrounded by people who are physically larger than him, but he always makes his presence felt. And there’s a scene toward the end of the episode, a telephone conversation between him and Rafa, that’s just masterful. Luna cycles through numerous emotions, hiding just beneath the skin of calm self-assurance Félix maintains. So well done.
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