Synopsis: The rise of the Guadalajara Cartel as an American DEA agent learns the danger of targeting narcos in Mexico.
Format: 10 episodes streaming on Netflix simultaneously.
Cast: Diego Luna, Scoot McNairy, Teresa Ruiz, Alejandro Edda, José María Yazpik, Gerardo Taracena
Directors: Various
Writers: Various
When the first season of Narcos: Mexico reached its finale, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo had risen to the top of the Guadalajara Cartel — and drawn the full attention of the DEA. His decision to torture and murder Agent Kiki Camarena was always going to come back to haunt him. That season closed with the reveal that our narrator is Special Agent Walt Breslin, who’s now sent into Mexico to do what he must to take down Félix and avenge Kiki.
Diego Luna is once again menacing, cunning, and cruel as Félix. He’s also lonely; despite family, friends, money, and every indulgence — including a pet tiger — the cartel is fracturing. As bickering and infighting intensify, Félix struggles to keep everyone in line and angle deals with the Colombians to his advantage.
This season spends more time with various plaza leaders — most notably Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, played with charisma by Alejandro Edda. If you know where this arc is headed, the season ends about where you’d expect, setting up even more Chapo in the next chapter as his ascent continues.
Teresa Ruiz also gets focus as Isabella tries to make moves after Félix expelled her last season, but her storyline never catches fire; the character remains thinly drawn.
Amado Carrillo Fuentes gets increased screen time and plays a key role in the season’s endgame. It’s great to have more of José María Yazpik, whose performance as Amado has been a highlight across Narcos: Mexico and Narcos Season 3. Amado’s real-life story is wild; if you can avoid spoilers, it’s worth the surprise should the show go there next.
As much fun as it is to watch Chapo start making moves, the absence of Joaquín Cosio (Don Neto) and Tenoch Huerta (Rafael) is keenly felt — not just because their arcs were compelling as tensions with Félix escalated before he threw them under the bus, but because both actors brought warmth and presence to every scene, especially Cosio.
Our new DEA lead, Scoot McNairy, is also a step down from Michael Peña’s standout work last season. As Breslin, he’s less layered and less compelling than Kiki’s tragic, methodical pursuit of Félix’s marijuana empire — and it probably doesn’t help that Breslin is an amalgam, whereas Kiki was a single real person.
I’m excited to see where the series heads next — rebrand it again and call it Narcos: Cartel Wars if you like — but this season often feels like an overlong march to the inevitable end of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s reign. My interest shifted from him to the splintering plazas and the rise of the separate cartels, which is where we’re clearly going. It’s still Narcos: a punchy blend of fact and fiction that pulls in anyone curious about the history of the drug trade to America, even if this is the weakest season so far.
Narcos: Mexico Season 2 releases on Netflix February 13, 2020.
Advance screeners provided for review.
