‘Narcos: Mexico’ Is Darker and More Intimate Than Ever Before

Every season of Narcos, Netflix’s drama about cartels, has been horrifying to some degree. Though a lot of narrative liberties are taken in this series, most of the shocking betrayals, warped escape plans, and graphic deaths are based on real life events. But for the past three seasons, the brutality of cartel violence has largely existed in the abstract, never seriously harming our heroes. The first season of Narcos: Mexico changes that in the most sickening way, pulling the series’ underlying’ brutality into sharp focus and making it the most difficult to watch installment of Narcos to date.

That’s a compliment, by the way: the story of Enrique S. “Kiki” Camarena Salazar should be excruciating to watch. Though we won’t spoil what ultimately happens to Camarena here, as with all crime dramas based on real life if you want to learn happened Wikipedia is your friend. However, even the narration in the first few minutes of the series notes that this season will be a departure from the exhausted but triumphant victories we’ve seen in the past. Right away Narcos: Mexico wants you to know that something bad is coming, and it more than delivers on that promise.

That ever increasing sense of dread infuses this season with a sense of pathos missing from most crime dramas. Structurally, the first installment of Narcos: Mexico is most similar to Narcos Season 1, but it employs the dual narratives of agent and drug lord better than any season so far. Each episode alternates between telling the story of Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña), a scrappy and impulsive DEA agent who wants to take down as many cartels as he can, and his foil and primary foe Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna), an upstart crime lord who will eventually become the grandfather of Mexico’s first cartel. In many ways these two men on opposing sides of the law are the same. Both are committed to their goals to the point of being reckless. Both are able to see the bigger picture in a way that those around them cannot. And in almost the exact same ways, both men become their own greatest enemies.

It’s when Narcos: Mexico is focusing solely on Kiki and Felix that it’s at it’s best. In many ways Peña and Luna’s performances are worthy successors to Wagner Moura’s iconic take on Pablo Escobar. Episode 4 is especially great at chronicling their complementary loneliness. With Kiki, that loneliness is literal as he lies his way into working at a marijuana farm while undercover. Though most of the episode merely shows him walking to and from buses, tension bleeds from his every step as Peña effortlessly communicates a thousand emotions at once: fear he will get caught, fleeting regret about his choice to go undercover without telling anyone, wonderment about this elaborate system, and above all hope that he may have finally found the bad guys. That same episode sees Felix surrounded by friends and allies as he hosts a wedding. And yet surrounded by the people who should be worshipping him, he’s completely alone. During a moment when he’s being celebrated as the creator of this world — something he’s always wanted — he’s anxious, weary, and ultimately miserable.

Conversely, when Narcos: Mexico starts to get political, the series starts to feel overcrowded. The founding of the Guadalajara Cartel was revolutionary solely because Gallardo was able to convince a group of disjointed and hostile drug lords to work together to achieve a more profitable purpose. There’s no version of recreating this origin story that doesn’t involve Felix Gallardo whining and dining a constantly changing array of drug smugglers. However, the series does an excellent job of course correcting roughly halfway through. Just when you feel like it would be impossible to keep track of yet another betrayal, Narcos: Mexico‘s story shifts and fully dives into the horrors its subtly been about this whole time.

Whether you’re a diehard fan of the series or are just looking for 10 episodes of a stellar crime drama, Narcos‘ latest installment works. If you’ve been following Narcos since its Escobar days, there are some truly incredible cameos that will leave you gasping. El Chapo even makes an appearance as a regularly occurring character. But if you’re just looking for a high-stakes contained drama, that’s there too. Kiki and Felix’s rivalry has the same swelling tension that defined Lester Nygaard and Lorne Malvo’s feud in Fargo Season 1. Regardless of why you tune in, try not to get too comfortable. This year things are getting darker than they’ve ever been.

Narcos: Mexico premieres on Netflix Friday, November 16. 

Watch Narcos: Mexico on Netflix