José María Yazpik’s Amado in ‘Narcos: Mexico’ Is Low-Key Season 2’s Best Character

Every episode of Narcos and Narcos: Mexico stands as a battle of egos. A different notorious drug lord stands face-to-face with another high-strung and law-loving DEA agent. But between all of these dueling personalities there’s one criminal mastermind who has slowly emerged as one of the most interesting and dynamic characters in Narcos: José María Yazpik’s Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

A high-ranking member of the Juárez Cartel, Amado didn’t first appear in the spinoff season dedicated to his home country but the one before. He and his fleet of planes first emerged in Narcos Season 3 as the Cali Cartel’s ticket to trafficking an absurd amount of cocaine by air. Even from that early appearance way back in 2017 the nicknamed Lord of the Skies has stood out.

In a series defined by powerful men picking sides and impulsively breaking alliances, Amado has been portrayed as one of the few people willing to take a step back and listen. When the Cali Cartel was being torn from the inside out thanks to internal drama between its four founders, Amado quietly listened to Pacho Herrera (Alberto Ammann) vent while passing minimal judgement. When his boss and business partner Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna) asked the Cali Cartel for a truly obscene amount of coke to smuggle into the States, did Amado call Félix Gallardo out on his borderline impossible-to-achieve ask? Yes, but he had the intelligence to do it privately. And when his boss Pablo Acosta (Gerardo Taracena) disappeared for weeks at a time, he didn’t panic or flash a gun at his mentor like his more impulsive peers might. He skeptically followed Acosta lead, allowing the man to take care of his personal business while never letting his loyalty to either Acosta or Félix Gallardo cloud his judgement.

Over three seasons Amado has been a fly on the wall witnessing the frustrations and mistakes of the drug lords around him. But his relative passivity never makes him boring. Conversely it makes Amado and those around him all the more dynamic. Félix Gallardo’s intense demands and bloodthirsty orders appear more cruel and shocking when compared to Amado’s constantly cool head. Acosta’s move to Texas seems more impulsive and ill-conceived when viewed through his protégé’s eyes. Through all this strife Amado emerges to appear more calmly aware of his place in this unpredictable system. As a result of his self-awareness he becomes invaluable when compared to the many of the drug lords around him.

At the moment we don’t know if Narcos: Mexico will return for a third season. If it does it seems like the drama is poised to focus on the rise and fall of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán (played by Alejandro Edda). But there’s a good case to be made why Amado should be this series’ next antihero.

The real Amado Carrillo Fuentes rose to become the head of the Juárez Cartel after Pablo Acosta’s death in 1987. He only took control after assassinating the cartel’s real leader, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. Over the course of Carrillo’s career it was estimated that he made over $25 billion, largely thanks to his airplane smuggling system. His reign lasted until around 1997 when Carrillo died after an extensive plastic surgery procedure that went horribly wrong. At the time he was trying to alter his appearance to better hide from authorities.

All of these facts combined with José María Yazpik’s chillingly introspective portrayal could make Carrillo’s story one of the most interesting sagas Narcos has told so far. Narcos: Mexico may be poised and ready to tell El Chapo’s story. But if the Netflix original wanted to wait a beat and dive into Amado Carrillo Fuentes’ life on the sidelines and later on the run, it would make a lot of sense.

Watch Narcos: Mexico on Netflix