‘Narcos: Mexico’ Season 3 Episode 6 Recap: A New World Order

Another episode of Narcos: Mexico, another climactic episode-ending gun battle. Anyone else sensing a pattern here?

But it’s a pattern that works for the story the show is telling. Has the violence been ratcheted up because that’s what a lot of viewers are tuning in to see? There’s no doubt in my mind. Does it also reflect the increasingly fractious and dangerous world in which the characters live, though? You bet it does.

In this episode, the violence goes all the way to the top. As if the killing of a Catholic cardinal in the crossfire at an airport weren’t bad enough, an all-out rebellion has begun in one of the country’s poorer regions, launched on New Year’s Day 1994, the very day the NAFTA trade agreement took effect. And just under four months later, Luis Donaldo Colosio, the system-threatening reform-minded candidate put forth by the ruling PRI party—which along with its rich allies was experiencing some serious buyer’s remorse with the guy—is assassinated. Our reporter/narrator Andréa speculates the PRI itself was behind the killing, and indeed gets threatened when leaving the office one night, but whoever the culprits may be, it’s not a good sign for Mexico’s immediate future.

Change is happening all over the place. After cementing himself as the biggest narcotrafficker in history, moving weight to the astonishing tune of $180 million per month, Amado Carrillo Fuentes finds himself in a bind when Pacho Herrera and his partners in the Cali cartel declare their intent to stop selling coke, do a little prison time, and then go legitimate, a deal arranged with the Colombian government so that their money wouldn’t be seized. (This is all covered at length in the third season of the original Narcos, though the details differ from how they’re presented here.)

Without missing a beat, the Lord of the Skies heads back to Cuba (and the loving arms of his long-distance girlfriend Marta) for a meeting with Orlando Henao, leader of the breakaway Norte del Valle cartel down in Colombia. Henao agrees to trade cocaine with Amado exclusively, under the same favorable terms shown him by the Cali contingent.(This too goes down differently from how it was depicted in Narcos.)

Cali’s decision also adversely effects the Arellano Félix cartel in Tijuana, which finds itself increasingly friendless. Amado refuses to cut them in on his negotiations with Norte del Valle. Independent trafficker El Mayo refuses to join their organization. Norte del Valle freezes them out, per their agreement with Amado.

Then matters go from bad to worse. Low-level narcojunior Alex Hodoyan gets detained in the States for driving a car with thousands of dollars in cash and a 9mm gun with the serial number filed off. He weasels his way out of arrest, but is trailed back to his house in Tijuana by Walt Breslin, who stakes it out until he sees Ramón and Francisco Arellano Félix there. He calls in the military, and a gunfight ensues, killing narcojunior Arturo “Kitty” Paez. (Farewell, Bad Bunny, we hardly knew ye.) While Rámon and the Hodoyan brothers escape to the Arellano stronghold, Francisco gets caught by Walt himself.

Realizing it’s only a matter of time before Ramón pieces together his role in blowing their cover, Alex calls Walt to reveal their new location in hopes of being rescued. Walt and his military allies race over to complete the bust of the brothers, but Ramón is one step ahead of them. When Walt and his liaison get separated in traffic, Ramón opens fire, killing the soldiers.

This is just one part of the night’s festivities for the Arellanos, who, now solidly under the command of sister Enedina, have decided to show all their enemies what they’re made of. They torch El Mayo’s precious shrimping boat. They murder Sinaloan leader El Azul. They nearly kill Amado himself. In one fell swoop, Enedina (“La Jefa,” as the episode’s title labels her), has made herself a force to be reckoned with.

Amid all this chaos, another storyline unfolds. Victor, the Juárez cop, finally locates the missing girl for whom he’s been searching for months—in a morgue. Noticing that she has blood under her fingernails, indicating a struggle with her killer, he asks if they can run a DNA test on it to identify the murderer, and is told that only north of the border do they have such capabilities.

So victor calls the DEA number Walt gave him months earlier and reaches station chief Jaime Kuykendall. Jaime, naturally, wants info on Juárez boss Amado—info that Victor doesn’t really have. But he does have a way of getting it: ingratiating himself to Amado’s vicious brother Vicente, who already has a crew of cops doing his dirty work. Now it’s a question of whether Victor can survive long enough in the underworld to generate the intel he needs for a tradeoff on that DNA test he wants so badly.

In a plot- and action-heavy episode such as this, Narcos: Mexico rarely has time to let things breathe, cinematically. It relies heavily on the careworn faces of actors Luis Gerardo Méndez as Victor, Scoot McNairy as Walt Breslin, and José María Yazpik as Amado to convey emotion and depth beneath the slick, violent surface. In that respect, the show succeeds, as the camera lingers on each face as they process the dilemmas in which they find themselves: These guys really are able to anchor the action in recognizably human ways. When the world is coming unraveled around them, that’s no mean feat.

Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) writes about TV for Rolling Stone, Vulture, The New York Times, and anyplace that will have him, really. He and his family live on Long Island.

Watch Narcos: Mexico Season 3 Episode 6 on Netflix