Season 2 of “Narcos: Mexico” debuted on Netflix nearly two years ago, with cartel kingpin Felix Gallardo (Diego Luna) taking centre stage in this intense, violent, multi-layered drama.It’s back, minus Luna, but with Scoot McNairy (and his dodgy moustache) reprising his role as DEA agent Walt Breslin, still fighting the good fight while facing off against old and new cartel adversaries as “Narcos: Mexico” doesn’t miss a beat in its third and final season.As Season 3 begins, there are a lot of moving parts.
It’s 1992, and the NAFTA trade agreement, which will ease trade restrictions between the United States and Mexico, is on the horizon. Breslin and his fellow DEA agents, including boss Jaime Kuykendall (Matt Letscher), are in El Paso, Texas, just across the border from Juarez, where Amada Carillo (Jose Maria Yazpik) and his crew have been smuggling massive amounts of cocaine into the United States.Breslin is in charge of “Operation Nissan,” named after the cars that transport the cocaine across the border, and after three months in prison, Carillo is plotting his next big move after snubbing his boss, Rafael Aguilar: aligning himself with powerful-but-shady politician Carlos “Hank” Gonzalez (Manuel Uriza), a feared mover and shaker nicknamed.
“The Professor” for his humble beginnings as a schoolteacher who sold candy on They were met, and then some. I was worried that the long gap between seasons would make it difficult to catch up — “Narcos: Mexico” is largely an ensemble drama, with multiple characters to keep track of — but that wasn’t the case.
You’ll be surprised at how quickly you’re sucked into the guts of this gritty series, which does a good job of integrating each separate storyline; after one episode (maybe two), you’ll find yourself immersed in each character’s parallel storylines and, yes, even empathising with the bad guys at times.
When Carillo is released from prison and returns to Sinaloa to learn of the death of his young asthmatic daughter, it’s difficult not to feel his pain as he stoically mourns her loss. Given that Carillo et al. are based on real people, that’s quite a feat for a show about death, drugs, greed, and destruction.
All of the performances in this film are excellent. McNairy, as the taciturn Breslin, doesn’t care if he ruffles any feathers and is hellbent on dismantling the Mexican cartel as much as he can — with Kuykendall backing him up… to a point.
Yazpik, who has played Carillo in all three seasons of the show, returns in fine form, and you’ll meet a slew of new characters along the way.If you haven’t seen the first two seasons of “Narcos: Mexico,” there’s still time to catch up and become acquainted with the show’s context before diving into Season 3 and experiencing an adrenaline-fueled ride that never stops.
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