‘Narcos: Mexico’ Season 2 Premiere Recap: Eye of the Tiger

Subtlety has never been Narcos‘ strong suit. In its original incarnation as the story of the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, its transitional season chronicling his rivals in the Cali Cartel, and now in the spinoff series Narcos: Mexico, the show displays a welcome cynicism about America’s quixotic war on drugs. At times, it also takes on a rueful, almost poetic tone, as the thugs on both sides of the battle are made to confront the consequences of their actions. But as a viewer, you’re never asked to do a whole lot of work to figure out what’s going on. Case in point: As Félix Gallardo, Mexico’s drug kingpin, struggles against a cash flow problem that has him at odds with both his Cali suppliers and his Mexican underbosses, he sits and watches a chained tiger.

Get it?

Narcos: Mexico‘s second season premiere (“Salva El Tigre”) picks up almost directly from where its first season ended. Gallardo has secured his spot atop the criminal pecking order. His underlings nurse grudges against one another, mostly along regional lines. And his reluctant role in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of American DEA Agent Kiki Camarena has landed him and his empire in the sights of a whole new breed of anti-drug enforcers, personified by point man Walt Breslin (a fantastically laid back and dissolute Scoot McNairy).

That said, it takes over an hour for the show to reintroduce everyone and lay out the conflicts involved in their current machinations, which it does using the device of a big party in Félix’s honor that nearly all the major Mexican players, and even a cameoing Pacho Herrera from the original Narcos, attend. You’ll be on the edge of your seat less from excitement and tension and more for trying to figure out which gangster is which, a situation not aided by the similar hairstyles sported by several of the characters. If past seasons are any indication it will get easier to know your Güeros from your Benjamins and your Cochis from your Acostas, but for now you’ll just have to power through.

You do get to see future drug overlord El Chapo dancing up a storm in the meantime, so hey, there’s that.

It should be said that while somewhat less than thrilling, the party does do a decent job in introducing us to the major conflicts and obstacles bedeviling Gallardo at this stage in his reign. His Tijuana faction, led by Benjamín Arellano Félix and his steely sister Enedina, want more clout. The guys from his home region of Sinaloa, Cochi and Güero and Chapo, dislike the city boys from Tijuana on principle, and Félix seems to share their prejudice insofar as he refuses to grant Benjamín’s request. One of his top underbosses, Acosta, is a complete no-show at the party.

His biggest problem, though, is cash flow. While cocaine is moving across the American border, Félix is owed some $200 million by the Cali Cartel for the work of moving it. That means he’s got no money to kick up the food chain to his allies in the Mexican government (who are having troubles of their own due to their terrible handling of a horrific earthquake in Mexico City), nor down to his plaza underbosses. It’s true that Pacho Herrera attends his party, but only for long enough to tell him that the cash flow problem is his own fault for participating in the killing of Kiki Camarena. This act doubled the DEA presence in Mexico, Pacho says, and accordingly, seizures of shipments are up by forty percent. Félix will get his money when and only when the Cali guys feel like giving it to him.

On the American side of things, Walt oversees a pair of snatch-and-grab operations targeting Kiki’s torturers. The first abduction, of the doctor who helped keep Kiki awake and alive so the torture could continue, goes smoothly. The second, of an active Mexican intelligence officer who did the actual torturing, ends in a massive gunfight that nearly sees one of Walt’s Mexican allies kill an innocent bystander in cold blood in order to ensure there are no witnesses. Needless to say, all of this is illegal, as Walt notes in his wry narration.

Andrés Baiz, the series’ primary director, gets a lot of visual mileage out of this relatively dry and familiar action. He shoots Félix’s big soirée as an ocean of blue light banded streaks of gold. He puts the camera atop the hood of a truck and gives us a Ram’s eye view. He captures the aftermath of the party in a series of stills: the view from Félix’s home, a table full of unsnorted coke, a broken glass bottle. As is custom with the Narcos Cinematic Universe, these little flourishes go a long way in ensuring the show remains entertaining.

Entertaining, but not groundbreaking. I think it lost that chance with the departure of actor Wagner Moura, whose portrayal of Pablo Escobar remains stunning; I like Diego Luna a lot, but his Félix is less magnetic in his quietude than Pablo was. Still, “entertaining” is more than can be said for most shows, and it certainly never insults your intelligence in its quest to entertain either. Given the political backdrop of the season—conflict on the border, a ruling party trying to steal an election—I’m sure we’ll have much to ponder.

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.

Stream Narcos: Mexico Season 2 Episode 1 on Netflix