Narcos Mexico 2 Review: Thoroughly Riveting Inside and Out!

The fifth installment of the ‘Narcos’ franchise – Narcos Mexico 2 stars Diego Luna, reprising the antagonist role of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Scoot McNairy as his adversary – Agent Walt Breslin of the DEA. Drawn out in a ten-episode structure, the narrative of the entire season once again carries through the same formula of a cat-and-mouse game, but this time in a different setting accompanied by some higher stakes and greater risks.

ALSO READ: NARCOS: MEXICO SEASON 1 REVIEW

Moving on to the significant and effective attributes of Narcos Mexico 2, the storyline and the screenplay deserve an appreciation for keeping the narrative intriguing through and through. Primarily, the show spends a ton of time documenting the journey of Félix as he thrives with additional power and more treacherous enemies who are plotting against him and looking forward to his impending downfall. Everything from him trying to stabilize his federation, his eventual struggles to close deals and keeping them afloat, making desperate decisions and at the same time, his fading relationship with his family was well showcased throughout the ten-hour runtime.

Comparably, the story of the DEA agents headed by Walt in Mexico is also illustrated at the same time and extensively concentrates on their mission of knocking down the proprietors of Camarena’s violent murder. The other subplots involving all the secondary characters are also represented with utmost significance. The emotional story beats which were largely carried by Kiki and his family in the last season, are concisely transferred, to a few other characters, with one of them being – Pablo and Mimi.

Their love and hate relationship felt like the most relatable one of the entire season only because it involves affection, redemption, realization along with a few others that had a humane touch in a violent setting. Also, Walt’s character was presented with a heartfelt angle involving his brother and provided him a reason why he kept digging deep into this suicide mission. The remaining characters had their moments in the sunlight and had important contributions to the narrative, be it, Chapo’s rise to prominence, the introduction of Don Juan, the team-up of Enedina and Isabella, and the budding relationship between Amado and Pablo were displayed decently inside and out.

On to the performances, Diego Luna steals the show once again with his exceptional performance, his character for this season portrayed more of the opportunistic and inhumane vibes and he executed everything easily from start to finish. Scoot McNairy, on the other hand, plays this wooden, empty character who doesn’t necessarily emote and a person who keeps it to himself. Although I found it tough to get behind his character, for the most part, his remarkable acting skills and his ability to look like a normal American citizen helped the show to not slow down its pace at any point.

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On the whole, much like the previous seasons, Narcos Mexico 2 has a thorough grip on the story and narrates a riveting 10-hour drama that is captivating to watch. Despite the slow build, the characters and their side of the storyline carried some intrigue for me to relate, get behind, or rebel against. With quite a few moving pieces and a language that most of the viewers don’t speak, this show requires your attention, and it does a good job keeping you enthralled even if you’re not into crime/thriller genre. And most importantly, Narcos still remains as one of the most consistent and must-watch content on Netflix even after a fifth season Watch ‘Narcos Mexico 2’ on Netflix here.

Rating – 3.5/5 | Grade – B+

Images via Netflix