‘Narcos: Mexico” is the Ultimate War on Drugs Show

Have you ever wondered what life was like for a drug lord in the Mexican Cartel during the 1980’s? Me neither, but thanks to Narcos: Mexico, you really get the full picture of how it all worked. Based on true stories, The Narcos series focuses on the origins of the war on drugs, with the original show focusing mainly on Pablo Escobar with his smuggling empire in Colombia. In this continuation of the Narcos saga, there’s no shortage of good acting, with Diego Luna playing Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, the head of The Guadalajara Cartel, and Michael Peña playing one of the main DEA agents.

The Guadalajara Cartel was the first major smuggling group in Mexico, so it was a pretty big deal back in the day. The show focuses on the formation of this infamous group of cocaine and marijuana drug lords, and tells the story of how they ship tons of cocaine and weed from Mexico over the border into the United States. With sometimes extreme amounts of violence, Narcos: Mexico doesn’t shy away from including the cruelty shown from the governments and the cartels during the war on drugs. Each episode is like its own movie; it’s a very fast-paced show that does a great job at building tension and suspense.

While Narcos definitely includes lots of drug smuggling, it’s more about how the Cartel leaders were able to avoid the Mexican government and American government for so long with such great success. As you progress through the show, you see bribery, murder, threats, and anything else you can think of under the drug-crime rainbow. It also focuses a lot on the plight of the DEA, and how they have to jump through the loops of bureaucracy in order to achieve the smallest victories in the war on drugs.

Narcos: Mexico takes drugs, sex, and violence to the next level. Two main characters will have a conversation while sitting on 20 bricks of cocaine. They snort coke of a stripper’s butt and run over several people with a cement roller. It’s not subtle. Still, by showing the origin stories of some of the biggest drug traffickers in human history, Narcos makes them seem human for the first time ever. You’re able to better understand the motivations of people on both sides of the War on Drugs.

I haven’t binged a show that fast in a long time. Narcos does an excellent job at captivating you from the second the first episode starts. The show is only two seasons right now, but in the future there will definitely be another one, because of how successful the show is. I highly recommend giving Narcos: Mexico a watch, it will draw you in with its good storytelling and compelling acting and you won’t want to leave.