Can't Remember the Finale of "Narcos: Mexico" Season 1? We've Got You
Narcos: Mexico returns to Netflix on Thursday, February 13.
Season 1 tracked the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel, led by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna).
Picking up right where last season left off, season 2 of Narcos: Mexico will follow the fallout of DEA agent Kiki Camarena's (Michael Peña) murder in 1985.
Narcos: Mexico is returning to Netflix for a second season on Thursday, February 13 with more high-stakes black market drama set in '80s Mexico. But before you dive back in, refresh yourself on the many plot details that unfolded in the show's first season, including the finale.
Despite switching countries and casts, each season of Narcos follows a similar pattern. On one hand, the show paints a complicated portrait of a cartel leader. On the other, the show follows the U.S. DEA agents determined to track him down. The cat-and-mouse chase is peppered with historical interludes.
After three seasons set in Colombia, Narcos moved to Mexico to track the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s, one of the earliest and largest cartels to smuggle drugs across the border to the U.S. Its leader, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna), is a Sinaloan ex-cop who unites Mexico's disparate drug enterprises under one system. Kiki Camarena is the DEA agent who pays the ultimate price for trying to hunt Gallardo down.
The next installment of Narcos: Mexico picks up in 1985, after Camarena's death has changed everything for the DEA agents in Mexico, for the Guadalajara Cartel, and for the show itself. This is your reminder that Don Neto (Joaquin Cosio) and Rafa (Tenoch Huerta), two of last season's most memorable characters, will not be appearing in season 2–so get your feelings out now.
One last thing, before the recap commences: Narcos: Mexico is based on a true story, though its creators estimate half of its events are fictionalized for the sake of plot and characterization (for example, Rafa Caro Quintero did not invent sinsemilla, but he was the first to implement it on a large scale). For consistency's sake, we’re recapping the show’s version of events, not history's, since that’s what season 2 is working off.
Here's what you need to remember.
It all starts with sinsemilla.
Arguably, the Guadalajara Cartel’s rise to power begins when Rafa Caro Quintero invents a new form of marijuana called sinsemilla. Sinsemilla translates to “seedless” in English. Technically, sinsemilla are female cannabis plants that have not been pollinated. They do not have roots or stems, making them much easier to pack.
There's just one problem: Sinsemilla can only be grown in remote places. So, Félix sends Rafa to plant boundless fields of sinsemilla in a remote part of northern Mexico.
Félix creates a united drug empire.
Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo had an impossible dream: He wanted to get the most powerful drug bosses in Mexico to cooperate. In episode 2, he somehow wins over the bosses of far-flung cartels with his dream of reduced violence and increased profits—or, as he puts it, the "OPEC of weed." The new cartel, based out of Guadalajara, will ship all of America's marijuana supply.
Thank to the intervention of DFS commander Salvador Osuna Nava (Ernesto Alterio), Félix eliminates his Sinaloan boss, Don Aviles (Antonio Lopez Torres), and becomes the new cartel’s leader. Further, Félix also wins the backing of the DFS, a Mexican intelligence agency, and starts to build a network of complicity within the Mexican government.
The recently formed narco union is an immediate success. By the first week, it's bringing in $30 million in cash.
The Guadalajara cartel dips its toes into the cocaine trade.
Earlier in the season, Félix was adamantly opposed to getting involved with the cocaine trade. However, mid-season, Félix decides it's a swell idea to use the plaza system's well-oiled transportation pipelines to smuggle Colombian cocaine into the U.S.—and make lots more money.
In the show’s thrilling fifth episode, Félix travels to Colombia and meets with characters from Narcos’s first three seasons. While he originally intends to partner only with the Rodriguez brothers of Cali, an intimidating meeting with Pablo Escobar in Medellin (in front of his pet hippo) force him into shipping both cartels’ supplies.
The addition of cocaine turns Félix's previously democratic union into a dictatorship. Félix makes the decision to go into cocaine trade entirely on his own, and asserts his authority to his disgruntled new “employees,” once his partners.
Félix crosses over to the dark side.
Félix had always been ruthless in his black market business pursuits—but in episode 7, we catch a glimpse of the monster he's become morally. Félix brutally kills Nava, the man who had saved his life in episode 2, with an ashtray in a hotel lobby. To be fair, Nava also had him tortured in Nicaragua the episode before.
El Azul (Fermín Martínez), the other DFS officer, takes Nava’s place in the Félix cartel.
The DEA destroys the cartel's marijuana fields.
Remember those massive fields of sinsemilla plants we discussed? Well, Kiki Camarena tracked them down—and the DEA burned them down. With over $2 million in marijuana lost, this is a huge blow for the Guadalajara Cartel.
Kiki Camarena is murdered.
Alas, we've come to the unforgettable tragedy of season 1 of Narcos: Mexico. In 1985, Kiki is kidnapped on the streets of Guadalajara by corrupt police officers and brought to a room. Along with pilot Freddy Zavala, Kiki is interrogated, tortured, and ultimately executed.
According to Narcos, the kidnapping is ordered by Zuno Arce, a prominent businessman and the brother-in-law of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria Alvarez. He wants the Guadalajara Cartel to find out exactly how much Kiki knows about the cartel (and its ties to the government), so he convinces Rafa and El Azul to go behind Felix’s back to carry out the kidnapping.
Kiki’s death is the catalyst for Operation Leyenda, the DEA’s largest-ever murder investigation. He left behind a wife, Mika (Alyssa Diaz), and three sons.
Don Neto and Rafa are arrested for Kiki’s death.
Don Neto and Rafa, Félix's closest friends and partners, are both arrested for the murder of Kiki Camarena. (Historical side note: Both Fonseca and Quintero are out of prison currently. Fonseca is on house arrest, and Quintero is a fugitive wanted by the F.B.I.).
However, Félix gets out of getting arrested with one ultimate power move. He makes a deal with Jorge Calderoni (Julio César Cedillo), a high-ranking officer in the Mexican federal police who had collaborated with the DEA, and seemed to be above bribery.
Félix offers Calderoni seven tapes from Kiki’s interrogation, which name who, exactly, is responsible for the agent’s torture and execution. There’s one tape, though, that identifies the Mexican politicians involved. That tape is dangerous—and that tape will be destroyed. The other seven will lead to arrests, like Rafa and Don Neto's.
Through this deal, Félix wins the government back on his side. Just as the other cartel bosses are trying to figure out a future without Félix, he storms into the meeting, flanked by the military. Félix's back in control.
Felix's relationships fall apart.
On one front, Felix's home life is a mess. Maria (Fernanda Urrejola), the second wife of Félix, has spent the season watching her husband transform into a downright villain. After neglecting his family and cheating on his wife, Félix proclaims he never needed her at all. Le sigh. Maria moves out with their two children.
He's also losing control over his drug empire–simply by trying to hold onto control with an iron fist. He betrayed Isabella's trust during the negotiation with Falcon, the Cuban cocaine trafficker based out of Mexico. He sold out Rafa and Don Neto. He's strong-arming the other leaders, to the point where any residual affection is gone. How long will their loyalties last?
Operation Leyenda kicks off.
In the aftermath of his partner Kiki’s death, Jamie Kuykendall returns to the U.S. There’s a new American DEA agent in town. His name is Walt Breslin (Scoot McNairy), and he’s been narrating the entire season.
Operation Leyenda is the task force created by the DEA to investigate Kiki’s murder. Clearly, this goes high up the ranks in Mexican centers of power. Will the new agents be able to navigate these dangerous systems entrenched in the drug trade and find all the people responsible for Kiki's death?
Tune in to season 2 of Narcos: Mexico to find out.
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