Critical Condition: Narcos: Mexico

Narcos: Mexico | Netflix, from Friday

☆☆☆☆ “The fourth season, given the expanded title Narcos: Mexico, gets what amounts to a total surface reboot. The action may move to Mexico and the specific law enforcement and criminal figures may be new, but the conflicts and structure and overall feel are of a piece. The result is a season that, through its first five episodes, makes enough of its fresh faces and characters to avoid boredom and yet is still resolutely and successfully Narcos in its DNA … Though Netflix is positioning Narcos: Mexico as more of a spinoff than a direct continuation of the series, its time frame is lined up next to what we saw in previous seasons and later episodes connect the dots in direct and pleasing ways. ” — The Hollywood Reporter.

☆☆☆☆ “It’s a magnificent thriller, this one, at the level of the first Narcos series, which featured Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar. At this point, the Narcos narrative can be considered consequential, rising to the level of The Wire in terms of existing as a serious-minded odyssey into the parallel worlds of crime and law enforcement … Liberties are taken with the true story in Narcos: Mexico but only to streamline what is a terrifying tale of terrible accomplishments and worse losses.” — The Globe & Mail.

☆☆☆☆ “No one portrays the labyrinthine world of the modern drug cartel in all of insidious complexity as well as the Netflix Narcos franchise … For the series’ fourth season, the action moves to Mexico in the years between 1980-85, when the DEA was tangled up in red tape and Nancy Reagan was photographed riding horses while holding up a ‘Just Say No’ sign, sure to end the war on drugs … Narcos: Mexico will keep you guessing — and watching.” — New York Post.