“I’m going to tell you a story. But I’ll be honest. It doesn’t have a happy ending.”
So says the American narrator, whose voice makes up just about all of the show’s actual English lines.
Those ominous introductory words — especially should you know the story of DEA agent Enrique S. “Kiki” Camarena Salazar — will turn your stomach.
Dallas’ own Scoot McNairy, raised right in Lake Highlands, delivers the chilling line as well as dry, darkly entertaining voiceover throughout each episode. His words transport viewers to the place where it all goes down — 1980s, Mexico City and Guadalajara, the dawn of cocaine trafficking there (no spoiler, but you might see a cameo or two from your favorite Colombian drug lords mid-season).
It is one of the best shows streaming on Netflix now (should you enjoy nonstop chaos, carnage and occasional graphic sex scenes, and also intelligent writing and editing and cinematography.)
“Narcos Mexico” is barely short of perfection — sure they took a few liberties with historical truths, but I do not care. Only Pablo Escobar’s story, in my opinion, tops this one, to date (to be sure, there are more in the works, because a young El Chapo makes an appearance or two; that’s right, the tunneling trafficker is next.)
Below: McNairy wraps up S4. No worries, not any spoilers here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQYhOMxkP3M]Among my favorite pastimes is watching TV — the evolution of quality programming since the dawn of live streaming is encouraging — even if, you know, the series at hand happens to be about drugs, brutal violence and bloody death brought forth by “Scarface” idolizing, barely discriminating, machine-gunning cartel members and crooked cops.
When I become enamored with such a show, I do a double-flip-with-a-twist dive down the rabbit hole in order to find Dallas people working on the program, so I can write about the shows I like without straying from our hyperlocal-focused mission, see? (Nah-what? You thought it was just about me having my fun? I. Am. Insulted. I do this for you guys!)
Found some other doozies on this route. (P.S. Diving into dirt is good, but not ever to be taken literally. Don’t ask.)
Like, this Spike Lee joint that featured Blake DeLong, also from Lake Highlands.
Or SMU and Richardson ISD grad Daniel Hart, composer of music for four or more feature films — two starring Casey Affleck and two starring Robert Redford (just to give you a taste of the talent with which he’s working).
Daniel later composed the bed for the incomparable Ira Glass produced “S-Town” podcast. Oh, he even wrote the tracks for David Sedaris’ latest e-book.
(And we have way more, so watch yourself, comments section; I just might have a swift comeback this time.)
Hell we all know dozens of Dallasites who made it there (there? There! Hollywood, the big screen, the teensy screens, the popular podcast playlists, the Broadway or Madison Square Garden Stage) which is what makes this little game fairly fun.
And he has some highly right-up-my (dark, depraved) alley with the likes of season three of “True Detective” and Quentin Tarantino’s Manson murders-related project “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
