La Voz
Episode 7 of Narcos: Mexico Season 3 begins in San Diego. Newspapers are distributed out with big headlines following the attack on Colosio. With the papers ready to be handed out, an explosion nearby brings the heat on La Voz. The cartels are not happy and the gang contemplate whether they need armed security. With a war about to take place, the first thing to be targeted is the truth. In order to protect everyone, Salgado makes the decision to take their names off the stories they’ve written. Andrea isn’t happy about this revelation, believing no one will take La Voz seriously if they do this. Salgado is pretty dead-set though and even suggests she get another job if she doesn’t agree to this. In prison, Mayo heads up and meets Chapo. He’s another casualty in this attack and after seeing his shrimp boats go up in flames, he decides to team up with the Sinaloa gang. He has big plans to put them back where they belong, and this immediately sees Chapo perk up with interest. As fate would have it, Amado is also after Mayo and agrees to give him a cash advance – and the promise of killing the Arellanos too. With the attention turning back to Enedina, and numerous people out for revenge against her, she speaks to Benjamin on the phone. He’s worried about her livelihood and hopes that God is on their side for the hellfire they’re about to walk through. Meanwhile, Victor walks a fine line in his undercover work. He and Rogelio beat down a kid out in the middle of nowhere, as we learn Vicente is after the snitch in his company. When Rogelio shoots the kid in the back, he chalks it up to an occupational hazard. It’s a risky game and when Victor heads up to El Paso to pass on intel, he gives them a name “Flaco Masvidal” With Victor in serious danger, he’s handed the results… which are inconclusive. Beyond it being a male, there’s no definitive target. Because of this, Victor looks close to flaking and skipping out. Determined to find out the truth though, he dives straight into the jaws of danger, heading aboard the bus with all the young women from the auto-parts factory. None of them speak up though, save for one woman. She mentions how there was a big car but beyond these scraps of information, there’s not much of a lead to go on. After being shot in the stomach last episode, Alfredo is in a rough way but continues to hang with Alex. Alfredo is convinced that everything will settle down in a few weeks but Alex is not so sure. He wants to skip town and go abroad to study. While they talk, their apartment happens to be the hotspot for this backlash attack from the Mexican military. Alex heads out and finds himself caught in the crossfire, tackled into the empty pool and beaten to a pulp while Walt watches on. Alfredo meanwhile, manages to escape out back. Alex is taken to “Building C” on Rebollo’s orders, with plans to squeeze info out of him no matter what. Off the books though, of course. Walt is a little uncomfortable about this but the General reassures him that this is for the best. With the clock ticking, Mayo makes his move and begins to force the Arellano contractors to pick sides or suffer the consequences. Those consequences happen be being lit on fire after being doused in petrol. Now, given Amado wants all those in the Arellano family dead, their motivations are aligned. Amado’s methods are far more public though, especially when he declares war by placing the men Dina sent to do business with on a public monument, decapitated. Hank is not impressed by this and tells him it’s bad for business. He wants this messiness tidied up immediately. If not? Well, all the bank accounts will be completely frozen. As the episode closes out, Alex tries to hold out through his interrogation. Walt does his best to try and talk him around but it’s no good. Eventually Walt caves, allowing the General to do what he must . Unfortunately this results in the interrogation taking a turn for the worst, complete with jumper cables and electricity. Yowch.
The Episode Review
Narcos: Mexico sees this war take shape and in doing so, shows just how far our soldiers will go on both sides of the conflict. Seeing Walt now caving to these questionable methods is an interesting way of challenging his morals and where he draws the line on what’s ethical or not. Nowhere else is this struggle more evident than with Amado and Enedina. The public display in the town square is pretty shocking but it was bound to happen given how Dina tried to kill him. The storyline involving Victor is really fascinating to watch though and definitely a nice way of giving him a well-written arc across the season. I’d imagine this will tie in with everyone else later on down the line, especially if Amado and Vicente are behind these killings. Either way, Narcos: Mexico is really starting to heat up now and the final three episodes of the season promise a lot of drama to come.
