Warning: Spoilers for the Narcos: Mexico finale below!

The Narcos: Mexico finale was a twisty and tense journey that saw one major character’s story end, and another’s come back to life. The shrewd and calculating Felix Gallardo (Diego Luna) managed to stay ahead of those trying to bring him down, while Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña) tragically lost the fight. One of the triumphs of this season of Narcos: Mexico was how invested it made us in these stories of two men and their dogged obsessions — ones that were diametrically opposed and poised for conflict. The results of that conflict were devastating for Kiki and his family, as well as his friends in the DEA, but it spurred on a new era of the War on Drugs.

Since there was so much that happened in “Leyenda,” including that major reveal at the end that introduced a new character that’s also an old one, I’ve broken down some of the biggest moments of that finale and what they might mean for a potential Season 2 below:

The Tapes

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This was really the crux of “Leyenda,” because without the tapes and Felix being able to acquire them, his story would have ended at that hunting lodge. What was interesting about that entire kidnapping storyline was that Felix was shown to be opposed to it from the start. His hubris had grown out of control, and we saw bits and pieces of that in the way he dealt with those who opposed him, as well as his own family — nothing came before his business. And yet, he was also shrewd enough to know that capturing an American federal agent is a really bad fucking idea. You would think this would be an obvious thought, but the politicians who he was desperate to connect with for his cocaine trafficking felt otherwise.

It’s worth noting that throughout Narcos: Mexico, there were obvious leaks within the Americans’ operation in Mexico, enough that Felix could be tipped off to just about everything. So it was a little surprising that those same government higher-ups didn’t have a line on what was said in this meeting with Jaime and Kiki. Kidnapping Kiki showed their arrogance, yes, but also intense paranoia and uncertainty about what might be coming.

Regardless, Kiki was taken, tortured, and killed despite not knowing anything that they wanted to hear, which was absolutely devastating to see unfold. But again, Felix saw a way to leverage that situation for himself by procuring the tapes (thanks to Fermín Martínez's slimy El Azul). They were all he had, but it worked, even against an upstanding figure like Calderoni (Julio Cesar Cedillo). Yes, Calderoni could have exposed the names and possibly shed some light on the government cockroaches who called for Kiki’s kidnapping. But as Felix notes, Calderoni would also likely die in the process as retribution, and other cockroaches would take the place of the first ones. And for what? Felix gave them Rafa and Neto (more on that in a moment), as well as the tapes that would satisfy American interests in the matter. The rest stayed buried, and because of that, it allowed Felix to rise from the ashes.

The Cartel

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There wasn’t much to celebrate in “Leyenda” given the weight of Kiki’s death and the shadow it cast over the episode, but one must admit that Felix arriving to take back his cartel was something of a triumphant moment — even though at this point, Felix had lost any hope of personal redemption.

Leading up to this, keep in mind, Felix had given over his own brother as well as his close friend and associate Don Neto (a really excellent Joaquín Cosio), in order to take full and sole control of the cartel he created. He has proven himself time and time again as a man not to be crossed, a man with an endless number of lives and saves and chances even when everything seems lost. It’s why Isabella (Teresa Ruiz), the brothers (Alfonso DosalManuel Masalva), El Chapo (Alejandro Edda), and others look so stricken when he arrives with an army behind him.

Felix immediately dismisses Isabella from the table she so desperately wanted to be a part of (and by all rights deserved to be — Felix ignoring her and turning his back on his promises to her was one of the surest signs that he was on the wrong path). But he also knew that she had set this all up (again, wisely given the information she had at the time). He then essentially pushes Benjamin aside, regains control of his interests, and then gives Benjamin one last chance to speak. He doesn’t, nor does anyone else until the very end, when Amado (José María Yazpik) comments to Felix that it’s a shame what happened to Don Neto.

But Amado doesn’t do this with a shrug or to check in regarding Felix’s loyalty to him in any way — in fact, he gives a little back by repeating that Don Neto will very much be missed. But then he shakes Felix’s hand as an acknowledgement that he’s on his side. It’s such an interesting moment between the two men, who both showed what a keen eye they have for this business and expanding it even further. Like Felix, Amado puts the success of the work above everything else, including (for now) family.

The Greenhouse

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The best scenes in Narcos: Mexico were always the quiet character moments that revealed more about these men (and occasionally women) on both sides of this conflict. Felix had several of those revelatory scenes in “Leyenda,” most potently in his final conversation with Kiki (more on that in a moment). Luna played Felix with an exceptional amount of nuance, giving him a steel backbone when dealing with adversaries, but making him shaky and vulnerable when he was alone (and evidently, coughing up blood from a stomach ulcer). There’s still so much we don’t know about Felix’s inner life, but “Leyenda” showed the lengths he was willing to go to in order to protect his business interests. He was against Kiki’s kidnapping, but ultimately ordered his death. He told his wife he didn’t need her anymore, and he handed his brother Rafa (Tenoch Huerta) over to the cops.

That conversation between Felix and Rafa reminded me of the rooftop scene between Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell in The Wire, with them reminiscing about the old days while both knowing it was over (though one of them not know how over it really was). Rafa’s life spiraled out of control in direct correlation with Felix’s interests in trafficking cocaine, because he felt increasingly cut out and insignificant (fueled partially by his own drug use). It all started with one greenhouse barely held together with poor quality plastic in the mountains of Sinaloa, where Rafa developed the impressive marijuana strain that they would build their empire upon. Felix hadn’t forgotten that, but he had moved on; Rafa never did, and it cost him.

Far more operatic, though, was the takedown of Don Neto’s hideout, where police massacred just about everyone there other than him, as he serenely listened to music through his headphones, looking at the crashing waves of the ocean and being nonchalantly splattered with blood. Both Rafa and Don Neto are still alive (historical spoiler!), so Felix did not contribute to their deaths. But he did incarcerate the two men closest to him, which is the biggest warning to anyone getting into business with him. “Skinny made his move,” as Don Neto says.

Felix makes some pretty chilling decisions throughout Narcos: Mexico, but it isn’t until he orders Kiki’s death that he crosses a point of no return. He’s savvy and ambitious, and Luna’s excellent portrayal gives him a lot of depth and makes him almost sympathetic. He does horrendous things, but when he’s left alone he’s vulnerable and uncertain, and his veneer of confidence dissipates. He never wanted Kiki to be kidnapped, and he tried in vain to have him given back to the Americans alive. But ultimately, he is the one who says to “finish it” — an ending which becomes the beginning of the War on Drugs.

Towards the end of “Leyenda,” Felix returns to Sinaloa where it all began for him, as well as for us and this story. There is the fabled greenhouse, its cheap plastic mostly torn to shreds, and inside rats are proliferating. The dreams that he and Rafa had, ones that came to fruition and then were poisoned by an expansion into cocaine, were similarly tainted. It was a metaphorical moment for Felix, but also a literal one. Everything he has built his life on has been corrupted, by his own choices.

The Key Moment

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Narcos: Mexico closed with several major gun battles and some tense power moves, as well as a major tease for a potential second season. But its best moment came in a quiet conversation between the two men at the heart of the season: Felix and Kiki. At this point, Felix is still living in some denial that as long as Kiki tells his captors what they want to know, he’ll go home to his family. “We both know I’m already dead,” Kiki says, taking some comfort though in knowing that Felix won’t make it out of this game, either. Felix’s empire is crumbling around him, and in that moment, the two men exchange some quick but very telling statements about who they are: for Kiki, it’s in claiming his Mexican heritage (which Felix dismisses), and for the so-called Godfather, there’s an acknowledgement of how well he used to sleep before he became rich.

There is a tension there for both men between who they were born as and who they have become, but no further examination about what that has meant for them leading up to this moment (which feels like a majorly missed opportunity this season). In some ways, Narcos: Mexico should have ended with Felix and Kiki’s final conversation, shown in flashback, just as Felix has regained control of his empire. It sets everything up, emotionally, for the next chapter.

What made the season’s best moments work was exactly that kind of focus on the personal. It’s why Kiki’s death packed such a punch — Peña made him knowable, a truly good guy, but one whose intelligence and obsession with justice and uncovering the truth were going to eventually push his luck too far. Felix is also so obsessed with his work and what he has built that he has given up his family and sold out his brother and close friend to hold on to that power. It’s all he has. But then did the end of this season shift too far away from that in order to introduce the men who are taking Kiki’s place?

The story that Narcos: Mexico is telling is a massive, sprawling one. You can look around at the plaza leaders or any of the DEA agents we met this season and see individual stories worth telling. To keep the story from getting too unwieldy, it needed grounding at all times. Felix’s Guadalajara Cartel changed the game, and that’s important. But Kiki’s death did, too. That intersection has made for a really intense chapter of Narcos, one that sometimes found more time to give to its ancillary characters (often wonderfully so, like with Neto and less successfully with Rafa) than its leads. The journey of Narcos: Mexico has been about building something; for Felix it was his empire, for Kiki it was strengthening the DEA’s position and prestige. Those interests collided to fuel this drug war. Both men achieved their objectives, to build something that will last. Both paid everything for it; and the fallout continues to this day.

The Final Reveal

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There was also a big twist in “Leyenda” — we met our mystery narrator, Walt, played by Scoot McNairy. Walt is bringing Operation Leyenda into Mexico, as a direct result of Kiki’s death. That essentially paints this entire season as a prologue, and gives meaning to Kiki’s tragic end with an escalation of the Drug War. Both Felix and Kiki were looking to build something this season; for Felix it was an empire, for Kiki it was the agency he called home. Because of the work that Kiki and his colleagues did in Mexico, the DEA came into prominence and received national attention in both America and Mexico. But Jaime (Matt Letscher) also mentions that they’ve been going about this the wrong way for 4 years, and his superiors agree.

Enter Operation Leyenda, Walt, and the men who will presumably take on Felix when and if Narcos: Mexico is renewed for a second season (which seems like a no-brainer). As the show notes, these are a “different” kind of agent, ones who are smuggling guns and not wearing suits and definitely not asking anyone for permission to meet their objectives. Those objectives are finding and incarcerating (or killing) everyone involved with Kiki’s murder, with Felix as the primary target once again. It should feel like justice (as Jaime speaks to earlier), but instead it feels like another useless step in an endless war.

Whereas the Colombian cartels had stories with clear conclusions, this one doesn’t. And our narrator told us that from the start: "I'm going to tell you a story. But I'll be honest, it doesn't have a happy ending. In fact, it doesn't have an ending at all." But there was an end, for Kiki, one that the show did an admirable job building up so that we felt the pain of it. Kiki’s death was a declaration of war. Now it’s time for Leyenda to take over and make good on the promise Kiki made to Felix: He’s not getting out of this, either. And yet, we know that what comes after the Guadalajara Cartel is even worse.

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