It was around eighteen years ago that I first learned about the iconic drug trafficker Griselda Blanco in the cult classic documentary Cocaine Cowboys. There was much about that film in the promotion about the white guys who were pilots flying cocaine back and forth from Colombia to Miami, Florida. The thing is, at least in the community I’m in, the most interesting figure was the Narco we didn’t know about in places outside of Florida, and it was her. See, by that time, we’d already known about Pablo and the Medellin cartel, Manuel Noriega, and at this point, even the ones in Mexico like El Chapo, who was constantly in the news. See, there’s this undying connection between Rap music and the Drug trade because of the rise of Hip Hop Culture also coincides with the Crack Era. So once the doc hit, its sequel that focused even more on her made her a modern legend. Hell, there’s a whole rap supergroup named after her. After many years of people trying to produce a film about her life, which ended up happening (not good), the creators of the Netflix series Narcos took up the challenge and made a limited series named Griselda. Starring Sofia Vergara as Griselda Blanco is a departure from what most people are used to from her in terms of action performances. She rarely gets to do drama, and she seems to really relish performing in this series as this complex woman this show is about.
Griselda is about the titular woman as she leaves Medellín, Colombia, after having a dispute with her husband to Miami. She stays with her friend Carmen, played by Vanessa Ferlito, and from there, a story that’s very much conversation with the 80s Scarface film takes place but with a feminist tinge. Now, honestly, for me, while I understand that lens to tell this story, it does make this person way more empathetic than I feel she should. That’s also because of Vergara’s performance, which shows many different sides to this woman, from calculating to petty to paranoid to mothering. It’s all in there. She was flanked by some strong performances, notably Christian Tappan as Arturo Mesa and Alberto Guerra as Darío Sepúlveda. These two men, who are her supportive core, work to keep her balanced and not going too far, but usually fail all the time as her ambition and constant underestimation by men get the better of her. Her sons’ characters are a bit underdeveloped even though they are significant to her and are one of her driving motivations. Now Martin Rodriguez, who plays Rivi, was kind of distracting, not because he was bad or anything, but because he’s almost too cool. He’s like this cool and mysterious, wise assassin. Now, that doesn’t seem like the real man at all. Just search him on YouTube for clips from the Cocaine Cowboys docs, and you’ll see just how different he is. That being said, Rodriguez is a cool character on the show that you’ll enjoy when he’s on screen.
That’s another thing; while it’s not a flaw, the people on this show are kind of Telenovela hot. Like we know, Sofia Vergara is like amazingly beautiful, and they do some good makeup work to make her look like Blanco as much as they can, but still, the overwhelming beauty shines through and also for everyone else. Speaking of that, Karol G, the recording artist, plays Carla on one of Griselda’s day ones who comes from Colombia to help her in this narco life, and she does quite well. I hope she gets more opportunities to act because she can do well. Juliana Aidén Martinez plays June Hawkins, a woman cop who they use to parallel with Griselda. Her journey in law enforcement mirrors Griselda as men keep her down, but also, she’s the only one who, of course, can figure out it’s a woman who’s doing all this. So, it does fall into the trope of One special cop vs the one criminal. They have a special bond that’s sometimes overdone, but Martinez does well with the material. One thing you should all know as well is that this show is mainly in Spanish, so if reading subtitles is not your thing, then maybe sit it out or just power through. There is English because they are in the US, but also, like Hispanic people in the States, they go back and forth at will. I really ended up enjoying Griselda as a big crime show person and a person interested in stories about the drug trade; this was already up my alley. I do think this show is enjoyable for many, and women might like how it’s a good underdog story of a woman overcoming the patriarchy to get to the top. It has significant anti-hero energy.
Score: B
RIOTUS 