Griselda: a pure Narcos-style series (review)

A mafia thriller in six short episodes, which recounts the bloody and dazzling rise of the “Godmother” to a cocaine-fueled rhythm: impossible to put down!

Three years after the end of Narcos: Mexico, the authors of the mafia saga in South America are back and are putting our noses back in the dust. Doug Miron, Eric Newman and Carlo Bernard move the plot to the United States and create a particularly addictive mafia thriller in Miami!

Head to Florida for Griseldaa young Colombian mother forced to flee with her children under her arm, even though she has just shot her abusive husband, a second-rate trafficker with an unfortunately all-powerful brother. Griselda knows the environment. She knows there will be revenge and that her life is in danger. So she fled… not without taking 1 kilo of pure coke in her suitcase. To start from scratch, she will try to smuggle the drugs back to the local network. But she puts her finger in a spiral from which she will no longer be able to escape.

The Netflix series tells the classic rise of this mother wolf, who will use her charm and her grin to make a place for herself in a world entirely dominated by men. Nothing revolutionary, neither in substance nor in form, but the tale is extremely effective. Bloody, violent and boosted by a communicative energy, it unfolds at a cocaine-infused rhythm its true story, that of Griselda Blanco, who reigned over the underbelly of Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. Less known than Pablo Escobar or a Joaquín Guzmán, but just as fierce, the one who will become the “Godmother” is a perfect subject for this new part of Narcos who doesn’t say his name.

To embody it, Netflix relied on Sofia Vergara. The sexy “soccer mom” of Modern Family hits with a baseball bat those who bother him and shoots his rivals without further ado. Unrecognizable in the skin of this woman ready to eat drug traffickers to ensure a future for her children, the American-Colombian star gave of herself, not hesitating to undergo hours of make-up for an impressive transformation (even if the resemblance with the real one is not striking upon arrival). The opportunity for Sofia Vergarawho was the highest paid actress on American TV during the 2010s, to rebuild her health in Hollywood

Omnipresent and radiant, she stands out in the streets of a gloomy Miami – clearly less glamorous than that of Lionel Messi – at a time when thousands of Cubans arrived every day to flee the Castro regime. The series restores this electric atmosphere and the female twist admirably refreshes the somewhat hackneyed concept of this type of mafia biopic. Yes, Griselda, it’s pure… series to binge-watch. You will have a hard time putting it down and will also regret that the ending/fall is a bit rushed.

Griselda, in 6 episodes, to watch on Netflix since January 25, 2024.