Narcos: Mexico, despite being as intense and violent as its predecessor (and high on its own supply), is becoming masterful at setting up quietly resonant closing moments while not taking the cliffhanger route. And I can appreciate that. In the streaming era, when entire seasons drop at once, cliffhangers are almost cruel when an audience must wait over a year to find out what happened. Lets get real, too: Narcos franchise fans tend to binge hard and fast. Cliffhangers are not needed here to stoke ongoing interest. Closing a season with understated moments is also practical because the War on Drugs wont ever end. It could be exhausting to keep watching finales like the ones from the Escobar years (him refusing to surrender and later going down on a rooftop) that dont work well with recent history. If that pattern continued, wed eventually see El Chapo pop into a tunnel and wave goodbye for a year. It would be beyond parody. I do hope the show sticks with reflective resolutions that suggest whats to come.

Before we dig in here, heres another reason why Narcos beats every other TV franchise when it comes to promo images. This image up there ^^^ of Scoot McNairys mustache? Netflix used that image for months to tease this season, and it illustrated a long-awaited confrontation. When the moment arrived, the showdown didnt go as planned. There wasnt a payoff for the characters, but for the audience? Hell, yeah. It was great to see two lions (mentally) circle each other while conceding that theyve both lost the battle.

Granted, Narcos: Mexicos second season did lead up to its final minutes with a mayhem-filled scene of revenge full of climactic adrenaline. This was both obligatory and necessary, to illuminate the truth of what was soon to be stated by Flix Gallardo. In particular, the shoe literally dropped on the remnants of Gallardos cartel leadership when Clavel gets beaten to death in a shopping mall while a spitting Chapo witnesses.

The franchise has held a lot of moments like these, obviously. Theyre bread and butter and gruesome and all that, but theyre almost operatic in their execution. Theyre also sometimes (disturbingly) funny, as with the bloodbath last season where Don Neto kept wearing his headphones. Yet theres a ton of value in quietly forecasting the fights to come. Moments of conversation allow the corrupted soul of the franchise to flourish. In this universe a very real one, although dramatized by Netflix justice cant win. There wont ever be a happy ending in this saga. To that inevitability, last years finale made a fantastic set-up: Scoots character, who narrated all along, finally comes into view as dogged DEA agent Walt Breslin. The assumption was that wed get to see Scoot kick some ass this season. And he did kick some ass. One and done is how the fledgling DEA wanted to do this thing, but its not quite that simple.

Part of that has to do with that unending reality of the War on Drugs. Also, as we learn by midseason, Walt a composite character based upon an amalgamation of multiple DEA agents wields a dual purpose. Hes damaged, and even more than seeking revenge for Kiki Camerenas death, Walt struggles with immense guilt over not being able to save his brother from ODing. All season, he hunted Flix Gallardo, who screwed himself over in his eternal quest for power. He betrayed too many people and proved that hes not so indispensable in guiding Mexicos drug empire. The final scene of the season shows Flix in jail after Walt felt compelled to visit. Walt finally stares down what hes been chasing, and he expects to find closure. He wants to see some remorse materialize in Flixs face when he holds that photo of Kiki up to the glass.

Not that Flix showed his cards. He showed everyone elses cards and taunted the hell out of Walt, who we saw alternately exude bravado and squirm with discomfort. I love that the show fictionalized this conversation between a real-life drug lord and a made-up character. They took it in one hell of a different direction than what we usually see in the hero-vs-villain dichotomy. And I love that theyre toying with the were not so different, you and I clich without actually saying it. They dont need to say it, since about 800 recent movies and TV shows have articulated that line. But the sentiment is here.

Dont get me wrong, man. I also giggle every time some villain offers up, Were not so different, you and I. Admit it, you get a little giddy when you hear it happen, too. But its rewarding to see such dynamics bypass the standard entry point and dive deeper. Its more personal. Not so black-and-white. That a series did this in the middle of a run is gutsy without a renewal announcement in hand, but Narcos has earned that confidence. Five seasons in, and this franchise has many more stories left to tell.

This is where I can quickly draw attention to a few standout comparisons to this Walt-Flix conversation, including the Heat diner scene. Showrunner Eric Newman told Collider that he drew inspiration from how Heat brought the cop-criminal dichotomy face-to-face. The diner scene between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro is one that people watched on repeat (lets forget that Righteous Kill failed to replicate the effect). Incredibly, it was the first scene that Pacino and De Niro had ever filmed together, and their connection felt organic. The scene made it clear that their characters respected each other despite knowing that, eventually, shots would be fired.

Theres some very reluctant respect on display in the Narcos: Mexico conversation, not on the same level as Heat, but it resonates in a similar way. Two driven, devoted, and brilliant sides of the same coin are butting heads and know theres no compromise to be found. Also, more than a little bit, Im reminded of the final Justified scene here. That one revolved around a very different dynamic and personal history between Raylan and Boyd and their coal-digging unity, but theres still the same magnetic draw here. Raylan felt it necessary to deliver a message to Boyd in person, and we needed to see this Harlan reunion happen, even if these two would never be on the same side of the law.

Again, the dynamic of Walt and Flix is quite different than these other two examples, especially when it comes to Raylan and Boyd, who had some love for each other, even if Raylan would never admit it. Its a conversation thats still regarded fondly, and the Walt-Flix meeting deserves to be remembered for decades to come. The season needed to feature a face-to-face meeting between the pair and the show executed it at the right time. Im glad the moment wasnt squandered during Flixs arrest, for the visitation scene isolates the duo and gives their dueling personalities the appropriate spotlight.

In only a few short minutes, we saw the culmination of what these two men had discovered about themselves. Walt visibly realized that his tireless and obsessive pursuit hadnt yielded the hard-hitting results that he wanted regarding the drug trade. Despite his displays of smugness, he couldnt maintain the facade when Flix began to prophesize the horrors to come. Flix, of course, admitted that his greed caused his downfall. Hes also largely spot-on with his predictions, and we see the new cartel heads boozily meet and call a truce. And Flix lays it all out there to Walt. He predicts who will be running his plazas, which are becoming their own cartels. Tijuana, Juarez, the Gulf, and Sinaloa all get divvied up with Chapo Guzmn positioned for a future Sinaloa takeover. They all agree to respect each other and prosper, but Felix knows thats not going to be how things work out.

Its an interesting thing, the War on Drugs. The winners of wars are the ones customarily entitled to tell the tales as they see fit, but no one wins here. Walt expected to walk into that visitation booth and make Flix feel like utter garbage while thrusting that photo of Kiki in his face. Hes wanted to do this for years. Thats what kept him going on the surface. He also expected to feel less restless after reminding Flix that he got sold out for a trade deal, but Flix knew that Walt held no cards. Theres nothing that Walt can do for him, so Flix isnt going to give him anything tangible. Yet in a way, and even though Flix is presenting the appearance that hes giving nothing to Walt, hes having the most honest onscreen conversation that hes had with anyone.

Flix takes Walt to terrifying places during this relatively short conversation. He digs into the strengths of the various cartels, and outlines their strengths and weaknesses, and their various strategies while striving for dominance. He even gleefully suggests that Walt take out the Juarez head, but more importantly, Flix knew how to get under Walts skin. And to a lesser degree, vice versa. The two of them picked at each other, and neither one of them won the confrontation, much like the War on Drugs. They smirk at each other, almost in the same way that De Niro and Pacino did in Heat only without knowing that their beef wont be resolved with one heist. Instead, this war will rage on indefinitely, and Flix calls it when he tells Walt that youre going to miss me.

Yes, Walt is gonna miss Flix. I mean, the guy motivated years of his existence. The tigers now in the cage, and where does that leave Walt? Ultimately, hes behind a desk now, and all of the other animals are on the loose. Its difficult to envision Netflix continuing this series without putting Walt back into action in some capacity. Obviously, the third season will focus on the unleashed circus of animals that Flix references. Chapo Guzmn should make a lot more progress with his tunneling endeavors, and Amado Carrillo Fuentes is likely going to be a major focus. Walt will be back in some way, but will we see Flix again? Maybe not, and thats only one more reason why this quiet confrontation will resonate for many years to come.

Narcos: Mexicos second season is currently streaming on Netflix.

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'Narcos: Mexico's New Finale Pulled Off A Confrontation That Stands Among The Greats - UPROXX