Every Season Of Netflix's Narcos, Ranked

Netflix's "Narcos" is far more than one of the best Pedro Pascal TV shows out there. Inspired by real (and often extremely terrifying) events, the show chronicles the story of various drug cartels from the 1970s to the 1990s. Initially, the focus is on the most infamous cocaine trafficker of them all — Wagner Moura's celebrity narcoterrorist Pablo Escobar — but the combined six seasons of "Narcos" and "Narcos: Mexico" feature several other kingpins, as well as the many officers and agents who are risking life and limb to stop them.

"Narcos" is the kind of show that can easily drop the viewer down a rabbit hole of crime history. Its depiction of dangerous locales that range from Medellin to Ciudad Juárez sucks the viewer right in, and many of the key events on the show really happened ... up to and very much including some of the most disturbing ones. Combine this with a cast full of talented actors who have only increased their profile since the last season of "Narcos: Mexico" aired in 2021, and the series retains its immense watchability. However, even a stellar show has some seasons that are better than others — so, today, we find out which "Narcos" season is a cut above the rest.

After three seasons of Colombia-based "Narcos," the show moved the story to Mexico and reflected the change of locale in the title, effectively making "Narcos: Mexico" both a continuation and companion of the Colombia seasons. For clarity's sake, we'll treat "Narcos" and "Narcos: Mexico" as two legs of the same show, given their numerous connections.

"Narcos: Mexico" tells a similar "rise and fall" story as "Narcos" over roughly the same time period. This time, our main DEA agents are Michael Peña's Kiki Camarena and Scoot McNairy's Walt Breslin, while the "ascending drug baron" role goes to Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna). Folks like the Sinaloa cartel's Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán (Alejandro Edda) and "Narcos" vet Amado Carrillo Fuentes (José María Yazpik) play prominent roles and familiar faces like Pablo Escobar also make appearances, thanks to the events in Mexico happening more or less concurrently with the Colombia seasons.

"Narcos: Mexico" season 3 is not awful — on the contrary, it's quite thoughtful and intelligent. However, the season is tasked with handling the Mexico arc's endgame, and this being "Narcos," it means that some of the show's most important characters have already gone the way of the dodo in one way or another. The season tries to compensate for this loss of key characters with a grim storyline about Victor Tapia (Luis Gerardo Méndez), a Juarez cop investigating the killings of women in the area. Like everything else on the show, this storyline is based on a horrible true story (the murders are still going on today, with over 2,500 confirmed victims) ... but in the otherwise tightly cartel-focused storyline of "Narcos: Mexico," it often seems like these scenes are ripped out of another show entirely.

After the fall of Wagner Moura's Pablo Escobar, the show was due for a major shakeup. As such, "Narcos" purposefully hit reset for season 3. The end result is a lofty, ambitious batch of episodes with no shortage of thrilling storytelling and great twists and turns ... that nevertheless don't quite manage to match the first two seasons.

Much of the first two seasons' allure comes from its core cast — namely, Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook as two DEA agents trying to bring down Escobar. As in real life, this ended up happening. Pablo dies in the climactic gunfight of season 2, and the season finale all but confirms that season 3 will see Pascal's Javier Peña focusing his attention on Escobar's surviving competitors — the Cali cartel.

While the plot of season 3 is no less thrilling (and an argument could be made that it's actually more exciting) than the first two seasons, "Narcos" season 3 lacks both Holbrook and Moura, and Cali bigwig Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela (Damián Alcázar) and his underlings don't quite manage to pick up the slack on the memorable character front. There are no truly bad "Narcos" seasons, so this is nitpicking if anything — but the season's message that the drug trade doesn't go away with one super-famous crime lord still isn't enough to make up for the on-screen absence of said super-famous crime lord.

On paper, "Narcos" season 1 should suffer from the same problem just about every new series does: It's tasked with a whole bunch of world-building as it introduces both the setting and the characters. However, the show treats this as an opportunity instead of a hurdle. Though many key characters in the series are based on real-life figures, "Narcos" doesn't expect you to do your homework. With excellent writing and character work, it diligently depicts Pablo Escobar's rise from a small-time crook to a wealthy, dangerous cocaine baron who's not above murder sprees and acts of terror to vanquish his enemies — as well as the national and international reactions to his rise.

The season introduces its key players organically, without feeling forced. It also complements its character-driven drama with plenty of epic moments that show just how ruthless Escobar is and how big the stakes are for everyone in his orbit ... let alone the poor souls who end up on his radar as targets. The combination of quiet drama, bombastic events, and an excellent cast helps to make the season an efficiently made must-watch.

"Narcos: Mexico" season 2 has to follow up the amazing, terrifying Kiki Camarena storyline of season 1 (more on that in a moment) and almost manages to reach the same heights. Félix Gallardo's season 1 enemy is now the unofficial patron saint of the entire DEA, and the agency has fully turned its eyes on the Guadalajara cartel. This, in turn, causes Gallardo's allies to grow concerned ... and it doesn't help that he's facing threats from both the Colombian Cali cartel and the rising domestic threat of the Sinaloa cartel.

Gallardo's assorted mastermind plots to keep his impressive empire intact fuse with the more traditional hardman antics from the likes of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, which makes for compelling viewing throughout. There's no question that "Narcos: Mexico" season 2 is a fine showing by any prestige series' standards — but it lacks the laser beam thoroughline of season 1, which has the benefit of advancing the plot by juxtaposing the stories of Gallardo and Camarena.

Since three "Narcos" seasons have already set the stage for it, "Narcos: Mexico" can go full tilt from the get-go. Thanks to the fans' familiarity with the show's world, the season is able to focus on introducing its major players and how they start their life of crime ... or, in Kiki Camarena's case, how they end up fighting the cartels.

"Narcos: Mexico" season 1 chronicles the rise of Diego Luna's Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, with Tenoch Huerta's Rafa Caro Quintero and others providing fire support. However, Michael Peña's hard-working DEA agent is the real star here. Camarena's unavoidable collision course with Gallardo is an arc unlike anything any other "Narcos" season has to offer. His storyline is more than enough to drive home that if Colombia was dangerous, absolutely no one is safe in Mexico.

Camarena, it should be noted, was a very real agent, and the season's ending tells a fictionalized version of what actually happened to him. It's probably a good thing that "Narcos: Mexico" planted Scoot McNairy's fictional narrator-slash-agent Walt Breslin to take over as the key protagonist after Kiki. Otherwise, a viewer might be too unnerved to risk going through all that again with another character based on a real person.

"Narcos" season 2 is less epic and more dramatic than its predecessor. With Pablo Escobar at the height of his powers and everyone around him either terrified of him or actively trying to bring him down, the kingpin's "plata o plomo" tactics and newfound fugitive status are starting to cost him. Wagner Moura does great work as the hedonistic, slowly deteriorating narco who's quickly learning that even outrageous wealth can't offer true freedom — especially when you're up against entire countries and drug barons who have comparable resources.

The season depicts the most Shakespearean aspects of this small-time smuggler turned real-life supervillain, focusing on Escobar's inner turmoil and increasingly difficult circumstances. With fate (and the DEA, the police, the military, Los Pepes, the Cali cartel, former members of his own cartel, and so on) drawing nearer and nearer, there's an impending sense of doom for much of the season. Even when Escobar is at his most dangerous and powerful, his struggles to stay hidden and lash back against his enemies serve as constant signs that the sun is about to go down on him.

Much of this lies on Moura's shoulders, but the season is far from a one-man show. Everyone in the cast is on their absolute A-game here, so the scenes where Escobar isn't present rarely lose out to the ones where he dominates the screen. The story of Pablo Escobar's tumultuous downfall is easily the best "Narcos" season and one that can comfortably rival many of the best crime dramas out there.