A while has passed since my last Netflix review. The final two seasons of Atlanta formed that critique. Since then, I’ve finished a few NF series. Last time, I touched on Boy Swallows Universe. However, this limited series calls for a full post. 25 January was Griselda’s premier. In its first week, it reached the Top 10 in 86 countries. As of today (10 Feb), it remains Netflix Australia’s number one show. The series is set in 70s and 80s Miami.

The Colombian Samurai

Some eggs live by this mantra: ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword’.

There’s no middle ground. It’s either feast or famine, make or break, heaven or hell. This held very true as this series unfolded. At the start, the eponymous character (played by Sofia Vergara) was a bit player. She went to the US bringing one kilo of supposedly the ‘best’ coke. Amilcar, the drug lord, dismisses her, saying that he had no use for the measly kilo. Griselda used to be a hooker. To erase his debt, her husband forces her to sleep with her brother in law. In a rage, she kills her hubby and flees Colombia.

Her colleagues didn’t take her seriously given that she had no cajones. To thrive in her business, she needed a set of balls. This is apparent as Amilcar agrees to deal her coke, only to use her offer as bargaining chip with other drug dealers. When Griselda cries foul for being used, she is told that she can never sell her product in Miami. Amilcar said that he will contact every dealer in the city. Griselda Blanco seems to have been backed into a corner.

‘Son of a Shark’

When she leaves for Miami via Cuba, she has three sons. Initially, they struggle. Through some good fortune and being business-minded, Griselda turns their luck around. She connects with a supplier from Colombia and they make hay while the sun shines. She employs a novel approach to selling drugs. She would offer free samples of her product. Her target? Middle America: the white secretaries, lawyers, bankers, students, and analysts. When a greedy wholesaler tries to shoot her down, she has the backing of others and the animosity is quickly quelled. As they say, ‘The show must go on’.

She’s the perp of what could be only be deemed as gratuitous killings. She murders a singer who would spill dirt on her colleague. Turns out that she didn’t have to. On another occasion, she tries to scare a former employee. This was after her son had a beef with the former.

‘Take a Chill Pill’

Due to drug abuse, she also becomes increasingly erratic. She becomes suspicious of everyone, including Dario, her own husband. She’s always suspicious that her hubby is cheating on her. The former tells her to stop using and that they could start over in a different place. Instead of listening, she continues her addiction. He tells her that he loves her and that he worries for their son, Michael Corleone. At his own birthday celebration, she embarrasses him and uses her gift to terrorise their guests. Her spouse’s pleas fall on deaf ears.

For the most part, Ms Blanca lives a life of opulence. She can afford the best of everything as her cash is bottomless. Griselda owns nightclubs and prime real estate. She can buy people. However, she has no time for a break. She gifts her guests golden necklaces. Blanco dines in the fanciest restaurants. She goes to the finest hairdresser. Through her own smarts, Griselda builds an empire and bows to no one. She also recruits an army of Marielitos, Cuban boat people who follows her like a demigod. These ‘band of brothers’ make her damn near untouchable.

Her partners, the Ochoas, have tried to buy her out by offering fifteen million in cash. She nonchalantly rebuffs this payment. When her business partner bamboozles her by siding with the enemy, she has him executed.

‘License to Kill’

All the while, the authorities are on to her. For many years, she avoids them with her cunning. She sells white powder right on their doorstep. She murders her enemies like nobody’s business. Even an innocent kid is caught in the crossfire. Griselda is also fortunate to have unstintingly loyal soldiers. In spite of her bloodlust, no one is willing to say a bad word about her.

One agent though is determined to make Blanco pay. June Hawkins starts out as a paper pusher, translator, and coffee maker for Miami PD. Her male colleagues make fun of her and dismiss her theories. From the start, she is convinced that a woman is causing the mayhem. She dislikes being a detective as this entails more time away from her boy. However, she braves the storm and joins a task force. June is oft disillusioned as they come up with air. Her findings seem unappreciated and unwanted.

Later, Marta Ochoa, Blanco’s friend dies of an overdose. Griselda and Rivi, her henchman, quickly hide the body in a mat. Griselda would kill all three of her former husbands. Trigger-happy, saying something so platonic and meaningless could set her off. She suspects that her friends are wolves in sheep’s clothing. She believes that her associates are strange bedfellows with Uncle Sam’s lollipop men.

After her pal’s demise, she goes into hiding with her family. Rivi is the lone associate left, selling her coke. They go from one motel to the next. When she learns that Rafa, the friend’s husband, is out to kill her, she calls the cops on herself. They handcuff her before Rafa has his chance. Initially, it appeared that she would do another Houdini act and get off unscathed. However, June hatches a go for broke plan to arrest Rivi, who is then given a take it or leave it deal. He chooses to save his skin than to get the death penalty. However, the prosecutor’s case gets junked after a DA’s assistant gets involved with Rivi. Regardless, the Godmother still served thirteen years in a prison cell.

Tour-de-force performance

Ms Vergara gives a very gritty performance as the chain-smoking woman they call Godmother. She transforms quite a bit. From a doting housewife to an ambitious outsider to, finally, the Miami Godmother. She evolves from a sweet homemaker to a driven future power broker. Blanco is a master manipulator who could turn decent people into unwitting pawns. As the miniseries progresses, her temper becomes fierier.

She always remarks that she’s doing this for her family. She tries to hide her activities from her boys, but they aren’t simpletons. When they watch TV, they see the lifeless bodies on the street. They could feel her plotting her revenge, often against her own cohorts. Though she wishes for nothing but their betterment, all three of her older sons would live a life of crime. They would end up dead before she’s even released from gaol.

Vergara is known more for her comedic prowess. Her role in Modern Family is her most popular outing. However, this proves that she has the drama chops. Sometimes, it’s hard to reconcile the bubbly, joking housewife with the brash, cantankerous madame. In the MF universe, I can’t imagine Sofia murdering three husbands, much less a fly.

The series is another art-imitates-life production from the makers of Narcos. Griselda has a certified fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. The show likewise has a high audience score on the review aggregator site. Blanco would outlive her boys. In 2013, she would get killed at age 69. Ironically, she had just exited a meat shop with her preggers daughter-in-law.

Rating: 4.77/5