'Narcos: Mexico' Recap: What Happened in Season 2 of the Hit Netflix Show?

Narcos: Mexico will be coming to an end with its third and final season, which will be released on Netflix on November 5.

The season focuses on the leaders of the Juárez, Tijuana, and Sinaloa cartels who took over the Mexican drug trade in the wake of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's (Diego Luna) arrest.

There has been a significant amount of time between the seasons, given Season 2 came out in February 2020, so it stands to reason that a recap is in order.

Here is what happened in Season 2.

Félix Gallardo expands operations

After making a fortune trafficking marijuana, Félix Gallardo decides he wants more and starts making plans to deal cocaine.

He reaches out to the Cali cartel's Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera (Alberto Ammann) to work with them, but the drug lord turns him down over the DEA's investigation into DEA Agent Kiki Camarena's (Michael Peña) torture and death in Season 1.

Gallardo instead makes a partnership with Juan Nepomuceno Guerra (Jesús Ochoa), the head of the Gulf cartel, and he enlists the help of Amado Carrillo Fuentes (José María Yazpik) to transport the drugs via airplane.

Meanwhile, tensions begin to grow between the Sinaloa and Tijuana plazas, as the former start to get taxed for trafficking their drugs through the latter's territory, and Gallardo struggles to keep the peace between them.

After the DEA seizes twenty tons of cocaine from the Colombians, Gallardo uses this as incentive to make the Cali cartel make him their primary transporter.

As this is happening, the DEA, led by Walt Breslin (Scott McNairy), investigates who was involved in Camarena's death and kidnap a number of people to find out, eventually learning of Gallardo's part in the crime.

The plazas' mutiny against Félix Gallardo

Gallardo has a meeting with the members of the federation that he formed in Season 1 to share his plans to expand cocaine distribution.

Rather than work with him, the plazas decide to withdraw and make their own cartels, leaving him with no way to transport the cocaine he forced the Cali cartel to give him.

The Arellano-Félix family form the Tijuana cartel, while Amado and Rafael Aguilar Guajardo (Noé Hernández) run the Juárez cartel.

Juan José "El Azul" Esparragoza Moreno (Fermín Martínez), Héctor Luis Palma Salazar (Gorka Lasaosa), and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán (Alejandro Edda) also form the Sinaloa cartel.

Félix Gallardo is arrested

Gallardo is arrested at his home by police as a show of force from the Mexican government, who use it to show they are cooperating with efforts to end drug trafficking so they can be included in the NAFTA trade deal.

Following his arrest, Breslin meets with Gallardo in prison to ask him about his involvement in Camarena's death.

The drug lord uses this as an opportunity to warn Breslin of the war that is sure to break out between the cartels in his absence.

Narcos: Mexico Season 3 will be released on Netflix on November 5.