Netflix’s Griselda Review: Sofia Vergara’s serious performance will give instant cocaine high

For the first time we see Sofia Vergara is doing a serious act as Griselda and she has completely nailed it. This is definitely her career’s best performance.  Known for funny acts in Modern Family, Sofia is seen playing the role of a drug lord in the business run by menfolk. Facing all odds to save her sons, the Netflix’s show based on the life of Griselda Blanco, the cocaine godmother is an interesting watch to see how she does the balancing act of being a monster and a mother.

Fiercely protective of her sons, she never wanted them to be in the murky and dangerous business that she was in. She killed her own husband because he forced her to sleep with his brother to clear his debts and hence she was called the ‘black widow’.

Being a woman drug lord is not an easy job especially when you are competing with men and dealing with the dangerous drug lords who refuse to take orders from you. The series shows that as a leader of a drug cartel how the woman single handedly goes through stress and what power and high life can do to you. Sometimes you are not left with any options, but to just kill.

There are good and bad sides of every character and that is exactly what Griselda was. She was not only a good mother who was fiercely protective, but also a great godmother to the girls who were her associates in the business. But where did she go wrong?

Netflix’s Griselda will make you realise that the problem started when she was unable to understand that there is a monster hiding inside her who is a huge power monger. We all know that motherhood is hard and I am sure Griselda knew it better that single motherhood is even harder being a mother to three sons initially and then another one from her second relationship can be nerve wrecking.

The best part of Sofia Vergara’s performance in Netflix’s Griselda is that never once will you feel that it is the same Sofia of Modern Family. She has truly got into the skin of the character. Though she plays the role of an anti-hero, the show very cleverly uses sexism and gender to take out the good sides of the character.

Sexism and boys’ club sick jokes are at its highest in the show. A Latina police officer, June (Juliana Aidén Martinez) who realises that there is a new drug lord in town who is not a man, but a woman is subjected to sexist jokes by her colleagues and is often put down at her workplace.

Following the journey of the drug kingpin, Netflix’s Griselda on the whole is highly engaging and truly addictive. The intense Narcos spinoff will keep you glued to the screen. It’s not a pulpy, fashionable ride following the impeccably dressed Sofia Vergara as Griselda, but it is an intense watch to see the rise and the fall of the female drug lord.

Rating: 4 out of 5