Series Review: Griselda on Netflix (2024)

Whenever you’re completely hungover the last thing you want to think about is cocaine, grisly murder and gang violence. Equally, when you’re in this state, perhaps the show you need to watch is starring Sofia Vergara. I had seen a lot of good reviews about this brand new Netflix series. I’m not usually one for narco style shows but the Netflix scroll was exhausting so I gave it a go and it did not disappoint, not even a little bit.

Who is Griselda?

In the opening credits a quote flashes across the screen, ‘I’ve only ever been afraid of one man, Griselda Blanco’ - Pablo Escobar. This one has been doing the rounds online this week but after watching the series and doing the obligatory backstory revision into the real Blanco, I totally get it Pabs.

Griselda Blanco was a Colombian born woman who was socialised into a world of violence. At aged 11 she is rumoured to have kidnapped and murdered a young child in Medellín. From an impressionable age until her assassination she was involved in crimes stemming from pickpocketing, alleged prostitution to her greatest accomplishment, becoming the ultimate drug lord. Typically onscreen adaptions sensationalise the lives of these figures but amazingly, Griselda’s real life was even more mental than her Netflix counterpart.

Sofia’s portrayal

Griselda is an extremely complicated character. Aside from the above crimes, she was a victim of domestic and sexual abuse from a young age. She is constantly belittled by the men around her and in the face of misogyny she picks each man off one by one.

At the beginning of the story, you are rooting for Griselda, you want her to tell every man who doubted her to F Off so she could claim her drug territory (I know, my ethics were really off). By the end of the story, you witness an Icarus style character who flew to close to the sun.

Vergara took us to every level of emotion and feeling during the 6 episodes. This multi-faceted character was portrayed sublimely. Going by this show and comments she made during the press tour, she is a completely under appreciated actor. Audiences will know and love her from playing Gloria on Modern Family but Griselda is a side you will want to see a lot more off.

Here comes the girls

A recurring theme throughout the series is how women are the underdog. Traditional gender roles are perpetrated on female characters, they are decorations, objects and sexual releases. Whilst the men felt this way, Griselda found the loophole and she used her previous time as a sex worker to create a glamourous army of drug mules (aka other sex workers from Colombia). They flew under the radar and also flew across the border with bras full of cocaine.

‘The Blanco Boys’

Griselda does everything for her boys, Dixon , Uber , Osvaldo, and Michael Corleone, and they would do anything for their mum. Over the course of the series, the two eldest boys undergo a transformation from docile kids confused and angry at the treatment of their mum to self-conceited, power (and coke) hungry brats. My least favourite scene in the series was their introduction as young men walking into a night club whilst referring to themselves as “The Blanco Boys”. It was cringe inducing but I appreciated the sentiment, they were no longer doe eye children, the power had gone to their head similar to Griselda’s.

The rise and fall

As the series reaches it’s climax, Griselda grows increasingly paranoid partly due to smoking crack, causing her to make reckless decisions with fatal consequences. Running parallel to her story is the ongoing detective investigation into catching her and bringing down her empire. As the police are closing in, she makes strategic moves to protect herself and her boys but the detectives get there first.

Seeing Griselda in the finest luxury outfits to her prison jumpsuit and grey hair is such a vivid transformation. From gifting her bodyguard turned husband a solid gold gun to being locked in a 5x5 room for 15 years. Throughout the series you begin to empathise with her and then have to catch yourself on because you know, she’s really bad. This is a fantastic series and I give it a huge 9/10, that “Blanco Boy’s” scene really cost it full marks.