THE FALL OF EL MAYO: Episode 1.1: “THE MAN IN THE HAT”
Firsthand interviews and raw footage unmask the Sinaloa cartel.
Should You Watch It?
Yes, but go in with your eyes open. This documentary takes you deep into the Sinaloa drug cartel run by Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán. The episode takes viewers back to the 1970s. The Papaver somniferum, known as the opium poppy, is discovered once the petals fall away and create an egg-shaped seed pod. Once that pod dries, the liquid serves as heroin.
The interviewers include journalists in Sinaloa, Mexico. Because they don't speak English, the interviews are dubbed. The documentary can't show El Mayo's trial because it was a Federal Court case. However, it includes illustrations that help the viewer imagine themselves in the courtroom and watch the trial unfold.
A handful of profanities and obscenities appear throughout the episode, which also contains very strong drug content. Numerous photos and videos show cocaine being stored, seized, and manufactured.
Viewers will see disturbing images of deceased people left in the streets of Mexico as a warning to anyone who crosses El Mayo or the cartel. This content is strictly for adults. Teens and children should not watch.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESThe episode opens with several journalists from Sinaloa, Mexico, who explain El Mayo’s identity and criminal activities. It then examines El Mayo’s federal trial after his arrest. Viewers also learn about El Chapo, the other kingpin behind the Sinaloa cartel. Mexican authorities arrested El Chapo and sentenced him to eight years in prison, but he escaped and reunited with El Mayo.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars for an intriguing, riveting documentary that holds your attention for the full 60 minutes. It informs and captivates with a fascinating look at how the Sinaloa cartel operates. Millions of people in Sinaloa lived under El Mayo’s control, subject to his whims and demands.
He demonstrated his power through cartel orders that led to murders throughout Mexico. From the first episode, a battle between good and evil emerges: El Mayo uses his influence for evil, while government officials fight to bring him down.
The episode also features beautiful scenic images and aerial views of Mexico’s landscape, along with interviews with several people involved in El Mayo’s capture. This gripping first episode offers a chilling look at the reach of one man’s power and the human cost of his criminal empire.
The Worldview
A moral worldview, mixed with humanist and pagan elements, drives the documentary. Several interviewees, among them former cartel members who had a change of heart, seek justice and peace. A pagan element surfaces when visitors travel to a pyramid in Mexico in search of “energy.” That practice looks for power in creation rather than in the Creator.
In one scene, a man confronts El Mayo after the drug lord kidnaps the man’s brother. El Mayo wants to kill them both because he believes they owe him money. They owe him nothing. The brothers simply want out of his business. The man looks El Mayo in the eye and tells him that in this business, a man’s word matters, and right now his word remains all he has.
That plea alone persuades El Mayo to release the brothers. The scene exposes the humanist side of cartel life. Within the cartel, man writes his own moral law: loyalty earns life, and betrayal earns death. The code honors a man’s word and demands respect, but it answers to no higher authority and never forgives betrayal.
The documentary exposes that code and never endorses it. That man-made code runs contrary to God’s law. In Matthew 18, verses 21 and 22, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answers, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” The cartel grants mercy only on its own terms. Christ calls His followers to forgive without limit.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Moral worldview, as the government seeks justice and two men tied to the cartel break away from the organization, mixed with humanist elements, as the cartel lives by its own man-made code that honors loyalty but never forgives betrayal, plus one brief image of a statue of Jesus, and pagan content, as people visit a pyramid in Mexico in search of “energy”
Foul Language
Two “f” words, one profanity, and one crude reference to a bull’s “balls”
Violence
Videos of a gunfight at an airport, and photos and videos of dead bodies in the streets of Mexico, some with blood
Sex
No sex
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
Photos of people who drink alcohol
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
Strong drug content, with photos and videos of cocaine use, production, and seizures;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Bribery, lies, deception, and the idolization of cartel bosses.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The man who faces El Mayo says his word remains all he has, and it saves his life. In Matthew 5, Jesus tells His followers to let their yes mean yes. Why does your word matter so much? Matthew 5:37
The cartel never forgives betrayal. In Colossians 3, Paul urges believers to forgive as the Lord forgave them. Why does forgiveness feel so hard? Colossians 3:13
Some former cartel members had a change of heart. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul writes that anyone in Christ becomes a new creation. Where do you need a fresh start? 2 Corinthians 5:17
The people of Sinaloa felt El Mayo owned them. In Proverbs 29, Solomon writes that people groan under wicked rulers. How does this documentary show that truth? Proverbs 29:2
The Final Word
Ultimately, the first episode THE FALL OF EL MAYO informs, grips, and never lets go. It exposes a kingdom built on fear and a code without mercy, where a man’s word can save his life but one betrayal can end it. Yet the episode also offers glimpses of hope through former cartel members who had a change of heart and now seek justice and peace. Their stories remind viewers that no life lies beyond redemption. Audiences will reach for the next episode before the credits roll. Strong drug content and graphic violence, however, keep this one for adults only.
