TheCandidateJul20

Peter Blake who wrote episodes for House, Hemlock Grove and Gotham, is in charge of this Mexican political thriller. Starring James Purefroy and Eréndira Ibarra as two CIA agents infiltrating a Mexican cartel and the government of Mexico City. The CIA has concerns that Lalo Yzaguirre (played by José María de Tavira) Mexico City's mayor is secretly working for Rafael Bautista (played by Joaquín Cosio) head of one of Mexico's most powerful cartels. Isabel (Eréndira Ibarra) and Lalo are ex lovers from back in the day, she uses that connection to get close to Lalo and spy his every move. Wayne (James Purefroy) is in charge of the operation but he also has a past with Rafael Bautista, there's a personal grudge between them, Wayne is willing to go off the books and off CIA guidelines to get Bautista.

Isabel and Wayne don't get a long at first but they would have to learn to trust and collaborate with each other to succeed in this mission. Isabel is a more by the book agent but with a troubled past, her values she learned from past mistakes, make her not trust her partner, but she finds the hard way that many live are at stake, making her put all their differences aside to work together.

The pilot for this series doesn't really shine, so give it a couple of more episodes to hook you over. Is not the most original story, but is very well produced and James Purefroy is always worth watching, also Eréndira Ibarra proves herself before we get to see her again in Matrix 4. De Tavira plays this good boy politician that's pulled into the dirty world of cartels and politics.

Lalo Yzaguirre might be the perfect stereotype of every single good willed politician in Latin America. Everything is good will, values and thirst for a change, until is time to swim with the big sharks. On top of everything Yzaguirre has a complicated relationship with Mexico's president and there's a very obvious war between them.

It only has a couple of weak episodes, but also just a couple of strong episodes, the rest of them, ten in total, are just average. Still it is a good option to watch during the weekend, the series also gives you a cliffhanger to get you hooked and waiting for a potential second season.

This production is credited entirely Mexican, but the fact that Blake is the creator and Purefroy the main lead, made me raise an eyebrow. Sometime ago Narcos showrunner went to Mexico City to try and teach Mexican writer's producers and directors the concept of Showrunner. Apparently streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime were very eager to get into the Mexican original productions market. But faced the fact the term of Showrunner in Mexico doesn't exist.

As a Mexican I often complain about the quality of the productions, the rumors that escape from the different sets, are often about the lack of team work and how the producer is the one an only king of a production. An illness that came out of years of Televisa's monopoly over the entertainment in the country, people that escaped Televisa and went to TV Azteca were also carriers of this disease. Maybe this resulted in Amazon choosing to bring an outsider to Mexico to head The Candidate.

Still there's a lot of room to improve in this series, not that different from what other Mexican writers have done. But is always good to have collaborations that can enrich both countries.