“Griselda” tells the story of the Colombian Griselda Blanco. She built a thriving drug business in Florida in the 1970s.

Sofia Vergara as Griselda Photo: Netflix

The only man he was truly afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco. That's what Pablo Escobar is said to have once said, at least as the text panel that appears right at the beginning of the “Griselda” series says. It remains to be seen if the quote on this form is actually true. It is already evident that reality was not necessarily first on the agenda of those responsible for this six-episode series. But the opportunity to establish a connection with the most legendary drug lord of all time from the beginning was hard to pass up.

Doug Miró, Andrés Baiz and Carlo Bernard, who were already involved in “Narcos” and pulled the strings here with Ingrid Escajeda (“Justificado”), now face the so-called Godmother of Cocaine and initially leave their main heroine. For the trip, her three children flee Colombia for the United States in the late 1970s. The exact circumstances that led Griselda (Sofía Vergara) to arrive in Miami without her brutal husband are only revealed later. But in any case she carries a kilo of the best cocaine in her luggage and, of course, with it she can earn money and build a new existence much faster than working in her friend's travel agency.

With ambition and brutality, plus personal help from home, Griselda quickly builds a thriving drug business in Florida. She repeatedly encounters men who try to impede her advance, whether they are American competitors or other sponsors of the Medellín Cartel. And the decisions she must make to not let them stop her become increasingly unscrupulous. But the more wealth and murder dominate her lives, the more paranoia takes over and the inevitable collapse draws near.

It's not that Blanco's story hasn't been told before, whether in the Cocaine Cowboys documentaries or a made-for-TV movie starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. But since in the avalanche of stories about drug cartels that have been published for years, women are rarely in the foreground, “Griselda” is a welcome addition. The fact that the series tells the biography of its protagonist for long periods as an often cruel, but also glamorous story of girl power or better yet: boss bitch, is a bit strange.

Stereotypes about Latin American immigrants

The impression of a poorly structured narrative is further reinforced by the fact that Miro, Escajeda and company contrast the heroine of the title with a no less ambitious young police officer who is also Latina.

June Hawkins (Juliana Aidén Martinez) has to fight a similar mix of misogyny and patriarchal structures at her job: she's really just supposed to translate from Spanish and make coffee. For a long time, almost no one took seriously their well-founded suspicion that one woman seemed to be completely changing the local drug landscape.

The character of Hawkins alone cannot prevent “Griselda” from repeating too often the cliché of Latin American immigrants, who can only achieve the American dream through violence and drugs.

Too easy to consume.

What seems more questionable, however, is the extent to which the script strays from reality in its portrayal of the title heroine. Even a cursory look at Wikipedia and the like proves it: not only were the sequences of her career completely different, but the real Griselda was probably also much more ruthless, cold and bloodthirsty.

In principle it is understandable that for those responsible it was more important to have a protagonist with whom the viewer can at least identify a little.

It's also entirely possible that Sofia Vergara, who in her first major acting job since the end of “Modern Family” clearly relishes a role that was completely foreign to her, had too much respect for straying so far from the family image. But ignoring the deeper, more complicated depths of this character too easily with typical Netflix gloss ultimately makes this story, with its fast narrative pacing and stylish visuals, too easy to consume.