The roots to shows like Zero Zero Zero go back to 1989 and the British serial Traffik made by Channel 4.
It was later remade by Steven Soderbergh as the Oscar winning Traffic in 2000.
Traffik told three interwoven stories that spanned Britain, Germany and Afghanistan/Pakistan.
In the same way. The opening episode of Zero Zero Zero has prolonged scenes in Italy and Mexico with plenty of subtitles to read.
The opening voiceover is from Edward Lynwood (Gabriel Byrne) as he lies injured.
It then goes to Italy as Stefano wants a giant sow starved. In readiness to eat his grandfather Don Minu, an elderly clan boss. They are the buyer.
In Mexico the military is waging war with with drug traffickers, the seller. Some of the soldiers are on the payroll of the cartel. In a shootout, a young girl is killed. Collateral damage.
In New Orleans, Edward Lynwood ships cargo from the port. His most profitable activity is drugs. Edward is the broker between the drug cartels in central America and the mafia bosses in Europe.
His daughter Emma (Andrea Riseborough) helps him run this side of the business but his son Chris (Dane DeHaan) has so far been shielded from it.
It is a good opening episode where some betrayals are being mapped out already. In my mind it is also derivative of similar shows such as Narcos and movies like Sicario. Even the pigs eating a human was taken from Ridley Scott's Hannibal.
Lynwood's hard boiled narration was full of cliches though.