The Wasp Network | 2019 | TV-MA | – 6.5.5

Why is “The Wasp Network” rated TV-MA? The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board rating indicates “This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of implied sex scenes with topless nudity, a few kissing scenes, cleavage revealing outfits, several scenes of bombings of buildings that leave people injured or dead, two American planes shot down by Cuban planes, discussions and evidence of illegal drug trade, many arguments, and 5 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on true events: From 1991-1999 several Cuban nationals, including a war hero (Edgar Ramírez), infiltrated Miami’s anti-Castro organizations, blew up buildings, dropped supplies to defectors on rafts near Florida, and smuggled drugs. Both American and Cuban intelligence networks intended to stop them. With Ana de Armas, Penélope Cruz, Wagner Moura and Gael García Bernal. Directed by Olivier Assayas. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Spanish and Russian with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:03]

The Wasp Network SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A husband pulls off his undershirt and climbs on top of his wife in bed (she wears a thick, closed robe ending at her knees); he lies between her legs and we see her underwear briefly as they kiss, she flips over on top of him, rips off her robe and we see bare breasts as the scene ends (sex is implied). A woman dances suggestively near her husband who is sitting in a straight chair; she sits in his lap, and then he carries her upstairs into a hotel bedroom, out onto a porch, and lays her on a couch as the scene ends (sex is implied).
► A bride and groom kiss briefly. A man and a woman kiss briefly in two scenes and they hug briefly in three other scenes and in one of the scenes, they both cry as they hug.
► A man and a woman flirt, smiling and giggling at each other; they later date and marry. A woman says that she is pregnant and we see her about a year later with a baby.
► A man sits in a chair wearing only underwear (we see his bare chest, shoulders, abdomen, thighs and knees). A shirtless man is seen in a shower from the hips to his head and he steps out of the shower wearing a long towel around his hips (we see his bare chest, back, shoulders and abdomen). Two scenes show a man wearing mid-thigh length shorts that reveal his lower thighs. Two men wear long shorts that reveal lower thighs. Four women wear strapless floor-length gowns that reveal bare shoulders and cleavage. Several women wear dresses, including one wedding dress, with shoulder cutouts, and a women in two scenes wears a square neckline that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a miniskirt. A woman wears a clingy top through which we see the outline of her nipples.

The Wasp Network VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A man enters three hotels arming C4 bombs and hides them under two couches and a bench; we hear two explosions and see one explosion with clouds of dust and dirt filling the screen and people shouting and we see an unconscious or dead man under dirt and debris in a lobby. We see the inside of an empty cafe where rifles off-screen open fire and fill the room with bullets and tables fall to pieces (it is suggestive of a firing squad against an outside wall).
► Two MiGs buzz three Cessnas and fire at each one, causing loud aerial explosions of flames and smoke; men inside the target planes shout and curse before we see the planes at a distance explode and seem to vanish. A man in scuba gear swims in the ocean at night, climbs out on rocks near a military base, lights a flare as soldiers point rifles and we see razor wire; the man raises his hands and shouts, “Don’t shoot! I am defecting!” Two MiG jets buzz by a Cessna aircraft. A man says that he thinks search and rescue planes are being used to smuggle drugs and we then see several agents arresting drug traffickers as they exit their van.
► A man and a woman lie clothed in bed with their baby, who is screaming, as we hear dogs barking and a helicopter outside, and agents break open the door and arrest the man, pushing him down, shouting, and handcuffing him as the baby and another young child cry loudly; the agents roughly grab and carry out the child. Several men are grabbed, handcuffed, and forcibly shoved into the backs of unmarked cars. A man is grabbed by several men in front of a hotel; the scene cuts to a darkened room where an officer tells him that a man died with a metal shard slitting his throat in a hotel bombing (we do not see this), and that the man may face a firing squad.
► A search and rescue pilot is told to pick up some cartons on a beach, he lands, picks up the cartons, and delivers them on another beach where they are hurried into an unmarked van (the cartons may contain illegal drugs). An agent cuts open a brick of drugs and we see white powder.
► Footage on TV of President Bill Clinton feature the statement that attacks on three planes was unprovoked and later footage of Fidel Castro shows him claiming that he had the right to shoot down the planes. Footage shows many people in Cuba throwing rocks at several government buildings to protest the Castro regime. A narrator states that Cubans infiltrated Florida anti-Castro groups from 1990-1992, the FBI stopped 20 terrorist attacks, confiscated many loads of illegal drugs, and captured many C4 bombs. Closing captions explain that captured Cuban infiltrators received sentences between 12 years to three consecutive life sentences.
► Three men in a small yacht carry assault rifles in three scenes and in the third scene, they land on a crowded beach and fire the rifles multiple times into the air; men, women, and children run away and scream. The US Coast Guard stops a yacht, finds rifles below deck, and one of the men onboard says, “They are to be used to kill Castro and I am proud of it,” and the men onboard are arrested.
► Ten men and women wearing orange jumpsuits and chains in a courtroom are shown as a judge pronounces them unregistered foreign agents and enemies of the government. We see a few scenes of prisoners in a jail. We see a night scene of two men burying a bomb on a beach and they are interrupted and arrested. We see a scene in which Cuban intelligence officers give the FBI a list of 40 terrorists and many cartons of related files.
► Two men at a shooting range fire pistols in close-up, stop, sit down, and discuss making bombs as we hear other pistols fired off-screen in the shooting range. In a karate class, men bounce up and down and one man slaps at another man as the scene ends.
► A woman confronts a man about his source of exorbitant income and purchases; he walks away, but she follows him outside and continues to ask him until he tells her he will dump her and walks threateningly toward her, causing her to look frightened and she agrees not to ask him again. Three men spy on other men, copy a laptop’s hard drive, and plant surveillance bugs in an apartment. A woman argues with her immigration representative, complaining about a new form; the immigration person sternly orders her to get the form. A man refuses to become an informant and his wife and young daughter are deported and their baby is left with a great grandmother in Florida; we see the woman grabbed by FBI agents and handcuffed. A woman says that her ex-husband is still living in her home temporarily, that he is violent, and she is afraid of him. Two agents tell a woman that her husband defected and she becomes upset. Two agents tell a woman that her husband is a terrorist. A wife finds her husband’s possessions gone, turns on the TV, and sees him in another country, talking about how he defected and she cries. Men and women argue in several scenes. A man says that he was trained by the USA to be a terrorist. A man tells another man that an activist was executed for drug smuggling. A man says that his brother was incarcerated as an enemy of the government. A man tells another man that he is not afraid to do illegal and dangerous things. A middle school girl says that she bit her adult male cousin for calling his brother a traitor; we do not see the bite or an injury.
► A nurse wheels an elderly man out of a hospital room in a wheelchair and tells a cleaner to change the bed that it has been soiled; the cleaner enters the room, rushes out, bends over and vomits loudly into a bucket on her cleaning cart (we hear her retching and vomiting, but see no vomit). A man rushes to a washroom in a hotel and throws himself on his knees into a stall in profile and we hear him vomit loudly off-screen (we do not see goo).

The Wasp Network LANGUAGE 5

 – About 5 F-words and its derivatives, 3 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, exclamations (ay caramba), name-calling (traitor, terrorist, crazy, old lady, rat, scumbags, McCastros), 9 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Oh God, My God, Lord, Thank God, In The Name Of The Father, The Son, And The Holy Ghost, a hymn, two prayers). | profanity glossary |

The Wasp Network SUBSTANCE USE

 – An agent cuts open a brick of drugs and we see white powder, and a woman swallows a large unknown tablet of medicine at bedtime. Men and women at a wedding sip from glasses of wine in a toast, a bar scene shows several men and women holding tall colorful drinks as they dance in a crowd, two men and a woman each drink a Tequila shot in a home, a man drinks from a small glass of wine at a restaurant counter, a man removes a bottle of beer from a refrigerator and drinks from it in a couple of scenes, two men sit on a concrete step and each drink from a beer bottle, two men each at cafe tables drink from beer bottles or glasses of beer, a man at a café has a glass of wine, and a man and a woman in a restaurant sip from large cocktails. A man smokes a cigarette in an apartment, a man smokes a cigarette in a hotel lobby and puts it out in an ashtray, a man smokes a cigarette in an office, and three men smoke cigars in house.

The Wasp Network DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – The fall of the USSR, Fidel Castro’s regime, communism, freedom, human rights, espionage, terrorism, drug trafficking, assassinations, greed, patriotism, loyalty, justice, forgiveness, starting a new life, protecting families.

The Wasp Network MESSAGE

 – Many infiltrators into anti-Castro groups in the 1990s were captured and Fidel Castro remained in power.