Narcos - Television Season 1 & 2 Review

Earlier this month, I played the painful game of trying to find something worth watching on Netflix as I was starting to consider cancelling my subscription. I cheated somewhat as I'd already seen this show before, but it had been a while since I'd last checked it out. I decided to combine my review as seasons one and two tell a more cohesive story as a combination than as separate parts. 

1

Where You Can Find It: I streamed this on Netflix, however it is also available on DVD/Blu-ray.

General Information 

Narcos is a crime drama television series that was produced by Gaumont International Television. It was initially released as a Netflix original series on 28 August 2015 with season two airing on2 September 2016. Its reception has been relatively mixed as its depiction of the Republic of Colombia is not altogether flattering. 

Something the show gambled on was its natural use of Spanish as most of its characters originate from Colombia and do not know English. American characters would primarily still speak English, however the majority of the show is done in Spanish with English subtitles. I personally am not a big fan of heavy use of foreign languages in film/television, however I didn't mind it so much in this show, however I do not speak Spanish. Narcos was repeatedly taken to task for its use of Spanish as it failed to properly capture the accents and colloquialisms of Medellin, Colombia. The most egregious offense was Wagner Moura's depiction of Pablo Escobar as his Brazilian accent was apparently quite noticeable and jarring.

The Story
Both season one and two focus on the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, with season one covering the 1980's and season two focusing on the early 1990's. The main protagonists of the show are DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, who are stationed in Colombia for the show's entirety. Despite their prominent role, most of the show follows the Colombian narco-traffickers and citizens who all tie into Escobar's story.

I have heard complaints about Murphy and Pena being the focus of the show, however I didn't think they hogged the spotlight all that much. The Escobar story is certainly a Colombian story through and through, so I was glad that it was told from multiple perspectives (even if some of them were American). Getting to see the how the Colombian president navigated the politics of fighting narco-terrorism, or how innocent people were directly impacted by the Medellin Cartel's many atrocities made for an incredibly grounded story. I appreciated that we even saw how Escobar and his sicarios lived and behaved during those turbulent times. The duality between Colonel Carillo and Pablo Escobar was probably my favorite aspect of the show overall.

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They say Colonel Carillo was the only one that Escobar was afraid of. I can understand why...

There are only a couple of issues I have with the story, and both of them primarily apply to season one (season two is arguably the better of the duo). The first issue is the unnecessary flashforward at the very beginning of the series as it shows sicarios, Poison and Sure Shot, get gunned down by the Colonel Carillo's Colombian National Police. By the end of season one I understood what the directors were going for, however it also robbed the show of any tension whenever Poison and/or Sure Shot were in scenes where their lives/freedom might be in danger as the viewer already knows they're going to escape. I was glad that they did not repeat this mistake with season two.

My only other nitpick was the rapid time jumps in what is arguably a complex time in Colombia's history. Almost all of season one exclusively focuses on the 1980's, which felt like the season was stretched a bit too thin. They definitely hit all of the big points, but part of me wonders if they tried to cram as much of the story as they could in season one just in case the show might not get greenlit for a second season. 

Special Effects/Atmosphere

Medellin really feels alive and dangerous in this show, while I really appreciated the showrunners' portrayal of drastic contrasts between the luxurious lives of the narco-traffickers and the poor folks just trying to get by. You can honestly gauge Escobar's level of infamy by simply looking at his surroundings as things get worse and worse for him.

Atmosphere doesn't just apply to props and set-pieces though. One of the best parts of this show was its attempts to match their portrayal with reality in numerous ways. In both seasons we see nearly seamless transitions between the show and archived video footage of the real events. Not only that, but the bit-part actors and actresses really sell this show as they look real and genuine (unlike some certain CW shows I won't mention). Escobar's sicarios look and act about as foul as the crimes they commit, while both the national police and the people of Medellin share a visible hunger and drive. I have no doubt that a good chunk of what I'm saying would better fall under the "Acting" section, however all of this stuff working in tandem with the very real-looking set design really sells the realism of this show.

The Acting
His accent might be absurd, but for a gringo like me, Wagner Moura is the selling point of this show. Watching Escobar go from petting a bunny rabbit to threatening a Colombian government official all comes off natural. Moura really helped paint a picture where viewers could empathize (but not sympathize) with Escobar's motivations. Moura's ability to play off of all of his supporting cast was equally good as I thought everyone on the cartel-side of the show delivered their lines perfectly.

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Unfortunately, I can't really say the same for the "good guys" as Boyd Holbrook's Steve Murphy was pretty bland, and I wasn't all that blown away with Pedro Pascal's Javier Pena either. Most of the American characters in the show were pretty ho-hum as well, but I'm not so sure if that was due to acting or just their over-emphasized contributions to the story. More than one Colombian character points out to Murphy and Pena that the war against Escobar is a Colombian one first and foremost, and I agree with that statement. Murphy and Pena didn't really have much consequences behind their characters as they weren't really affected by Escobar's actions like Carillo or Colonel Martinez were. Incidentally, if there are any Spanish-fluent readers out there that have checked out this show, I'd be curious if their opinion on the Colombian actors differs due to my inability to understand Spanish.

The Best of the Best: Pablo Escobar's portrayal shows us what a man with unlimited ambitions mixed with unlimited resources can do in a country that is completely unprepared for such a lethal combination.

The Worst of the Worst: Murphy not knowing Spanish after being stationed in Colombia for nearly ten years.

Would I Recommend?

4

Netflix has been pretty hit-or-miss with shows as they've expanded their portfolio, however I'd wager to say that Narcos is one of their best. If you're interested in crime drama and don't mind subtitles (if you can't speak Spanish), then I'd say at least give this one a shot.

-------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments-----------------------------------------------------

• I'm not sure if I feel bad for Tata or not. She didn't hurt anyone and just wanted to look out for her family, but at the same time, she directly benefited from Escobar's organization.
• I was genuinely sad when Colonel Carillo died. He fought fire with fire and eventually lived long enough to get burned. I would've loved to read a book about the war against Escobar from his point of view.
• Well actually: Although Escobar is far more well-known, I believe the Ochoas were actually the main power behind the Medellin Cartel during the 1980's. They were frequently referred to as such by drug dealers in Miami in the books that I read. I was disappointed to see their dynamic evaporate by the end of season one.
• I'm very curious to see how season three shakes up without Escobar at the center. I don't know anything about the Cali Cartel, so it'll definitely be interesting to see if the show can stay afloat without Wagner Moura's excellent performance.

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

(1) Goodfellow, J. (2016, September 5). Narcos television series cover image. The Drum. Retrieved from: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/09/05/netflix-teams-babbel-launch-narcos-based-spanish-lessons.

(2) Spotern. (n.d.). Carillo image. Retrieved from: https://www.spotern.com/en/spot/tv/narcos/13584/the-real-g-shock-watches-horacio-carrillo-mauritius-in-narcos. 

(3) Imgflip. (2020). Escobar meme. Retrieved from: https://imgflip.com/i/4bv62p. 

(4) Shacknies, M. (2020). Escobar image. Pinterest. Retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/433401164122032284/.