Narcos - Television Season 3 Review

After the fantastic conclusion of seasons one and two of Narcos, I had to press on and see if season three would be able to keep the momentum going. Back when the season first came out, I actually gave this one a shot, but gave up before I even finished the first episode as I just couldn't imagine the show being good without Wagner Moura's incredible performance. How wrong I was to doubt this show... I checked this one out on Netflix. Please check out my review of seasons one and two of Narcos, if you haven't already and let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments!

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General Information 

Season three of Narcos first aired on 1 September 2017. According to the Wikipedia page, it is the final season of the original Narcos series, however the show has since spun off with Narcos: Mexico. Like the first two seasons, the show is based off of historical events in Colombia's fight against cocaine narcotics trafficking. I don't have too much to say that I didn't already mention in my review of the first two seasons, however I will admit that I don't know much about the Cali Cartel. It was definitely a treat to essentially go into this season blind without knowing who dies and who goes to jail.

The Story
Season three starts off almost immediately where season two ends as DEA agent, Javier Pena, is riding high off his success from taking down Pablo Escobar and is assigned to Cali. While Colombia and the DEA were busy tackling Escobar's Medellin Cartel, the Cali Cartel has set up shop as the new number one player in the cocaine business. Unlike Escobar and and his flunkies though, Cali boss Gilberto Rodriguez knows the jig is up and negotiated a sweet-heart deal with the Colombian government. In return for him and his partners surrendering to the government, they get to keep all their illegal earnings and do a couple of years in prison. The only thing stopping Gilberto's plans from coming to fruition are Pena's team of agents and the few brave Colombian police officers willing to stop the cartel.

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The only guy I know that throws a party before going to prison

Something season three does different from the previous seasons is that it breaks from the vast duality of Escobar v. the world and instead spreads the perspectives out between the four main Cali bosses and their security officer, Jorge Salcedo, alongside Pena's team. I originally had my doubts about Narcos being able to adequately continue without Wagner Moura's presence as Escobar, but the show surprisingly makes up for this by crafting a fairly tense story (episode 6 was my favorite of the series thus far). I have to admit that viewers will have to be a tad patient though, as the first episode moves fairly slow, but the show picks up afterwards. 

One thing that annoyed me a little was that it seems like many characters from season one and two act very differently from how I originally remembered them. Pacho Herrera has lost all of his charm and become a vengeance-fueled psychopath, while Javier Pena's sole personality trait is that he's jaded now. Despite those changes, newer characters like Jorge Salcedo (played by Matias Varela) breathe new life into the series.

Overall, I loved the pacing of this show and was reminded of crime thrillers like Brotherhood and The Departed once I hit the half-way point of the season. The flow of the story went well until the final episode, which felt a little too neat and exposition-heavy. By the end, I was intrigued to give Narcos: Mexico a try as it's clear the showrunners know how to mix a good story with real events.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

In the first two seasons of Narcos, much of it took place in Medellin, which really painted a vivid picture of a major city that was beleaguered with poverty that left its residents sympathetic to Escobar's fight against the government. Season three paints a different picture with the city of Cali as the first two episodes show just how far the cartel has woven its tendrils of corruption throughout the city. All the phones are tapped, everyone is being watched, and almost every cop is on the take. I have to admit, it didn't take me long before I was scratching my head on how either the DEA or Colombian National Police could hope to stand a chance against such a hardcore defensive network!

Beyond that, I thought it was also pretty interesting how season 3 contrasts itself further by showing how corporatized the Cali Cartel. It still has sicarios like the uber-creepy Navagante, but it also has a bunch of people in its ranks who act and behave more like Latin American yuppies than crude thugs.

The Acting
Unfortunately, I wasn't really impressed with Pedro Pascal's performance, but I did overall like the majority of the other actors' portrayals. Matias Varela probably does the best job in the show as he did a fantastic job showing Jorge's descent from professional security chief to frantic survivor. I also really liked Damian Alcazar's performance as Gilberto Rodriguez, however I felt we didn't get to see as much of him as I thought we would (I mean, come on, the guy's face is on the cover of the season!).

Lastly, it seems that the success of the show let the showrunners branch out for guest talent, and I absolutely applauded their incredibly random choices for bit-parts for this season. Wayne Knight (aka Newman from Seinfeld) and Edward James Olmos (who played the legendary Lieutenant Castillo in Miami Vice) both pop up and I nearly leapt out of my chair in excitement when I saw them. Unfortunately Wayne Knight is not eaten by a dinosaur by the end of the season... 

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This must've been what Dennis Nedry was up to before he sold out Jurassic Park

The Best of the Best: Episode six is probably the best episode of a tv show I've seen this year. It was incredibly well-rounded and I honestly think that someone who's not interested in watching the whole show could just watch that episode and get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

The Worst of the Worst: Javier Pena's brooding attitude got old really fast. I found this season is much better when you act as though Jorge Salcedo is the actual protagonist and Pena is now just in a supporting role.

Would I Recommend?

****

Chepe seems to think so

Honestly, I had so many doubts about this season when I went into it that I actually had to make a second attempt to get past the first episode. Once I was in though, it was a fantastic ride. I may find this hard to believe, but I actually think season three is better than both season one or two! I highly recommend this season and am excited to give Narcos: Mexico a try!

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

• Is it just me or does David Rodriguez (played by Arturo Castro) look like a young Casey Kasem?
• I was very happy to see David get shot in the street like a common thug. Very fitting end for such a violent spoiled brat.
• The show seemed to be flipping back and forth over whether they wanted Javier Pena in Narcos: Mexico or not. It was like that last five minutes of the season were all about the showrunners arguing over how they could shoehorn in Pedro Pascal.
• Speaking of that, when we go to that scene of Pena at the DEA, I was kind of hoping we'd get a quick reunion of Boyd Holbrook's Steve Murphy. I didn't like him all that much, but it'd have been nice to see the dynamic duo see each other again.
• I wonder if we'll see Pacho's Mexican contact in Narcos: Mexico?
• I found it incredibly strange that Chepe was not the weak-link of the Cali Cartel since he was in New York City for most of the season. You would've though the DEA would have a much easier time snatching him there than catching Gilberto in Colombia. 

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

*Best Buy. (2018, November 11). Narcos season three cover image. Retrieved from: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/narcos-season-3-dvd/6319611.p?skuId=6319611.

**Such, M. (2017, August 3). Gilberto Rodriguez iamge. Fuera de Series. Retrieved from: https://fueradeseries.com/el-trailer-de-la-3%C2%AA-temporada-de-narcos-presenta-al-cartel-de-cali-af75cae676e2. 

***Summers, M. (2020, March 21). Wayne Knight in Narcos image. ScreenRant. Retrieved from: https://screenrant.com/seinfeld-cast-best-unrelated-roles-imdb/. 

****C. (2017, October 19). Chepe gif. Steam Community. Retrieved from: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1173934903.