Whenever I hear someone say Original Netflix Series my heart pounds with excitement. The quality of their shows are incomparable and they create such unique stories that I rarely see on TV anymore. So when my colleague next to me offered the entire season of Narcos on a USB stick, I jumped at the opportunity to binge watch it. And let me tell you, this is a show worth watching twice.
Let's get to it:
Spoiler Alert.
The story is based on the life of Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) during the pinnacle of his success, and the fall of his empire. For those who are unfamiliar, Escobar was Colombia's biggest drug lord in the 60's who was responsible for 80% of the cocaine in the United States during that time. The Medellin Cartel raked in $60 million a day during the peak of their trade. All this money came with a price. After Escobar was turned down for the position of Colombia's Minister of Justice, he began his irrational killing spree. Which meant that Colombia had to tighten the laws regarding drugs and introduce extradition. Two DEA agents, Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) and American Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) were tasked to take down Escobar's cartel, but he was always one step ahead of them. By the end of the series, president Gaviria (Juan Pablo Raba) had to take matters into his own hands after his vice president was taken hostage. Throughout the show, everyone from Communists to young kids were murdered senselessly by Escobar and his men.
If you're into blood and guts, this is definitely the show for you. Found footage of victims and characters are often woven into the storyline to create such an authentic feel that the show teeters on a documentary. Even real life Peña and Murphy were consultants of the show. And it's precisely because of this balanced realism and dramatization that makes the show so appealing. Because this all happened and these people existed in a world so different to ours. Watching a TV show is one thing, but experiencing history is another.
Wagner Moura plays the role Pablo Escobar incredibly well. He was somehow able to create a human out of a monster. As the antagonist of the show, Escobar needed to appeal to the audience in more ways than one. He had to play with our heartstrings as he murdered innocent lives. We had to like the character enough to keep watching, and Moura was able to exude likability to such a cruel villain. It's difficult to pull off such a feat. However, when it comes to his authenticity, Moura is a Brazilian, and I have been told that his Colombian accent drops in and out in conversations. As a non-Spanish speaker, I couldn't tell the difference. But I'm sure that slight out-of-character accent might irk many native Spanish speakers.
I have to hand it to protagonist Steve Murphy (Holbrook) for being the most hated character in a show with murdering drug lords. As the narrator, we experience the life of Escobar through his eyes, as if he was recounting the good old days of chasing down the world's biggest drug lord. I believe Holbrook was chosen specifically because of his naturally villainous appeal. While Escobar was evil at heart, Murphy was outwardly so. We could see the decline of his protagonism as the show went on, and by the end of the series, he had one foot in the antagonist's yard, ready to climb over to the other side. Which begs the question, can someone with good intentions be evil? He had sacrificed his life for the pursuit of Escobar but along the way he got too caught up in chasing after the bad guy that he became one himself.
Both Peña (Pascal) and Gaviria (Raba) became the only two characters who stayed inherently good and tried their best to eliminate Escobar cleanly and safely. These men not only did good to Colombia, but looked kind as well, and that's the difference between them and Holbrook. Their faces were inviting, patient and pensive. But you see, Gaviria was tasked to bring down Escobar, and now the viewers are given the decision of whether to be on the right side of Colombia, or with Escobar.
That's where the show gets interesting.
We are able to choose which side we're on. As the show continues, we receive almost equal amounts of Gaviria and Escobar. We can either root for the president and his aspiration for a better Colombia, or we can support Escobar in his murderous rampage. I rarely see an antagonist presents himself so positively human that he could still continue to gather the support of the audience even after carelessly bombing a plane. This decision between good and evil is brought out so well that the audience merely has to choose which side to follow and which character to cheer on.
Personally, I want Escobar to win. But we all know how the story goes. After all, this is based on truth.
That's the power of the story and the script. It's a show surrounding heartless, unlikeable men and yet we still want them to win. For some reason, we are all sucked into the wealth and power of the Medellín Cartel. We feel like we have watched it grow from the small business it was to the empire it is now. And we don't want to see the fall of Rome.
This show has been renewed for a second season, and I'm sure everyone will be tuning in the moment the episodes are published on Netflix. If binge watching had a definition, it would be Narcos. With cliffhangers and nail-biters in every episode, there is never a dull scene in Narcos. I give it a 9.4/10. An excellent show that I would recommend to only those who can stomach the violence.
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