Watch Narcos Season 1 on Netflix
Created by: Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro
Starring: Wagner Moura, Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal
This Netflix original series is a dramatization of Pablo Esocbar's rise to power and wealth as the DEA and agent Steve Murphy try to make a dent in the war on drugs during the '80s. Be forewarned, mustaches abound.
Verdict:
Narcos is excellent entertainment and definitely worth watching. Each episode inserts image or news clips about the actual source material to great dramatic effect. I watched Breaking Bad, thinking such a story could never happen, but look at Pablo Escobar. He was real. It follows Escobar's story, at least what is known, quite closely.
The episodes are well paced and avoid feeling like filler. A lot happens in the first season. Escobar goes from smuggler to drug kingpin, which makes me wonder how far this show will go. Based on the source, I don't see it going past two, maybe three, seasons.
Wagner Moura does a great job as Escobar, more enigma than menacing. Boyd Holbrook feels slightly out of his depth, much like his character on the show, Steve Murphy. He just doesn't seem old enough. His partner Javier Pena played by Pedro Pascal fits the role as a grizzled cop better. Murphy is our narrator, keying us in on big picture details.
The show is often political, criticizing the American government for ignoring the drug trade or misplacing efforts, though hindsight makes this much easier.
Escobar quickly rises to power and then becomes desperate to keep the power as his enemies increase in tandem with his greed. He builds a jail and then turns himself in on the condition that he will be housed in the facility he built. Obviously it's more of a resort than a jail made specifically for Escobar and his crew.
The core question facing the DEA is how do you fight an organization that has infinite money and willingly breaks the law? The DEA doesn't stand a chance. Anyone that opposes Escobar meets a swift end.
The show is a dramatization, but it doesn't dumb anything down. Spanish is spoken extensively, with subtitles provided of course. The show easily could have had everyone speak English to make this more accessible, but I'm glad they didn't.
Watch it.
Review:
Episode 1: Descenso
The first episode begins with a magical realism explanation. Confusing at first, but you quickly realize this story is almost too strange to believe, but it did happen. I didn't really need the explanation has it doesn't have any bearing on the show.
The series focuses on the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and a DEA agent, Steve Murphy. Murphy is a beat level agent, that soon finds himself on assignment in Colombia.
Escobar is already an established smuggler with the capacity to begin smuggling cocaine. When he is stopped by a task force, it showcases his ruthlessness. He knows the names of the officers, their children, and extended family. It's silver or lead Escobar tells them. They let him pass.
Escobar's rise to extreme riches begins when he is approached by an amateur chemist.While the chemist is thinking local sales of this drug he's concocted, Escobar wants to import the drug to Miami to make big money. When Pablo visits the rain forest to see the drug's production, he starts buying in bulk. Pablo has vision, and that vision is dollar signs. He buys cars to smuggle the drugs across the border, estimating he'll make half a million per trip.
It's a great look at building an empire. It's an engrossing subject, and while we've had movies like Blow or Scarface, that touch on it, we needed a series that could take more time to go in depth. I really enjoyed seeing how they smuggled the drugs in the first episode, but we didn't get any more behind the scenes reveals like that. The rest of the series focuses on the big picture of staying in power. I wish we got to see more of the process.
Drugs hidden in cars to get to Colombia and in sport coats to get to Miami soon become trucks and pilot's carry-on bags. The cartel even uses women as human carriers. Despite every Colombian export hiding cocaine, that isn't enough. Escobar fills planes with hundreds of pounds of drugs.
This episode does a great job of establishing the operation and keeping it interesting as it balloons in size. The DEA seizes sixty keys of cocaine, and it doesn't even make a dent. The drug trade is huge, but with drugs came money, with money violence.
Everyone gets greedy, and the chemist is no exception as he tips off the Colombian police who arrest Escobar. Escobar regards it as little more than a joke. A still of the real Escobar's mugshot flashes across the screen, underscoring that this actually happened.
Moura plays Escobar as reserved and determined. While he acquires hundreds of houses, he doesn't dress flashy. He lives lavishly as a byproduct, but it wasn't his goal. He wants more for no other reason than it's possible.
The episode ends with Reagan declaring a war on drugs. This is a great opening episode that deftly pulls you into the world. I was greedy for more.
Episode 2: The Sword of Simon Bolivar
This operation is at an unimaginable scale. The pilot that smuggles the drugs to America buys an entire island to refuel his planes. Escobar hires German chemists, builds super labs, and even has drug dogs to confirm drugs will be undetected. As fast as Escobar makes the drugs, he can't keep up with demand. He's making so much money he can't launder it all and begins burying it in the ground. His accountant becomes little more than a man keeping up with treasure maps of where money is buried.
Gacha (Luis Guzman), an associate of Escobar's is prone to violence and killing his associates. I imagine this may become a story line later.
Steve Murphy moves to Colombia on assignment and gets a new partner, Javier Pena. Of course his veteran partner leaves him at the kid's table and Steve responds angrily. The rookie cop left on the sidelines is such a boring trope. It could have been handled better. Why would Pena begin to trust Murphy just because he asked him to? Why not have Murphy prove his worth? The show could have done more with Pena and Murphy, but the reason they didn't is probably that Murphy is a footnote to Escobar. He serves as our guide, his voice explaining the big picture and referencing historical facts.
Despite having everything, Pablo wants to become a Congressman. His campaign is to just hand out fistfuls of money. He's always been able to buy anything he desired, and sees this as no different.
When the M-19 rebel group kidnaps the daughter of Escobar's partners, the Ochoa brothers, he sees that as an opportunity. He brings all of the narcos (the drug kin pins) together to form what would become the Medellin cartel, Escobar as their leader. Escobar promises to kill the kidnappers and return Marta Ochoa unharmed. He delivers, and he partners with the last of the remaining M-19. He knows the value of the group, despite his lieutenants urging him to kill them.
The cartel knows Steve and leave a message at his house.
How can the government contend with drug lords? Limited money versus unlimited money, rule adherence versus rule breaking, there is no way the DEA can take Escobar in a heads up fight. Escobar is the protagonist, and despite the ruthlessness and violence I still want to follow his story. He's a king, building an empire, but the destruction his endeavors wreck in the U.S. soil is glossed over. This show purports he is the reason cocaine made it to the U.S. By that account he's responsible for hundred or even thousands of deaths.
Episode 3: The Men of Always
Pablo is making contacts for political office. With all he has, he wants to be a politician. He doesn't seem to have any better reasoning than it's a crowning achievement he wants. He grew up in a poor slum and wants to prove, more to himself than anyone else, that he made it.
Murphy and Pena approach their contacts to track down who killed Murphy's cat. It seems silly, but the implication is much larger. The cartel knows who Murphy is, and they can reach him whenever and wherever. Murphy should be more scared than he is. He claims he went to Colombia because it's the right thing to do, but it's a cop out answer. With a partner that is willing to break the rules when the game demands it, I imagine Pena will influence the by the book Murphy. It would at least make Murphy more interesting.
The DEA searches for proof that Escobar is a drug dealer to embarrass him and end his political ambitions. Each time the DEA has a contact that could corroborate Escobar's arrest, the contact is killed, eliminating the evidence. The Colombia police is corrupt. Any information that goes through them goes to Esocbar, so Murphy and Pena track down a negative of his mugshot and relocate the contact to witness protection.
When Escobar gets to his first congressional meeting. the Minister Lara presents Escobar's mugshot, as supplied by the DEA, and demands he resign. Escobar walks out, incensed. The confirmation of his drug business affects Escobar's associates. Gacha has to give up his soccer team and the Ochoa's planes are grounded. Escobar realizes his dreams of president are over, but this makes Lara a target.
Episodes one and two build a big world, while three slows down to focus on Escobar's presidential dreams. What fuels Escobar's passion? He cares for his wife, though he is unfaithful. He claims to want to help the people, but at the same time he is wreaking havoc as a drug lord. Is his motivation excess? Does he simply want everything?
Episode 4: The Palace in Flames
Escobar's murder of Minister Lara leads to the passing of an extradition plan. If narcos are caught they are extradited to the United States. Escobar threatens the embassy and judges, relying on terrorism and murder when letters are ineffective. When the Colombian police detain someone in the Medellin cartel who provides Escobar's location, Escobar has already fled via helicopter, informed about the raid prior.
While the raid fails to catch Escobar, Murphy finds a scrap of paper that leads them to Escobar's accountant, Blackbeard. Blackbeard reveals the only secure location large enough to store the records was the Palace of Justice.
The DEA raids a few labs catching kingpin Carlos Lehrer and obtain an image of Escobar loading drugs through an informant.
I wish the show did a better job of outlining the timeline. It has to have covered at least a couple of years if not more, but if you didn't pay attention it could seem like only a few months. Escobar has acquired eight-hundred homes and has built a home that looks more like a fancy resort. Despite the format that allows them to delve into the story, we don't see much of Escobar's daily activities. We don't see him haggle for a helicopter at the store. We don't see his crew devising clever ways to smuggle drugs. The show makes the smuggling seem effortless.
The U.S. collectively is paying Escobar millions of dollars for drugs. Even if you catch the drug dealers, new ones will pop up because it's a lucrative business. The only long term solution is to decrease the users. Less money means less people trying to sell drugs. But if you can't stop the smuggling of drugs and you can't stop the use of drugs, the only option is an attempt to stop the source.
Escobar hires M-19 to destroy all the evidence against him in the Palace of Justice. It's a clever ruse that has the media assuming M-19 is trying to send a message instead of their true intention. Escobar, kills the remaining M-19 after they've served his purposes of destroying all of the evidence against him.
Murphy and Pena have a witness that can confirm Escobar ordered the Palace of Justice bombing, but she's a member of the M-19 organization and wanted by the Colombian government.
Episode 5: There Will Be a Future
Murphy and Pena are running a dangerous game as they hide Elisa, the M-19 informant. She's wanted for belonging to a Communist group, and they would face treason charges if it is discovered they are hiding her.
Escobar's only concern is his own safety. He murders anyone that isn't useful or could incriminate him. He's not depicted as violent. He seems indifferent more than anything. He kills to maintain his freedom.
Murphy and Pena aren't much different. They operate within the rules when it suits, but they are happy to break them if it can lead to the indictment of Escobar. Their ploy puts them at odds with other DEA agents when an informant, under torture tells them Elisa was seen with Murphy's wife.
Escobar is now in Panama, waiting to return to Colombia.
Murphy and Pena as well as Escobar believe the end justifies the means. The only difference is that the cops are trying to do something good.
Episode 6: Explosivos
We're presented with a strange juxtaposition. Escobar is a father, but at the same time puts bounties on cops. He hugs his kid and then notes the most recent bounties in a notebook nearby. If it was his life or his son's I wouldn't be surprised to see him push his son in front of a bus.
Murphy's car is bugged by the DEA who think, and rightfully so, he has the M-19 communist, Elisa. Murphy thwarts their plans to catch him.
Murphy coerces an informant Suarez to aid him, but it gets Suarez killed. The information leads Murphy to classified information to gather intel on 'The Spaniard.' Escobar hired 'The Spaniard' to kill his latest political threat, Gaviria. Murphy warns Gaviria to avoid a plane to the states, which saves Gaviria's life.
The Colombian police track Gacha, on a tip from Pena, killing him and his son in the first successful operation by the Colombian police unit, the Search Bloc.
Escobar hand picks a recruit to board the plane Gaviria was scheduled to board on a suicide mission, visiting his home, seeing his wife and newborn child. The recruit didn't know, and the mission is in vain since Gaviria avoided the plane.
Escobar is more than ruthless. He's apathetic to the harm he causes anyone else. He is willing to blow up a plane full of people. He's will to knowingly send a soldier to death while looking not only him in the eye, but the mans wife and infant.
The episode has a very good ending, though heartbreaking.
Escobar doesn't seem revel in the lavishness like his associates. His actions are often retaliatory, and done for the sole reason that he can.
Episode 7: You Will Cry Tears of Blood
Escobar killed 117 people on the plane, and he has to flee Colombia due to plane bomb. His mother muses surely he couldn't have done such a thing, but his wife says of course he did. I appreciate that Escobar's wife is always savvy about what he's doing. She's never naive, and while they don't flesh out the character this at least makes her more than a cardboard cutout.
Escobar orders his men to kill the suicide bombers wife. All connections he has to the plane bombing must be eradicated.
Escobar is hoping to force the politicians to ask for peace as he bombs the country. When that doesn't work, he looks into kidnapping a reporter with ties to a former president. He creates a video with the important journalist. Gaviria faces immense pressure to negotiate with Escobar. Gaviria finally relents, resolving to stop the madness. Escobar is going to jail, but he's going to build it and staff it to create a fortress, restricting cops to stay back at least two miles.
Episode 8: La Gran Mentira
Escobar is on the run, but is scurrying to build his jail before negotiations. The Search Bloc is tracking Escobar, but a failed raid ends in the death of a hostage. The death forces Gaviria to agree to Escobar's terms. Public opinion has changed. They want the deaths to stop. While Escobar goes to 'jail', the victory ist nothing more than a facade. Escobar is going to run things in jail and he appoints lieutenants in place to run the business on the outside, charging them a war tax too. Someone has to pay for the war. Despite all the money he has, despite having so much he buries it, he's charging associates a tax. Escobar has a huge ego. As smart as he is, does he not see that this will create tension or even enemies? Does he just not care?
Before he enters jail, Escobar's house is bombed. He doesn't know who gave him up or if it was an ally or enemy. His cousin Gustavo's fling with Marta Ochoa, that started in episode two, ends with the Ochoa brothers getting practically no jail time for giving him up as the cops beat him in an effort to force him to give up Escobar.
Murphy gets the chance to hurt Escobar's organization after having Escobar slip through his fingers. Murphy goes for it, attacking Escobar's top lieutenants.
Episode 9: La Catedral
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| Escobar is making enemies of everyone. |
With Escobar in jail the Search Bloc is disbanded despite Escobar exporting more than ever without government opposition. The newspaper headlines read that Escobar is jailed and the country has won, but it's in lip service only. Escobar got what he wanted. His prison is a fortress.
Escobar gets his lieutenants to negotiate piece with the Cali cartel, but he changes his mind when he learns the Cali cartel's first offer was low. He wants more than double the agreed upon amount and wants his lieutenants to pay four times more as a war tax. He's primed to turn everyone against him. Murphy and Pena aren't done with Escobar, continuing surveillance despite their orders not to. They tip the press to Escobar's fancy jail.
Esocbar has his lieutenants Galeano and Moncado killed when he suspects them of stealing. Is this why he raised his war tax on them? Did he do it just to justify his murders?
Escobar is out of control. It seems the only way he'll be happy is on a battlefield after he's demolished all of his foes. The only issue is that he's pushing his allies to become enemies with his ego and greed. Escobar made a great deal and has a fortress, but his solitude affects his business. He's paranoid, though not without reason.
Episode 10: Despegue
The military show up at Escobar's prison with an representative of Gaviria informing Escobar that he is to be transferred to a different jail while they increase security at his resort. When Escobar detains the raid, Gaviria orders a raid. If the representative is killed in the raid it gives him more reason to take down Escobar. The military storms the jail with brutal efficiency. They're so good it's comical as Escobar's men drop down with little resistance. I was expecting more of a battle, but the military mowed them down without a fight. Escobar escapes in a secret tunnel.
Where does the series go next season? Is it going to be more of Escobar on the run? As much ground as season one covered, season two will have to slow down and narrow the focus or add a lot of speculation and fiction. From the source material, Escobar was on the run after he fled the police and was eventually killed while hiding out just a couple of years later. Season one covered a decade of material.
Season one did a great job of keeping the pace at an exciting level, but this isn't a series made to last past two maybe three seasons. Netflix has ordered a second season, set to premiere in the fall of 2016.
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