Medellín

Narcos: Season 1

Life at times can be pretty boring. This is why the human race as invented ways to entertain ourselves, allowing us to escape the normal drab that is daily life. However, there are times when life is bigger than fiction. Take drug Czar Pablo Escobar of the Medellín Cartel. Mr. Escobar is a larger than life psychopath that ruled the cocaine world from the late 1970s on into the early 1990s. Many films and documentaries have been produced about Escobar, but a few filmmakers had the idea to create a whole serialized TV show about the kingpin. Premiering back in August on Netflix, Narcos starts off this incredible story.

Season 1 of Narcos is told from two points of view. The first is that of Escobar himself played by Wagner Moura (Elysium). We follow Escobar from the beginnings of his rise to power and into some of his escapades of trying to fool the people of Colombia that he was a decent guy. Some of these charades included just handing out bundles of cash and running for political office. The second point of view and narrator of the show is that of DEA Agent Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook Run All Night). Murphy provides a different perspective on Escobar’s rise and the manhunt that ensued to try and capture “Don Pablo”.  Along with the insight on the undaunting task of bringing Escobar to justice, mind-blowing facts are provided to give in idea on just how bad of a man Escobar was.

The show has a very Scorsese-esque feel to it and I loved it. I knew who Escobar was, but I never realized on the extent of damage he created in his rule. The direction of each episode is superb and the performances of the two leads were amazing. I had some complaints of the show, but I will get to those in a moment.

As I said before, the filmmakers did a great job giving this a very Coppola/Scorsese mafia film feel by showing the violence of the drug war, but also incorporating the collateral damage on the families of Colombia and both Escobar and Murphy. The filmmakers also provide real footage of some of the extreme acts that Escobar had a hand in which gives a sense of reality to the story. The actual news coverage and photos of Escobar and some of the violence are strategically placed throughout the show so that the audience has to believe that this show isn’t all fiction and the atrocities inflicted on the Colombian people aren’t to be ignored.

Holbrook is a great complementary lead to Moura. I loved Holbrook’s confidence, yet naivety, in the beginning of the season and watch him slowly deteriorate toward the end of the season. The weight of the horror has gotten to Murphy and Holbrook portrays that well. Along with Murphy’s decent, Moura also shows Escobar in almost the same manner. Escobar starts off his journey in this season as a level headed man that just wants to make money for his family. However, when situations in his life don’t go as planned, the audience starts to witness Moura take Escobar’s psychological state to a dark and ugly place. I would be very surprised if Moura isn’t nominated at any awards shows this year, he was magnificent.

This is where my nitpicking is going to come into play. The timeline for this season screams by, meaning that in the beginning of the season we see Escobar in the late 70s/early 80s and watch his rise in the drug world. However, by the end of the season we have jumped to the early 90s and the timeline reaches this point there is only so much more of this story you can tell. I would have preferred that the filmmakers slowed the timeline down and stretch out this story so that we can enjoy this show for much more seasons. This also comes into play later on in this season when a few new ‘players’ are introduced as if the audience is supposed to know who they are.

With just this one complaint, I really loved the start of Narcos. It was like watching a serialized version of Goodfellas. I will suggest to those of you that might not know who Escobar is, read up a little on the man because you will see that his story is one that is bigger than fiction itself.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time. (On Netflix now).