The whole world is fascinated by money and drugs, and mixing those two in the media is a sure fire way to get viewership. The fantastic documentary, Cocaine Cowboys and the Johnny Depp led Blow immediately come to mind. Netflix’s Narcos now joins those ranks.
As this is a Netflix produced show, it holds up to all their standards. It looks fantastic, has a rock solid cast and pulls no punches. At 10 episodes, it’s tightly scripted as well. Narcos is all about the drug king pin Pablo Escobar. As he is one of the most notorious names in the drug game, a lot has been written and filmed about him. Fortunately for us, his life and the war on drugs is so fascinating that it offers a wealth of intrigue that can still be mined. From poverty to unimaginable wealth and even political aspirations, Escobar was a complex man.
The show starts right Escobar establishing his drug empire. The introduction of cocaine by a Chilean drug chemist who went by the name of Cockroach changed the drug world. With Escobar setting up an efficient manufacturing chain, the stuff exploded in popularity and the profit margins were a dream come true. The organization and machinations to get it produced and distributed grew by the week starting in the mid 70’s. In a short few years the Medellin cartel was pulling in obscene amounts of money. So much so that he ordered vast stashes of cash to be buried all over Columbia because they ran out of places to launder and physically put it.
Being an international drug lord makes a lot of enemies. Rival cartels, governments foreign and domestic. An obscene amount of people get killed, both criminal and innocent. Since US demand grew to unbelievable levels, it got the attention of President Regan and was one of the big reasons he started The War on Drugs program that’s still operating today. The US put major pressure on the Columbian government to get him extradited to pay for his crimes. Escobar’s reaction to this was to essentially become a terrorist so he could do what he wanted.
Narcos is the story of what greed can reap. The unrelenting desire for more wealth and the power and ego that goes with it. A negative comment could mean a bullet in the head. Being a traitor meant your entire family would be killed. A rumor could make jealousy and paranoia fester into life-destroying chaos.
Love the central cast. Wagner Moura is phenomenal as Pablo Escobar. Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal as Steve Murphy and Javier Pena (both DEA agents) make a great good guy team. Really like Steve being used as the narrator like he’s talking through his memoir. Helps fill in a lot of narrative details easily and efficiently.
At the end of the 10th episode, I was ready and willing to watch more. They stop at the greatest moment of escalation, which is saying a lot considering how often the stakes were raised. Pablo Escobar was as much a genius as he was a criminal as narcos still use his techniques as a blueprint to get ahead.