The new crime drama on Netflix, “Narcos,” portrays the rise of Pablo Escocar, the notorious drug lord from Medellin, Columbia. This 10-episode series was created by Chris Brancato, Eric Newman and Carlo Bernard, who not only touch upon Escobar’s life, but also the lives of other members of the Medellin cartel.
In the beginning of the series, it shows DEA agent Steve Murphy, played by the handsome Boyd Holbrook, track down crime in the United States.
Soon after Escobar starts to traffic cocaine, Murphy gets fed up with seeing innocent people killed over the drug, so he and his wife move to Columbia. Murphy narrates throughout the show, which ingrains the viewer into the story, making the audience feel like he is one step closer to capturing Escobar and his crew.
The other main character in the story is Detective Javier Pena, played by Pedro Pascal, who looks familiar to Game of Throne’s fans. He is a lover of women, guns and destined to capture Escobar at any cost.
The show skips decades, where in the beginning they’re in the 80’s then they go back to the 70’s, which can be a little confusing at first but nonetheless the audience wants to see more. They also show actual footage of Escobar throughout the show, which gives the show its creative edge. Without the real footage, the series would not feel as authentic as it does.
“I enjoyed watching both sides of the drug cartel and the DEA/Columbian military point of view. But, the actor who plays Pablo didn’t convince me that he was Columbian and I didn’t like his accent,” said Danny Rivas, a 26-year-old student at CSUN.
Escobar is played by Wagner Moura, a Brazilian actor who brings his character to life with his intense yelling and constant intent to kill someone off who is in the way of his plans. Moura executes the character perfectly, from the hair to his deceitfulness, he could almost be Escobar’s identical twin. The whole squad from the killer cartel were portrayed viciously and eventually over time, they would turn on one another.
Drug trafficking in Colombia during the 1980’s was a thriving yet dangerous business that was bringing in around $60 million a day and everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Anyone who got in his way of moving drugs was immediately disposed of by hit-men, like Escobar’s minion Poison. He was so crazy, that in one scene he murdered two military men in broad daylight, and Escobar was going to pay him one million for each person that he killed.
Although Escobar had his moments where we would scream his head off, he was surprisingly calm in some scenes where any normal person would throw a fit. But, inevitably you wonder why he killed the people he did, because sometimes it didn’t make sense.
He would avoid killing women and children, but he was totally okay with killing their husbands and instantly making these women widows, which didn’t make sense. He could look into the women’s eyes and tell them that everything was going to be alright, but then their husbands would die.
“I didn’t like the fact that Detective Javi had a better accent than Pablo Escobar. Even Detective Murphy had a better accent than Pablo. But overall the show is awesome, especially because of Detective Javi,” said Sagnite Flores, a 24-year-old student at CSUN.
Escobar was very efficient in the art of escaping and he was always one step ahead of those who were pursuing him. You can see in the show that some military men were against Escobar, or were paid off so they wouldn’t stand in his way, and that’s what he wanted.
“It’s cool how they mesh in original videos and photos when they’re explaining some events that happened. I really don’t like who plays Pablo Escobar because his accent isn’t that great and I think he could have been a little fatter. I like how in the beginning they show how he started off from nothing and helped the poor but as the episodes go by you can see him change slowly,” said Maria Gonzalez, a 23-year-old student at CSUN.
Throughout the first season, Escobar is calm and collected, starts building his empire and gradually begins to kill people. Towards the end of the season, you can see the transition of a calm drug lord to an uncontrollable mad man.
Check out the 10 episode season on Netflix, and be prepared to binge watch.
