Narcos - General Discussion

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[Guest]

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Chilean drug chemist Cockroach brings his product to Colombian smuggler Pablo Escobar. DEA agent Steve Murphy joins the war on drugs in Bogota.

 

[Guest]

Communist radical group M-19 makes a move against the narcos, while Murphy gets an education in Colombian law enforcement from his new partner Peña.

 

[Guest]

Murphy encounters the depths of government corruption when he and Peña try to derail Escobar's political ambitions by proving he's a narco.

 

[Guest]

Despite a new extradition treaty, the U.S. puts more money into fighting communism, creating new challenges for Murphy and Peña in the hunt for Pablo.

 

[Guest]

Peña and Carillo close in on Gacha, while Murphy tries to protect pro-extradition candidate Gaviria from a notorious assassin connected to Pablo.

 

[Guest]

Pablo's extreme methods put the narcos on the brink of war with Carillo and  the government. Peña tries to protect his witness, Elisa.

 

[Guest]

Pablo goes into hiding as the political tide turns against him, but he finds a way to strike back. Murphy and Peña finally get the CIA to help them.

 

[Guest]

A tragic mistake forces the government to change tactics in the fight against Pablo. But Pablo faces bigger threats from inside his empire.

 

[Guest]

The hunt for Pablo seems to be over after he makes a deal with the government, but Murphy and Peña -- and the Cali Cartel -- have other plans.

 

[Guest]

Pablo's activities in prison provoke the government into taking extreme action. Murphy and Peña face a situation of their own.

 

[Chaos Theory]

Well by episode two you know this show isn't fucking around.   Both a dog and a cat get murdered.   I am not an "animal lover" but dude........

[Sheenieb]

I'm all in with this show.  It's basically based off the book Finding Pablo, so they'll have a ton of material to work with.  Depending on how far they're taking the story, this series can stretch on for many seasons.

[Ronin Jackson]

Yes, this isn't going to go over well with those who can't handle domesticated animal body counts. Nevermind the substantial human body count including a pregnant drug mule. Or the gang rape. This show might cause the good folks at doesthedoggiedie.com to consider expanding their content.

[Chaos Theory]

Has anyone been watching this because I thought this was fairly entertaining once you got use to the subtitles. I am not a subtitle person so that took some getting use to. I enjoyed the real live footage; it made the fact that this was a "fictionalized" account of real life events all the more real. It made me compare Narcos to Mobsters in that the US tend to have the same Mythical view of Mobsters that Colombians have of Narcos and they both almost always start from nothing and once they scrape their way to the top it is almost impossible to stop them,

Edited August 29, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Guest]

I have been watching.  I'm currently on Ep 5.  I feel the same way about subtitles.  I'm a slow reader and I'm missing the nuances in the acting.  This just means a rewatch.  The same thing happens on GOT.  But I've rewatched that so many times I know what's being said and can see the action instead of reading.

[Chaos Theory]

Episode 4 was insane. I mean really?. If I didn't know this stuff actually happened I would think "Show you have gone past the point of reality with this shit." I mean really. Taking over a government building and assassinatiing a bunch of leaders to get at incriminating files.....its evil as all hell although kinda brilliant.

Heh Communism was the least of Reagan's problems.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[pandora spocks]

Consider me a little shallow but I was pleasantly surprised to see Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones) as Javier Pena.  Game of Thrones Spoiler --->  

Maybe he'll last longer here than on Game of Thrones but considering the high body count of this show, the prognosis doesn't look good.

Edited August 30, 2015 by CuriousParker
Added Spoiler Tag

[Chaos Theory]

No, blowing up an airplane to assinate a single person is by no means overkill. Why would you even say that. Did feel kinda sorry for the idiot kid who brought the bomb onto the plane though. He seemed so happy to be working for Pablo.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[DrLar]

Me too! didn't read the book but know Escobar's story... 

 

I don't know but Escobar's played by an American speaking Spanish? it seemed so..

[thuganomics85]

Not too familiar with Pablo Escobar outside of knowing he was a big drug kingpin back in the days, so I found this kind of interesting. I wounder how much is real and how much is change for dramatic purposes, but I did kind of like that the Cockroach guy basically picked him to go in business because he was the "baby bear" of the three choices.  The other drug family was too soft.  Luis Guzman's character was too violent. But Pablo was just right!  Until Cockroach got greedy and turned on him.  No way that wasn't ending with Pablo putting a bullet in his head.

 

I hope the Steve Murphy character gets more interesting soon.  I vastly preferred all the Pablo scenes compared to his.  Hopefully, the upcoming episodes will have more of his partner no one likes, because that was Pedro Pascal, and he can certainly give those scenes a much needed boost.  Also hope they tone down the narrations.

 

Enjoyed the music and look of the show.  I'm in. 

[thuganomics85]

This practically made the pilot look like a nice safe network show.  It's like they wanted to make sure this was the darkest and most TV-MA episode yet.  Dog dying, cat dying, numerous sex scenes, and then a horrific gang-rape.  Yep, this is a fucked up world they are currently in.

 

I almost wanted to feel bad for the M-19, because they were so in over their head, to think they could take on the narcos and win. Not only did they fail, but they just help Pablo acquire more power and basically form a militia, so thanks for that, guys.

 

Glad we got more of Javier this time.  Pedro Pascal is always good.  Also cool to see Adria Ajana in this, even if it was as Helena, so that last part was certainly not pleasant to watch.

Edited August 30, 2015 by thuganomics85

[snowwhyte]

Yeah, when Helena asked about the meeting I figured psycho drug dealers would just kill her so I skipped ahead a few minutes to avoid watching it and ended up with the gang rape scene instead.

[Raachel2008]

Is Murphy ever going to learn Spanish?

 

Elisa: "I'm fighting against corruption, injustice and greedy. I guess Americans don't have the same problems."

Connie: "Don't we?"

Elisa: "Bitch, please."

Edited August 30, 2015 by Raachel2008

[Raachel2008]

That gang rape scene was one of the most awful things I've ever seen - the 'normalcy' of that was scary: no lunatic crowd or frat boys chanting, but guys playing cards and talking, then a sip of beer and raping the girl on the corner. That was a very very very sick scene.

 

The M-19 were no saints, so it is very hard to feel sorry for them or even sympathetic for their cause.

 

The dog killing is the kind of scene that has been played a hundred times, yet still shocks me, both in itself and the reaction.

[Raachel2008]

Oh, for fuck's sake, Murphy, she didn't put you and your wife in this situation; YOUR WIFE put you in this sitution. And his Spanish still sucks tons. ::rolleyes::

 

The talk between Carrillo and Javier about Carrillo being the one sending men to death was probably the most deep talk in this entire show.

 

I knew the kid (Jaime?) was dead the moment Pablo went to his house.

[thuganomics85]

Totally can't believe that the cat's death got a follow-up, with Steve and Javier trying to catch his/her's killer.  Justice for the cat!  At least they know who it was (Poison), but he managed to skate by for now.  Also can't believe that incident provided humor, but I chuckled at both Javier's reaction to the photo, and laughed at that double-crossing snitch trying to get back into good graces, by offering Steve another cat.  Columbia's so crazy!

 

Had no idea that Pablo tried to go into politics.  Crazy to think that had they not found that photo, he might have gone a long way. Cool seeing Adan Canto from The Following as The Minister, and I thought he did a great job at making him a good man, who made a mistake, tried to rectify it, and paid the price.

 

So, that Eliza from M-19, is working at the same hospital Steve's wife is.  I'm sure that is leading to something.

[Ronin Jackson]

Were the subtitles a little off for anyone? Initially the subtitles seemed to show up after the dialogue, which I initially thought was a stylistic choice (so we can watch the actor's face instead of reading subtitles when they speak), but I've grown accustomed to reading subtitles so it threw me a bit. Also on a couple of occasions the subtitles only flashed for a second, too short to read. It was all very inconsistent which makes me think it might have been a software issue with my device.

 

Even though it makes it more difficult to watch for an English speaker I appreciated the integrity of the decision to have so much dialogue spoken in Spanish (all told it was probably about 75% of the show's dialogue). The Netflix show Sense8 had a similar dilemma that was solved differently (all dialogue spoken between two non English speaking characters was "translated" to English by them speaking, even though we understand they are not actually supposed to be speaking in English). Both shows made the right choice. Narcos is a true life drama that is meant to evoke as authentic a tone as possible, while Sense8 is a sci-fi fantasy thriller. But both shows have left me really impressed by the direction Netflix has been going with their original content. Both shows are really shows that couldn't exist anywhere else other than Netflix (or a similar SVOD service). They are both narratively daring and ambitious, so kudos to Netflix for backing projects like these. Almost makes up for their multi-picture deal with Adam Sandler.

[thuganomics85]

Man, Ivan and the M-19, really weren't cut out for this, huh?  They just basically got themselves almost wiped out to further Pablo's goals.  And then Pablo makes sure Ivan gets it.  At least Eliza was wise enough to get out of there, and get help from Connie.  I wonder how long she's going to have to hide in Javier's place.

 

Steve and Javier having to form a connection between the narcos and communism in order to get more support, was insane, but really not that surprising.  No matter what the situation is, the government always has to get something out of it. And since Reagan was almost defined by his war against communism/the Soviet, there was probably no way to get enough funding without that connection. And, of course, neither the CIA or the military were helpful either.  There really is a ton of infighting: no wonder it's so hard to stop people like Pablo.

[thuganomics85]

Of course, this episode would kick off with Javier and Elisa already in bed together.  Oh, Javier.  This isn't healthy, man.  I loved that Steve already seemed to figure it out by the first scene.  Of course, now dick military guy and Jackass CIA Richard T. Jones seemed to have figured out Connie helped Elisa, so I'm sure that's going to cause some ruckus.

 

This show is really doing a good job at making me respect everyone who is trying to go after Pablo, especially the various politicians and non-corruptible cops.  The entire deck is stacked against them, and their lives and even their families' lives are always in danger, but they are the ones who see what Pablo is, and just can't stand by.  Even if it ends in their deaths, it's good to see some who want to stop him.

 

Oh, great.  Gacha's got a missile launcher, now.  I'm sure he'll totally handle that thing with care!

[akuayambusie]

Does anyone know the actor who played Jaime?  I can't find it online, and he looks so familiar it's driving me crazy.

[Raachel2008]

Does anyone know the actor who played Jaime?  I can't find it online, and he looks so familiar it's driving me crazy.

 

German de Greiff, a  Colombian actor.

[akuayambusie]

Thanks!  He must just remind me of someone then, hate it when that happens!  

[thuganomics85]

Glad that they finally, well, got Gacha.  Interesting that there was talk about trying to get him alive to flip on Pablo, but Javier chose to just let the guy kill him instead.  Even though they didn't spell it out, I wonder if part of it was him remembering what Gacha did to Helena.  Either way, a good victory for him and Carrillo, and I'm glad Gacha's equally violent son went with him.  Credit to Luis Guzman though: I'm so use to him in comedic roles, that it was great seeing play someone who just so, so evil.

 

Of course, the victory isn't for long, since Pablo just blew up an entire plane in a failed attempt to get Cesar.  And I thought the way he casually was tallying up how many deaths Poison was racking was stone-cold: the way he played Jaime was brutal, but impressive. It's really scary how Pablo seems to be able to manipulate people, and attract all types of followers.

 

Kind of wished we got more of Connie and Eliza on the run. 

[thuganomics85]

Man, I knew that Pablo surrounded himself with some very unsavory characters (not to mention his own self), but Poison was totally going to shoot that baby, had Steve and Javier not showed up.  The hell is wrong with you, Poison?  Even his buddy was like "Dude, she's not going to snitch on us!  She can't even talk!!"  Poison is all kinds of fucked up.

 

Felt bad for the President.  He clearly did not want to give into Pablo's demands, but had he stayed firm, pretty much everyone else in the government was probably going to to turn on him, and render him useless.

 

Hey, the CIA is finally helping Steve and Javier!  I knew you had it in you, Richard T. Jones!

[snowwhyte]

I thought Jamie looked like a lost member of one direction. The actor looked familiar to me too but I think it is just that he has that generic boy band look. The actor was good though.

[akuayambusie]

LOL, he does have a baby face.  

[peggy06]

I agree that Steve Murphy is kinda bland right now. I like his voice-overs better than his actual scenes - they VOs are well-written and well-voiced. But the actor playing Escobar is the star, one of those actors who just dominate their scenes.

[thuganomics85]

Ah, creating your own prison.  That's one way to do it!  I'm pretty sure I even heard Pablo mention a Jacuzzi, which I'm pretty sure is not the norm!

 

Credit to Gustavo for being a loyal solider to the end, I guess.  Pablo's scene with his mother after they found out was probably some of Wagner Moura's best work yet, and he's pretty much been great throughout this entire thing.  He managed to show some form of humanity in Pablo, which is amazing considering all of the horrid acts he has done: especially in the last few episodes.

 

Felt bad for Diana.

 

Ah, so now we've caught up to the big shoot-out in the pilot!  I can totally see why Steve, Javier, and the rest were willing to go there, after all these episodes.  Pablo escaping every damn time, just had to be infuriating them enough to inflict some kind of damage on him.  Now, the question will be, how far will Pablo go to retaliate.

[thuganomics85]

So, I guess having a cushy prison doesn't make everything better, since it apparently turned Pablo into a paranoid nutso, who just off his two loyal partners for no reason. Granted, Kiko's wife was either drunk or just stupid, to even think about mentioning the tax in front of Pablo, but again: that was fucked up.  Also, I keep forgetting to mention it, but it's interesting how much Tata/Pablo's wife seems to know about what he really does, and yet doesn't care and even supports it at times.  I guess she always knew what kind of person he is.

 

Javier and Steve trying to shoot down one of the carrier pigeons was fun.  I like when they let those two be a bit funny and banter.

 

Don't go, Carrillo!

 

Not sure what to make of Steve going off on that cab driver in front of Connie.  A sign that this case is getting to him and making him a bit more ill-tempered? 

[meisje]

Man, I knew that Pablo surrounded himself with some very unsavory characters (not to mention his own self), but Poison was totally going to shoot that baby, had Steve and Javier not showed up.  The hell is wrong with you, Poison?  Even his buddy was like "Dude, she's not going to snitch on us!  She can't even talk!!"  Poison is all kinds of fucked up.

 

The direction of the show has been interesting in terms of weaving in and out of Pablo's take on what is sacred, and then, that everyone is disposable. I'm not sure it's always consistent, but I'm guessing Pablo was not either. I'm not 100% clear on why Pablo was so determined to have the baby out of the way as well, except that it's probably most effective to eliminate all traces of the family, but it made me wonder even more about his choice to politely walk the questioning mother (and baby) out of the park while he was doing his "let's hang the kidnapper's" photoshoot in the public park.

 

As gripping at the pro/con (pardon how deplorable that sounds) shooting-the-baby scene was, I thought it was very clever that it was just the prequel to what happened outside of the house after the baby was presumably safe. I could honestly feel the tension, horror, and just utter paralysis of Javier when faced with the Pablo-armed kid; it did an excellent job of showing that this man's influence had seeped into every available pore and that there was just no safe place, no matter what you'd just survived.

 

Felt bad for the President.  He clearly did not want to give into Pablo's demands, but had he stayed firm, pretty much everyone else in the government was probably going to to turn on him, and render him useless.

 

Eh, I had mostly the opposite reaction, that the President would hold up many ideals until it came to his social circle. And that is utterly true to political life for just about every politician. It is true though that if supporters turned on him, he would have been out, likely killed, and then who knows who would follow him? Those were some seriously high stakes.

 

One thing that is not resonating with me at this point is the wife's role becoming smaller and more perfunctory.

[thuganomics85]

This was quick: already renewed for another season!

[meisje]

I'm not surprised and I'll be waiting for the season 2 date so I can clear my calendar. If Wagner Moura isn't nominated, it will be a travesty. Step aside Spacey, and you too Chandler, because this guy has the goods!

[thuganomics85]

And so ends the first season!  I'm glad we're getting another one after they way the left things in this one!

 

I figured Pablo was going to escape of course, but I'm glad Eduardo didn't end up being caught in the crossfire.  But I wonder how much of the plan Pablo's men knew.  Did they know he was going to escape all along, instead of fight?  If so, then the are really loyal if they were basically willing to die, in order for their boss to escape.  That's pretty insane.

 

So, I guess that final scene with Javier meeting up with the other guy means that he truly did set-up Steve to be under Pacho's thumb?  Because he basically wants to work with them in order to bring down Pablo? I was a bit confused by all of that.  If so, for shame, Javier!

 

Despite streaming in the summer and not getting the hype that other Netflix shows, I really hope Wagner Moura gets some award recognition for his performance throughout all of this.  We've still got a few months left, but I'm pretty sure he's going to go down as one of my favorite performances this year.

Edited September 7, 2015 by thuganomics85

[Paws]

I just fucking love this show. I was so worried that Pena would get killed in trying to take out Gacha, then I remembered, wait, this isn't a fictional show, and Pedro Pascal isn't actually Oberyn Martell with a different name . This shit happened.  Which, of course, made it so that I knew what would happen as soon as they said Gavriria was boarding an Avianca flight--I remember when that flight went down, so I knew what would happen.   

[DrLar]

Yeah found out the Actor playing Escober is Brazilian and took an urgent Spanish Course for these series..

[DrLar]

Awww goodby Gacha.. miss ya man...

 

Yeah that plane taken down was damn cruel, so many innocent people died...

[Boundary]

Amazing performance, outshone everyone. I too hope he gets recognition in award season.

[peggy06]

IDK, I want to love this show because everyone else does, and it's supposed to be the next great Netflix show. But I only watch one episode per night and I've fallen asleep twice. Mostly I just hate Pablo and am frustrated that he acts like he's the one with a beef. Like, he's entitled to sell drugs and anyone who wants to stop him is evil. I feel like the show itself portrays this, because he so easily and ruthlessly gets rid of anybody in his way. I don't know how much more of this I can watch.

 

Also, Pedro Pascal mumbles and talks so fast, I miss many of his lines.

[Auntie Anxiety]

Just finished watching this show today and thought the first season was excellent.  I was busy raising kids during the 80's, so I didn't know much about what was going on in the 80s, except for Dallas, Dynasty and out-sized shoulder pads.  Totally looking forward to the next season.

 

Netflix was ingenious in this undertaking. I bet it introduced an huge Hispanic audience to the Netflix brand.