Reviewing ‘NARCOS’
Narcos, is an American, Netflix original, television series belonging to the genre; crime created and produced by, Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro, first episode aired on August 28, 2015, and the last episode aired on September 01, 2017; having a total of 3 seasons. The plot centres around Escobar, and the DEA Agents especially, Murphy and Pena. Drugs, guns, money, violence, cartels, police it has all of it!
Since this television series is based upon a real-life story; therefore, ‘Narcos’ is almost all of the times historically and factually correct. Here, we are only going to discuss the first two seasons, as they are the one’s concerned with our drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar. We all know Pablo Escobar, fat man with moustaches and curly hair? No! The Colombian drug lord, responsible for controlling and supplying 80% of the entire cocaine on planet Earth.
Let’s start reviewing the television series like ‘Literature students’ without using the complex, nerdy, literary terms, to keep it interesting.
Awards and Nominations
The eighteen award nominations and eight accolades won by ‘Narcos’ undoubtedly validate this fact, and solidify the claim that ‘Narcos’ was great! Therefore, it can be regarded as the greatest ever Netflix original series since everything about this series is great and top-notch, from the theme song to the screenplay, setting and even camera work. The screenplay is intense, every episode is loaded with plot twists, keeping the audience on the edges of their seats and glued to their screens. Every episode has several plot twists giving the audience adrenaline rush; hence, completely, emotionally gripping the audience.
Was Pablo a hero for the locals?
The plot revolves around Escobar and the Drug Enforcement Agency. So, who was the actual hero? Escobar or the DEA? If you are a fiction fan, who has been following Superman and Batman since childhood then you might think DEA, Murphy and Pena are the heroes. And the way this ‘Escobar Hunt’ ends might even validate your opinion. As Escobar, was killed by the DEA; so the bad guy gets killed by the good guys usually the Police.
However, if you ask me it is arguable that Escobar might have been the hero with some tragic flaws and villainous traits. When season one kicks off we see how Escobar starts his low-profile journey, which would; ultimately, take off and make him a drug kingpin. Also, we get to see, how influential, powerful and authoritative Escobar is. When the Police stop his trucks, he does not lose his temper even in this pressure situation and utters undoubtedly one of the best dialogues of this television series;
“I am Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. My eyes are everywhere. That means you guys can’t move a finger in all of the Antioquia without me knowing about it. Do you understand? Not a finger. One day, I’m going to be the president of The Republic of Colombia. So look, I make deals for a living. Now, you can stay calm and accept my deal, or accept the consequences.”
Consequently, the Police let his trucks go undisturbed and the drug supply continues. At this very moment, Escobar exhibits his hero-like qualities, his influence, authoritativeness, calmness and composure. Do you think his phenomenal rise was not heroic?
Another factor which makes me think that Escobar was a hero was his welfare work for the local commune of Colombia.
The Colombian Robin Hood
Escobar, was a son of a poor old farmer, unlike his father, he was the world’s wealthiest man by 35. Not so, “like father like son” ironic isn’t it? This rise seems phenomenal without a doubt. Other than that, Pablo Escobar was famous for waging an extraordinary war against the Colombian government, ordering the assassination of countless police officers, journalists, government officials and even politicians. On the other hand, he was also known as the “Robin hood” on the streets of Medellin, Colombia. He was considered a humble man as he spent extravagantly for the welfare of his poor community. He spent large sums from his fortune for charity works which included the construction of schools, seventy soccer fields, housing projects for the homeless and even a zoo, solely for the poor Colombians.
The US and the Colombian government may have depicted him as a villain, terrorist, cocaine drug lord, responsible for holding the entire government hostage. Yet at the same time he was the great generous benefactor for the poor Colombian class; therefore, regarded as the Colombian Robin Hood. So it can be said that Escobar had two sides, one was the bad side, where he was threatening to destabilize the Colombian government and the justice system. But he also had a bright side, where he was redistributing his wealth among the poor Colombians; hence, painting himself as a Robin Hood on the local Colombian canvas. Do you still think he cannot be a hero, even for the locals? Not even an anti-hero?
Why did “El-Patron” die? — His Hamartia(s).
No, this is not a post-mortem report, instead, here we will discuss the causes for “El-Patron’s” death. We cannot just end the debate like this, he died because he was a bad guy and bad guys ultimately, deserve to die. No! we are not going to handle it like that this is not fiction, this was a real-life story. Therefore, I believe that the following factors were responsible for his death, based upon my observations of the Netflix series, ‘Narcos.’
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was from a humble background; like any other Colombian his father was a simple farmer. Yet, Escobar became a billionaire. How? because he had those secret ingredients, ambitiousness, bravery, cunningness and composure these are those secret ingredients to make a perfect drug lord. Nevertheless, he had a bad end.
Over-ambitiousness
According to me, his over-ambitiousness was one of the many factors which led towards his death. He was maintaining a low-profile as long as he was just dealing with drugs and cocaine. But when he decided to pursue politics and aimed to be the President of Colombia, he started a journey having a fatalistic ending. Summing it up, factor number one for Escobar’s miserable ending was his over ambitiousness.
Gustavo Gaviria’s Death
Gustavo Gaviria was Pablo Escobar’s cousin. He was very close to Pablo without a doubt, and Pablo used to consult him on almost every affair, be it family or business. I believe that Gustavo Gaviria’s (Pablo’s cousin) death played a very fundamental role in the ultimate, downfall of Escobar. Gustavo was considered to be Pablo’s brain, and his importance was vivid, as we see Pablo taking several foolish decisions after his death. After his death, Pablo was undoubtedly left alone. We get to know how important Gustavo was when Pablo in the tenth episode of season two imagines talking to Gustavo and explicitly says he misses him.
Gustavo: “So you do miss me, you son of a *****”
Pablo: “Every ******* day of my life, brother.”
It was a scene where we see Pablo all messed up with overgrown hair and an untrimmed beard. Most of us start sympathizing with Pablo as it was a very emotional scene.
Was Pablo’s Family his Weakness?
We have often seen how criminals who are always fleeing prefer not having a family or someone whom they care about, why? Because family or loved one’s often become your weaknesses, in Escobar’s case a cause for his death.
Accordingly, Pablo’s family was somehow his weakness. As we see in the television series, ‘Narcos’ Escobar’s mother goes to a church to pay her regular visit, even though all of the family is in hiding. Eventually, she gets followed home by a terrorist organization, ‘Los Pepes’ who attack their residence and the entire family barely escapes death in the shape of ‘Los Pepes.’ Consequently, they were in a hide-out, and his daughter felt cold; therefore, due to the desire of keeping his family warm and because of the non-availability of wood Escobar burnt 2 million USD to ignite the fireplace.
Furthermore, Escobar could not stand, being disconnected from his family and children; therefore, when he is talking to his children his phone gets tapped by the DEA and they arrive on the spot and consequently, kill Escobar on December 02, 1993, aged 44.
Was Escobar a Hero?
He took over the cocaine market worldwide; controlling 80% of the entire cocaine production and supply. Generating revenue of 420 million USD per week. Equalling to almost 22 billion USD a year. Making him one of the wealthiest drug lords ever. He made it to the “Forbes’ list of international billionaires” for seven consecutive years, from 1987 till 1993.
I think, Escobar’s rise from the son of a poor farmer to the wealthiest man ever was phenomenal, but the way he acquired all the wealth makes him a villain. Moreover, Escobar was responsible for ordering the killings of many civilians, politicians, police officers, journalists and burning the entire court. Implicitly, he was also killing people with his ‘product.’ El Patron, smuggled 15 tons of cocaine, into the United States daily. In simple words, every four out of five American’s doing cocaine were snorting Pablo’s supply.
Considering all of this, Escobar was a villainous character, but his portrayal made him appear hero-like. Moreover, Escobar built his own luxurious prison, “La Catedral” (translating to “The Cathedral”) and cut a deal with the Colombian government to get imprisoned there. His own church-cum-prison, La Catedral; simultaneously, symbolizing his villainous side, and the evident irony.
Final Thoughts
‘Narcos’ had one of the most iconic and absolutely loveable theme song, ‘Tuyo’ arguably the best ever, winning the ‘GMS Award’ in 2016. Other than that, the setting, costumes were also perfect, every scene seemed exactly from Pablo Escobar’s timeline, the old cars, gadgets, satellite telephones and many other things.
One astonishing thing is that they have paid special attention to the outfits. If one takes a close look of the scene where Escobar is assassinated in the television series and in real life. You will observe that the DEA agents are wearing, exactly the same outfit in the television series as they were on the actual crime scene. Hence, inducing a sense of authenticity, and making it very close to reality.
Likewise, the character of Escobar has been played by various characters; however, Wagner Moura’s Escobar is flawless. He has played roles in various movies and dramas, but he is widely known for his role as Escobar in ‘Narcos.’ His nomination for the Golden Globe Accolade twice in 2016 and 2017 is a validation of this fact.
Since this television series was a Netflix original, so they had to add a homosexual character, it is in their veins, I don’t know why. Accordingly, Pacho Herrera has been portrayed as a homosexual, although, there are no shreds of evidence validating this. Therefore, this could have been avoided, as it was not factually proven. Other than this, ‘Narcos’ is flawless. If you haven’t watched it already, please do.
