Narcos (season 1)

Synopsis

Season 1 chronicles the life of Pablo Escobar from the late 1970s, when he first began manufacturing cocaine, to July 1992, when he escaped La Catedral prison. The show chronicles the main events that happened in Colombia during this period and Escobar’s relationship to them. It is told through the perspective of Steve Murphy, an American DEA agent working in Colombia.

The initial episodes show how Escobar first became involved in the cocaine trade in Colombia. He was an established black marketeer in Medellín, moving trucks worth of illegal goods (alcohol, cigarettes, and household appliances) into Colombia during a time when this was strictly forbidden, when introduced to Mateo "Cockroach" Moreno, a Chilean exile and underground chemist, who pitched the idea that they go into business together, with Moreno producing and Escobar distributing a new, profitable drug — cocaine. They expand beyond Moreno's small cocaine processing lab by building additional, larger labs in the rainforest and, using the expertise of Carlos Lehder, transport their product in bulk to Miami, where it gains notoriety amongst the rich and famous. Soon enough, Pablo develops larger labs and more extensive distribution routes into the US to supply growing demand. With cocaine's growth into a drug of importance in the American market, one that accounts for a large flow of US dollars to Colombia and escalating drug-related violence in the US, the Americans send a task force from the DEA to Colombia to address the issue. Steve Murphy, the narrator, is partnered with Javier Peña. The role of Murphy's task force is to work with the Colombian authorities to put an end to the flow of cocaine into the United States.

At the time of Murphy’s arrival in Colombia, Escobar and his associates are dealing with more significant problems than the DEA. They are at war with the M-19, a revolutionary group of guerilla communists. When the M-19 kidnaps the Ochoa brothers' sister Marta, Escobar seizes the opportunity to form strategic alliances with other black-marketeer criminals to establish a group called "Death to Kidnappers", the genesis of the Medellín cartel. His promise to his allies is simple: to recover Marta Ochoa unharmed and to prevent further kidnappings. In the meantime, Escobar has political aspirations, as he desires to eventually become President of Colombia. He is elected as a congressman, but is made a fool of when proof of Escobar having criminal ties to the blooming drug industry is brought. Escobar plots his revenge.

An extradition plan is passed in the Colombian congress, allowing for narcos to be extradited to the United States when caught. This is a landmark win for Murphy, Peña, and the DEA and a devastating blow to the Medellín cartel. After making successive threats to the Colombian government to repeal the extradition plan, Escobar takes action against Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, the Colombian Minister of Justice and a prominent lawyer in the prosecution of cartel members, by gunning him down in his car. Murphy and Peña are finally making progress when they catch Escobar’s accountant, “Blackbeard”, along with a gigantic cache of incriminating evidence. The evidence is stored in the only place large enough and thought to have security strong enough to thwart any break-in attempts: the Palace of Justice. However, Escobar hires the M-19, his former enemies, to attack the Palace and burn all of the evidence. The DEA is left with nothing after Escobar’s slippery move.

In the sixth episode, César Gaviria—the pro-extradition presidential candidate—is targeted by Escobar’s assassins. Their plan is to blow him up whilst on Avianca Flight 203. He is saved when the DEA warns the president’s team of the assassination plans. Nonetheless, with the help of an explosive expert from the terrorist group ETA, the plane is brought down, killing all 107 people on board. The Colombian people are infuriated with the unmanageable levels of violence, especially the plane bombing. The DEA also manages to track down José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, one of Escobar’s principal associates, and violently gun him and his son Fredy down when they try to escape.

As politicians and his business associates begin to turn against him, Escobar finds a way to strike back at them all: he kidnaps journalist Diana Turbay, the daughter of ex-president Julio César Turbay. Escobar uses Diana as a political bargaining chip to fight the extradition plans that the elected president, César Gaviria, has set in motion, and also to negotiate a peace treaty between the Medellín Cartel and the government. After months of gridlock, the government makes one final attempt to capture Escobar, but government forces mistakenly kill hostage Diana Turbay. As Colombia mourns her death, President Gaviria accepts the terms of Escobar’s deal, which will allow Escobar to be incarcerated in his own prison, La Catedral, which will be guarded by his own men. The deal also suspends the extradition plans. Escobar and his colleagues will turn themselves in, and a tentative peace will be restored to Colombia.

Nevertheless, Escobar suffers a tremendous personal blow when his cousin and right-hand man Gustavo Gaviria is brutally killed by the “Search Bloc", a designated team of Colombian Special Operations agents tasked with catching high-level drug barons. In the meantime, Escobar faces competition from the rival Cali Cartel and opposition from members of his own crew. In La Catedral, however, he is protected from authorities and can live in peace without constantly being chased by the Search Bloc. Escobar decorates La Catedral to his liking and hosts guests frequently, including judges, prostitutes, and his family.

The DEA manages to track the movements of people going in and out of La Catedral and observe that two of Pablo’s closest associates, Gerardo Moncada and Fernando Galeano, entered the prison but never left. As the rumors begin to circulate that Escobar killed them in La Catedral, the government uses this new information to try to convince Escobar to be transported to a jail in Bogota so that the government can further "fortify" La Catedral. Escobar does not approve of this, knowing that once in government hands, he will be prosecuted and extradited to the U.S. The army nevertheless surrounds La Catedral. Eduardo Sandoval, vice-minister of justice, decides to brashly enter the prison to escort Escobar out. He mistakenly assumes he has Pablo’s cooperation and is surprised when Escobar takes him hostage, forcing Sandoval to speak with President Gaviria on Escobar’s behalf. President Gaviria, fed up with Escobar’s persistent demands, calls for a special-forces team to be sent into the prison to kill Escobar and his men. The team enters, and Sandoval is rescued safely, but Escobar narrowly escapes La Catedral with a few of his men. Outside La Catedral, Escobar is much more vulnerable because he no longer has the protection of his hundreds of men.

Main characters

Recurring characters

Reception

First season received generally favorable reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes a review aggregator surveyed 45 reviews and judged 78% to be positive. The site reads, "Narcos lacks sympathetic characters, but pulls in the viewer with solid acting and a story that's fast-paced enough to distract from its familiar outline." On Metacritic, Season 1 holds a score of 77 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". IGN gave the first season a 7.8 out of 10 score saying it "Good" and reads "It's a true-to-life account, sometimes to a fault, of the rise of Pablo Escobar and the hunt that brought him down laced with stellar performances and tension-filled stand-offs. Its blend of archival footage reminds us that the horrors depicted really happened, but also manage to present an Escobar that is indefensible but frighteningly sympathetic."

Season received generally positive reviews from many media outlets. Writing for Philadelphia Inquirer, Tirdad Derakhshani reviewed the season positively calling it, "Intense, enlightening, brilliant, unnerving, and addictive, Narcos is high-concept drama at its finest." The New York Post's, Robert Rorke said, "Catching Escobar then becomes an exciting and suspenseful story arc, and makes Narcos the first cool show of the new season." Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club judged "Narcos is frequently funny and just stylized enough to amplify the entertainment value without minimizing the gravity of the subject matter. It’s an eminently bingeable show even as it makes a strong case for moderate consumption." Television critic, Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter also reviewed the series positively saying, "The series begins to find its pacing not long after, and we see the strength of Moura’s acting, which to his credit never races, in the early going, toward over-the-top menace or the drug-lord cliches we're all used to at this point. Credit also the fact that Padilha brings a documentary feel to Narcos."

Nancy deWolf Smith of Wall Street Journal wrote, "The omniscient-narrator device works very well for a complex story spanning many years and varied sets of players." Critic Neil Genzlinger of New York Times said, "It’s built on sharp writing and equally sharp acting, as any good series needs to be." San Francisco Chronicle's David Wiegand said, "Virtually every performance is equal to the quality of the script, but Moura is especially compelling as he manipulates the seeming incongruities of Escobar’s character to heighten his aura of unpredictable menace.... Brancato does make one significant misstep by having the entire series heavily narrated by Murphy." Chief TV critic Brian Lowry of Variety also lauded the series saying, "The sparely told project weaves together a taut, gripping narrative, in stark contrast with the flatness of its characters and color scheme. All told, this Gaumont production is the kind of binge-worthy TV addiction that Netflix was born to import."

Some were more critical towards the show including chief television critic Mary McNamara of Los Angeles Times who wrote, "It's a grand if inconsistent experiment that, from the moment it opens with a definition of magic realism, wears its considerable ambitions on its sleeve." New York Daily News's David Hinckley, moderately reviewed the season and said, "One of the strengths of Narcos is its refusal to paint anyone as purely good or bad." Writing for IndieWire, Liz Shannon Miller said, "An unlikeable character, no matter the circumstances, remains unlikeable, but an unlikeable character trumps a bland blonde man whose position of authority appears to be his only really interesting character trait, no matter how much voice-over he utters." Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly quipped, "Mostly the show is a breezy tour through history, sometimes informative but rarely affecting."