Narcos [Netflix] ***Spoilers ****

redlead

allybhoy wrote: »

One episode left and absolutely loving it, its an excellent story, shot well with decent acting. If I had one minor minor criticism it is that they are really flying through the story and not leaving much left for future seasons and hopefully it well get at least 3 or 4 seasons.

By the way, not sure if anyone is as dumb as me, but it took me about 6 episodes before I realised Javier Pena was Oberyn Martell from GOT,

haha it was bugging me the whole way through who he was, I knew that I knew him from something!

They have basically gone through 90% of the story in season one so don't see how they can get 3/4 seasons out of it. I actually found this rather refreshing as not evertything needs to be milked for multiple seasons. One more season should do it.

FloatingVoter

redlead wrote: »

haha it was bugging me the whole way through who he was, I knew that I knew him from something!

They have basically gone through 90% of the story in season one so don't see how they can get 3/4 seasons out of it. I actually found this rather refreshing as not evertything needs to be milked for multiple seasons. One more season should do it.

They can slow the pace and get another season out of Pablo. It is called Narcos after all so they can continue into the late 90s tracking the Cali cartel. And they can continue into this year if they follow the action north to Mexico where El Chapo discovered a strange tunnel in his shower and strolled out of jail.
Hopefully, they won't drag the arse out of it though and will quit while they're ahead.

jester77

FloatingVoter wrote: »

They can slow the pace and get another season out of Pablo. It is called Narcos after all so they can continue into the late 90s tracking the Cali cartel. And they can continue into this year if they follow the action north to Mexico where El Chapo discovered a strange tunnel in his shower and strolled out of jail.
Hopefully, they won't drag the arse out of it though and will quit while they're ahead.

I would imagine that is the way they go, there is very little left in the Pablo story and not enough for a whole season given the way they are telling the story. They could have gotten a lot more out of this season. They narrated a lot of stuff that would easily have been worth an episode on its own, which is a pity imo.

allybhoy

jester77 wrote: »

I would imagine that is the way they go, there is very little left in the Pablo story and not enough for a whole season given the way they are telling the story. They could have gotten a lot more out of this season. They narrated a lot of stuff that would easily have been worth an episode on its own, which is a pity imo.

Yeh exactly, he basically went from a lowball cigarette smuggler to the most notorious coke dealer the world has ever seen in half an episode and they probably could paced that a bit better. But then again, like others have said, it is a refreshing change to have so much story progression.

DoYouEvenLift

allybhoy wrote: »

Yeh exactly, he basically went from a lowball cigarette smuggler to the most notorious coke dealer the world has ever seen in half an episode and they probably could paced that a bit better. But then again, like others have said, it is a refreshing change to have so much story progression.

I thought about this during the last episode, how ridiculously fast he went from a seemingly small time trafficker to a fuking king in just the first episode. I kinda wish they paced that a bit more but then the opening episode wouldn't have been as explosive and gripping

What are those?

Just finished the series last night, found it very enjoyable but wish they draged it out a bit more,seems like they crammed a lot into 10 episodes when they could nearly have made 3 series from all the content shown imo really good though
Also hope they bring it back more toward the production and sale of cocaine in the next series as theyve gone away from that a good bit, not that im not enjoying the altercations with the Govt. and the cali cartel . overall enjoying it and would reccommend it highly

Stone Deaf 4evr

I suppose its a good complaint when the main gripe people have is that they want more of it. :-)

DoYouEvenLift

Surprised this is only rated 9.2 on imdb as well, easily a 9.5 show

FloatingVoter

A few things weren't explained.....contrary to the myth he peddled about rising from the gutter - daddy Escobar was a farmer, mommy Escobar was a schoolteacher. No silver spoon but a middle class lad gone wild. He started life (according to himself) robbing gravestones and sanding down for resale, then did progress to bodyguarding before making it as a kidnapper for ransom. That provides his original cash to start moving things about.

...and as seen in the opener selling party powder in Miami is considerably more profitable than providing TVs to Medellin.

Agent Coulson

Renewed for season 2.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/3/9256235/narcos-netflix-series-renewal

BoJack Horseman

Anyone notice the subtitles being rather glitchy?

Appearing too late into the sentence, flashing in screen for an instant before moving to the next line.

DoYouEvenLift

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Anyone notice the subtitles being rather glitchy?

Appearing too late into the sentence, flashing in screen for an instant before moving to the next line.

Yeah, noticed that too in the later episodes.

North by Northwest

Started watching this earlier this week, really good so far - apart from the 2015 printer/photocopier they used to copy Murphy's passport in Episode 2. Yes, my guilty past time of spotting flaws ;-)

'Killing Pablo' is a good read for anyone looking to find out some more. It's been a few years now since I read it but I remember the tale of burying all the cash - apparently he had so much, which is kinda frightening

FloatingVoter

North by Northwest wrote: »

'Killing Pablo' is a good read for anyone looking to find out some more. It's been a few years now since I read it but I remember the tale of burying all the cash - apparently he had so much, which is kinda frightening

$60,000,000 a day at his height. $2000 per month on rubber bands and 10% written off due to paper rot (remember Walter White spraying his tiny stash for silverfish).
A rare redeeming feature of the man was he clocked banks for the crooks they are.

Luckycharms_74

North by Northwest wrote: »

Started watching this earlier this week, really good so far - apart from the 2015 printer/photocopier they used to copy Murphy's passport in Episode 2. Yes, my guilty past time of spotting flaws ;-)

'Killing Pablo' is a good read for anyone looking to find out some more. It's been a few years now since I read it but I remember the tale of burying all the cash - apparently he had so much, which is kinda frightening

I just finished ep8 and I'm enthralled by Escobar & the narcos in general. I started that book last night (albiet it's the audiobook read by the author mark bowden)

Horacio Carrillo's (based on Colonel Hugo Martinez which has a good article here on him) relentlessness on bringing down Pablo when all around him are either bribed or killed is gripping.

I agree with others they could have dragged it out longer over a couple seasons but it's still an amazing show

Here are a couple of documentaries on you tube

Pablo Escobar Documentary - The King of Coke :

The true story of killing Pablo

StringerBell

Only issue I have had is the pacing, I think the show is fantastic, but I think they could have got two great seasons out of the Escobar story without rushing and cramming most of it in to one season and filling in the blanks with narration etc.

Were they worried they wouldn't get a second season maybe?

The poor pacing has hindered character development also, other then Pablo we see very little development, even the second lead the DEA guy is very under done considering he is the main character on the law side.

If they correct that for the second season they may just about get enough material to follow the story to its end without feeling bogged down and dragged out and then I imagine the plan is to move on to a new subject matter, plenty of options to follow on from Escobar.

The story is so interesting I feel it could have been done better but it is still one of the best shows I have watched in a couple of years

For anyone interested they might check out the 30 for 30 documentary, The Two Escobars. Very good also

bmwguy

North by Northwest wrote: »

Started watching this earlier this week, really good so far - apart from the 2015 printer/photocopier they used to copy Murphy's passport in Episode 2. Yes, my guilty past time of spotting flaws ;-)

'Killing Pablo' is a good read for anyone looking to find out some more. It's been a few years now since I read it but I remember the tale of burying all the cash - apparently he had so much, which is kinda frightening

I loved it too but I spotted that they had a BMW 5 series e39 model (same car as I have) but it was 1990 or something. Those cars came out first in about 1998 I think. The Land Rover Discovery they were driving was more modern that the year the show was set in too.

jayo26

Watched this over the past couple of days it was excellent and a great story cant wait for season two it would be nice if they dont drag out the final bit of his life just move onto the next story in the new season straight away.

Anyone got any other good recomendations to watch that are of similar topic to this?

moleyv

I initially stopped watching 15 mins into ep 1. Way too much narration to start.

Got back into it a few days later found it good until ep7-10. They really dragged it out, felt like a chore to watch.

They could have easily fit the whole story into ten episodes.

I couldn't see myself watching another ten episodes for the small portion of the story remaining

GerB40

StringerBell wrote: »

Only issue I have had is the pacing, I think the show is fantastic, but I think they could have got two great seasons out of the Escobar story without rushing and cramming most of it in to one season and filling in the blanks with narration etc.

Were they worried they wouldn't get a second season maybe?

The poor pacing has hindered character development also, other then Pablo we see very little development, even the second lead the DEA guy is very under done considering he is the main character on the law side.

If they correct that for the second season they may just about get enough material to follow the story to its end without feeling bogged down and dragged out and then I imagine the plan is to move on to a new subject matter, plenty of options to follow on from Escobar.

The story is so interesting I feel it could have been done better but it is still one of the best shows I have watched in a couple of years

For anyone interested they might check out the 30 for 30 documentary, The Two Escobars. Very good also

The Two Escobar was absolutely amazing. And as others have said Killing Pablo is a great book. The way I look at it, if you want to be entertained then Narcos is for you. I'd you want to be educated then reading Killing Pablo would be for you. It's one of the rare occasions that I would recommend both the TV series and the book equally..

Luckycharms_74

GerB40 wrote: »

The Two Escobar was absolutely amazing. And as others have said Killing Pablo is a great book. The way I look at it, if you want to be entertained then Narcos is for you. I'd you want to be educated then reading Killing Pablo would be for you. It's one of the rare occasions that I would recommend both the TV series and the book equally..

Yeah I must watch that.
I found another documentary about Escobar called "Sins of my father"

It's on Netflix as well.

http://www.netflix.com/title/70129384

bmwguy

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

Yeah I must watch that.
I found another documentary about Escobar called "Sins of my father"

It's on Netflix as well.

http://www.netflix.com/title/70129384

I watched this last night, very good. I am gone Escobar mad these days, veruy interesting character. It is told from Escobars sons perspective (and sometimes his wife). On the other side there is the sons of the political leaders that Escobar had killed, now political leaders themselves. Shows the true cost of what went on in Columbia.

Luckycharms_74

bmwguy wrote: »

I watched this last night, very good. I am gone Escobar mad these days, veruy interesting character. It is told from Escobars sons perspective (and sometimes his wife). On the other side there is the sons of the political leaders that Escobar had killed, now political leaders themselves. Shows the true cost of what went on in Columbia.

Ha ha I'm the same & very intrigued to get a closer look inside his mind with these books or films from a family POV.

The Sinaloa cartel headed by El Chapo Guzmán is another interesting read but he is small time compared to Escobar.

A comparable story would be the Juárez Cartel and its leader Amado Carrilo Feuntes

They say : "As the top drug trafficker in Mexico, Carrillo was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker in the world, building a fortune of over US$25 billion. He was called "El Señor de los Cielos" (The Lord of the Skies) for his pioneering use of over 27 private Boeing 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to municipal airports and airstrips around Mexico"

DoYouEvenLift

Did anyone else think about how Escobar's son looked like a 50 year old man in the later episodes lol?

Mushy

Finished it the other morning. Found this show to be very entertaining throughout. Many of the negatives mentioned here don't concern me. Only thing I would say is that they could possibly have finished Escobars story in the one season.

Agent Coulson

I have a feeling season 2 will kick off with Escobars death in episode 1 and then move on to the Narcos who took over from him and move on season to season till they get to the bloody and brutal Mexican cartels of today.

FloatingVoter

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I have a feeling season 2 will kick off with Escobars death in episode 1 and then move on to the Narcos who took over from him and move on season to season till they get to the bloody and brutal Mexican cartels of today.

Agreed -it's called Narcos not Escobar for a reason. Many of us could knock out the outline for the end of Pablo's chapter here and now. What came next regarding the Cali cartel, the rise of the Mexican cartels is not so well known. And it is an open ended book with many of the War On Drugs industry figures still alive and in power. There are two industries, Drugs and The War On Drugs brigade. Neither of which has the slightest interest in the other (apart from the importance of narcotics staying illegal).

Thidp

Being a Brazilian, I am suspect to speak about Wagner Moura :pac:, but he did an amazing job this first season.

For those who liked his job, check out Elite Squad 1 and Elite Squad 2, he was incredible in both and they are great movies.

FloatingVoter

^ apparently he learned Spanish for the part - and is now getting complaints from native Spanish speakers for getting the accent wrong. You can't win in this world. We do it ourselves over Irish accents.
To these subtitle reading ears he is doing a fine job playing a very charming yet deathly cunning man.

Thidp

FloatingVoter wrote: »

^ apparently he learned Spanish for the part - and is now getting complaints from native Spanish speakers for getting the accent wrong. You can't win in this world.

Yeah, I read a lot about it.

I don't know what people expect, spanish is not his first language, so of course he is not going to speak like a Colombian.

lertsnim

Thidp wrote: »

I don't know what people expect, spanish is not his first language, so of course he is not going to speak like a Colombian.

We do it here too. Have a root around for the Sons of Anarchy thread when the Northern Ireland episodes were on or Heroes when it was in Cork. Fun times.

Thidp

lertsnim wrote: »

We do it here too. Have a root around for the Sons of Anarchy thread when the Northern Ireland episodes were on or Heroes when it was in Cork. Fun times.

I watched Sons of Anarchy a couple of months after I went back to Brazil from Dublin... for me, the accent was quite convincing :pac:

But I never went to Northern Ireland, so I don't really know if the accent up there is different from the Irish.

DoYouEvenLift

FloatingVoter wrote: »

^ apparently he learned Spanish for the part - and is now getting complaints from native Spanish speakers for getting the accent wrong. You can't win in this world. We do it ourselves over Irish accents.
To these subtitle reading ears he is doing a fine job playing a very charming yet deathly cunning man.

That's understandable since they're English speakers. But this guy learned to speak a new language for this role, it's very unrealistic to expect a genuine accent in this case.

Luckycharms_74

Another interesting documentary I found on Netflix is this.

From war photographer Shaul Schwarz comes NARCO CULTURA, an explosive look at the drug cartels' pop culture influence on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico's Drug War

It's actually pretty disturbing seeing those killings 1st hand and the fallout for the families left behind

ThunbergsAreGo

Just finished tonight, really really good

Im off to find more on escobar, killing pablo up next

jayo26

naughtb4 wrote: »

Just finished tonight, really really good

Im off to find more on escobar, killing pablo up next

The two escobars is a must watch.

ThunbergsAreGo

jayo26 wrote: »

The two escobars is a must watch.

Watched that a while ago, excellent documentary

jayo26

naughtb4 wrote: »

Watched that a while ago, excellent documentary

I only watched it the other night but i remember the 94 world cup clearly and was amazed how all the players tied in with what was going on.

Just finished it there.

Better than the metacritic score id say(about 75 which while not bad is about 10 less than my score).

squonk

I started it on Thursday and was hooked straight away. I had to step away over the weekend but finished it up over Sunday evening and last night. The series is absolutely spectacular. The story is about as compelling as you'll get. It's crazy that it's mostly true. It's like watchng a real life Walter White. Some of it rang true to our own little corner of the world too. I found it easy to relate to the politicians and the people given Pablo's narco terrorism. Some of it felt like something we cold have been seeing here only with the IRA replacing Pablo. For me that just made the series even better.

They did burn through the story but I found that really refreshing. If it was dragged out a bit more I'm sure I'd have been off to Wikipedia to look up the various characters and their fates so it would have ruined the story anyway. As was it just rocketed along and I was kept completely entertained. I'm guessing that Pacho and the Cali cartel ar up next for Season 2 once Pablo meets his fate.

It seems we all noticed different inconsistencies with some of the props used on the show and their era. For me, the planes depicted all had winglets. They didn't come in until the late 90's so they weren't footage of aircraft from the time. I thought that photocopier in episode 2 looked a bit modern alright but I'm not too well up on my photocopiers. The BMW irked me too but by that stage I'd lost track of what year it was.

I ended up being blown away by the scene between Pablo and his mother after Vustavo's death. It was a standout moment for me and the acting was just flawless. I'm amazed Wagner Moura isn't Colombian! I hadn't seen him before so was sure he was a native actor. I'm totally blown away but I could see how it would irk Colombians if his accent isn't up to scratch. He's nailing it though.

This series alone is worth the netflix subscription for a few months. They're making great stuff at the moment.

Ferris_Bueller

Just finished it there myself, thought it was brilliant. Wouldn't watch many shows on tv or netflix but really enjoyed this one, the fact that it's mainly true made it all the more interesting. Agree that they probably could have stretched it out over a lot longer, there wasn't that much of a background given to Escobar and pretty much from the start it was him being one of the biggest drug dealers in the world rather than starting from the bottom, won't complain though as I really enjoyed it from start to finish.

For a couple of episodes it was extremely intense, it felt like at any moment in any scene someone could die. Would anyone have any other shows that are on netflix to recommend? Find it very hard to get into a series but if anyone can recommend anything similar I'd check it out...

DoYouEvenLift

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Just finished it there myself, thought it was brilliant. Wouldn't watch many shows on tv or netflix but really enjoyed this one, the fact that it's mainly true made it all the more interesting. Agree that they probably could have stretched it out over a lot longer, there wasn't that much of a background given to Escobar and pretty much from the start it was him being one of the biggest drug dealers in the world rather than starting from the bottom, won't complain though as I really enjoyed it from start to finish.

For a couple of episodes it was extremely intense, it felt like at any moment in any scene someone could die. Would anyone have any other shows that are on netflix to recommend? Find it very hard to get into a series but if anyone can recommend anything similar I'd check it out...

Have you watched Breaking Bad? You'd probably like Fargo as well.

kop77

going to watch this tonight!...I have the first few episodes on a memory stick

is most/all of the series in sub titles?

Roar

kop77 wrote: »

going to watch this tonight!...I have the first few episodes on a memory stick

is most/all of the series in sub titles?

60% of it I would think, if not more.

Thidp

I knew that Carrillo reminded me of some other guy in another series.

Ironically, he is the one of the cartel guys in Breaking Bad.

zweton

is there any series out there as good as narcos. I watched season 1 over three days and absolutely loved it:) i need more!

adox

zweton wrote: »

is there any series out there as good as narcos. I watched season 1 over three days and absolutely loved it:) i need more!

Loads but depends what you have seen.

ken76

do you reckon the character Poison is based on this guy Popeye ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3238278/Buddy-circumstances-make-man-Pablo-Escobar-s-hitman-Popeye-admits-ordering-3-000-murders-breaks-silence-say-doesn-t-feel-guilt-victim-King-Cocaine.html

somesoldiers

zweton wrote: »

is there any series out there as good as narcos. I watched season 1 over three days and absolutely loved it:) i need more!

Check out Power


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(TV_series)

RobertKK

Just started watching this, have to work so can't binge on it, but the first episode is gripping. I remember when younger growing up and you would be hearing about

Pablo Escobar and how powerful he was, along with the death and destruction he caused.