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

Looks good, hopefully better than the Entourage film on the same subject starring Vince Chase

Well I'm up to episode 5.

It's slick and entertaining, but I can't help feel as if they've crammed three seasons into the first five episodes and relied a bit too heavily on narration to fill in the gaps in the plot, all of which give the series an air of 'the most expensive crimewatch re-enactment ever made', or one of those hybrid docu-dramas that the BBC are fond of.
In the shows eagerness to cram so much plot into each episode it feels as though the makers have broken the cinematic golden rule, show it don't tell it.

conorhal wrote: »

Well I'm up to episode 5.

It's slick and entertaining, but I can't help feel as if they've crammed three seasons into the first five episodes and relied a bit too heavily on narration to fill in the gaps in the plot, all of which give the series an air of 'the most expensive crimewatch re-enactment ever made', or one of those hybrid docu-dramas that the BBC are fond of.
In the shows eagerness to cram so much plot into each episode it feels as though the makers have broken the cinematic golden rule, show it don't tell it.

Five episodes in myself and I can't help but agree with this. Far too much narration so far. Thoroughly enjoyable though.

Is this wall to wall subtitles? I think that wear thin fast with me.

I'll probably be in the minority, but I was a bit underwhelmed by this. I liked it but it didn't blow me away. It felt more like a docu-drama than a straight out drama and I think this is what let it down. The near constant voice over from Murphy really became annoying after a while and it actually sucked a lot of the drama and tension out of things, IMO. I realise a certain amount of back story and exposition were needed, but as someone up thread said, there was too much telling and not enough showing.

Also apart from Escobar, there was pretty much no character development for anyone. Almost all of the supporting characters were wafer thin and even Murphy and Pena were underdeveloped. We learned next to nothing about either of them or their partnership. I felt they could have explored these two a lot more. As it was, it was hard to really care about them. The actor playing Escobar was the stand out. I felt myself rooting for him most of the time, despite the fact he was slaughtering half of Colombia!

Overall it was decent, but it's an amazing story and I think they could have done a lot more with it.

vepyewwo wrote: »

I'll probably be in the minority, but I was a bit underwhelmed by this. I liked it but it didn't blow me away. It felt more like a docu-drama than a straight out drama and I think this is what let it down. The near constant voice over from Murphy really became annoying after a while and it actually sucked a lot of the drama and tension out of things, IMO. I realise a certain amount of back story and exposition were needed, but as someone up thread said, there was too much telling and not enough showing.

Also apart from Escobar, there was pretty much no character development for anyone. Almost all of the supporting characters were wafer thin and even Murphy and Pena were underdeveloped. We learned next to nothing about either of them or their partnership. I felt they could have explored these two a lot more. As it was, it was hard to really care about them.

Murphy got kidnapped in the last episode and I barely even noticed. I only remembered it had happened when he suddenly turned back up 20 minutes later.

The actor playing Escobar was the stand out. I felt myself rooting for him most of the time, despite the fact he was slaughtering half of Colombia!

Overall it was decent, but it's an amazing story and I think they could have done a lot more with it.

That's a pretty good summary of my issues with the series, which I have to say I've enjoyed so far.
Characterisation is indeed thin, wafer thin and almost wholly provided through narration, unfortunatety so is the plot.

The show's propensity to have Murphy introduce a character, tell you who they are and why they're important tends leave you pretty under-invested in the fate of the character.
You also get a lot of news footage of 'big and serious stuff happening' but it's background chatter that again operates largely as another device to explain the plot to you.
I can't believe for example that the M-19's action at the courts or some of the major bombing, things that would warrent a full episode in any other series, are effectively relegated to narrated background colour, plot points to be ticked off as information dumps rather then major dramatic moments in a story.