Article originally published as NARCOS Review on Seat42F.
NETFLIX’s
latest drama, NARCOS, takes a different tact than most of the previous
series do. The story of infamous Columbian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar,
is mixed with the DEA agent that hunts him, Steve Murphy, to give
viewers a history lesson. It’s scripted drama based on a true story, one
bloody and fantastical.
The first thing that strikes me about
NARCOS is that it really is a history lesson. Not one that could be used
in history classes, given its graphic, violent content, but still,
there is a lot of truth in the way it unfolds. It feels, in many ways,
like the film Argo, with more voice-over exposition. Not everything that
happens on screen is factually true, I’m sure, but it’s close enough to
qualify as educational as well as entertaining.
The authority in which the narration is
done gives the show some gravitas. I compared it to Argo, and I’m sure
that comparison was drawn by the production on purpose. NARCO has the
feeling of a high-quality biopic in that regard, and uses the common
trope of mixing the famous (Escobar) with the lesser-known (Murphy) in
telling the complete story. The audience will learn much more about
Escobar than they did watching Entourage.
Of course, NARCOS has ten hours to tell
its tale, versus the two a movie gets, and so can take its time. It
zooms through the first couple of years in a single installment,
beginning with Escobar (Wagner Moura, Paraiso Tropical) not even
involved in the cocaine world to running a full-fledged empire. But
Escobar stayed in power for many years, so there’s at least a full
season in this, and I assume things will slow down as it goes on.
Most of NARCOS’s premiere installment is
focused on Escobar himself, which seems a little strange, since Murphy
(Boyd Holbrook, The Big C, Gone Girl) feels like the lead. I like that
we’re not just viewing things from the law enforcement perspective,
though, getting a behind-the-scenes look at how Escobar makes things
work, and the series is kind of presented as Murphy’s telling of the
whole thing after it’s been complete, making me think he will survive,
unlike so many other players.
More of a wild card is Murphy’s partner,
Javier Pena (Pedro Pascal, Game of Thrones, Graceland). He intrigues
early in the pilot, then disappears as the show flashes back and builds
back up to the time in which Murphy actually gets to Columbia. It is
hard to get a read on his role at first, so I look forward to seeing
more of that, as he seems like he may be a catalyst to even more
violence.
One thing that confuses me is the
tendency NARCOS has to mix the real stuff in with the fiction. I have no
problem with the show using actual footage of Nixon and Reagan because
they aren’t characters, existing only on the TV screens. But when a mug
shot of Moura’s Escobar is suddenly replaced with the real man, it takes
viewers out of the world a bit, re-emphasizing the documentary aspect
at the expense of storytelling.
And really, that’s my problem with
NARCOS. While it seems very well made, and I will likely watch more of
it myself, it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. It’s teaching too
much and too dry in places to hit the mass appeal of the action-loving
crowd, yet too gritty and bloody to strike the fancy of many of the
family-friendly documentary niche. It sidetracks to give us a human
element, such as showing the death of a pregnant mule, but that takes us
away from the characters. It is worth watching and I’m sure will find
fans, but by not picking a path and committing to it, it risks
alienating many of what could be its core viewership.
The full first season of NARCOS is available now on Netflix.