The hit historical crime drama Narcos has come to yet another chilling season finale. The original Netflix series follows the notorious Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar himself, throughout the height of his career during the eighties and early nineties…
Though difficult to top the first, the second drug-busting season looks at DEA agent Steven Murphy continuing his quest to bring down drug lords while also giving us an intimate look into Escobar’s private life as the tale unfolds. While the previous season focused on the chase and cocaine, the new season aims to almost humanize the drug kingpin as we begin to see behind his mask. Instead of recording this in a documentary style, Netflix opted to romanticize Escobar, giving us insight in to his thoughts and feelings.
Towards the end of the season much of his time is spent alone, away from his beloved wife and children. Perhaps it’s the overgrown beard or the constant scenes depicting him hunched over his mobile radio phone – that is indeed what they are called, I did the research, trust me on this – with a solemn look on his face, but you almost begin to feel sorry for the poor fella. That is until you remember him blowing up that bus in Bogota, killing dozens of people. Not to mention that ‘The King of Cocaine’, as he was nicknamed, was estimated to have a net worth of $30 billion by the nineties… yeah how’s that student loan pal?
We also see the return of Carrillo, a brutal character, who does his best, by which I mean his worst, to intimidate the drug lord, though his tactics prove to be futile. If there is one criticism I have with this season, it is that Escobar’s death seemed rather anticlimactic in comparison to the two-season chase. I mean, I realize you can only drag out being shot by a bullet for so many minutes but as they hunched over his lifeless body I could not stop myself from going “Is that it?”. I will however admit that inserting the real life photo of Peña and Murphy crouching by Escobar was both satisfying and eerie. Good job, Netflix.
Despite most of us having a pretty good idea on where this story leads, we can all still enjoy the ride whether it be because we enjoy a good biographical film that appears to be a thriller, or perhaps because we want to brush up on our Spanish (I won’t lie, the only word that has remained with me after finishing this season has been Límon’s name – does that count as Spanish?). Fear not if you’ve come to the end of the season and feel like there’s no hope left for Narcos, as Netflix has already released a teaser trailer for the third season. Step over Medellín Cartel, the Cali Cartel are just getting started.
Irina Roman
Image: Screen Rant