Binge-Worthy TV: Narcos

The popular streaming service Netflix has been receiving an overwhelming amount of praise for their hit crime drama Narcos, an original series that takes a look at the rise of Pablo Escobar’s drug empire and his Medellin Cartel. It stars Wagner Moura as Escobar and Pedra Pascal and Boyd Holbrook co-star as the DEA agents assigned with the task of bringing the drug kingpin to justice.

The series takes place during the influx of cocaine trafficking from Colombia to the U.S. in the late 1980’s and I must say the production team did an outstanding job of capturing this time period. They used actual video footage and pictures of Escobar and the drug busts throughout the series that added a pinch of authenticity to each episode. The series is also narrated in first person by Holbrook’s character, DEA agent Steve Murphy that gives the story an old-school mafia movie type of feeling.

Now, aside from how well the series is produced, the writing in the series is also top-notch. Unlike other crime dramas where the lead antagonist is often dehumanized, the writers give an in-depth look at Escobar’s family life outside of the cartel where I often found myself sympathizing with him after seeing how much he cared for his family and those closes to him. There was also a second storyline intertwined within the series, which was the DEA agents and the challenges they faced from Colombian authorities and the U.S. while trying to apprehend Escobar. It was this type of dual perspective writing that had me immersed in this series after watching the first five minutes of episode one.

If you’re looking for a series to fill the void of left behind by past hit crime dramas like The Wire or The Sopranos, then Narcos is for you. It’s definitely binge-worthy.