Netflix’s Thrilling 3-Part Crime Drama Is a Masterpiece From Start to Finish

The Colombian drug war is a topic that is frequently brought up when discussing crime films and shows, but it is often framed as an enigmatic boogeyman without any nuance. Although it has become easy for Hollywood fare to stereotype Colombian criminals as generic villains, the reality is that the nation went through a tremendous amount of political, economic, and cultural change in the ‘70s that eventually attracted the interest of outside governments. There have been attempts to provide more education about this crisis in nonfiction and documentary films, but surprisingly, the Netflix drama series Narcos put the Colombian drug war on a global stage by showing the complex conflict between the local government, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and various cartel leaders. It was one of the first Netflix originals to prove that the service was capable of making prestige television, and it remains one of the best on the platform.

Narcos isn’t necessarily where viewers should go if they want a strictly accurate history lesson, but the series does get the broad strokes right when looking at the different power players involved in the drug war that was initiated in Medellin. Although there were various powerful drug lords at the time who gained international notoriety, none were more powerful than Pablo Escobar, who is played in Narcos in an award-caliber performance by Wagner Moura, long before he became an Academy Award nominee for The Secret Agent.

The role of the DEA was similarly complicated because it often did more harm than good, but Narcos pinpoints the careers of the agents Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal), who tried to cut through the noise to actually do something that could improve the lives of the communities being affected. It might be easy to tune in to Narcos with the hope of seeing some pulpy crime action, but the show can be surprising with its thoughtful examination of a fragile nation made vulnerable.

‘Narcos’ Was More Than Just a Crime Thriller

Any show that looks at such loaded topics as a drug war and the CIA’s involvement in international situations can seem to be foreboding a political message, and risks feeling like a slanted version of history. The difference with Narcos is that it shows the perspective of the individuals, and not the institutions that they have come to embody. Murphy is a great protagonist in the first season because he is an outsider who moves with his family, only to realize that he has signed up for an increasingly dangerous task. Even though Murphy has strong feelings about locking up those who have come to profit from addiction and death, he also understands that the CIA can’t hope to occupy a nation that needs to develop on its own. While Holbrook is a very charismatic actor who brings a lot of star power to the series, he also shows surprising depth to his performance.

As good as Holbrook is, Moura gives the performance that turned Narcos into a must-watch series because he was responsible for grounding a figure as notorious as Escobar in reality. While there have been many fictional depictions of Escobar, satirical parodies, and documentaries about his life, Moura chose to depict him as an ambitious family man who used his connections to revolutionize the economy in his country, even if that meant a fair amount of collateral damage. The show did not in any way try to sand off his edges, as Moura is capable of being completely terrifying when showing the intimidation techniques and violence that Escobar employed. However, the depiction is more evenly handled, particularly when compared to the equally egregious actions taken by other cartels at the same time.

‘Narcos’ Transformed With Each Season

There’s always a risk that a historical crime show could become formulaic after a while, but each season of Narcos transformed itself in order to keep feeling fresh. The first season is a straight-up cat-and-mouse thriller between Murphy and Escobar as they begin to learn more about one another’s intentions, and adopts the style of a Michael Mann film. However, Season 2 focuses more on the politics involved with Escobar’s desire to serve as a legitimate political representative for his nation, and how the backlash both broke his heart and led to his demise. Season 3 took a bold swing because both Moura and Holbrook had exited the show, but it still felt fresh because it picked up with Peña as he tracked down the Cali cartel members in an exciting espionage storyline.

Narcos is one of the rare drama shows to end on its own terms, as the series wrapped up after it had concluded the chunk of history it was interested in, and succeeded in being an eye-opening study of the conflict. Its greatest legacy might be that it inspired the spin-off, Narcos: Mexico, which starred Diego Luna and Michael Peña, and may have even topped its predecessor. Netflix’s reputation as a producer of prestige television might have dwindled in the years since this series first premiered, but Narcos is a true crime masterpiece that ranks among the best of modern prestige TV.