Review of Narcos

Narcos (2015–2017)
Season 3 is much better than the first two seasons
3 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
It is rare to see that in a television series, each season is improved upon its predecessor. The plot of the third season has more twists and turns, and there is always something unexpected, especially in Episode 6 to 10. The style of this season is darker, more violent, and extremely fast-paced.

Next I will discuss each episode.

Episode 1 basically shows how clever and cruel the Cali Cartel are. They are good at intelligence and are called Cali KGB. Also, they kill people secretly and make sure that the corpses disappear without anyone knowing. Besides, they pretend to be nice in the eyes of the public. Cali Cartel are much harder to deal with than Pablo Escobar.

Episode 2 mostly demonstrates how the Cali KGB work. They can tap your phone and monitor your room. In this episode, they video the family scandal of a government official and force him to tell a lie to the world, which covers up a horrible crime committed by the Cali Cartel. After seeing this, Agent Pena feels it is necessary to eliminate the Cali Cartel and sends Agent Feistl to Cali.

If the first two episodes are the prologue of Season 3, from Episode 3 on, the real play begins. Agent Feistl confronts members of the Cali Cartel face to face. DEA begins the investigation by tracking the money of the Cali Cartel, in order to find the evidence of money laundering. Agent Feistl gets a search warrant and searches the financial building of the Cali Cartel. But he fails to find anything useful in the end due to the excellent job of the Cali KGB, led by Jorge.

Gilberto Rodríguez, one of the four leaders of the Cali Cartel, is arrested in Episode 4, during a raid on his houses initiated by Agent Pena. However, there are still three leaders in Cali Cartel, which means Agent Pena still has a long way to go before he takes down the Cali Cartel.

In Episode 5, Miguel Rodriguez suspects that there are rats in the Cali Cartel, who leak information to the DEA and result in the arrest of his brother, Gilberto Rodriguez. Therefore, he kills Calderon, a corrupt cop involved in the arrest of Gilberto, and Cordova, the leader of the security department, in an extremely bloody and brutal way.

There are three breathtaking action scenes in Episode 6. The first is the chase of Agent Pena after Jurado. The second is the attack of North Valley on Pacho. The third is the escape of Miguel from North Valley. The plot is twisted. When you think DEA has got Jurado, Cali Cartel holds his wife as a hostage. When you think North Valley may kill Pacho, Pacho succeeds in counterattack. When you think Agent Feistl could attack Miguel, North Valley do instead.

Episode 7 is the best episode of Season 3 so far, even better than Episode 6. There are a lot of intriguing questions generated during the storytelling. First and the most important of all, can Agent Pena arrest Miguel in the end? Second, can Agent Pena pass the perimeter? Third, can the local corrupt police interrupt the raid? Finally, can the DEA team break the wall before time runs out?

Episode 8 tells two plot lines in parallel. The first plot line is that Agent Pena rescues Mrs. Jurado. Just as everyone believes that Franklin Jurado will cooperate with DEA, he is unexpectedly assassinated by a killer from the Cali Cartel. The second plot line is that Miguel is trying to find the rat. Jorge and Enrique are the two main suspects and the confrontation between the two is absolutely tense and fantastic.

To be honest, Episode 9 is one of the fastest and the most intense crime thrillers I've ever seen. Not a single second is wasted. There are so many intriguing questions in the episode such that you have to hold your breath and stare on the screen all the time. Can Agent Pena take down Miguel? Can Jorge survive? Can Jorge's dependents survive? There are plenty of twists and turns as well. When you think Miguel will leave his building, he receives the call from David and stays. When the audience think that it is a victory that Miguel is arrested, Agent Pena realizes that the president is bought by the Cali Cartel and the DEA never had a chance.

The first half of Episode 10 is gut-wrenching, especially when Jorge and Navegante confront each other in the car. We always wonder if the DEA team can bring Pallomari out. The second half of the episode is relieving, in the sense that at the very least, the endeavor of Pena is not in vain.

All in all, the season is absolutely worth watching.
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