Andre Burrell

Probably a good idea to ignore reviews from people who haven't made it past the 2nd episode. This isn't the kind of show you can fairly judge in the first few episodes. While I can totally understand missing Pablo Escobar and thinking that the show isn't the same with his absence, you'll see that it's mostly just a premature overreaction. I had the same initial doubts and by the end I was happy to be proven wrong. The show didn't need to focus around Escobar to feel like 'Narcos'. I finished the entire season in a day and ended up falling in love with characters on both sides of the law. The cinematography, filled with beautiful high-angled drone shots, overlapping narration, "success" montages, gory murders, and that lovable storytelling style of the original is fully intact and most definitely lives up to the 'Narco' name. The first few episodes are fairly slow because there's a lot of history, relationships, and world building to establish. Back in those days, Mexico was an entirely different world, so it's vital in order to fully appreciate the significance of the events. Once that's over with, and you start to get a feel for the characters, things pick up pace and begin to move very quickly; relationships and power dynamics begins to shift and are all over the place. It's great fun to see how the characters handle everything. I will say try your best to watch without the Escobar bias, and see it through completely before passing judgment. The writing, cinematography, sound design, and tension are still "Narco style" if that makes any sense. They didn't cut any corners here. This isn't a rushed milking of the Narcos name, it's a well produced, incredibly well casted (and acted) foray into Mexico's 80's drug scene, with characters that are rich and complex, and the muddy gray of good and evil at the time illustrated very nicely. You know it's a good show when you find yourself rooting for both sides of the law, which you most certainly will.