Narcos – “Descencos” – Episode review

Netflix keeps offering new original shows to its subscribers, giving us as viewers less reason to keep watching normal TV programming. Earlier this year we got various shows including a new season of Orange is the New Black and Sense8 and now the new show is Narcos. The title creates expectations and the summary of the show promises a view into the life of Columbian drug dealer Pablo Escobar. Has Netflix produced another great show? A recap/review of the first episode. This review contains spoilers

Within the first few minutes this opening episode sets the era in which the events of the show take place, 1979, a period before the internet and cell phones, in which trying to trace criminal activities in Columbia was a lot harder. A voiceover by Steven Murphy, an American DEA-officer introduces the viewer to the world of Narcos. It opens with an attack by the police on a club where a known hitman is relaxing, who simply shoot him instead of arresting him. The voiceover is reminiscent of the one in Goodfellas, and it quickly becomes clear that the world he’s in isn’t as black and white as you might inspect. The good guys don’t always follow the rules strictly (as the comparison with Nixon shows). After introducing various characters, Pablo Escobar is introduced and it is immediately clear what kind of power he has when he shows that he knows everyone, including their families. In his own words he is “good at negotiating” (which basically comes down to intimidation), making it easy for him to bring his contraband into Columbia.

A drugs producer named Cockroach introduces him to cocaine and with its price of 10 dollars for a gram, sees a lot of potential and a new market in Miami. What starts with smuggling five kilos in a jacket, quickly grows in bigger business forcing them to think of new ways in order to get their product to America. As the US is still focussing on weed it makes smuggling easy. The demand keeps growing though and Escobar has to think even bigger and starts using his own planes and other smart methods. His success is noticed by others who set up a meeting with him also wanting to invest in “potatoes”.

The DEA in the US regularly intercepts small amounts of drugs, but never enough to make a difference as so much is coming in. Cocaine takes over Miami, which increases the violence as well. In only a couple of years thousands of people get killed in drug wars. According to the voiceover that isn’t the reason though that the government decides to do something against it. The main reason is that billions of dollars are leaving the country, going to Columbia. Pablo’s power increases and Steven Murphy decides to head to his home turf to stop the drugs there. It is a dangerous step, because once information reaches Escobar that a DEA-agent is investigating a crime scene he offers a bounty of half a million dollars to the person who gets him.

A first episode of a show needs to give you the sense that you want to see more and Descenso definitely succeeds in that. Escobars influence, power and money quickly grow because of his cocaine business and on the other side of the law you also understand why Murphy decides to head to Columbia. He has personally seen the consequences of the new invasion of this power substance when his partner is killed in a drug bust and the one who has shot him flees the country after his bail has been paid, never to be convicted. He’s set to destroy something which also destroyed part of him.

Visually the show looks great, succeeding in creating that eighties vibe. You see that in its detailed sets, but also archival footage of the time adds to that (for example Reagan’s famous “Say no to drugs” speech). You get to know the main characters just enough to understand their motivation and I hope that in the upcoming episodes I’ll get to know them better. Money corrupts, which already is shown in this first episode when it turns out that Cockroach isn’t to be trusted and I hope that dynamic is a returning theme in the show as it adds a lot of tension. The tone has been set and after seeing this first episode my expectations about the rest of this series are high.

What did you think of the first episode of Narcos – Descenso?