I worked in the film industry and this is a impressive achievement. The story and characterization are on the level of "Breaking Bad" or "The Wire". I watched all the episodes but skipped through some scenes that followed non-recurring characters. If you see a new character kissing his fiancé good-by before getting on an airplane, or if you see a new character lovingly embracing his wife and kids before he goes off to work, you can be assured that he will soon be dead.
Anton's review accurately lists the series' flaws. I don't want to repeat other reviews so I will just add that the music is good but repetitive; the action scenes that involve guns are unrealistic because they often don't show anyone or anything hit by a barrage of gunfire; the subtitles were not written by a native English speaker.
The filmmakers stretched this story out into the equivalent of 74 fourty-minute episodes. That is a slow plot pace but it remained engaging. The main draw for me was to see how the government of Columbia ended up giving Pablo Escobar his own private prison. Incarceration in Columbia is nothing like in the US. See the "Surviving Escobar" series for the autobiographical story of an Escobar gunman nicknamed "Popeye" who ended up in a Columbian prison.
The series doesn't have a "where are they now" epilogue but you can find out some of that on the PrimeraHora website.
The sovereignty of government of Columbia was challenged by Escobar. The same thing is happening in Mexico, now. This series has writers with a profound understanding of human nature. We have a lot to learn from them and we should be concerned about the situation South of the US border. Let's be grateful we have honest D.E.A . agents helping out there and let's hope that government does not go bad.
I watched "Narcos" also. It is shorter, slicker and with better production values. It seems to show how the Americans were instrumental in getting Escobar. But the Americans are hardly mentioned in "Patron De Mal". Nationality aside, the credit goes to incorruptible cops.
Andreas Parra (Escobar) gives the performance of a lifetime. He makes the character almost likable and interesting enough to continue watching. The other actors were great, also. The scene that most stands out for me was the depiction of a Ochoa brother militia leader intimidating a neophyte into going on a suicide-assassination mission.
Anton's review accurately lists the series' flaws. I don't want to repeat other reviews so I will just add that the music is good but repetitive; the action scenes that involve guns are unrealistic because they often don't show anyone or anything hit by a barrage of gunfire; the subtitles were not written by a native English speaker.
The filmmakers stretched this story out into the equivalent of 74 fourty-minute episodes. That is a slow plot pace but it remained engaging. The main draw for me was to see how the government of Columbia ended up giving Pablo Escobar his own private prison. Incarceration in Columbia is nothing like in the US. See the "Surviving Escobar" series for the autobiographical story of an Escobar gunman nicknamed "Popeye" who ended up in a Columbian prison.
The series doesn't have a "where are they now" epilogue but you can find out some of that on the PrimeraHora website.
The sovereignty of government of Columbia was challenged by Escobar. The same thing is happening in Mexico, now. This series has writers with a profound understanding of human nature. We have a lot to learn from them and we should be concerned about the situation South of the US border. Let's be grateful we have honest D.E.A . agents helping out there and let's hope that government does not go bad.
I watched "Narcos" also. It is shorter, slicker and with better production values. It seems to show how the Americans were instrumental in getting Escobar. But the Americans are hardly mentioned in "Patron De Mal". Nationality aside, the credit goes to incorruptible cops.
Andreas Parra (Escobar) gives the performance of a lifetime. He makes the character almost likable and interesting enough to continue watching. The other actors were great, also. The scene that most stands out for me was the depiction of a Ochoa brother militia leader intimidating a neophyte into going on a suicide-assassination mission.