The hunt is on! #Narcos Season 2 now available worldwide, only on #Netflix. pic.twitter.com/SLtQhEAZMY
— Narcos (@NarcosNetflix) September 2, 2016
Netflix cartel drama Narcos dropped season 2 this friday.
Narcos has been renewed for seasons 3 and 4.
Rottentomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 77
IMDb: 8.9
Emmys: 3 nominations
*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***
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Pablo Escobar
Leader and proprietor of the Medellín cartel.
Pablo was an established black marketeer in Medellín, moving trucks worth of illegal goods (alcohol, cigarettes, and household appliances) into Colombia during a time when this was strictly forbidden.
After meeting Mateo Moreno a Chilean exile and underground chemist Pablo is introduced to crack cocaine.
Building superlabs in the surrounding canopied rainforest soon enough Pablo develops extensive distribution routes into the US to supply growing demand.
The Americans send a task force from the DEA to Colombia to address the issue.
Colonel Pacho Herrera detains 300 kilos worth over $4 million of Pablo’s product in order to renegotiate their prearrangement. He snaps a mugshot of Pablo at the Ibarra DAS facility during this renegotiation.
Pablo uses the M-19 kidnapping of Marta Ochoa as an excuse to assemble what would eventually become the Medellín cartel.
Escobar runs politically as an alternate for Jairo Ortega and is awarded a Colombian congressional seat.
The DEA locates this mugshot and presents it at his first congressional meeting where he is essentially laughed out of the room by Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara.
He is soon forced to resign his Congressional position, coincidentally, Lara is slain soon after. Pablo is indicted for the murder and the U.S. enables Colombian extradition.
Pablo is forced to flee his primary estate Hacienda Nápoles. The DEA rounds up his accountant, ‘Blackbeard.’ They collar Carlos Lehder the first made member of the Medellín cartel to be extradited. He gets life + 135 years.
This arrest provokes a declaration of war by Pablo and the remaining Medellín cartel. He hires the M-19 guerrillas who storm the Palace of Justice slaughter half of Colombia’s supreme court and set fire to the room full of evidence against Escobar.
Escobar flees to Panama. His amnesty proposal is rejected by the government of Colombia.
Colombian President Luis Carlos Galán is assasinated. Pablo and the cartel return to their home country and prepare for war.
Search bloc is formed, a commissioned Colombian special operations military unit of the National Police of Colombia designed to fight the Medellín cartel. Their commander-in-chief is Colonel Horacio Carrillo.
In an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate presidential candidate César Gaviria, Pablo kills 107 innocent people in a plane crash.
A series of kidnappings occur targeting the loved ones of Colombian politicians opposing Pablo.
He kidnaps journalist and oligarchy offspring Diana Turbay which opens negotiations of a peace treaty between the Medellín Cartel and the government.
Search Bloc unwittingly kills Turbay and President César Gaviria Trujillo is forced to accept Escobar’s deal in which he is imprisoned on his own real estate property La Catedral guarded by his own men.
Pablo’s long time friend and consigliere Gustavo Gaviria fails to relinquish information regarding his boss and is slain by Colonel Horacio Carrillo.
Escobar slaughters the operative successors he hired Kiko Moncada and Fernando Galeano in cold blood at La Catedral after an unfortunate misunderstanding regarding compensation.
The DEA becomes privy to these murders and starts to investigate. The Palace oh Justice sanctions a Colombian military escort of Pablo from La Catedral to a facility in Bogotá.
Escobar narrowly escapes La Catedral via tunnel.
They ascertain his new location thanks to the behavior of one of his sicario lieutenants La Quica. He narrowly escapes again via tunnel.
He sees this second near capture as an act of aggression and responds by hiring more sicarios.
Colonel Carrillo returns from Madrid and is given Search Bloc back.
Meanwhile Pablo’s direct competitors the Cali cartel headed by the Rodriguez brothers collude with Judy Moncada and the DEA plotting his demise.
The ‘Los Pepes’ death squad emerges. A group created by rival elements in the trafficking world, representing People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar, targeting high-priority Escobar sicarios.
Pablo bombs a Rodriguez brothers wedding in response and as a result his home is assaulted with gunfire. He escapes.
Escobar then bombs the presidential Palace with 220 pounds of C-4 in retribution for his family’s denied entrance into Germany. The state of Colombia takes possession of his family.
Ultimately he ends up at his fathers rural domicile. His father calls him a murderer and he leaves. He ends up back in Medellín where his continual radio interactions with his wife Tata allow the police to track him down.
“They sell it by grams?” — Pablo Escobar
You don’t have any vision, my friend. If it costs ten dollars a gram here… imagine how much it will sell for in Miami. — Pablo Escobar
“That’s Gustavo’s department.” — Pablo Escobar
“You deliver the product to me, Iabeled. I will take it to Miami and deliver it to your contact there. Better yet, Lehder will do it. I’ll charge 35 percent of the sales value, but I’ll insure the safety of your load up to 50 percent of the value.” — Pablo Escobar
“Let’s just call us…. friendly associates.” — Pablo Escobar
“Look… we’ve paid every cop from here to Ipsalia. So how did we lose a load, brother?” — Pablo Escobar
“Someone in my organization gave you the street value of my cocaine. Otherwise, how would you know? Give me a name… and you won’t have to split the cash with him.” — Pablo Escobar
I’ll pay half a million for the head of a DEA agent. — Pablo Escobar
Fucking gringos. — Pablo Escobar
“Gustavo, brother… just launder the money. Make it look legitimate… that’s all. Isn’t that what Al Capone did?” — Pablo Escobar
“Well, then… let’s buy a bigger washing machine.” — Pablo Escobar
All bankers are bandits. — Pablo Escobar
“I was born in Rionegro, not too far from here. And I asked myself how a government that exists for the people can be so out of touch with what they need.” — Pablo Escobar
“For decades, our country has been led by Lopez and the other families that are wealthy who made their fortune off exploiting the poor.” — Pablo Escobar
They don’t know what common people dream of… but I do. — Pablo Escobar
“Don’t ever disrespect Tata. Do you hear me?” — Pablo Escobar
What I propose at this moment, gentlemen, is that we form an organization. Pool our resources to train soldiers, trade knowledge and buy information. — Pablo Escobar
I will manage all operational aspects. — Pablo Escobar
“All you need to do is cover my expenses.” — Pablo Escobar
“I guarantee no harm will come to you or your family. From now on, we are going to work together. Go in peace, brother.” — Pablo Escobar
“I want you to run my day-to-day operations.” — Pablo Escobar
“Liberate Colombia.” — Pablo Escobar
“Those shitty oligarchs. Those people, all of their lives… don’t know what it’s like to wonder where their next meal is coming from.” — Pablo Escobar
“I buy the press, my love. And as far as a political party, I am quite sure that I can buy one of those as well.” — Pablo Escobar
I don’t want to be good. I am going to be great. — Pablo Escobar
“It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the Hacienda Nápoles. Please, come.” — Pablo Escobar
Look, I am not a rich person. I am a poor person with money. — Pablo Escobar
“Look, I am not a politician. I am not a successful lawyer like you. I come from the street… brother. I want to reassure you that you will receive your piece.” — Pablo Escobar
“Politicians scare easily. You’re fine with just a pistol.” — Pablo Escobar
“This is a fight between the people with power and poor people, weak people. And this fight must begin here!” — Pablo Escobar
“To have power does not mean that one can abuse the poor.” — Pablo Escobar
If I am elected, if my friend, Jairo, is elected… those who have never had a voice will have a voice. Those who are hungry will have food. Those who want to learn will have schools. And those who have dreams will see that there are no limits to what you can achieve. — Pablo Escobar
“In me, you have a friend whom you have always had, the friend of today the friend of yesterday and the friend of tomorrow.” — Pablo Escobar
I dreamt of doing good, those dreams are over. — Pablo Escobar
“Now more than ever is the time for solidarity.” — Pablo Escobar
Gentlemen… I suggest we form another organization to fight against the injustice of extradition. — Pablo Escobar
“Well, in my opinion a jail in the united states is worse than death. We can never forget what happened to Carlos. Carlos was one of us.” — Pablo Escobar
Fighting a revolution comes with sacrifice… — Pablo Escobar
“But for us, brother… it is our duty to fight to the very end. We have an historical obligation. We can’t forget that.” — Pablo Escobar
“Galán was the only threat. There is no one left to challenge us. And you know why, Fabio. Because no one has the balls that we have.” — Pablo Escobar
“You would have tried to talk me out of it.” — Pablo Escobar
I’ll die… before I ever leave Colombia again. — Pablo Escobar
“I could have had you living like a king. But now, guess what? Time to kill your dad, your mom, your kids, your entire family, and you should be smart enough to realize I have each and every one of them under watch, you fucking bastard.” — Pablo Escobar
It’s war, then. — Pablo Escobar
“Your father did nothing wrong. These are people who are jealous of us, who are trying to take what we have. You have to be strong. I want you to be strong. You have to be strong and never show weakness.” — Pablo Escobar
“I think we should… reorganize a bit… and start sending our boys to burn some houses down and do some damage to politicians and senators all over the country. And to the soldiers and cops in our way, the judges who annoy us and the reporters that watch us, basically, we have to create a presence so disruptive they’ll want nothing but peace. That’s the only way we’re going to get there.” — Pablo Escobar
We have to fight, brother. Let’s put our hearts into this. And if we all must die, so be it. — Pablo Escobar
“Then I’m going to break him.” — Pablo Escobar
“I don’t have time for that pussy shit right now.” — Pablo Escobar
“I expected respect.” — Pablo Escobar
I was going to do marvelous things for this country. — Pablo Escobar
“If I have made myself into a monster, like all of you say, that is the fault of people like your father… and those politicians ‘of always.’ Those oligarchs and those people were never going to tolerate that little paisa from Medellín who had more money and was more intelligent than all of them.” — Pablo Escobar
“I just want you to know… that you, Valeria… are a bandit, just like me. So don’t come to me with bullshit.” — Pablo Escobar
“We have peace now. You’re going to directly benefit from that. It’s only fair that you contribute to the legal and security costs that Gustavo and I will face behind bars.” — Pablo Escobar
“Why should I let them reap the fruits of our labor without compensating us for it, Gustavo?” — Pablo Escobar
I didn’t think it would end this way. — Pablo Escobar
“Lies are necessary… when the truth is too difficult to believe. Right?” — Pablo Escobar
There is a time to fight… and there is a time to be clever. — Pablo Escobar
Meanwhile… I’ll view any incursion as a declaration of war. — Pablo Escobar
“I hope you’ll forgive me for making this invitation mandatory.” — Pablo Escobar
I come from nothing. I fought hard to become what I am. — Pablo Escobar
We are bandits. — Pablo Escobar
“Better a grave in Colombia than a cell in the U.S.” — Pablo Escobar
“Those who know me know I have a great sense of humor. I would say that I’m a happy man. I’ve always been happy. I’ve always been optimistic. I’ve always had faith in life. I always sing in the shower.” — Pablo Escobar
“Well, one can never know. I can only hope for the best. I would like to die on my own two feet.” — Pablo Escobar
We’re not going to spend our life in hiding. I promise you that. — Pablo Escobar
“Allow me to clarify. You have never worked for the Moncadas. You work for me, and you have always worked for me.” — Pablo Escobar
“The money that puts food on the table for these men, where does it come from?” — Pablo Escobar
Everything you see here is mine. Everything you have is because I allow you to have it. — Pablo Escobar
You simply didn’t know who you were really working for. — Pablo Escobar
“The men of always aren’t interested in the children of never.” — Pablo Escobar
It’s time to get back to making money, brother. — Pablo Escobar
“Put the word out. We’re going to kill all the bastards who did this.” — Pablo Escobar
“Let the bastards come. We’ll be ready for war, a fucking bloodbath. We will fight like we have never fought before in our lives.” — Pablo Escobar
“Tonight… we’re going to fight like we’ve never fought before. We’ll fight with everything we have. Fuck the Cali cartel! Fuck Judy Moncada! Fuck Los Castaños! We’re going to show these motherfuckers who they are messing with.” — Pablo Escobar
Because tonight we’ll be fighting side by side to the death. — Pablo Escobar
“This is my city, Limón. These are my people. Medellín will never betray me.” — Pablo Escobar
Shrewd, prudent, cunning, and merciless Pablo Escobar is an Artisan.
Javier Peña
Javier Peña is a DEA agent and serves as Steve Murphy’s local liaison when he first arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. Together they represent America’s law enforcement in response to the Medellín cartel.
Peña utilizes local women of the night as informants, through this venue him and Steve hear of Escobar’s exploits and head to Medellín.
Javier and Steve collar José Rodríguez Gacha, the Mexican representation and second made member of the Medellín cartel to go.
Javier takes a meeting with Pablo’s rival cartel boss Don Berna. Berna relinquishes the location of a coke lab that is going to be hit by Pablo’s men.
Through one of his paramours Javier encounters Maritza Rincón, who gives him the location of a meeting between Escobar and his accountant.
This turns out to be an ambush in which Colonel Carrillo is slain. Through his connection with Don Berna Javier takes a meeting with Judy Moncada and the leaders of a right wing paramilitary organization Fidel and Carlos Castaños.
Through a wire tapping system known as Centra Spike, Peña and his superiors are able to garner critical location intel regarding many of Pablo’s employees.
He then feeds these locations to Judy and the Castaños brothers, who perform assassinations. This interaction results in the death of many high ranking sicarios and becomes known as ‘Los Pepes’.
Peña is sent home to States after Judy Moncada is extradited and relinquishes information about the Los Pepes death squads.
“Give me something I can use and we’ll talk about it.” — Javier Peña
Everybody works for somebody. — Javier Peña
“Traffickers pay people at the airports for intel.” — Javier Peña
“A gringo coming in from Miami raises suspicions. That’s how you got made.” — Javier Peña
“Don’t let it rattle you. That’s what they want. You probably got a price on your head, but no one’s gonna take the contract.” — Javier Peña
“There’s a standing bounty of 350,000 US on any DEA down here, but you’re safe… because of Kiki.” — Javier Peña
“All due respect, but Colombian cocaine has killed more Americans than Soviet troops.” — Javier Peña
“Yeah, it’s a fucking joke. The CNP has zero chance of capturing him with that bullshit.” — Javier Peña
Use what little we got to try and even the odds. — Javier Peña
Do you want to catch Pablo or not? — Javier Peña
Sometimes you gotta do bad things to catch bad people. — Javier Peña
“What I want you to do is sidestep a little bullshit bureaucracy and help someone stay alive. You really think I’d be asking you if it wasn’t important? She’s my informant. And she could be the key to bringing down the whole Medellin cartel so come on Colleen, whose side are you on?” — Javier Peña
“So then we have to be smart. We have to set a trap. If we catch him alive, he’ll give us Escobar. And the Ochoas. The entire cartel.” — Javier Peña
He doesn’t care about death. He only fears rotting in jail. That’s the real victory. — Javier Peña
I thought you said you were all in. — Javier Peña
Well, we were never any good at playing politics anyway. — Javier Peña
I got one goal, get Escobar. — Javier Peña
“It may not make the front page, but… a lot of the intel we have is because of Steve. He’s a good man. He’s going through some shit right now.” — Javier Peña
“One of my CI’s.” — Javier Peña
“Who are the ‘good guys’… Steve? Us?” — Javier Peña
Berna… you’re a fucking drug dealer who sells poison by the kilo. Fuck your honor. — Javier Peña
Bold, impulsive, resilient, and clever Javier Peña is an Artisan.
Steve Murphy
Steve Murphy is a DEA agent and lead investigator in the manhunt for Colombian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar.
Steve and Javier detain Nelson Hernandez and find bomb residue on his person. This implicates him in the recent Bogotá bombing and he leans on La Quica, another top brass sicario.
Escobar’s most prolific killer.
They track down La Quica via his mobile device and detain him. He relents and agrees to cooperation in collaring Pablo. Escobar sniffs out the ambush and evades arrest.
Steve becomes aware of the location of Pablo as a result of his perpetual communications with his wife. They track him down and he is slain by gunfire.
“Party time in Zona Rosa. Everybody goes there. Especially the local hitmen. Colombians call them sicarios.” — Steve Murphy
“Don’t call me a bad guy just yet.” — Steve Murphy
“But sometimes bad guys do good things.” — Steve Murphy
“A product whose offer creates its own demand.” — Steve Murphy
“Back then, we were just finding out about the effects of cocaine on the human brain. We didn’t know much, but we knew it was some pretty powerful shit.” — Steve Murphy
“Cocaine hijacks the pleasure centers in the brain. A rat will choose cocaine over food and water. It would choose cocaine over sleep, over sex… over life itself.” — Steve Murphy
“The human brain isn’t quite the same as a rodent’s… unless we’re talking about cocaine.” — Steve Murphy
“Cockroach knew he had the perfect product. He just needed to smuggle it to the right markets. And the best smugglers in the world were in Colombia.” — Steve Murphy
Yeah, you guessed it: Pablo Escobar. The man who would change my life forever. Pablo was making a killing in the smuggling business. Cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, you name it. — Steve Murphy
In ’79 the bad guys I was chasing wore flip-flops. — Steve Murphy
“During the early ’80’s flights out of Bogotá had several mules on them. They didn’t even know about each other. And you know what? Getting in was easy, because nobody worried about cocaine in America. All we cared about was grass.” — Steve Murphy
“Pretty soon cocaine was hidden in almost every legitimate Colombian export. Fish, coffee, flowers, rubber hoses… anything.” — Steve Murphy
“Then Pablo closed The Kitchen and started opening cocaine labs in the middle of the jungle. Under the canopy cover of the Colombian rainforest, he could expand his production capability indefinitely without anybody noticing it.” — Steve Murphy
When I started, a one-kilo grass bust was cause for celebration. And before long we were seizing 60 kilos of coke a day. We thought we were making a huge difference. Truth is, we weren’t even making a dent. They let us have 60 so they could bring in 600. — Steve Murphy
“Pablo’s coke flooded in. It didn’t take long for Miami to get addicted. And I mean that. It was like the whole city was running around trying to get this shit. And with the money… came the violence.” — Steve Murphy
The hippies had been replaced by Colombians and these guys didn’t wear flip flops. — Steve Murphy
“From ’79 to ’84, there were 3,245 murders in Miami.” — Steve Murphy
“What got the US government to take notice was the money. Billions of dollars a year all flowing from the US to Colombia. And that… American couldn’t take.” — Steve Murphy
It was time for America to suit up against a new enemy. — Steve Murphy
“During his career Pablo would kill over a thousand cops. But I wouldn’t learn that till later.” — Steve Murphy
My dad volunteered to fight in World War II because of Pearl Harbor. But you think he knew anybody in Hawaii? No way. He was a West Virginia farm boy, but these fuckers stepped on our soil. So we laced up our army boots and went to fight. It was his duty. Cocaine in Miami? Kilos from Colombia? This was my war. This was my duty. And I was ready to fight it. And my wife was ready to fight it with me, too. We had no idea what we were in for. — Steve Murphy
One year later… all that patriotic bullshit was right out the window. — Steve Murphy
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in a narco world, it’s that life is more complicated than you think. Good and bad… they’re relative concepts. In the world of drug dealers, you do what you think is right… and hope for the best. — Steve Murphy
“By the time I left Miami, Americans were doing a couple hundred tons of cocaine every year.” — Steve Murphy
“To satisfy American noses, the Narcos ramped up their operations.” — Steve Murphy
“The problem was no longer demand. It was supply.” — Steve Murphy
“Pablo and his partners built superlabs the size of small cities.” — Steve Murphy
“From leaf to paste to powder, they produced 10,000 kilos a week. At 50 grand a kilo, that’s five billion dollars a year.” — Steve Murphy
“But no matter what they did, they couldn’t hide all that money. It just kept coming in.” — Steve Murphy
The narcos had me on file the very first day. — Steve Murphy
Whatever’s going on here… I’m in all the way. Is that understood? — Steve Murphy
“And the killing didn’t stop. Pablo had tasted blood. And he liked it.” — Steve Murphy
The narcos had their army, but me and Peña had ours, too. Many Colombians like Major Horacio Carrillo were so invested in the future of their country that they were ready to do whatever it took to fix it. — Steve Murphy
This was a war that would shake an entire country to its foundations. And in the carnage… mine would be shaken as well. — Steve Murphy
There’s an old saying in law enforcement: ‘The bad guys need to get lucky every time. The good guys just need to get lucky once.’ — Steve Murphy
“Pablo’s path was total war. He established a bounty system for killing cops and over 200 were slaughtered. The police had to build a special morgue just to hold the bodies. The cops, they took vengeance.” — Steve Murphy
Next time you wanna fuck somebody take ’em on a date. — Steve Murphy
“In this war, the innocent always seemed to be the ones who got hurt.” — Steve Murphy
It is often said there is no honor among thieves. That’s doubly true of drug dealers. — Steve Murphy
“Pablo wanted to send a message to Cali, so he ordered his sicarios to hit them during a soccer match. It was very effective.” — Steve Murphy
He’d beat us because he was willing to do what we weren’t. Bad guys don’t play by the rules. That’s what makes ’em bad. Maybe that’s what lets ’em win. — Steve Murphy
“You wanna call me a bad guy? Fine. But if you do, it just means that you haven’t met enough bad guys yet to know the difference.” — Steve Murphy
There’s one thing I’ve learned out here in Colombia, good and bad are relative concepts. — Steve Murphy
We can either play politics or we can do the job. — Steve Murphy
“But this time would be different. This time, there would be no surrender… no negotiations… no deals. This time… we were gonna kill him.” — Steve Murphy
“In his career, this asshole killed thousands of police officers at a rate of over 400 a year.” — Steve Murphy
This fight against Escobar, you want to win it. These guys aren’t fighting by the same rules, so why should we? — Steve Murphy
“What’s newsworthy about a few dead sicarios in the murder capital of the world?” — Steve Murphy
I know protocol is to vet intel, wait for corroboration, but I feel this one in my gut, sir. — Steve Murphy
“Escobar had made a career out of terror. And for the most part, it had worked. But when he parked 220 pounds of TNT outside of a downtown Bogotá shopping center a week before school started up again, no one could deny he had gone too far.” — Steve Murphy
We’ve all gone off the rails down here Javi. You heard what Martinez said. If we’re standing over Pablo at the end of this, we win. — Steve Murphy
“Fuck it. I don’t want to know.” — Steve Murphy
The best way to make a bad story go away is to come up with a better story… and sell it hard. This is one of the cornerstones of American foreign policy, and one we learned through years of trial and error in Latin America, Chile, Guatemala, Panama. — Steve Murphy
“Getting caught with your pants down sucks, but if at the same time you give the folks a big win, like say, dismantling the second biggest drug cartel in the world, well, then nobody’s paying attention to the bad story. They’re too busy patting you on the back.” — Steve Murphy
“Risky plan? Yes. But pressure will force you to take risks. It’ll force you to do a lot of things.” — Steve Murphy
Utilitarian, passionate, quick-witted, and a bit of an adrenaline junkie Steve Murphy is an Artisan.
I’ll have to challenge your typing of Pablo Eacobar. Isn’t his intelligence hierarchical and strategic? Wouldn’t that make him a Fieldmarshall Rational?
No, his intelligence is Tactical. Classic con-man. Charming and a cold-blooded killer. “After briefly studying at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, he left without a degree and began to engage in criminal activity that involved selling contraband cigarettes along with fake lottery tickets, and grand theft auto. In the 1970s he began to work for various contraband smugglers often kidnapping and holding people of interest for ransom.”
You’re right, that is tactical. There is a quote in the show that said “there are times to fight, and there are times to be smart. Now is the time to be smart.”
This made me think he isn’t impulsive, but calm and controlled. Saying it’s time to be smart also seems like he has a strategy in place, always seems to have escape routes and contingency plans ready to take effect. I thought, of course contingency planning would come easy to him, as that would be his second strongest suit.
Maybe the show does not really capture his true temperament.