Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Narcos Capitulo #1, August 22,2016:The harsh beginnings
We are shown a glimpse of Colombia in the past and it's magical realism.The narrator begins: "Nowadays the U.S government can spy on everyone they want. You come near a computer or a a cellphone, you're doomed. But back in Colombia 1989 there was no Internet , no GPS. Only the rich could afford the seemingly untraceable satellites phones like landowners, politicians but especially the Narcos."
Speaking of the devil, Poison( A fellow hitman of the Medellin cartel) was being tracked by the "intrusive" government airplane. Poison was just getting ready for a party with his fellow gang men but his luck is about to run out. The spy crew informs our narrator, DEA agent Steve Murphy of Poison's location. His wife Connie is seen in the background taking a baby from Steve's arms. Since DEA cannot operate in Colombia , Steve calls his Colombian pal Carrillo. Carrillo, the leader of the Search Bloc was having a drink with Javier Pena when he informs Javier of the situation unfolding( The Search Bloc was a unit helped to catch the bad guys, in this case drug dealers). Carrillo wonders if Steve knows that he just set Poison's death sentence. Javier replies that Steve is not an idiot. Carrillo leaves Javier to pay the bill and to rant in peace. Carrillo ensembles his foot soldiers ready to strike at Poison's location. He's killed quite a lot of people at the party including Poison.
Our narrator also mentions Nixon and Pinochet. The 47 million voters thought that Nixon was one of the good guys and so was thought of General Pinochet. Everyone liked Pinochet because he hated the Communists but then he turned around and killed thousands. But at times bad guys do good things.
We get transported into Chile year 1973 before Steve traveled to Colombia. Around that time Chile was the biggest cocaine processing and exporting center. But there was a big drug bust in which Pinochet arrested, rounded up and killed almost all of the drug dealers. The only surviving member of the "nuclear disaster" were the cockroaches aka Mateo Moreno also nicknamed Cockroach LOL. He played for dead and escaped the area. Cockroach was stealing from his bosses for months and now he had himself the most perfect and addictive product: Cocaine. According to studies a rat would rather choose coke over food or water or even over life itself. The human brain was no different. All Cockroach had to do was to smuggle it to the right markets.
There were quite a few choices . One of them was the Ochoa brothers, Jorge and Fabio. They were rich and smart but the luxury has gotten to them. The second choice was Jose Gacha, an emerald smuggler with an unhealthy love for sombreros, shotguns and tequila. Gacha is known for killing his partners so Cockroach decided to skip him and went to his third option: Pablo Escobar. Pablo was making a killing with trafficking.
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| This is what will happen if you're gonna butcher our show |
We later see Pablo in a car with his cousin Gustavo. They decide to stop at the border. They pretty much have all the cops bought out but the DAS(Department of Security) were a different story. Or so it seems. Pablo manages to intimidate any opposition at the border with knowledge of their families. Pablo introduces himself as the next president of Colombia informing them that they can't do a thing without Pablo's knowledge. Pablo gives them a choice: silver or lead. The border patrol lets him and the trucks pass. The trucks were carrying contraband that was hidden in TV-sets.
Pablo&Gustavo meet up with Cockroach. While our intro song is played twice, Cuca proposes them a deal. Cuca will cook coke for them while Pablo will be exporting it. It's only ten bucks a gram. Cockroach wants to sell in Colombia only but Pablo reprimands him for his lack of vision. Pablo wants to infect America as well and it really didn't take long. Pablo&Gustavo went to Cuca's jungle and took 5 kilos from him. They would also open their own labs. The labs were so unsafe that Pablo proposed to build a chimney to ease out the smoke LOL. Pablo's entire family was also in the game as Pablo's mother Hermilda sewed Pablo a jacket that could take around 5 kilos of Coke. Coming up with trafficing tricks is clearly Gustavo's main department. Gustavo&Pablo hide the coke in car tires. With their strategy they earn almost half a million dollars. We also meet Leon( Gustavo's childhood friend from U.SA portrayed by Jon Ecker) and Tata( Pablo's young bride portrayed by Paulina Gaitan). Pablo is shown to have quite a love for his family. Leon buys himself an airplane ticket to begin exporting to Miami.
We see a flashback of Steve's beginnings as a DEA agent. He was at first partnered with Kevin Brady. Mexico was a paradise back then.They were running after a grass trafficker. They later celebrated by bowling which led Steve to meet his to be wife Connie. Connie gives Steve a fake phone number to calm his teasing friends. Later Steve actually phones the number and it turns out to be real. That's the point in which she got him.
At some garage Leon gives his Nazi loving contact Carlos Lehder the coke filled jacket. The impact that Leon's trips had was massive as everyone in Miami got slowly addicted to coke. Soon Pablo had to use trucks instead of cars. Gustavo used many tricks like filling the trucks with potatoes. Every tire could fit in 20 kilos. But even that wasn't enough as Leon had to bribe ladies to ingest the coke. The pregnant ones got even more cash as they wouldn't get checked at the airport. It later turns out that the girl died while ingesting it. Connie who's profession is being a nurse tried to save her but it was all too late. The body count in Miami also increased dramatically. Steve even had to kill a 17 year drug dealer. Steve even blamed himself but Connie calmed him down.
Lehder also used airplanes to transfer coke to America. Soon the coke was in everything and everywhere. Pablo made a deal with the Ochoas and Gacha for them to share their resources. Pablo also closed the labs and transferred the business to the jungle. But not everything was shine and roses as Cuca started to get unsatisfied and greedy. When Cuca expressed his dislikes, Gustavo warned him to stop as Pablo is not very forgiving. But Cuca did not stop. One day he gave Pablo's strategy away to the cops. When Pablo learned of this, he calmly rode to the DAS , insulted an officer. They made a mugshot of him. Pablo offered one million for information about the leaker. It seems Cuca has been stealing from Pablo all along, selling the goods to Miami. One of those dealers was a plumber that Steve&Kevin were going for. The plumber, German was ready to show the goods when an assassin came shooting Kevin&Geman dead. Steve wanted to put the gunman on death row but Cuca paid his bail instead. It was at that time that Steve decided for war. His father fought at Pearl Harbor but now the enemies are on their very soil. Steve&Connie take a flight to Colombia.
There was also some cameo of Reagan&Nancy in which Nancy says "When it comes to life say Yes but when it comes to drugs&alcohol just say no" LOL
Pablo kills Cuca and two of the DAS officers. Pablo also learns about the shooting at the Bar in which Poison got killed and raises the bounty on Steve( This happens after Steve travels to Colombia.).
Labels: narcos
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Excellent recap, Countx. I watched it last night and was impressed with the quality of the production. Unfortunately, it is just not my thing. :(
Thank you!
Yeah the show is quite stressful to watch with all the violence. But it does have some of my favorite characters in it. Right now they are Carillo, Gustavo&Pena. I can't wait to see them more!
Yeah the show is quite stressful to watch with all the violence. But it does have some of my favorite characters in it. Right now they are Carillo, Gustavo&Pena. I can't wait to see them more!
The way the gore was hyped up, I was expecting more. Twasn't that bad at all. If you can watch the Walking Dead or shows like Game of Thrones and American Horror Story, then this is kid stuff. I personally don't like watching the gore in the aforementioned shows, so I'm happy that this show is not as gruesome. Love the plotlines, the narration, the spanish-english dictionary lessons, the historical aspects, the humor, and the drama :)
Gracias, Count.
I just watched the first installment and find the vocabulary a bit challenging. I might not comment much because I expect to end up behind in this as I am in Yago, so thanks in advance to all who are recapping this one.
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I just watched the first installment and find the vocabulary a bit challenging. I might not comment much because I expect to end up behind in this as I am in Yago, so thanks in advance to all who are recapping this one.
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