In a post-Pablo Escobar world, those final words spoken in the last season of the Netflix original series Narcos foreshadow the upcoming season's pivot into the corrupt, powerful and wildly profitable world of Colombia's Cali Cartel — the biggest drug lords you've probably never heard of. Now that the bloody hunt for Pablo Escobar has ended, the DEA turns its attention to the richest drug trafficking organisation in the world: the Cali Cartel. Led by four powerful godfathers, this cartel operates much differently than Escobar's, preferring to bribe government officials and keep its violent actions out of the headlines.
Release date: It hits Netflix September 1st.
Spoilers: For two weeks after release, you are to spoiler tag your posts (ex: episode 6: )
Links:
Cast:
Damián Alcázar as Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, Francisco Denis as Miguel Orejuela, Pedro Pascal as Javier Peña
Alberto Ammann as Pacho Herrera, Pepe Rapazote as Chepe Santacruz Londono, Michael Stahl-David as Chris Feistl
Matt Whelan as Daniel Van Ness, Matias Varela as Jorge Salcedo, Miguel Angel Silvestre as Franklin Jurado
Kerry Bishe as Christina, Arturo Castro as David Rodriguez
Reviews:
We Got This Covered:
I skimmed through it, it looks like it contains spoilers.
With Escobar gone, the title of the series takes on new meaning: dozens of Escobars have existed to varying degrees of infamy. Knowingly, this is written into the fabric of the show: Pena acknowledges that there is always a new enemy to track. Just as the cartels are addicted to the thrill of making money and evading capture, the DEA agents on their tail can't get enough of the chase. Conceivably, Narcos could go on for a while yet.
Thankfully, this particular story is brought to a satisfying conclusion by the close of season 3. There's no artificial cliffhanger to mull over. As the final credits roll, you're left to sit back in slack-jawed wonderment at a self-contained story of the highest order. Let's hope Narcos doesn't one day overstay its welcome, because season 3 is one of the best seasons of television I've ever had the good fortune of watching – one that reinvents itself in the wake of its famous antihero.- Indiewire:
Outside of the overhanging threat of Pedro Escobar, ”Narcos" proves its ability to excel as an ongoing drama by not just introducing new members of these syndicates, but giving them real, fleshed-out lives beyond basic confrontations. There's a most intriguing conflict that arises when characters who see themselves as technically ”outside" the cartel — because they don't carry drugs or actively sell drugs — are forced to accept that fallacy.
The downside, though, might be a facet of that focus, as Season 3 does lack the level of female presence enjoyed by Season 2. Beyond the relatively brief reappearances of a woman reporter, the women of this story are all wives and mothers, only deeply engaged with the action because of how their husbands and sons are involved. But ”Narcos" has never been a show where passing the Bechdel test was a priority.
Promo photos: