Narcos

[GladysKravitz]

I am really enjoying series 2 on Netflix but one thing is bothering me. How do you pronounce 'narcos'? Does it rhyme with 'tomatoes' or (flounders around for another word) Marcos as in Imelda?

I vaguely remember the DEA agent saying the word to rhyme with tomatoes, as a plural of narco, but as it's a Spanish language program it might be pronounced the other way if it's a Spanish word?

[desperatehousewife21]

We pronounce it to rhyme with tomatoes and I'm sure the blonde DEA guy who also does the voiceover has said the word a few times and also pronounces it like that.
Not sure if it's any different in Spanish though!

[AnnaChronism]

I was just going to start a Narcos season 2 thread, I binge-watched it last weekend and now I'm watching it all again, it's so well made.

Wagner Moura is an incredible actor, he's acting against type, put on loads of weight and learned perfect Columbian Spanish for the role, there isn't a hint of his Portuguese accent.

Which episode are you on?

I pronounce Narcos - Nar to rhyme with car and cos to rhyme with nose but I stand to be corrected.

[desperatehousewife21]

We're on episode 3 season 2. Love it I don't have a bored moment- fantastic series and love listening to them talk!

[AnnaChronism]

I loved the finca in S2 E2, the view is beautiful.

[GladysKravitz]

We're up to episode 6 series 2. There's a documentary about Escobar called 'Sins of my Father' on Netflix that we plan to watch next. I'm fascinated about the whole story, the country etc - I would quite like to go to Bogota!

I am trying hard to rhyme it with 'tomatoes' (the American agent said it that way again recently) but DH keeps saying it the other way. If he keeps doing it I may have to give him the ultimatum 'plato o plomo'

Anna, it's interesting you say that about his accent as apparently Colombians are not happy with it. It's been compared to having Gerard Depardieu play Sherlock Holmes! There's an interesting Reddit AMA with Moura here which addresses this.

[Clayhead]

The documentary is well worth watching imho.

[AnnaChronism]

I will watch the documentary, it sounds great.

I speak Spanish and I thought his accent was good!

[gingerboy1912]

Just started series two and I'm hooked. I think it's fascinating.

[gingerboy1912]

He was an evil bastard though

[LurkingHusband]

Has anyone else found the recent news from Colombia seemed to make a bit more sense, having gleaned an understanding of the history from Narcos ?

Excellent show - can't wait for S3/S4

[MadJackMcMad]

It is definitely Nar-cos (to rhyme with nose) it's an abbreviation of narcotics and widely used in all sorts of American cop shows, and the voiceover guy has indeed said it that way. I'm really enjoying it too!

[gingerboy1912]

Definitely learnt a lot watching this show although I know it's only based on true facts but can totally see how the cartels took over the whole country. There is another program on Netflix where they interview members of government and other public figures as they reflect on those days. It's really interesting. It's seemed to be that throwing Pablo Escobar out of any political career was the catalyst for most of the violence that followed.

[PseudoBadger]

We loved both series. Great acting and eye candy in Pedro Pascal
I spend a lot of the time repeating wonderful Spanish words like 'narcotraficante'

[LurkingHusband]

Season 3 started filming

[AmazingDisgrace]

Loved it too. I could watch Pedro Pascal all day long and Wagner Moura is fantastic as Escobar.

[Clayhead]

Loved it too. I could watch Pedro Pascal all day long and Wagner Moura is fantastic as Escobar.

My thoughts exactly!

[Birdandsparrow]

Wagner Moura is an incredible actor, he's acting against type, put on loads of weight and learned perfect Columbian Spanish for the role, there isn't a hint of his Portuguese accent.

isn't actually true, Colombians were a bit bemused at why he'd been chosen as they can hear his accent. I can't particularly (we are in Spain and are watching it all in Spanish) but Dh, who is Spanish can hear his accent. Still excellent though.

[Clayhead]

Just finished the second series - wow. Thought it really ratcheted up the tension in the final few episodes.

Compelling, sad, real. Lots to think about.

[gingerboy1912]

Clay I agree it left me feeling conflicted in a way because really Pablo Escobar was an absolute bastard who killed thousands of innocent people but I found myself rooting for him in the last few episodes

[PseudoBadger]

Limon was an interesting character, written very sympathetically until his final meeting with the woman and the baby

[LurkingHusband]

Clay I agree it left me feeling conflicted in a way because really Pablo Escobar was an absolute bastard who killed thousands of innocent people but I found myself rooting for him in the last few episodes

But isn't that a mark of great drama - great stories ? The subversion of our morality with that of the characters ?

Some of the best TV of the past decade-plus has worked by getting us to root for "the bad guy" - and are at their best when you realise you have forgotten they are the bad guy.

I'm sure there are entire media studies courses with this as a module .

For me, the paradigm of this would be Vic Mackey in "The Shield". The entire 7-series show is predicated upon the fact that in the very first episode he kills a fellow police officer in cold blood (to prevent being caught). It's not obliquely hinted at, or dressed up with any ambiguity. It's brutal and stark. And yet we spend the next 7 series rooting for him.

See also "The Wire" where you find yourselves siding with the Barksdales ...

I guess Macbeth is the granddaddy .

[PseudoBadger]

And Tony Soprano...

[gingerboy1912]

And Walter white in Breaking Bad. Although he is a fictional character and I think that is the difference for me, Escobar was a real person who murdered real people whereas BB, SOA, Vikings, TWD series and characters are all fictional.

[Clayhead]

Found this on decider.com, interesting.


“Al Fin Cayó!”, the tenth and final episode of Narcoss Season 2, was the series’ finest episode. That’s a major achievement in itself, entertainment value aside — a sign that the season and the show got better as they went, which was by no means a guarantee. Particularly regarding Pablo Escobar, Narcos^ in general and this episode in particular wound up pulling off a work of real emotional alchemy. It made him more human — sympathetic to the point of it being hard to watch him endure his agonizing downfall — even as grew more unequivocal about the monstrousness of his crimes.
Contrast him with comparable TV crime bosses. By the final season of Breaking Badd, even as we pulled for Walter White to get out of each scrape, it was difficult to not want him to suffer. Despite committing several of his most heinous acts in The Sopranoss’ last season, Tony was always a more appealing character than his New York rivals. On the flip side, Marlo Stanfield, the archvillain of The Wiree^’s waning years, was pure evil, impossible to see as anything but a dead-eyed killer.
But with Pablo Escobar, Narcos managed to make you feel like you were watching a human being’s life fall apart as he lived in mortal terror and depressing isolation, and that he was a world-historical murderer who’d killed countless thousands so he could sit around palatially appointed estates in the world’s ugliest sweatshirts. It’s difficult to think of another show so certain that both halves of such a story needed to be driven home even in its final hour.

[LurkingHusband]

Walter White was a more interesting character as he went from "good" to bad(ass) over the show, and did reflect a question for the audience of "what would you do, if you knew you had months to live" ?

And - more importantly perhaps - why isn't it rife in society today ?

Without meaning to upset anyone, there must be a number of people who have accurate teminal diganoses - say a couple of months.

If you had 2 months to live, why would you not kill someone like (say) Donald Trump before you went yourself ?