TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Narcos lacks sympathetic characters, but pulls in the viewer with solid acting and a story that's fast-paced enough to distract from its familiar outline.
Episodes
Narcos: Season 1 Videos
Narcos: Season 1 Photos
Tv Season Info
Cast
as Pablo Esobar
as Steve Murphy
as Gustavo
as Fabio Ochoa
as Javier Pena
as Eduardo Mendoza
as Elisa
as Diana Turbay
as Connie Murphy
as Valeria Velez
as Technician
as Tata Escobar
as Horacio Carrillo
as Ambassador Noonan
as DEA Agent
as Juan Pablo Escobar
News & Interviews for Narcos: Season 1
Critic Reviews for Narcos: Season 1
All Critics (48) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (10)
It's a worthy effort, to be sure, but worthy doesn't always equal entertaining.
For some, Narcos will revive the most troubling TV depictions of Latinos as criminals and drug traffickers, despite the show's heroic efforts to humanize everyone involved.
Narcos makes a chillingly persuasive case that the high-level drug biz isn't fundamentally different from most other business. Supply, demand. Risk, reward.
An unlikeable character, no matter the circumstances, remains unlikeable, but an unlikeable character trumps a bland blonde man whose position of authority appears to be his only really interesting character trait, no matter how much voice-over he utters.
Narcos [is] an electrifying new Netflix series.
For this hyphenated viewer, Narcos works, linguistic flaws and all.
Audience Reviews for Narcos: Season 1
Enthralling, violent, bold, and brutal, Narcos represents a major achievement from Netflix in its endeavor to produce original content. The show is a drama based on the larger-than-life drug lord Pablo Escobar whose audaciousness has perhaps never been rivaled. This presents a lot of material ripe for cinematic adaptation, and Narcos does an excellent job of capitalizing on this. The first season shifts its point of view between the DEA agents sent to be liaisons with local authorities, and the cartels themselves. The dynamics between all of them are fascinating, stuffed full of historical backdrops and characters forgotten by history, but very much a part of it (Barry Seal comes to mind). The first season does balance the different viewpoints well, and has some succinct narration that adds to the series’ tone, and does not distract us with over-exposition. The brutality is relentless, yet consistent and authentic to the lives these men led. It’s a fast paced show that never fails to hold your attention. The acting is solid all-around, from a very talented ensemble and international cast. If the series has a flaw, it’s a lack of full characterization, especially from Pablo. He’s a cold and calculating man, yet with a very affable exterior. What we never fully appreciate, however, is what fully drives him. The same can be said of the DEA agents. The series was perhaps a little too keen to propel us in the story, that it never stopped for a breath to get us to really understand who we’re dealing with. This, however, is a small criticism amid a nearly-brilliant first season.
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