Narcos: Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Narcos: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

This is your Netflix on drugs.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 19, 2016

Sean Penn’s at least somewhat questionable journalistic competency aside, the recent brouhaha involving his interview with El Chapo kind of reinvigorated stateside debates about drug cartels and the men who head them, a topic that had grown somewhat stale in light of newer, “shinier” news stories. Though really not that much older than El Chapo (somewhere between five and eight years, since El Chapo’s real birthdate has been variously reported), another cartel kingpin named Pablo Escobar was the subject of a lot of headlines back in the day, long before anyone had ever really heard of El Chapo. Escobar’s territory was Colombia, as opposed to El Chapo’s Mexico, and his favored drug, at least after he recognized its enormous profit potential, was cocaine. It’s almost impossible to separate the influx of cocaine into the United States from the efforts of Escobar, for the one flowed from the other in an unquestionable fashion, as the often riveting Netflix limited series Narcos makes clear. While narrated by Drug Enforcement Agent Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook), one of several characters culled from the "real life" story, perhaps unavoidably a lot if not most of the first season of Narcos is focused squarely on Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura), a ruthless businessman whose “business” just happened to be smuggling. While the term “Medellin drug cartel” has become more or less synonymous with the name of Escobar, it’s notable that in its early years at least the cartel didn’t actually traffic in drugs (at least not that much), preferring instead more mundane items like booze and electronic items like televisions and stereos. Escobar had dreams of political power beyond the sheer aggressiveness of his smuggling activities, as is made clear in any early episode when he reveals he’s already done “oppo research” on a coterie of army types who are attempting to keep him from delivering his contraband. The character of Escobar provides a fascinating entré into what is still a peculiarly unknown story of what was going on in Colombia from the 1970s on with regard to illicit drug activity, and how that ultimately led to a huge impact in the United States. Narcos may in fact play fast and loose with at least some of the facts at hand, but it offers a compelling overview of a story that continues to have ramifications for both countries to this day.

What’s a bit odd about Narcos is that even the supposed “good guys” don’t always come off as true heroes. That seems especially unusual considering the fact that the series regularly deploys voice over by Murphy to provide background and context, but it becomes clear early on that the DEA, perhaps due to the exigencies of the crisis at hand, doesn’t always “behave” in a way one would expect law enforcement agencies to. That gives the entire series a feeling of moral shades of gray, when perhaps a better delineation between the outright horrors of the Medellin Cartel (and its competitors and/or associates) and those trying to bring them to justice might have provided more of an appearance (if not the reality) of balance. The series takes a quasi-documentarian approach, despite the obvious “personalization” that having Murphy narrate the episodes creates, and it moves between an ever expanding cast of characters with an admirable efficiency.

The narration as well as the show’s tendency to ping pong back and forth in time (at least in spurts) also tends to actually up the foreboding at times. It’s obvious from a throwaway comment by Murphy's voiceover that one seemingly important supporting character isn’t going to be around very long, and not too long after that comment one of the vignettes depicted does in fact show that character’s pretty gruesome demise. The series perhaps then trades on that dread to create an increasing amount of angst with regard to Murphy’s happy little family, whom one tends to suspect may also not stay happy, or even alive.

Some smart editing tends to also draw parallels between Murphy and Escobar, though of course such correspondences are often intentionally ironic. Both men are ruthless and cautious at various times, but one of the series’ most potent aspects is how either can “go rogue” at various times. Some of Escobar’s plotting, especially his merciless elimination of anyone who stands in his way (or who he even thinks is standing in his way) provides more than one shocking “exit” as the first season progresses. There’s a virtual Breaking Bad: The Complete Series level of arcane detail on the actual processing and manufacture of cocaine sprinkled (sorry) throughout various episodes that some enterprising entrepreneur could almost take as a primer of sorts.

The series builds to a rather baroque first year wrap up, especially as the collusion between Escobar and both governmental groups as well as cohorts of other smuggling means that there is an increasing chance that someone along the way is definitely going to start scheming against someone else. It will be interesting to see if Narcos manages to maintain its narrative drive while perhaps upping the human interest angle in its second season. While Escobar’s story may have faded at least somewhat into the limelight in years subsequent to those detailed in Narcos’ first season, most folks are probably going to know the infamous drug lord didn’t exactly live to see old age (or frankly even much of a middle age). The ending of this tale may therefore already be a foregone conclusion, but how Narcos chooses to get there may well provide more than enough interest on its own.

Narcos: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Narcos: Season One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists this as having been shot (mostly) with Red Epic cameras at what looks like a 5K source resolution, and the results are quite dramatic at times, offering nicely detailed views of everything from Colombia's teeming urban environments to the leafy environs of various tropical rain forests where Escobar sets up cocaine processing labs. There are some unusually lit (if not outright graded) moments, with various characters frequenting clubs that are bathed in red, or out in a tropical wilderness that is awash in green tones, and the palette looks very healthy and nicely suffused. There is still some minor murk in some dimly lit interior scenes, but the presentation is commendably noise free nonetheless. Fine detail is excellent, though that's a double edged sword as the series never flinches from showing some of the horrifying after effects of various killings (not necessarily limited to humans—dog lovers are forewarned). Contrast is generally strong (I personally wouldn't have minded a bit of a boost in some of those aforementioned dimly lit sequences), and there are no issues with image instability.

Narcos: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Narcos' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 provides a fitting sonic analog to the generally excellent video quality. The show may not have a " Miami Vice" soundtrack in terms of source cues, but Pedro Bromfman's quite evocative score resides very comfortably in the surrounds and provides a nice wash of activity at various junctures. Some of the frightening shootouts offer good punches of sonic activity and some occasional bursts of LFE. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly (the show is virtually bilingual, lapsing into Spanish at the drop of a hat and/or sombrero, with optional English subtitles).

Narcos: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Descenso - Audio Commentary with Actor Wagner Moura and Executive Producer/Director Jose Padilha

Disc Two

• Explosivos - Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Chris Brancato


• Establishing the Route (1080p; 24:49) is an interesting piece focusing on the genesis of the series.


• The Colombian Connection (1080p; 11:41) looks at the aims to make the series as authentic as possible by shooting in Colombia.

Disc Three

• Despegue - Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Eric Newman and Director Andi Baiz


• The Language Barrier (1080p; 11:40) talks about (sorry) making a bilingual show.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 7:23)

Narcos: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Having been wowed by Sicario if perhaps just a little underwhelmed by The Bridge: The Complete First Season, I wasn't quite sure how I'd react to Narcos. I ended up getting rather heavily involved in the show almost from the get go, even as I wished that we cared for some of the characters a little bit more. Moura is a force of nature as Escobar and gives the series an incredible amount of almost frightening energy at times, but Holbrook's Murphy is still a work in process, part of which I ascribe to some inartful writing choices. Overall, though, Narcos is both educational and insightful, always a good combination. Technical merits are strong, and Narcos: Season One comes Highly recommended.