What I’m Watching: Narcos

Narcos: Season 2, Episode 3 “Our Man in Madrid” (B+)

What we’re seeing now more than ever before is that this war with Pablo is wearing on the American agents involved. The return of Carillo was a formidable event since he made such an impression on the show in season one, and it’s rare for me and I would assume many other viewers to readily pick out a past character on this show full of personalities with similar names. The fact that Carillo just got called up in Madrid and then was back in Colombia again right away is pretty crazy, and he got things back to his way of doing them immediately. He went in hot in a very disconcerting manner, shooting someone in the head just to make a point. Steve asking to be trusted didn’t work out as he planned, as it became more than clear that Carillo has gone off the deep end. Pushing one prisoner out of the helicopter to make a point was almost expected, but pushing the second one out when his brutal death would do nothing to compel someone else to confess demonstrated his willingness to do anything to seem unhinged and dead set on getting Pablo. Unfortunately, his tactics are failing, and Pablo getting his reporter friend to interview the kid to name Carillo as someone who executed suspects on the spot is definitely going to turn the tide of public opinion back against the police, even while they are being attacked and assassinated by Pablo’s people. This really is a grueling battle that never seems to end.