What I’m Watching: Narcos

Narcos: Season 2, Episode 4 “The Good, the Bad, and the Dead” (B+)

At a few points throughout this show’s run so far, Pablo has felt very boxed in and started to behave erratically. In this case, however, it was different, since Pablo was ready to have the upper hand, poised to tell the world a story he didn’t even have to make up of Carrillo shooting someone in the head and giving a bullet to a kid to bring to Pablo. His frustration at hearing that no newspapers were running the story was immense, and I didn’t expect him to retaliate in such a brutal fashion. What caught me off guard was Limon’s duplicity, but it makes sense since he was able to find a way to save his girl from Pablo and La Quica by forever indebting Pablo to her even though she thought that she was betraying him. Her link to Javier was much closer than expected, and he’s right to beat himself up for having gone for the bait, even if she wasn’t the one knowingly leading him to it. Pablo likes to make an entrance, and personally killing Carrillo was an important moment for him. In some ways, it’s not as impactful since Steve and Javier weren’t there to witness him pulling the trigger, but they were in bad enough shape when Steve decided to chase a suspect in a really bad neighborhood and nearly get himself cornered. Connie’s return couldn’t have come at a better time, and it’s hard to know whether the Americans not being allowed to go out in the field anymore was the right call that saved their lives or if it’s just going to make things worse. Kudos to Eduardo for making the best of two bad situations and throwing himself on the sword.