What I’m Watching: Narcos

Narcos: Season 3, Episode 2 “The Cali KGB” (B+)

Not that things were going so well for the Cali cartel, but all told it seemed that they were headed in a positive direction with this whole surrender thing. A gas leak killing a number of innocent people was not a productive development, and Gilberto was right to remark that it made they seem too much like Pablo, which isn’t a good thing in this case since they don’t want to inspire public terror. Speaking of quiet disposals, Maria Salazar wasn’t about to let the sudden disappearance of her husband go, and they didn’t waste much time in tracking her down and bluntly confirming that he was dead. Javier didn’t seem too interested in helping Duffy and Lopez keep their assignments, but obviously the lack of any true justice was enough to compel him to assemble a different team and ensure that some action is taken. I did manage to finish his life at one point, in response to his rhetorical question, “What were they doing?” I think that means that part of the investigatory nature of this show is cyclical, not that it’s run out of ideas. You might think that the most memorable part of this episode was the scene in the beauty parlor where machine guns were fired from under the haircut capes, but I’d actually select the one that immediately preceded it. The most valuable player of this episode was indisputably Pêpê Rapazote as Chepe, who reminded me a lot of Pablo, a bit more excited but just as calmly terrifying. Counting down when his Dominican competition was trying to count down was an intense and effective move, and I hope we’ll see a lot more of him since he certainly is electric as a character. Jorge is also becoming a very intriguing character, and I look forward to more of him as well.