What I’m Watching: Narcos

Narcos: Season 3, Episode 4 “Checkmate” (B+)

Anyone who thinks that this show has gone downhill since Pablo Escobar was killed should watch this episode immediately. There exists such complexity in the way that law enforcement works in Colombia and the manner in which the drug lords have become ingrained within it, exercising an extraordinary and frightening level of control over what should be an ethical and moral police organization. Pena has been through this before, however, and as a result he wasn’t leaving any of it to chance. Bringing Cali’s only honest cop, Calderon, with him on an epic raid of a completely irrelevant house only to then take him to the place where he well knew that Gilberto was required masterful execution, and the only problem is that they let him get away so that he could call in all of his people to follow the wrong truck before Gilberto was safely flown out of Cali. Colonel Martinez’s ability to talk down the cops who met them at the airfield was also impressive, though he appears to have lost his badge for that feat of honor. Gilberto didn’t realize how serious his apprehension was, and unfortunately this is probably just going to cause more bloodshed than anything else. I’m curious if Jorge could have helped to stop it had he been within range and not abducting someone’s child, and the calls being made by those who remain at the top of the food chain show that everyone is panicking now, and intense and dangerous times are coming.