What I’m Watching: Narcos

Narcos: Season 3, Episode 9 “Todos Los Hombres del Presidente” (B+)

Talk about a stressful hour. After so many innocent people have lost their lives, it’s good to see the good guys win for a while, even if that victory was detracted from substantially by the fact that Crosby has been aware the whole time of the corruption at the top of the government which he ignored and even endorsed. The brutal fridge delivery was Miguel’s last destructive act before he got behind bars, and just like the apprehension of Gilbero, this has highly dramatized in extraordinary fashion as he seemed to be making a getaway only to be sideswiped and then taken in before the show did its usual effective cut to real news footage of his capture. David’s paranoia, it turned out, was legitimate, and it’s a good thing that Miguel didn’t have time to suffocate Jorge before Feistl got there and that Van Ness made it to his home to protect his family just moments before David arrived ready to shoot the place up. If I haven’t said it already, Matias Varela is the undisputed MVP of this season for his performance as Jorge, who stayed cool under pressure before surviving what seemed like his final moments. The second most memorable player of the season had a great scene at the end of this episode, and that was Pêpê Rapazote as Chepe, who called the police on himself and then treated them to a meal before he let himself get arrested. With Gilberto and Miguel reunited in jail and the other two on their way there, Pena should be celebrating, though I imagine he’s realizing that the next big takedown is going to be of an operation that the United States expressly helped to create.