A PSA today about two companion Netflix Series – ‘Narcos’ and  ‘Narcos – Mexico’.

Now, I’m sure most of us have been over exposed to far too many movies and TV Series about drug cartels involving really, really bad guys, DEA Agents, automatic weapons, Glock 9’s, government conspiracies centered around the drug trade, exploding trucks loaded with cocaine and usually also exploding people, stacks and stacks of $100 bills, etc., etc..

I thought I was suffering from overkill in those areas and bypassed both Series until one evening I was eating some nachos and scanning the Netflix Menu when BAM!,  I looked from nacho to TV and there it was – ‘Narcos’.  I simply couldn’t ignore what I thought must have been Divine intervention and proceeded to binge watch every episode of every Season  (4? – might have been 5 – not important) over the next two weeks. 

Wow.

Immediately after finishing ‘Narcos’ I clicked on ‘Narcos- Mexico’ and binged watched THAT through its multiple Seasons.

Wow. Wow.

Sorry, that second ‘Wow’ was redundant. But believe me, it’s appropriate.

‘Narcos’ follows the history, rise and fall of the Medellin and Cali drug cartels in Columbia during the 80’s & 90’s. Pablo Escobar’s career is the main storyline.  ‘Narcos – Mexico’ covers the histories of the multiple Mexican cartels operating during the same period, with lots of careers involved there.

While the two Series can be viewed in any order without confusion or redundancy, ‘Narcos – Mexico’ shares casts & characters where there’s historic overlap, which inevitably there was in real life. 

I suggest watching ‘Narcos’ first followed by ‘Narcos – Mexico’.  The former is more geographically contained while ‘Narcos – Mexico’ covers many more locations/characters.  Plus which, if you’re eating nachos while watching you might need some solid potty time between Series.

Although I know I spent WAY too much time binging it was well worth it. The stories, casts, performances, cinematography, Latin music  – pretty much everything except maybe the shoes – is/are/were just great.

AND – to me, the surprising side benefits of having watched ‘Narcos – Eternal’ were:

1) I can now speak Spanish – at least the dirty words.

(Note to Self:  Do NOT go into a bar filled with REAL Spanish speakers and think you are gonna get props when you start slinging around the words you learned from ‘Narcos – The Bunch’.  Especially watch out for ‘Puta’.  Mucho dead using that one around girls!)

2) I am thinking of taking up smoking cigarettes again.  Like, EVERYBODY LIGHTS UP ALL THE TIME!  Even the little baby actors, who DO look remarkably like one year olds, look like they’re dying for butts.

I’m sure I’ll get over THAT little emotional tug from the past so not to worry.

3) I feel guilty about some unspecified behaviors I (may have) engaged in back in the day (or not) that contributed (or didn’t) to really awful things. (What were we thinking??? Or perhaps oblivious to?)

4) I believe I know enough about the drug trade that I could start my own cartel.
 
(Note to self: Make time for serious gun range practice, brush up on accounting skills, break out the old disco vinyls, get a Commercial Drivers License (lots of trucks involved).  And don’t forget the shoes.)

5) I have a much better understanding of what’s going on in the Fentanyl crisis and absolutely HATE the thought of it.

6) I am more than a little angry thinking of the cynical machinations on the part of Governments involved related to so called ‘Wars on Drugs’.

I’d like to think this aspect might have been overplayed but am wary of trying to maintain any kind of Polly-anic perspective on what is likely really happening behind the scenes there.

Sorry, but #’s 5 & 6 above wander into moralizing a little and… hmmm… #3 even sounds a tad introspective. This aging thing is confusing sometimes.

Sooo, that’s a LOT to get out of time spent watching TV and reading sub-titles but it’s worth it.

If it weren’t for the extreme violence, graphic language, occasional boobs, drug use, blood, the shoes and, oh yeah, did I mention the cigarette smoking, I wonder if a PG version of these Series might not shock ‘THE YOUNG’ into giving a lot more thought about staying away from drugs. 

Anyway, if you’re not doing anything else for the next three or four weeks or if you want to pre-plan your evenings for the next couple of years I’d say ‘Narcos – Forever’ is The Bomb.

And don’t forget… if you get a full order of nachos at the start of your binging, you’ll have enough to outlast your 401K.  😊