Pablo Escobar, el patrón del mal

While the production seems a bit cheezie on some levels (the seventies teevee serials music for example) it is easy to learn to ignore that and get sucked in hard with the exceptional acting and real-life drama.

The complexity of the criminal characters in this drama illustrate how easy it is for people to trust and become loyal to such psychopaths in real life.

The portrayal of Pablo -- an average looking and in mid-life overweight man who does not fit into any of the stereotypical movie portrayals of the gangster/bad guy is honest and fantastic. Same with the actors who portray his wife and others -- one reviewer commented that his wife could have more attractive for the show. C'mon! She was average, just like all the rest. Its when actresses and actors are chosen for their looks that exceed that of any people in real life that a show or movie becomes unbelievable and bad.

The cold, calculated way in which Pablo uses others to do his dirty work most of the time, and how its not for sadistic pleasure but more for simply power and like a any narcissistic psychopath, people are just to be used and disposed of when in the way - save for his family and yet he controls everyone, even his family tightly and masterfully because that is the all encompassing focus of a typical narcissistic psychopath.

The show is well done and binge watching should be expected as it is nearly impossible to predict what will happen next as none of this follows a writer's script, but instead, the intense and irrational machinations of a madman and his lackeys.

No doubt Columbia is still recovering from the near complete hijacking of their country and the brutal assassinations of innocents, but the US would do well to take heed to the lessons of how the rich and powerful can and will usurp democracy when it serves their interests.

When compared with Narcos, the low budget is very visible in the production standards -- but the detailed script overrides the other flaws. Outstanding attempt.

As a fan of all the Narcos series I was happy to see this turn up on my stream, hungry for more of the intrigue and shoot em up action. But I soon realized this take on Escobar was a far cry from those glamorous romanticized versions with their Sopranos-like anti-heros - the main character of this show is an unrepentant scumbag, with more revolting warts than endearing dimples.

The early episodes had me questioning the casting of the lead. The character was a dumpy schlub, too stupid and crass to emerge as a powerful leader. But as the series unfolded the actor proved a superb choice, evolving seamlessly into a canny take-charge capo and eventually a cold-blooded sociopathic tyrant. It's a brilliant performance, of a character with very little charm who nevertheless commands your attention.

While there's plenty of violence throughout, it's rarely the exciting give-and-take gun battles of the Narcos shows, but rather savage murders and bombings aimed at defenseless politicians and journalists and other declared enemies of the Medellin cartel. And there's no clever adversary playing cat and mouse games with Escobar - the personal thorn in his side is his wife, a strong-willed character every bit as conflicted as Carmella Soprano, torn between her conscience and her lifestyle.

At times the series dips a toe into telenovela territory, with maudlin montages as characters reflect on memories of their recently assassinated loved ones, but these are few and far between (and easily zipped through on fast forward, without losing any of the story.)

There is also real news footage, generally of the aftermaths of bombings or assassinations, which is noticeable but works well in the context of the show.

Another big difference from the Narcos shows is the depiction of the Colombian law enforcement and political establishments, with much less focus on the corrupt officials in Escobar's pocket and more on the heroic idealists who opposed him. (Understandable, since some of the producers had personal ties to those opponents.)

Overall, the production values, like the casting, is excellent. The settings and costumes are somewhat more realistic and down-to-earth than those of the Narcos shows, reflecting Escober's lower class tastes.

Warning though, if you get hooked: with several dozen episodes, this will keep you binging for weeks.

This was an interestingly informative series. Unlike the new Narcos show, this show gave us a complete insight of how Pablo became the terror he was.

In my opinion Narcos has to get better with their storyline, as it is not as thorough as the Pablo el Patron series. Maybe because they telling it from the Narcs perspective and even though it is a good show, I feel like it is still lacking some pertinent information.

Pablo el Patron took me by surprise and held me tight until the very end of the series and now I feel like I need more but the story came to an end in the right way. LOVED IT!!!!!!! I hate it took me 4 years to see it.

Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal is an ambitious and largely successful undertaking to portray the man who held the country of Colombia in his tyrannical grip (by the proverbial cojones) for more than a decade. The epic series (73 episodes on Netflix) details the damage and heartbreak this man left in his wake. The story of Pablo Escobar is nothing if not unbelievable, and this expansive production manages to explain the seemingly inexplicable, how a single person could essentially take over a country, corrupting countless individuals through the imposition of a ruthless ¨plata o plomo¨ (money or bullets) ultimatum at every stratum of his society.

The series is not perfect--the jarringly repetitive music riffs preceding every single pursuit scene, the sometimes bizarrely abrupt casting changes from one episode to another (the radical transformations of the wife, Paty, and the son, Emilio, were especially puzzling), and the excessive, overwrought sentimentality in the aftermath of some of the atrocities can all be criticized with good reason.

That said, the overall production is a success because the acting is very, very good, and the writers and director accomplished what they set out to do: to tell a story which needed to be told, and to do so convincingly, complete with historical film clips inserted where available to document that this is not a tale of fantasy. The series was so gripping that I watched six episodes a night continuously until I finished, exhausted by the ordeal.

I was especially impressed by the ability of the lead actor (Andrés Parra) to portray how it was that Escobar was both loved and feared to such an extent. His rise, fall and ultimate unraveling were very well paced, and the acting was perfect. Other standout performances were those of El Chile, El Topo, Fabio, Marino, Pedro Motoa, El Mariachi, Marcos Herbert, Gonzalo, Cain, Kiki... the list goes on and on.

I highly recommend this series to anyone with an interest in the history of Colombia, the cocaine trade, or organized crime more generally. All of the dialogue is in very clearly articulated Spanish, so it is linguistically worthwhile for anyone who speaks Spanish as a second language. (There are subtitles in various languages, too, so the production is accessible to non-Spanish speakers as well.) Anyone who is interested in the nature of corruption should not miss this series.