Yeah, all round excellent that series. I liked the use of Spanish throughout, the interleaving of archive footage and there was some quality acting in it…
Looking forward to S03.
I’m watching things slowly spiral out of control. The plot is contrived and unrealistic, but I am hooked.
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Uh…
If that was about anything in real, 3D life…
Dude, don’t even.
Take it to another thread, please.
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Agreed. Now that I’m on a physical keyboard I can expand a bit more on the things I liked and didn’t like.
Having it largely in Spanish was great. It always bothers me when you see characters speaking in a foreign language “when it’s convenient to the plot” and otherwise speak to one another in over the top accented English. Having the bulk of the dialog being in Spanish made everything feel much more authentic. I’m glad they didn’t dumb it down like you see so often in American dramas. You’re in a Spanish speaking country, with Spanish speaking individuals. Chances are they will do most of their talking in Spanish. I also never realized how amazingly versatile of an insult puto/a was.
For a film geek like myself this was a visual treat to watch. The cinematography and direction was simply amazing. Great aerial shots, long takes, seamless use of archival footage, great use of flashbacks. Not to mention much of it was actually filmed on location in Colombia and not some back lot in Hollywood so they were able to use actual places and locations when filming. It one again added a lot of authenticity and further sucked me into the story. I later read that they used the actual rooftop Escobar was killed on in the final shootout scene..
The show also managed to do the impossible for me by actually managing to humanize Escobar and his lieutenants – I mean at a point near the end I actually started to feel kind of sorry for the guy. That’s a pretty amazing accomplishment. The show pulled no punches in showing just what a horrible person he was and the amount of misery he brought to so many millions both directly and indirectly – but it also balanced that by showing that him as the devoted family man and that he truly believed that what he was doing was necessary “for the greater good.” There was no Walter White-like revelation at the end where he finally admitted that “yeah, ok, I admit it, I did this because I liked being a criminal”.
I’m glad they are continuing the show and I will be interested to see how they change directions now. There’s huge philosophical and operational differences in the Cali cartel when compared to the Medellin cartel. I’d imagine that the war with the up-and-coming Mexican cartels will make for some gripping drama.
As for things I didn’t like so much, well that’s easy: the handful of scenes depicting animal cruelty. I felt they could have been handled a bit more deftly. But that’s just me – I really get uneasy at scenes like this and I realize that’s the point. I just don’t feel it’s necessary to linger on scenes like this like when Gacha shot the dog. Thankfully this plays a very minimal role throughout the series.
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It’s real life, but its on TV. That doesn’t count ? 
The best part is, the season is 365 days and on 24/7.
No but really, Ash vs Evil Dead is still winning right now.
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Finally got around to watching What We Do In the Shadows. Aaaaaaahahahaha so good. Why is there no soundtrack album available 
But at least one nice person has made a Spotify playlist.
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Black mirror is absolutely worth a watch. San junipero being a particular standout episode, just beautiful. Then read an extensive article jeff vandermeer wrote about the humanity of the characters over on the atlantic.
It’s pretty great this season, so far. The rest of it will have to go some ways to beating episode 3: last call, i haven’t enjoyed an episode quite that much since the pilot.
Just want to point out - the back of my head appears in the first episode of season two of American Crime.
It happens just as the school director asks everyone to raise their glasses and pull out their checkbooks at the fundraiser. I’m in the russet sweater off to the right in the crowd.
All the extras worked 12 hours that day for that minute-long scene, the crew even longer, and we agreed to skip the dinner meal to finish up before eating. Felicity Huff had to recite that dang speech at least six times for all the camera angles.
Film/TV production is not an easy job.
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So I was watching Classic Trek, an the episode “Elaan of Troyius” was on. Two races on two different planets in the same solar system hated each other, but they recently gained the technology for MAD, so they were going to have one person from one planet marry the ruler of the other to cement peace.
The Enterprise was going to shuttle that person, Eiaan, a woman from a warrior culture where the rulers act with 100% power and control. An ambassador from the planet she was going to brought her up to speed on customs and expected behavior. Of course they hate each other, and their cultures are markedly different. Kirk tries to smooth things over and she says she will never accept the people of her new home, she hates them.
He says something like, “In our experience, once one is exposed to something they hate, they come to understand it and stop hating.”
Something like that, I know I butchered the quote.
2 episodes later was the classic white/black face - black/white face aliens.
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Westworld is turning out to be pretty fantastic, i hope they keep it up.
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I’m watching my country destroy itself.
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Worst. show. ever.
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Finally caught up with Walking Dead.
I wonder if this will be on the radio soon:
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It’s the soundtrack for the new presidency.
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I could see South Park using it for depicting the Trump celebration.
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Oh damn, it’s everywhere now.
*fingers in ears
Lalalalalalalalalalalalalala…etc.
Methinks thread readers here are looking for escapism entertainment…
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