History Series / Narcos

** Javier Pena and Feistl head off any and every contigency as they plan and execute the arrest of Gilberto Rodriguez. They guess correctly that Calderon is a CorruptCop, so they pretend to be misinformed and accompany Calderon on a search of an empty residence. That proves to be a diversion, as Hugo Martinez arrives by a chicken delivery truck to the residence where Feistl had spotted Gilberto and begins the real search. They bring Calderon over afterwards, and his nervous reaction reveals to Hugo that Gilberto is indeed hiding in the residence where the real search was taking place. They leave no stone unturned, and find Gilberto hiding under a Jacuzzi tub. They lead him away in the chicken delivery truck. It seems like Calderon is about to become the SpannerInTheWorks when he hotwires a police car, and tries to get the rest of the local police to halt the arrest in its tracks before Gilberto can be flown to Bogota. But Pena and Feistl thought of that too. The truck carrying Gilberto hooks up with a second identical chicken delivery truck. Feistl leads the pursuing corrupt cops on a wild goose chase, buying time for the truck carrying Gilberto to make it to the airfield.

->''The following episode, when the agent an his boss are both being interrogated by the DEA for their role in reporting Murphy to the cartel:''

* ArchEnemy: Carillo becomes this for Escobar. He is one of the few people to openly challenge him and eventually even becomes the only man he ever feared. [[spoiler: He is also directly responsible for the death of Gustavo, who was both Pablo‘s most essential leutnant (to the part where he often was considered the real brains of the Medellín carte), but also his best friend.]]

* AllThereInTheManual: The ultimate fate is some characters isn't resolved on-screen, but as the series is based on genuine events it's pretty easy to find out what the show didn't explain. For example:

''Narcos'' is a 2015 Creator/{{Netflix}} Original CriminalProcedural series, produced by Gaumont International Television, chronicling the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's attempts to stem the drug flow from South and Central America into the U.S., related from the perspective of hardbitten deep cover DEA Agents in the 1980s and 1990s. Along the way much chaos, corruption, and bloodshed occur in the pursuit for fortune and justice. The series is filmed in both Spanish and English, and mixes drama scenes with a semi-documentary style narration and real life news footage.

* [[CrusadingWidower Crusading Widow]]: Judy Moncada in season two, who vows revenge against Pablo for killing her husband in season one and her brother in season two.

** Amada is personable and charming in almost every scene that he's in. He's even quite calm and restrained when he's being tested or threatened. He keeps his cool when getting threatened by Rafa, or Hank later on. He's also shown to feel hesitation and regret when he betrays people he used to work with and became fond of, like Pacho and even Aguilar whom he personally executes. The closest he ever gets to not living up to the trope is when he decides ItsPersonal with the hitmen sent after him. And even then, he lets his AxCrazy brother handle it.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Escobar's]] death is deliberately presented in a grey, conflictive light. The show pointedly juxtaposes the laments of his tearful mother with images of his various atrocities. Satisfying and tragic at the same time. Showrunner Eric Newman [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/narcos-boss-spoilers-season-2-pablo-escobar-death-924858 has stated]] that it was a conscious decision to humanize him in his final moments, and anticipates that there are going to be just as many people rooting for his death as there are for him rooting to get away.

The first season follows [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc the rise of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar]] and the DEA's attempt to stop him. The second season [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc chronicles Escobar's fall]]. The third season is the DEA versus the Cali Cartel. The fourth season goes to Mexico for a SoftReboot as ''Narcos: Mexico''. Season five chronicles the downfall of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo as leader of the Guadalajara Cartel. Season six follows the inter-cartel {{Mob War}}s that ensued.

* CorruptHick: In some ways, unhinged drug lord Félix Gallardo is a Mexican version of this. His home state of Sinaloa is a rural, mountainous region whose culture and accent are what some might consider Mexico's cultural equivalent to UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}}. Urban-born Creator/DiegoLuna also uses the region's accent and dialect for his portrayal, a detail that is unfortunately lost on viewers who aren't fluent in Spanish or familiar with Spanish-language accents. However, other characters occasionally make jokes at Sinaloa's expense due to it's backwards reputation.

** The Arellano-Félix family recruit the Logan Heights street gang from San Diego to serve as their muscle/protection. One member in particular, David Barron, basically becomes Benjamin's {{Dragon}} after proving how valuable a soldier he is by saving his life from numerous Sinaloan gunmen.

* NiceHat: Gustavo's ever-present flat cap. And Gacha's sombreros. The police forces often wear a variant of the sombrero vueltiao, a national symbol of Colombia.

** Brutal as it is, [[spoiler:Nava‘s]] death at the hands of Felix is downright cathartic, given what a sadistic, arrogant and greedy scumbag he was.
** It‘s pretty hard to feel sorry for [[spoiler:Clavel]] when Hector Palma bashes his head in after he [[spoiler:shot his wife and threw his children off a bridge]].

''Narcos'' is a 2015 Creator/{{Netflix}} Original CriminalProcedural series, produced by Gaumont International Television, chronicling the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's attempts to stem the drug flow from South and Central America into the U.S., related from the perspective of hardbitten deep cover DEA Agents in the 1980s and 1990s. Along the way much chaos, corruption, and bloodshed occur in the pursuit for fortune and justice. The first season follows [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc the rise of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar]] and the DEA's attempt to stop him, the second season [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc chronicles Escobar's fall]], the third season is the DEA versus the Cali Cartel, and the fourth season goes to Mexico which got a SoftReboot as ''Narcos: Mexico''. The series is filmed in both Spanish and English, and mixes drama scenes with a semi-documentary style narration and real life news footage.

Features Wagner Moura as the famous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and Creator/BoydHolbrook and Creator/PedroPascal as the DEA agents on his trail. Season 4 moves the story to the Mexican drug trade, with Creator/DiegoLuna as Guadalajara Cartel founder Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, and Creator/MichaelPena as DEA agent Kiki Camarena. The series also has as its executive producer (and director of the first two episodes) Jose Padilha. Seasons 5 and 6 continue to chronicle Félix's rise and eventual downfall and the inter-cartel {{Mob War}}s that ensued.

** Amada is personable and charming in almost every scene that he's in. He's even quite calm and restrained when he's being tested or threatened. He keeps his cool when getting threatened by Rafa, or Hank later on. He's also shown to feel hesitation and regret when he betrays people he used to work with and became fond of, like Pacho and even Aguilar whom he personally executes. The closest he ever gets is when he decides ItsPersonal with the hitmen sent after him. And even then, he lets his AxCrazy brother handle it.

* LuredIntoATrap: Amado discovers the trackers on his planes while attempting repairs, in what amounts to a DiabolusExMachina turn. Amado anticipates a raid coming on the big shipment that Cali is bringing in. So he has some men go through the motions pretending to load the air strip with what looks like cocaine keys. Breslin's team reaches the cache easily enough. But one of the team members notices that the keys are too heavy to be cocaine, and then tastes a sample from one of the keys to confirm that it's definitely not coke. He gets taken out the very next instant with a BoomHeadshot That moment marks Amado springing his trap, an ambush by Cartel men who not only vastly outnumber Breslin's team, but have the drop on them too. Breslin and two others barely make it out alive, and even then only with the help of DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent Calderoni.

''Narcos'' is a 2015 Creator/{{Netflix}} Original CriminalProcedural series, produced by Gaumont International Television, chronicling the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's attempts to stem the drug flow from South and Central America into the U.S., related from the perspective of hardbitten deep cover DEA Agents in the 1980s and 1990s. Along the way much chaos, corruption, and bloodshed occurs in the pursuit for fortune and justice. The first season follows [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc the rise of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar]] and the DEA's attempt to stop him, the second season [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc chronicles Escobar's fall]], the third season is the DEA versus the Cali Cartel, and the fourth season goes to Mexico which got a SoftReboot as ''Narcos: Mexico''. The series is filmed in both Spanish and English, and mixes drama scenes with a semi-documentary style narration and real life news footage.

** Escobar. He says he works and listens to the people (and despite being one of the richest men in the world and head of the Cartel, never calls himself rich, rather "a poor man with money") and rails against the oligarchs, or "men of always." But it's ultimately revealed that he desperately seeks those very men's approval, and has no issue with getting those same downtrodden people caught in crossfire of his terrorism.
** The Medellin cartel's first incarnation was an organization known as ''Muerte a Secuestradores'' (Death to Kidnappers) in response to M-19 holding the family members of the cartel leaders for ransom. Later on, Escobar mounts his own kidnapping campaing against the families of politicians to pressure them into accepting his demands.

** The Castaño Brothers claim they're an army fighting against the communist, and that they hate drug cartels and are only working for Judy, to help destroy Escobar. [[spoiler: During the season finale, Los Pepes makes a business deal with the Cali Cartel selling drugs, gets Judy's TheDragon, Don Berna, on their side, and sell her to the CIA. A case of LaserGuidedKarma for Judy, because she was going to sell them all out to the DEA.]]

** In order to get extradition revoked, the cartel resorts to kidnapping the heirs of Colombia's richest and most powerful families, up to and including the only daughter of a former President.
** In season two the Colombian government resorts to this when they put Escobar's family in "protective custody" (essentially house arrest). It is meant to put pressure on Escobar to surrender to the authorities rather than see his family suffer.

* LuredIntoATrap: Amado discovers the trackers on his planes while attempting repairs, in what amounts to a DiabolusExMachina turn. Amado anticipates a raid coming on the big shipment that Cali is bringing in. So he has some men go through the motions pretending to load the air strip with what looks like cocaine keys. Breslin's team reaches the cache easily enough. But one of the team members notices that the keys are too heavy to be cocaine, and then tastes a sample from one of the keys to confirm that it's definitely not coke. He gets taken out the very next instant with a BoomHeadshot That moment marks Amado springing his trap, an ambush by Cartel men who not only vastly outnumber Breslin's team, but have the drop on them too. Breslin and two others barely make it out alive, and even then only with the help of DoubleDoubleAgent Calderoni.

** Breslin and his team fall in with Calderoni's suggestion of tipping off the Tijuana Cartel to the tunnel built underneath their noses by the Sinoloa Carter. They're well aware that it's going to mean more deaths, but decide it's worth it if it means the end of Felix' Federation. But it's clear from their facial expressions that they're racked with guilt as they watch the execution of the Sinaloa tunnel workers from a rooftop.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: After Murphy assaults and threatens Suarez to get some information from him, Suarez tries to take revenge by calling Escobar and telling him that this new DEA agent is a threat. However, Escobar decides that Suarez has spent a little too much time talking with the DEA, and has him killed instead.

** Pablo's own father also doesn't get a single mention before he hides out in his farm in the second season. It's quickly made clear they aren't that close, and possibly have been estranged for some time (his parents apparently divorced or separated). His father finally tells Pablo that he's completely ashamed to have him as a son, prompting him to leave.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: The protagonists are DEA agents rather than FBI agents, but the dynamic is identical. The CIA is tangled up in the cartels and often refuses to cooperate taking them down. Escobar even has an ex-CIA man on his payroll. Season two introduces a truly shady CIA figure in the form of Bill. [[spoiler: This is made unquestionably clear in Season 3, when Bill warns Peña that he is wasting his time going after the Cali Cartel. By the end of the season, it is revealed that the CIA knew the Cali Cartel bought off the Colombian President and still decided to back him because of him also being a puppet leader for the US Government. Bill outright tells Peña that the war on drugs is already lost and the US Government's role in South America goes far beyond stopping drug trafficking. Peña finds out Bill is right when his superior admits this to be true, causing Peña to quit the DEA. Furthermore, in ''Mexico'' Bill is shown to have cut a deal with Félix Gallardo's Guadalajara Cartel to transport weapons into Nicaragua in return for pulling strings with the State Department to scuttle the DEA investigation into Félix.]]