After the opening episode Descencos my expectations of this show were high. Director José Padilha, who was also responsible for the raw Tropa de Elite movies (which are also worth watching), is not unfamiliar with showing the dark side of society. And that dark side is something he shows in this second episode. This recap/review contains spoilers.
After setting up the world in the first episode, the second one immediately puts things into higher gear. While DEA-agent Steve Murphy is on his way to Columbia, we see how Escobar is now producing and selling so much cocaine that he’s earning 5 billion dollars a year. That’s so much money that it’s impossible to launder. He has a cab company with three taxis which earn him millions a week. Eventually he decides to start burying his money. Even though he doesn’t want to end up on the Forbes list, that is what eventually happens, together with a couple of his business partners. It is the reason for the militant group M-19, who have stolen the sword of the man who founded Venezuela (mentioned in the title), to decide to kidnap the women of the Ochoa family.
That event has some big consequences, as it is the main reason the infamous Medellín kartel is formed, named “Death to Kidnappers”. The various dealers decide to organize themselves. Pablo Escobar takes charge and promises to find the kidnappers, kill them and bring back the kidnapped woman. He keeps his promise and makes sure all M-19 members are found and killed. After that he proudly hangs their bodies from a tree and takes a picture of it (to be send to the newspapers) to show he’s not afraid of anyone.
Something which stands out in this episode is the amount of sex. This wasn’t the case during the first episode, but “The Sword of Simón Bolívar” has lots of it. Sex is often used as a way to get information. Reporter Valeria Velez manages to get Pablo into bed and through that makes sure she has the information about what is going on.
But even the police use sex as well. Steve Murphy’s partner Javier Peña regularly visits a prostitute, Helena, who has contacts in Medellín. She wants to get a visa so she can move to the US. When she tells him that a lot of prostitutes are heading to Medellín, Peña knows that something big is about to take place. It is the meeting of all the big drug dealers. When Helena tries to ask questions about that meeting she does so when she is seeing José Gacha (Luis Guzmán), who earlier in the episode already shows that he trusts no one and shoots his own dog. When she asks her first question he already knows what is going on. He makes sure that she’s raped by several men, while Peña tries to locate her.
Murphy quickly finds out when entering Columbia that he’s no longer in America. He is made to wait, his passport is immediately faxed to criminals and in his neighbourhood shootings happen all the time. After visiting Medellín he finds out that his house has been burgled and that his cat has been killed (the second animal to die in this episode).
The symbolism of the sword nicely ties the beginning and the ending of the episode together. The sword is an important symbol for the creation of a country, but when Escobar eventually receives it he sees it as a symbol which he can use to protect his country. He has ways to do so and even shares his money like a modern day Robin Hood. These are his first steps in becoming a known man.
Something which this episode also makes clear (if that wasn’t the case yet) is that Gacha is a psychopath who you wouldn’t want to meet. In every scene he is in you already start preparing yourself for the worst. This episode contains several shocking moments. The initial glamour of the first episode now makes way for a darker feeling, making you want to see how this develops further, even though Escobar’s story is well-known.
What did you think of the second episode of Narcos – The Sword of Simón Bolívar?