Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal

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

It is a great series! Love the casting. All the actors have done a great job! El Chili grows up on you- my favourite!

In my opinion, "El Patrón del mal" is much better than "Narcos". More realistic and accurate to real facts. If you are from a Spanish speaking country, or if you are familiar with this language, you will realize that, no doubt.

In "El Patrón..." all actors are Colombian; you feel like you are there with them, at the times and places the events are happening. The main actor, Andrés Parra, really looks like Pablo here, talks like him, moves like him... And this is also the case with most of the other main characters (even if the names are changed sometimes, for instance Carlos Lehder is here "Marcos Herber", and so on).

Some have critized that this series are like a "telenovela", but I don´t agree. Maybe the structure is similar, but the main thing in the plot are not the love stories and the romantic misunderstandings of the characters (like it is the case in telenovelas), but the recent Colombian history, seen from different perspectives: Pablo and the Medellín Cartel on one side, and the authorities fighting against crime on the other.

Some have critized that this series glorifies Escobar, but I do not agree with that either. One of the scriptwriters is actually Camilo Cano, a grandson of Guillermo Cano, the director of an important newspaper who was killed by Escobar. And the script is based on a book written by a former mayor of Medellín.

By the way, there´s a book out there about this series written by a fan, it is a guide for the episodes of the series. As far as I know it is only in Spanish for now, but if you speak this language, love this series and/or are interested in the story of Pablo and the Medellín Cartel it could be interesting for you. The book´s name is "Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (Guía de todos los episodios)" and you can find it in Amazon (ebook and paperback).

Superb. I haven't enjoyed a TV show this much since Breaking Bad. If you speak Spanish, you will enjoy Colombian from different provinces which is a delight. Escobar role is phenomenal. The sicarios are so believable and scary but hilarious at the same time! Angie Cepeda is a bonus. She is so hot is not even funny (or it may be I can't get the image of her naked in "Pantaleon y sus visitadoras".

If I have to criticize something: 50 episodes would have been more than enough.

Another great thing about this series is that you get to see a lot of Colombia. Especially Medellin and Bogota and the beautiful Colombians which are a pleasure to listen to. Spanish is my native tongue (I am Argentinean) and I believe Colombians have the most beautiful and richest Spanish. .

Amazing! I highly recommend it.

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.