“Magical realism is defined as what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe. There is a reason why magical realism was born in Colombia.”

This quote started the pilot episode of the hit Netflix series Narcos.

Thousands of pounds of pure cocaine were produced in sweaty shacks in the forests. Drug cartels hired young pregnant girls to swallow fifty to one hundred cocaine pellets to transport it. Pregnant girls died from overdoses due to broken pellets flowing into their bloodstream. Infamous Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar (Wagner Mauro) began creating too much money to launder so they buried it. And mass executions in fields? Heck yea, there’s a reason magical realism was born in Colombia!

The series was released on August 28, 2015 and follows the rise of Escobar’s drug cartel, and the DEA agent that pursued him, Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook).

The show is set in the 80s, jumping between Miami and Colombia. It begins with a violent bar shooting introducing the menacing environment that the story is set in. It continues to recount the cocaine operation in Peru along with the murders and deals made in Colombia that led to the rise in cocaine demand in Miami and Escobar’s cartel.

Protagonist Agent Murphy is a DEA agent assigned to the case of Pablo Escobar, one of America’s most wanted criminals. Murphy moved his wife to Colombia with him so he could be closer to the case, but ended up unknowingly bringing himself into Escobar’s crosshairs. Agent Murphy’s engrossment in Escobar’s case does not go unnoticed and Escobar put out a hit on him.

The episode also delves into Escobar’s family, portraying accounts of him, his mother and his wife, and discussing his operation. It was strange to see a wife worrying about her drug lord husband transporting the goods. Escobar is insidious, smart, and uses his abilities to his advantage. He additionally knows how to strike fear into his enemies. On the other hand, Agent Murphy plays the role of the oblivious cop who doesn’t really know what he’s got himself into.

The show has a sexy and dangerous, but kind of humorous air to it. It incorporates all the little quirks that personified the decade. It’s addicting and, since it’s a Netflix original, it will have its audience binge watching and aching for more.