I want to see Sofia get her hands dirty now. Maybe some horror. Definitely some horror.
Oh no. Netflix has done it yet again and made me root for and feel somewhat sorry for a criminal, bravo guys. Prior to a few days ago, I had never heard the name Griselda Blanco. That was until I saw that a new Narcos-like show had started on Netflix that, surely enough, had some of the same writers behind the lauded Narcos (2015). It shows too because in its opening minutes, it feels like competently made TV. It's difficult to explain but after a while, you can kinda tell if a show is going to be decent or not by the way it feels. The way it's shot and the atmosphere is something that you can differentiate from a show that has a paper mache budget from one that doesn't, and Griselda certainly has that HBO-like blockbuster feel that you can see in its set designs, clothes, acting and overall composition.
Speaking of acting, a lot of it is good, but the star of the show is Griselda and watching Sofia Vergara (who like Morgan Freeman and others doesn't seem to age at all) struggle to her rise to power and slowly lose it all left me conflicted to say the least. The power to change your life doesn't often come easy, especially in her case. The fear, blood, looking over your shoulder always and betrayal that comes with her life is something I struggle to understand if it's worth it in the end. Her come up made me sympathize with what people from other parts of the world go through to just live, let alone survive, and how some of those same people look to a country with plenty of problems as their way out.
I might have to finally check out Narcos because if I was this impressed with Griselda, I can't imagine what's in store for me there.
Holy shit they did Sofia dirty. What a miscast. Other than that it's just another coke Netflix series, nothing new.
This started off well enough, but it ended on a sour note. It's never a good sign, when the final episode of a mini-series is roughly 10 minutes shorter than each of the other episodes. It gives a feeling of watching the leftovers. One thing that I didn't really understand was the jumbled timeline. Griselda Blanco's life story was interesting enough w/out them having to change so many details, and keep in actual events but in an alternate order. It didn't make much sense, and it certainly didn't add anything to the story. If anything, the story that they concocted was more of a rendition of Scarface than anything else. I wish that I knew why they had done this, especially when there were plenty of action involved in her real-life story. I will say that one thing I didn't care for about this series was how they made her a sympathetic figure. She wasn't, and to make her and her family victims was disingenuous and dishonest. Other than that, it was well-acted, but it just didn't flow well.
Acting was not good for the most part and the writing and style of the show was average at best. I mean if you got nothing else to watch then maybe try it, but I would pick narcos over this any day. Sophia's acting didn't help either....
Sofia Vergara is great but it felt a bit too glamorous and over the top.
I wished this was better. It wasn't. First elephant in the room, make up/prosthetics on Sofia were terrible. She was never going to look like Griselda. Why this weird botched middle ground? I don't know how that got approved. Story pacing was so so. It felt as if we were stop and start racing through plot points. Spending too much time on unimportant or uninteresting segments only to breeze by more intriguing moments. I wish we would have gotten a bit more time with Griselda on top of the world before the inevitable collapse and her murder. I liked where and how it ended, but it missed on a lot of the bigger story points. Writing was ok. I did enjoy the fashion, music, and hair. Really fun exposure to the culture of Latinos and Miami in this moment of time. I though Sofia did well, but not spectacularly. Her inspirational/rousing speeches fell flat or just felt like her screaming her dialogue instead of actually inspiring. She did well playing off her male leads though. Overall, if you like Sofia you'll like this. If you don't, move on past this series.
I really enjoyed this show. Actors did a good job. definitely worth watching.
Well done, a moderately less violent version of Narcos. Seemed like they rushed through the ending though, especially since it only took 14 minutes to drive from Miami to LA a couple times!
I feel it dragged a bit too much to be impactful, fell a bit flat for me
Sorry but the griselda’s make up was so fake, so ugly. I couldn’t watch more of this series…
I think Sofia was too pretty to play Griselda. Griselda was a rough looking woman. :sweat_smile:
Good transition of Sofia into more serious roles on a show that mixes well crime and drugs with a personal quest and the role of a family provider
It felt like a weak Queen of the South rip-off. Acting wasn't convincing in any way. Never bonded with any of the characters. For me this was a waste of time
Never felt connected to the main character or story.
A very well and presented story about the rise and fall of the "Godmother".
Sadly it all comes to a very bitter end for Griselda and her family, despite her best efforts. Well worth a watch :thumbsup_tone1:
[Netflix] Idealized version of a villain whose atrocities and ambition here are continually justified, building the character as a mother who developed her criminal career to protect her children (although she failed), facing a world of evil men who betrayed her. But apart from the romanticization of the murderess, the series lacks the narrative pulse that the first seasons of "Narcos" had, which showed a more ambiguous portrait of Pablo Escobar. And it is harmed by an evident budget reduction that surrounds it in the tone of a Latin American "telenovela".
Review by SpiderJerusalemInTheMountainsVIP 2BlockedParent2024-01-29T19:18:47Z
On the news I heard that Sofia was worried she wouldn't be taken seriously in a dramatic role, I understand in the way a Woman who falls under that traditional "super hot bimbo/tropy wife" role, but she has more than proved her talent in Modern Family (hell, they even thought she was just a trophy wife at the beginning, but that quickly changed didn't it ;) ) alone as far as I am concerned.
I don't like binging new shows, I love to take the time and process each episode, but I could not stop watching it was so damn good. I don't even watch narco-esque shows or movies, I only watched it after I heard her comment on the news doubting herself, and if you have any question about the truth of her statement... Episode 4, go to the 26 minute mark (something like that when she starts her speech) and in a spoiler free way, that alone was the minute where any doubt you may have had left should been gone.
I hope the hate due to it being a female lead is minimal (or gone), as this really deserves to be looked at during the awards season.