Griselda

Very loosely based on the real and very evil life of Griselda Blanco who was a notorious drug lord in 80s Miami. She was murderous, psychopathic, and paranoid among other verifiable facts. The series however portrays her as an affectionate and somewhat naive character navigating the misogynistic world of male-dominated cartels.

Sofia Vergara's acting skills are not up to par for a role like this given the grittiness, depth, and ugliness of Griselda. The makeup and facial prosthetics were also extremely visible and distracting. We've seen countless male actors completely transform their bodies and physical appearance for roles yet here the female lead did not even look like a distant relative of Griselda. In my opinion a miscast, but understandable for show marketing purposes.

The cinematography, pacing, and other actors were alright but you just can't shake off the feeling that the series was half-baked and rushed. We've seen many excellent true crime shows produced over the years that makes this one ultimately forgettable.

This was decent. Pretty good acting and filmed on a decent budget but they absolutely butchered the real story of this woman. They tried so hard to find some kind of humanity in this completely unredeemable woman that it took away from the story of how psychopathic and sociopathic the real Griselda Blanco actually was.

This is a really nice drama to watch but not much more. It's like diet Narcos that's been kept at room temperature. Sofia Vergara does a fairly good job with that she is given but the character is written as an animal backed into a corner, rather than the ruthless sociopath that was the real Griselda.

It was better than ok... But only just.

I had high hopes for this miniseries. Coming from the producers and directors of 'Narcos', I figured this would be just as committed to accuracy and unflinching in its handling of the violence. It seems the producers felt, since this was a woman narco, they had to pull punches. The result is a series that could play on the Lifetime Channel with very little editing.

The REAL Griselda Blanco was an unrepentant mass murder. She was directly investigated for 40 murders and believed to be responsible for 250, total. This miniseries glazes over that. There is only a tiny fraction of The Black Widow's hits shown and a lot of the murders take place off camera.

Also, the first two episodes seem to be devoted to cementing Griselda Blanco as some sort of feminist icon. I mean why not? She's a 'woman' murdering drug dealer but she's being being picked on by all the 'male' murdering drug dealers. I consider myself a feminist and almost always support the connected causes. Griselda wasn't a 'feminist' any more than Pablo Escobar was a 'humanitarian'.

She was a total psychopath who murdered both husbands and an incredible number of people some of whom only had tenuous connections to the drug business. Her assassins didn't care what the collateral damage was and neither did she. Among these were woman and children. Her lifestyle led to death of three of her children. She was a monster and a black hole of a person who swallowed up people whole. She should have been portrayed that way. She is not.

While all gangster movies play with the likability of the leading mobster they also show the sides of them that make them horrible. Every good film about the Mob shows its destructiveness.

By the time Season 2 of 'Narcos' was over it was quite clear what a monster Pablo Escobar was. By the end of the final episode I think everybody watching feels, 'He got what he deserved'.

The 'Griselda' series soft handling of the bad side of Griselda Blanco makes this portrayal feel very dishonest. I found the final scene especially egregious.

I really didn't think I was going to write this long of a review. It's just the more I think about this series the less I like it and the message it seems to want to send.

Overall I believe this was a good miniseries. While the character of Griselda Blanco was a bit too sympathetic compared to what she was like in real life, Vergara did an outstanding job in a lead dramatic role, and if she was typecast as Gloria Pritchett she broke from it in a strong way.

Supporting cast was very good, I felt there was good chemistry between Vergara and many of the others. Writing seemed very good, well-paced story.

I also very much liked the subtitles. This was a nice touch, and is rarely used on such a large scale. The Spanish language was needed to convey the mood and energy of the show, and it worked like a charm. Nicely done.

Only had a couple of problems with the series:

1) it painted Blanco in way too sympathetic of a light. Anyone who watched the groundbreaking 2006 documentary on the Miami Cocaine Wars called "Cocaine Cowboys" would know the real Blanco was far more vicious and cold than Vergara's portrayal. Also, I don't recall the real Blanco being a demagogue of sorts, with stirring, rebellious speeches to rouse her people to take on the rich whites who exploit them. Nice message but I don't think Blanco was like that.

2) The series was way too short. Only six episodes? There was so much to Blanco's life that you could have done four full seasons, easily. With flashbacks to her horrific childhood, particularly her upbringing by her vicious, abusive mother, Ana Restrepo. Season 1 could have been her NY days, season 2 Miami, season 3 in California (both as a dealer and her imprisonment, including her relationship with Charles Cosby), season 4 back in Colombia ending with her assassination. This was a very good, well-made series and I wanted to see more.

I give this 8/10 largely due to Vergara's chops in a dramatic, serious role, great writing for what this was (a miniseries), and great supporting cast.

Griselda Blanco was one of the most brutal persons the world has ever seen. She killed so many people and was full of hate and cruelty.

Unfortunately, this TV show doesn't come close to showing what a beast she really was. It's just a normal "drug war setting" we already know from Narcos or Queen of the South.

The actress plays a person who is way too nice and empathetic. I just see a strong business woman in her, but I don't see the real Griselda Blanco which didn't hesistate to kill innocent children and people just because she loved it.

I hope there will be another TV Show which shows us the real Griselda one day!