The Accidental Narco

It would be absolutely unfair to compare this series to Narcos, but it's a gripping and exciting thriller nonetheless which gives you a glimpse into a less known story within the War on Drugs era. The casting is excellent, the action sequences and dialogues are brilliant, and the characters were so great that you'd feel like rooting for all of them regardless of whether they're good guys or bad guys. And well the setting - who doesn't like a classy narco story set in the Latin tropics?

But the main thing for me was the CINEMATOGRAPHY - Korean shows always kill it when it comes to this department. It's a slow burn yet taut thriller that's so much fun to watch, it's easy to look past it's only con - there is no genuine cultural characteristics of the country of Suriname on display here, would've definitely liked to see more of Surinamese culture in general, even though the entire series seems to be set in the region.

South Korean cinema and television continues to impress with NARCO-SAINTS, a retitling of THE ACCIDENTAL NARCO now showing on Netflix. Like SQUID GAME before it, this is a limited TV miniseries which has the production values and expense of a movie, and it looks absolutely fantastic too. It tells the true story of a Korean pastor in Suriname who turned out to be a drug lord on the side. Hard to believe, but this perfectly-paced thriller packs in the realism for a gritty and suspenseful adventure. Ha Jung Woo is the perfect lead and supported by a couple of Korea's hottest stars, and together they shine, their performances underpinning typically exciting action bits.

This show is surprisingly good. I really love how they combined languages and ethnicity throughout the show. The casting is spot on i.e: if people talk English, they talk English, if they speak Korean they speak Korean. There are some shows that are actually supposed to be speaking Chinese or other languages, but they do that for 10 minutes and then switch to English to make it easier to follow. This is not one of those shows, and in my opinion it really adds to the authenticity of the overall atmosphere. The characters are well developed, and most importantly: it really is an engaging show. I really look forward to see more of it.

I think I watched half of this series with my eyes closed since I don't really like to watch violence, but I do like true stories so wanted to see it. Even with my eyes closed at some of the most violent scenes, the grotesque audio was enough to visualize in my head what was happening. The true story in itself is indicative of what really does go on out there, and unfortunately in this instance a private citizen unwittingly gets himself involved in a huge US DEA kingpin/drug bust operation because the Korean (lead male) went to the country innocently with his buddy to export/import some skate (seafood that looks like a stingray) which is a delicacy in Korea but gets thrown away in the South African country. They wind up getting getting caught in a scheme and getting involved in this operation when one of the investigation officials involves them w/o their knowledge with drugs on their boat. Of course they get caught and now they are in it for real. This was an operation that was reminiscent of the El Chapo bust. The characters were cast perfectly and the ending was satisfying.

The story is loosely based on a real-life story. The story itself is absolutely fascinating, how a Korean criminal mastermind built a drug empire in Suriname and the efforts to bring down that empire. The acting for the most part is just outstanding, mixed with some cringeworthy acting by few minor characters. In addition, there are obvious plot holes and scenes that will make people shake their heads. Korean shows do a great job on most things, but they rarely deliver when guns are involved.

Anyways, as mentioned above, the fact that this is loosely based on real-life characters and events makes the show interesting enough. The show is only six episodes long, meaning there are very few unnecessary filler scenes. I do think it's worth the investment of 6+ hours for this show.