Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord

Escobar: El Patrón del Mal
Title card
Genre	Drama Historical series
Created by	Juana Uribe Camilo Cano Gabriel Klement
Written by	Juan Camilo Ferrand (loosely based on the novel La parábola de Pablo by Alonso Salazar)[1]
Directed by	Carlos Moreno Laura Mora[1]
Starring	Andrés Parra Angie Cepeda Vicky Hernández Cecilia Navia Nicolás Montero Ernesto Benjumea Germán Quintero
Country of origin	Colombia
Original language(s)	Spanish
No. of episodes	113 [2] (Caracol) 74 (international)[3]
Production
Producer(s)	Juana Uribe Camilo Cano Gabriel Klement
Location(s)	Colombia
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	25 minutes 43 minutes (international)
Production company(s)	Caracol TV
Release
Original network	Caracol TV
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) 480p (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	May 28 – November 19, 2012
External links
Website	pabloescobarinedito.com

Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (international title: Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord; also known as Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) is a 2012 Colombian television series produced and broadcast on Caracol TV, about the life of Pablo Escobar. It is only available in Spanish. There is a version available with English subtitles.

History

From May 28 to November 1, 2012, Caracol TV aired Escobar: El Patrón del Mal weeknights at 9:30pm.^[4][5] From July 9 to July 27, 2012, Telemundo aired one-hour episodes of Pablo Escobar weeknights at 10pm/9c, replacing Decisiones Extremas.^[6][7] From July 30, 2012 to January 24, 2013, Telemundo aired half-hour episodes of Pablo Escobar and El Rostro de la Venganza weeknights, both sharing the 10pm time slot.^[8][9] From January 25 onwards, one-hour episodes of El Rostro de la Venganza were broadcast.^[10]

From January 2 until March 7, 2014 Canal 9 airs an hour of Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal in the hours of 10:00 pm, replacing of Santos y Pecadores. From the March 10, 2014 Canal 9 transmits half hour Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal, with El Señor de los Cielos that replacing the hours of 10:30 pm.

On November 25, 2013 issue confirms Telesudamérica Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal in January, 2014. The December 16, 2013 Telesudamérica confirms a broadcast January 6. from January 6, 2014 Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal Telesudamérica transmitted on the schedule at 4:00 pm, replacing Violetta.

Plot

The series begins and ends with his dramatic last moments before being shot to death by agents of the Colombian National Police, while escaping from a relative's home, and later flashing back to his childood in Valle de Aburra, Colombia, where Pablo is teased by his cousin, Gonzalo, and older brother, Peluche, on a footbridge crossing a creek, eventually rescued by his mother, who scolds Pablo for crying. His mother's influence on Escobar's life choices is portrayed in the first episode and throughout the series, starting with her admonishment that if he is going to do something bad, he had better do it really well, after he is frustrated while trying to cheat on a test and starting a class rebellion to avoid the consequences. As he and Gonzalo became older, they began their lives of organized crime, becoming bodyguards to a well known smuggler and eventually his partners, after successfully standing off with police in what would become Escobar's trademark "Plata o Plomo" approach to dealing with law enforcement -- "accept our bribe or prepare for a shootout with us." After robbing a bank and being turned in by one of their neighbors, Pablo and his cousin start their careers as murderers by killing him. Thereafter, the series follows Pablo's adventures and misadventures in organized crime and eventually cocaine smuggling, building an empire of wealthy criminals who contest power, often violently, with the Colombian state, eventually leading to murders of prominent politicians, policemen, business associates, friends, lovers, and eventually common citizens. The plot focuses on Escobar's contradictory drives to be a good husband; a decent, upstanding, Colombian citizen; a left-wing politician; a supporter of the poor; and a wealthy, powerful "bandido" (an endearing term for criminal, like "rascal"), all while seeking ever more political power, wealth, and sexual exploits.

Cast

• Andrés Parra as Pablo Escobar
  • Mauricio Mejía as Pablo Escobar (young)
• Angie Cepeda as Regina Parejo (Virginia Vallejo)
• Christian Tappan as Gonzalo Gaviria (Gustavo Gaviria)
  • Juan Sebastian Calero as Gustavo Gaviria (young)
• Cecilia Navia as Paty de Escobar (María Victoria Henao)
  • Eileen Moreno as Paty de Escobar (young)
• Viviana Serna Ramirez as Paty (young)
• Vicky Hernández as Enelia (Hermilda Gaviria, Escobar's mother)
  • Linda Lucía Callejas as Enelia (young)
• Nicolás Montero as Luis Carlos Galán
• Marcela Gallego as Gloria Pachón de Galán
• Ernesto Benjumea as Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
• Diana Hoyos as Nancy Restrepo de Lara
• Germán Quintero as Guillermo Cano Isaza
• Helena Mallarino as Ana Maria Busquets de Cano
• Julio Pachón as Colonel Jairo Jimenez (Jaime Ramírez Gómez)
• Alejandro Martínez as Marcos Hérber (Carlos Lehder)
• Juan Carlos Arango as Gustavo Ramirez el Mariachi (Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha el Mexicano)
• Hernán Méndez as Escobar's father (Abel de Jesus Escobar)
• Aldemar Correa as Julio Motoa (Fabio Ochoa Vásquez)
• Joavany Alvarez as Pedro Motoa (Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez)
• Alejandro Gutierrez as German Motoa (Juan David Ochoa Vásquez)
• Andrea Gomez as Irma Motoa (Martha Nieves Ochoa)
• Anderson Ballesteros as "El Chili" (John Jairo Arias Tascón "Pinina")
• Carlos Benjumea as Carlos Motoa "El Patriarca" (Fabio Ochoa Restrepo)
• César Mora as "El Alguacil"
• Toto Vega as Senator Alfonso Santorini (Alberto Santofimio)
• Carlos Mariño as "Marino" (John Jairo Velasquez Vasquez "Popeye")
• Luces Velasquez as "Graciela Rojas" (Griselda Blanco)
• Fabián Mendoza as César Gaviria Trujillo
• Susana Torres a Nikki Polanía (Maria Jimena Duzán)
• Tiberio Cruz as "Diego Pizano" (Carlos Pizarro Leongómez)
• Orlando Valenzuela as Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa

Colombia broadcast

• Release dates and episode names, based on Colombia's Caracol TV broadcast.

Production

The series was created by Camilo Cano and Juana Uribe, vice president of Caracol TV and the series' producer. Cano's father, Guillermo Cano, who was publisher of newspaper El Espectador, was murdered by Escobar in December 1986. Uribe's mother, Maruja Pachón, was kidnapped on Escobar's orders, and her uncle, presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, was killed on Escobar's orders in August 1989.^[11]

According to Caracol TV, the series features 1,300 actors and more than 450 locations; each episode cost COP 300 million (€131,000, £105,000 or US$164,000).^[11]

Reception

After heavy promotion on Caracol TV and in El Espectador, Escobar premiered with high ratings.^[12] However, some people have criticized the show,^[13] wondering if the audience will eventually identify with the drug lord instead of the people who fought him.^[14] A researcher told Medellín newspaper El Colombiano that the series does not add anything to TV "because its treatment is not a documentary" and it does not address "rigorous academic research. The model is fiction and the victims' participation won't be anything more than an anecdote. On the contrary, this kind of series eventually distorts knowledge about history in public opinion."^[15]

Telemundo's July 9 broadcast of Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers.^[16][17]

Awards

Confirmed on June 27, 2013.^[18] The finalists were announced on July 31, 2013.^[19] Winners were announced on August 15, 2013.^[20]

Premios tu mundo 2013

See also

• El Señor de los Cielos
• Narcos (2015)

References

External links

• Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord on IMDb
• MSN Latino official website
• Telemundo Now, Telemundo Full Episodes