It's hard to root for either side in the conflict between traffickers and DEA. The DEA is always in the wrong, operating outside their jurisdiction and manipulating people who wouldn't otherwise be involved and putting them in danger of torture and murder of themselves and their families.
The casting departments have chosen actors that are easy to see as amoral dimwits beginning with the first 3 season series "Narcos" with Boyd Holbrook as the headstrong, ambitious (but stupid) agent who took credit for killing Pablo Escobar, continuing into "Narcos: Mexico" with Michael Pena as Kiki Camarena (an unlikable actor playing an unlikable character) and now casting Scoot McNairy who looks like a deranged scumbag, playing an agent who is depicted as having been a deranged scumbag in real life.
Were these actors cast deliberately to make their real life characters appear unsympathetic compared to their targets, or are the Mexican and South American actors simply better actors than the American cast members? McNairy has made a career of playing scumbags, usually small time junky criminals or conmen and he plays that kind of character well. If Breslin, the real agent was/is the kind of amoral doofus portrayed by McNairy, it's easy for a viewer to come to a conclusion that the DEA is not a force for good in American society.
The casting choices for the roles of narcos are all much better looking actors than the historical characters in "Narcos: Mexico". Their characters are written as more engaging people as well, with Both Don Neto and the Amado and Acosta characters coming across as more likable people than the real figures portrayed are IRL.
This is an interesting story, but is obviously fictionalized to nudge the viewer into accepting some basic premises that the writers convey.
The casting departments have chosen actors that are easy to see as amoral dimwits beginning with the first 3 season series "Narcos" with Boyd Holbrook as the headstrong, ambitious (but stupid) agent who took credit for killing Pablo Escobar, continuing into "Narcos: Mexico" with Michael Pena as Kiki Camarena (an unlikable actor playing an unlikable character) and now casting Scoot McNairy who looks like a deranged scumbag, playing an agent who is depicted as having been a deranged scumbag in real life.
Were these actors cast deliberately to make their real life characters appear unsympathetic compared to their targets, or are the Mexican and South American actors simply better actors than the American cast members? McNairy has made a career of playing scumbags, usually small time junky criminals or conmen and he plays that kind of character well. If Breslin, the real agent was/is the kind of amoral doofus portrayed by McNairy, it's easy for a viewer to come to a conclusion that the DEA is not a force for good in American society.
The casting choices for the roles of narcos are all much better looking actors than the historical characters in "Narcos: Mexico". Their characters are written as more engaging people as well, with Both Don Neto and the Amado and Acosta characters coming across as more likable people than the real figures portrayed are IRL.
This is an interesting story, but is obviously fictionalized to nudge the viewer into accepting some basic premises that the writers convey.
