Having rewatched the previous two seasons of ‘Narcos’ in preparation, I can confidently say the third season is just as action packed, intense and fascinating as the previous seasons. With Escobar dying in the last episode of season two, the focus switches to the successor of the Medellin cartel, the Cali Cartel.

The Cali Cartel is headed by the Rodriguez brothers (Damián Alcázar and Francisco Denis) and “Pacho” Herrera (Alberto Ammann). Cali is distinct from the familiar Medellin cartel because it was a much more secretive organization and tried to stay under the radar.

The heads of the Cali cartel viewed themselves as legitimate businessmen and even owned a chain of Colombian drugstores. Relatively quiet compared to Escobar who ran for public office and flashed his money around.

DEA Agent Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) departs from the series. However, partner Javier Pena (Pedro Pascal) sticks around for season three. Pena is joined by two new DEA agents on screen. Agent Daniel Van Ness (Matt Whelan) and agent Chris Feistl. Whelan was annoying. The writers tried to make him funny. It doesn’t work at all and just creates some cringeworthy moments. I was sad and surprised to see Holbrock leave although the loss of his character certainly hasn’t taken anything from the show.  

While the historicity and the accuracy of the war on drugs in Colombia and the hunt for Pablo Escobar has always been somewhat questionable, it previously followed an accurate timeline of events. The third season holds onto Pena, who in the real story, should already be out of Colombia. The lack of accuracy didn’t take anything away from the excellent narrative. Pescal is a great actor. Keeping him around was a fantastic decision.

The side stories, part of what makes Narcos awesome, stayed great. Following the head of security for the cartel, Jorge Salacedo (Matias Varela), through his struggle to leave the organization and protect, and then narc on, the leaders was a fantastic experience.

My favorite character of the show, the mysterious CIA station chief Bill Stechner (Eric Lange), is around and performs the role of the CIA troublemaker with mysterious intentions well. He tells Pena that the drug war is over, he starting to fight the next battle for American interests in South America.

I can’t wait to for season four to be announced. House of Cards lost its worth after a third season, that won’t be an issue for this crime thriller.