Coming from the same writers - and showrunner(s) - from the immensely popular "Narcos", "Griselda" is marketed to the world as a show that delivers the same kind of experience. And as a big fan of "Narcos", I was looking forward to the release of "Griselda.".
In the months prior to the release of "Griselda", Netflix made a big deal of already showing of some scenes on social media. In turn, this also caused the family - more specific her son - to sue Netflix for using this new show to incorrectly portray the story of the life of his mother.
In the 3 days after its release,I watched all six of the episodes. The reason why I mention this, is that I actually expected to watch all episodes in one day. As was the case with all other episodes of "Narcos", I was looking forward to binge everything in one day. So I already 'reserved' a free day for this binge. And this is where my first big surprise came! "Griselda" wasn't bingeworthy...!! And the number of episodes was even way less than I expected. Where any other season of "Narcos" has 10 episodes, "Griselda" had only 6.
And of course now comes the question why I didn't find it bingeworthy?! This won't be easy without spoiling the experience. But I am going to give it a try since I think it is important that you know that "Griselda" is way different than any other installment of "Narcos".
First of all, it is the story of the police that bothered me. As becomes obvious from any pre-release marketing material from "Griselda", the main antagonist is a woman detective. Whilst being positioned as "inspired by true events", I found the story about the woman police detective not only very hard to believe, but more so one big plot to show some kind of 'superwoman' that is constantly fighting for women's rights. I can't even recall the times that it is emphasized that a woman - living in the sixties - had no career perspective. Please understand that I have no problem when this issue is raised once, but in "Griselda" it is done on a literally continuous basis. Up to such a level that I almost got the impression that "Griselda" is used to brainwash the audience on some kind of political message...
The second thing that bothered me, is that the storyline lost momentum in the second part. Where it is fast-paced and interesting in the first few episodes, it is totally different in the last few episodes: it became repetitive and predictable. What also bothered me is the large jumps in time that were suddenly made. Speaking for myself, it felt as if I was watching a completely different show in the second part. One that was more akin to a soap.
The last few episodes also seemed to hint a lot to both "Scarface" and "The Godfather". Not only were direct references made to those two immensely successful movies, but also the background music was chosen the same. At some points for instance, I clearly recognized the italian violin-like music that was used in "The Godfather". And maybe it's just me, but I fail to see anything italian in "Griselda".
And although I get the impression that the business strategy of Netflix seems to have pivotted towards copying past successes of other studios, it shouldn't be done so obvious or?! Was the concept of "Narcos" not a successful enough that it could continue in the same way in "Griselda"?!
Coming to think of it, I understand that the production of "Griselda" - like many other Hollywood productions - was halted for 5 months. This due to a collective writers strike of the Writer's Guild of America (WGA). Maybe it was this strike and the resulting production halt that affected the script in the last few episodes?!
Concluding, I felt somewhat disappointed after watching "Griselda". Taking account all the aforementioned points, I unfortunately come no further than a score of 7.1/10, resulting in an IMDb rating of 7 stars. And mind you, this is in no way a bad score. But I expected it to score way higjer. Of course expectations were running high, knowing that this show is created by the same people that were responsible for "Narcos". But I never expected such a big difference...
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