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Griselda: Netflix shows us Godmother’s ruthless side
Griselda Blanco held her own.
Blog King, Mass Appeal
MIAMI — If Scarface was a woman, it would be Griselda Blanco. Yours truly finally got a chance to descry the “Griselda” biopic series on Netflix and, even though it’s far from a coup de maître, it’s still a decent watch — especially if you’re a fan of grisly murders, drug trafficking, prostitution, and crack addiction. The Columbian-born crime boss (aka the Godmother) took over the Miami cocaine trade in the late ’70s and, in doing so, became the first to unionize drug dealers. Yep, Griselda amalgamated the city’s most ruthless street pharmacists and the syndicate would’ve succeeded had it not been for machismo and chauvinism. Nevertheless… after smuggling kilos of coke into the Sunshine State, the drug queenpin implored her brothel hookers to become the foundation of her business model. That means instead of vending on a street corner like a typical crack dealer, Griselda’s courtesans stashed cocaine packets in their bras then sold ’em to rich white folks at soirées.
Because many customers preferred to buy coke from beddable popsies, Griselda’s distribution system infuriated her male counterparts. Can’t blame the fellas for being jealous. After all, Griselda put clown suits on all of ’em. She even made male law enforcement officials look inept. After years of failed convictions, a female narc ended up taking over Griselda’s case.
Feeling threatened, a rival cartel offered Griselda a buyout of $15 million to give up her empire. But she turned it down. Threats and bullying tactics ensued. But Griselda didn’t budge. Instead, she recruited an army, extirpated her competitors, and became untouchable. It should be noted Griselda was the wife of a drug dealer, and she learned tricks of the trade from him. But — as soon as hubby became expendable — Griselda blew his brains out, uprooted their kids, fled to America, and the rest is history.
Sofia Vergara played Griselda and, even though she did a kick-ass job, the Columbian actress is simply too attractive for the role. Truth be told, the real Griselda is not that hot. Hell, she’s definitely below average. The makeup artist tried to make Sofia less fetching by applying layers of cosmetics to give her countenance an older, more ragged look. Sofia, 51, was also given a large snoot that rivals that of Toucan Sam. But, even with those alterations, Sofia still looks considerably better than Griselda.
Anyway, watch the 6-part series on Netflix and share your thoughts.
I’m gonna dock the show 2 popcorn bags for the following reasons:
– An uglier protagonist should’ve been casted.
– The director excluded Griselda’s prison romance with Charles Cosby — the Cocaine Cowboy.
Blog-O-Meter Rating: 3 outta 5 popcorn bags
Like every criminal they get greedy and don’t know when to get out.
I loved this series but I just knew she was gonna go out like that 😂😂😂 because every dealer goes out like that in every movie or series! 😂😂😂 she got her power and got too high thought she was big shiit and ended up eating shit! 😂😂
Sofia was great. The show was not.
Man this shyt was ok first of all they didn’t show enough of her life thru out the show .like how she first got rich in ny, her shoot out with her first husband over the business . They don’t show her coming up from being a working girl . Didn’t show her handling business in jail and linking up with Charles . Like damn someone needs to redo this show. They could have had a couple more seasons like narcos at least 3 . It was cool but had way more potential in my opinion.
Sofia was beyond excellent.
6 episodes was far too short.
I pass, would rather watch a documentary with footage and the gruesome deaths she’s guilty of. Know how she actually looks I can’t accept Sophia playing the part
I didn’t like it because the story was not written the way it actually was in real life . They tried very hard to make Griselda look like some punk for the most part too which wasn’t true at all. Sofia tried her best to act but all the crying and emotional scenes were not who Griselda was . There’s absolutely no room for that in the coke dealer world.
Hey sofia look to damn good to play this role…She looks nothing like that lady…smdh….Trying to make my Girl look horrible…..They should of got another actress….Not a beautiful super star
Sofia’s reenactment doesn’t convince me how truly evil Griselda was … she was a blood thirsty tyrant who had her husbands killed & took out any competition.
Karma’s a bitch & she got hers in the end 🤔
Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned 😂
Damn so they left out that cat Charles she was dealing with in Oakland while she was in prison??
Miami was built on Cocaine
I am shocked the series didn’t show how she groomed Pablo Escobar. Pablo called her madrina and was afraid of her, that tells you who she was, she was smart, no one would suspect “a housewife” 😂😂😂
I get why they cast Sofia Vergara. If you’re going to make a bio drama of one of the most infamous druglords why not the most famous Colombian actress. Though they hardly look a like at all.
Why is it so hard to get an actress that actually looks like the late Griselda Blanco.
It is not hard to find Colombian women with indigenous features. I am pretty sure you can find a decent actor that looks like the actual person.
Why not tell the whole story and not try to romanticize or send some feministic woke empowering message.
Griselda Blanco was a savage butcher there is nothing to romanticize, her actual life story is much more interesting than this Netflix portrayal.
It’s a decent show, but it’s just one of countless shows that continue to perpetuate the stereotype that Colombia is all about drugs and drug dealers. This fact highlights the lack of imagination in today’s TV industry. Colombia has a multitude of unique stories to tell.
Completely inaccurate portrayal of her real life persona. Terrible show on the basis that if you make a show literally named after a real person it should be as accurate as possible. A real life narco feared by the likes of Pablo Escobar, showing signs of fear and cowardice in decision making and barely life threatening scenarios is laughable. sub-par acting and inaccurate story telling. 3.5/10.
Sofia vergara did a good job but I don’t think she made a good Griselda blanco bc she’s too likeable and played into the viewers sympathy. Which is just who she is but they should have gotten someone that could come across a little more evil and ruthless and maybe a little uglier lol. I’m sure they wanted an actual columbian to play the part and didn’t have many options with Sofia being a big name already. I do think vergara was a co-producer or something tho so she probably wanted to play Griselda. They did a good show nonetheless cuz it coulda been a lot worse
This show is SUCH garbage. Narcos 10/10. This show is an insult to that series. They made this one like Queen of the South. “Oopsie I’m a drug QueenPin and the female cop is a genius no one listens too. FEMINISM!!” ….anyone gonna do some character development? “No. She’s a woman and men don’t respect her. That’s enough character development” In real life Griselda was the most gangster bi**h to ever walk the earth. She was absolutely RUTHLESS and this show making her out to be this feminist nonsense is an insult to the real story. Narcos guys being in on this show shocked me because the characters were so flat by comparison. I CANNOT BELIEVE people are saying this show is good. Sophia Vergara is incredible but she’s working with trash material.
@RealJesseONFIRE: They did the same thing to Casino, softened up the main character so he was more likable; and left out the incidents of spousal abuse and how he was only really good a gambling. Where he was really a domineering abusive husband and control freak that most of the staff ignored. Or that there was a lot of evidence that he went to the Feds first.
I’m a Sophia Vergara Stan. I mean I love love her. That being said, her being casted as Griselda Blanco is the worst casting decision since Tom Cruise was casted as Reacher. The real griselda was a 5 foot unassuming lady who you were certain to overlook. Vergara on the other had is an average size gorgeous women that would make any hetero male do a double take. Don’t even get me started on the skin darkening and the prosthetics used to make Vergara less attractive. It was literally blackface. Her acting was on point, but there are so many actresses that would have been a better fit. Anyway. That’s my $0.02…
I thoroughly enjoyed the series, and Sofia’s performance left me truly amazed.
I subscribed to Netflix just so that I could watch this!
The glorification and idolization of killers, drug kingpins, and other people who did terrible things to their fellow men, will never cease to amaze me.
Shit trash she was way more ruthless than the soft azz shit they show on Netflix they should’ve went hard like they did for Jeffrey Dahmer
They humanized her way too much. This lady was the face of evil.
Netflix has an amazing way of always turning any villain, especially who is a woman, into some sort of oppressed woman who is driven to show herself for the girl boss she had inside. Such bullshit.
They never show her black boyfriend lol
Dag, the movie made her seem like an angel compared to reality!
Goodness Sofia did so bad. He accent was nonexistent and the acting was forced. It was basically Sofia with her same voice with a bigger nose.
If you don’t know who this woman is then you’ve never seen Cocain cowboys series
I liked it I’d give it a 8/10 but doesn’t come close to Narcos season 1 and 2
The one thing i don’t like about the show was that they were trying to make the audience feel bad for. her. but other than that it was good.
Woke garbage
I remember watching Griselda’s story on ID channel’s Deadly Women. I love the Netflix series about her. I was afraid that Sofia Vargas was not the right person but she did a fantastic job
i didnt like the show. Vergara still not a good actor. They said she was who even Pablo Escobar feared. After watching the show, Why PE feared her? This show was very soft and didnt do justice to Griselda’s name and history. It was a waste of time.
Terrible show. Makes Griselda look like a victim. Bad message. Griselda was no different than a serial killer
No mention of her Oakland boyfriend/lover Charles Crosby smh…. I WONDER WHY
They are doing in the states what they did in Mexico, glorifying the cartel and making movies/series about them to normalize it, and influencing our youth to want to be part of it, don’t support these movies/series.
Stop making evil people famous and making movies about them. Giving them exposure on the news is enough.
Protect your families from this type of content. Never allow this crap to be anything other than terrorist groups.
Making a woman the main cop is way too woke and feminist for my liking! I don’t think a female cop wss involved in her arrest or even the investigation!
A turd with icing and a cherry on top is still a turd! All this show wanted to do is convince the audience that women are good and men are bad. Griselda was not a good person and I would have enjoyed this show more if the makers stuck to the truth which was way more fascinating than this pile of doo doo.
Where did the female cop come from? I’ve never heard of or about her in all the stories that are out there about Griselda.
A lot of the show is straight bullshit like the story is great enough they don’t need to fabricate and take away from the real story 💯
Watch the Cocaine Cowboys documentaries 1 and 2 to really see what this woman was like.. she’s scary…
Movie on Netflix horrible. HBO documentary is much better.
Show was ASS