Series / Cocaine Coast

A minuscle part of the cast.^note From left to right: Javi Bustelo, Leticia Charlín, Sito Miñanco, Oli and Roque.

O que teño que facer para non ter que ir ao mar /

Sobra peixe que vender e fariña para amasar

—Intro theme^note The things I have to do to not go out at sea / There is surplus fish to sell and flour to knead/amass

Cocaine Coast (also known as Fariña: Cocaine Coast and by its original title Fariña^note Galician slang for cocaine, meaning "flour") is a Spanish miniseries that chronicles the history of the drug trade in Galicia's Lower Rias during The '80s, from its origins as a simple Portuguese tobacco smuggling operation to the involvement of violent Moroccan and Colombian cocaine and heroin cartels seeking an entry point into Europe, and the arrest of most local drug barons in the so-called Operación Nécora of 1990. The series is based on the nonfiction book Fariña: History and indiscretions of the drug trade in Galicia (2015) by Corunnan journalist Nacho Carretero, although it is not without licenses for legal and narrative reasons.

The ten episodes aired for the first time in Antena 3 on the Spring of 2018. After critical and public acclaim (and also a little Streisand Effect, due some minor "characters" suing either book or series for defamation), the series was also made available at Netflix.

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Cocaine Coast contains examples of:

#-H

• The '80s: Each episode takes place over one year, beginning in 1981 and ending in 1990.
• '80s Hair:
  • All over the place, but good God, Esther Lago takes it to the next level. And she continued to use it in the 90s.
  • Miñanco actually sports '70s Hair in the first few episodes, looking very much like the archetypical Spanish "Quinqui". He changes to a more '80s look when he imitates Pablo Escobar.
• The '90s: The events in "1990" spanned until 1994 in reality. It is ambiguous if this is also the case in the series.
• Abusive Parents:
  • Manuel Charlín is constantly hitting and belittling his (adult) children.
  • Miñanco yells to his daughters when he is stressed after becoming a smuggler, but he doesn't have the chance to become worse because his wife leaves soon with them.
• Actor Allusion: Charlín's actor is a frequent victim of Award Snub. In "1987", he says he deserves an award for conning the Colombians.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: The Colombians make their Old World counterparts look like beginners. The former have no qualms about committing murder, maiming and (implied) rape.
  • Zig-Zagged by the Galicians. In the beginning, everyone is in fear of the old Don, Terito, who carries a gun to meetings and is implied to be ready to ruin anyone who gets in his way. However, he is very much against committing actual crimes or getting involved with drugs. Miñanco gets more dangerous when he ceases to have respect for him and starts his own operation - but he's still disturbed by the Colombians bloodlust and against escalating with the cops.
• Almighty Mom: Carmen Avendaño, a simple housewife, starts a massive campaign against the drug dealers after her teenage son becomes an addict.
• A Love to Dismember: Matta-Ballesteros intends to dismember Roque and send the pieces to Miñanco if he doesn't unload his drugs in time.
• Amoral Attorney: Ventura, who is introduced telling Oubiña that he knows what he does for a living and that he knows how to make it more profitable. He becomes the link between smugglers and politicians.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse:
  • Colombo tells an urban planning councilman that he can take his money and approve his casino, or the money will go to a Professional Killer.
  • Matta-Ballesteros tells Charlín to act as his front in Spain in exchange for his life and his family's.
  • Castro offers a Colombian hitman a choice between extradition to a Luxury Prison Suite in Colombia if he talks or a Hellhole Prison in the United States if he doesn't.
• Artifact Title:
  • "1989/1990" is actually set entirely in 1990.
  • The most notable events of "1990" happened in 1994. Other than the title, there is no implication in the episode that they have been moved in time.
• Artistic License – History:
  • Terito threatening Oubiña with a gun is based on an incident where an unnamed assistant was shot on the foot. There is at least a rumor that the matter discussed in the meeting was not the drug trade, but the "donations" to the People's Alliance party.
  • The part where Miñanco uses the fishermen's procession to smuggle his first cocaine shipment is based on something that happened a year before, when the other dons used it to smuggle extra tobacco after shippings were stopped by bad weather for several days. It is not known how Miñanco smuggled that shipment.
  • The part where Roque (real name Ramiro) is left behind in Panama as a hostage is fictional, although based on a different Galician smuggler who was left in South America in The '90s and was never heard of again.
  • Esther Lago had two daughters instead of two sons. They may have been changed to avoid confusion with Miñanco's daughters.
  • Charlín and Oubiña didn't flee to Portugal with the others. The fact they didn't actually cemented their image as "untouchable".
  • Early TV broadcasts are shown in black and white, even though TVE switched completely to color in 1977. There is also an on-site host at the 1985 New Year's Eve broadcast but it did not have one until 1990, and unlike its fictional counterpart the (offscreen) host didn't talk about Spain being due for EEC membership next year.
  • Charlín's son didn't have a car accident after celebrating a successful delivery. However, a man working for the Charlíns did. The accident is used as a metaphor for cocaine's indiscriminate damage to the younger generation.
  • The part in "1987" where the Charlíns cheat the Colombians at the suggestion of Ventura is based on Pablo Vioque (real version of Ventura) cheating his own Colombian providers in 1991. Charlín was considered a reliable ally by the Colombians.
  • Despite popular belief, Miñanco was never named "Predilect Son" of Cambados. This rumor originated when the town hall gave a special award to the Cambados football team for its outstanding 1989 season and Miñanco, as the owner of the team, was there to receive it.
• Auto Erotica: Paquito receives oral sex while driving out of a party. It doesn't end well.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Charlín's sons sneak in the home of Silva's mother and she screams. They kill her dog.
  • Pilar believes that Ventura has conned her and calls her father to report and apologize. During the conversation, she learns that Ventura has arranged a meeting between the regional government's president and the smugglers.
  • "1984" ends with The Reveal that Romero is also in Sito's pocket, and that it was him who warned the dons about the town hall raid, not Valdano.
  • "1989/1990" begins with Portabales being forcefully taken from prison to a walled house in Galicia. He is not being kidnapped by a gangster, but going to be interrogated by Garzón.
  • "1981" implies that Terito was arrested during Nécora, but "1989/1990" reveals that he was skipping town after a tip from Miñanco.
• Based on a True Story/Biopic: Although it goes beyond that, the series is largely framed around the rise and fall of Sito Miñanco as "Spain's Pablo Escobar".
• Batman Gambit: After a hitman dies in a shootout, Castro says on TV that he survived and is going to talk. As predicted, a new hitman is sent to kill him, and Castro arrests that hitman and makes him talk.
• Berserk Button: Castro's father to his son, Camila to Miñanco, everything and everyone to Charlín.
• Boomerang Bigot: Pilar and Esther insult the mothers of the Érguete foundation and tell them to Stay in the Kitchen, the very same thing they hate to be told.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Manuel Charlín is a Hair-Trigger Temper Jerkass who is constantly disappointed by his never-do-well sons and nothing ever goes his way.
  • Charlín's sons, in particular the eldest, Paquito, who are always failing in their plans to branch out and get no respect from their father, sister, or associates.
  • Laureano Oubiña, who is not taken as seriously by the other dons, is manipulated openly by his second wife, and is often a victim of his own impulsiveness.
  • Cándido Silva, who spends most of his screen time being pursued, beaten, insulted or threatened, and has a car accident in the middle for good measure. He survives, but is reduced to work as a waiter out of town.
• The Cartel: Miñanco makes deals with Escobar's associates to introduce cocaine in Galicia and later directly with the Medellín and Cali cartels.
• Casting Gag: Juan Pablo Shuk, who played the police colonel leading the final assault against Escobar and Orejuela in Narcos, now plays Escobar's associate Matta-Ballesteros. And through Miñanco, he also ends having a connection to Orejuela, who appears briefly in the series.
• Catapult Nightmare: Miñanco has one in "1986" when he mistakes Camila for Braulio's corpse while he is half awake.
• Cat Scare: Castro is scared by a dog while hiding from smugglers in "1989/1990".
• The Chains of Commanding: Common for anyone in a position of power, be it a criminal or a cop. Not the least because...
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: ...everyone is constantly seconds away from betraying his boss, or at least going behind his back to make more money.
• Coincidental Broadcast: Padín is in a bar with one of the Charlíns when his tell-it-all interview is broadcast. This actually happened.
• Coitus Interruptus: Oubiña is surprised by a police raid while having sex.
• Closer to Earth: Charlín's daughter, Oubiña's (second) wife, and Miñanco's Panamanian mistress are all better at running the business than their men.
• Conspicuously Public Assassination: The Colombians try to shoot Charlín while Miñanco receives an award in the town hall, then his son inside a hospital.
• Corrupt Church: Miñanco pays the reform of the Cambados church's roof in exchange for the fishermen's procession being delayed a day, so he can use the ships to smuggle cocaine on the traditional date.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The Colombians perform live dismemberment with a machete and their famed "necktie".
• Crusading Widow: Braulio's wife, Maruxa, does everything she can to get her husband's killers to justice.
• Dirty Cop: The dons have countless dirty cops, dirty civil guards, and dirty prison guards to report on them, look the other way, or act against their competitors.
• The Don: Each don is the leader of his own clan and has a slightly different operation, but they all pay up to Terito and follow his advice. Until Miñanco decides to branch out with the support of the Colombians.
• The Dog Bites Back: After a life being the Extreme Doormat, Charlín's wife slaps him before his children when he refuses to apologize to the Colombians. She then claims that she will be a Mama Bear if her children are threatened.
• Dude Where Is My Respect: Very common for Charlín's children, who get none from him. Paquito takes his frustration to a meeting with the Moroccans and gets himself and his brother almost killed.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Terito wants nothing to do with drugs, but it is hard to say if he has moral problems with it, or it is just pragmatism (smuggling tobacco doesn't even carry a prison sentence in the beginning of the series).
  • The Galicians are strongly against murder and find the Colombians disturbing in their bloodlust.
• Every Man Has His Price:
  • Claimed by Miñanco when he tries to bribe Castro. He denies him every time.
  • Colombo also claims this when he wants to bribe a councilman to get permision to build a casino against urban planning laws, but has to employ other methods when he refuses.
• Extreme Doormat: The older wives have a Stay in the Kitchen mentality and want no involvement in the business. However, Charlín's breaks out of it when she fears for her children.
• False Friend: Paquito's coke buddies rob and abandon him when he has a car crash.
• Feuding Families: Charlín has an old rivalry with Bustelo, which is worsened when Bustelo's son hooks up with Charlín's niece.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: Downplayed by Paquito, who has sex with one of his nurses at the hospital.
• Fluffy the Terrible:
  • Sito is short for Josito ("Joey").
  • Terito is the pet version of his surname, Otero.
  • Charlín's more imposing son is called Paquito ("Frankie", Manolito in reality).
• Freakier Than Fiction:
  • The shot at a meeting happened, but it hit a foot instead of a wall, and may or may not have been during a discussion about election campaign funding rather than about getting involved with drugs.
  • Vioque (real version of Ventura) had an unbelievable life as "narco-lawyer" and was probably worthy of his own TV series.^note Some joke that he faked his death.
  • Charlín also went to jail briefly and made an agreement with the Colombians there. This was probably omitted so it would be less repetitive. The reason he went to jail? He kidnapped a businessman who owed him money.
  • The series doesn't capture the true scope of popular support that the smugglers enjoyed at their peak. Carlos Blanco (Oubiña) shared in an interview that at one point, a patrol boat was pelted with rocks by locals (not hired by the smugglers) and forcefully taken inland before being abandoned in a church.
• From Nobody to Nightmare/Rags to Riches:
  • Miñanco goes from a poor unlicensed fisherman to the first drug lord in the country.
  • This was the case for all the dons as well, who grew up in poverty, but the show doesn't dwell on it.
• Frivolous Lawsuit:
  • When the series was to debut, a former mayor inhabilitated for his links to the drug trade and who is not depicted in the series sued the book's author for defamation, causing it to get pulled from stores despite having been sold freely for three years by that point. The ex-mayor nonchalantly admitted that he had never read it. The suit was thrown, the ex-mayor paid expenses, and the book returned to stores.
  • Oubiña sued the show's producers for depicting him and his late wife having sex.
  • Pentiti Padín and Portabales also sued the show in protest for their depiction.
• The Funny Guy: Oubiña is the don that generates more laughs, but they are always involuntary on his part. Blanco was told to tone done this down by the producers, who feared that Oubiña would come as Unintentionally Sympathetic.
• Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: Galicians, Moroccans, and Colombians.
• Getting High on Their Own Supply: Camila and Paquito start taking coke after it becomes commonplace.
• Gilded Cage:
  • While in Panama, Roque is free to take and do anything he wants on Matta-Ballesteros's credit... except leaving. He is almost killed when Miñanco nearly fails to deliver the drugs in time.
  • Leticia is sent to live with her uncle in order to keep her from seeing Javi.
• Gold Digger: Subverted by Camila, who latches to Miñanco and uses him to get money, but has a privileged background and knows the perks of the drug trade herself.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: Most characters speak Spanish sprinkled with Galician words, which may cause difficulty for some viewers, but is common for Galicians in Real Life.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Miñanco isn't contented with being rich. He wants to be the richest, and keeps talking about outdoing Terito.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Charlín is constantly at boiling point.
• Happily Married: Most couples are happy. The few who don't divorce early on or reconcile.
• Hero Antagonist: Darío Castro, a local Civil Guard sergeant who wants to dismantle the smuggling network.
• Historical Beauty Upgrade:
  • Real Life Miñanco weighted a few pounds more than Javier Rey.
  • The real Esther Lago was shorter and had a very round face, giving her almost a Creepy Child vibe. While Eva Fernández is uglied for the series, she lacks those traits. Lago is even said at one point to be too pretty for Oubiña.
• Historical Domain Character: Nearly every character is historical or based on a real person.
• Historical In-Joke: The scene where Ventura meets Colombo in jail reproduces the memetic "Be strong Luis" of the Bárcenas Affair. It is also the episode where Rajoy's name is dropped.
• Hot-Blooded: Oubiña, who is the most prone to outbursts of the old dons but is not permanently angry like Charlín.
• How We Got Here:
  • The premiere begins with Nécora in full swing before flashing back to 1981 and continuing in strict chronological order.
  • "1990" begins with a bloodied man being wheeled into a hospital while Castro yells at the doctors to keep him alive. This scene is revisited in the third act, where it is revealed that the wounded man is Bustelo.

I-P

• I Am Not My Father: Castro's father was a Dirty Cop who turned a blind eye to smugglers in exchange for a cut. He doesn't like when the smugglers bring back his memory.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Castro develops one by the end of the series.
• Inspector Javert: Castro's insistence on bringing down the early tobacco smuggling operation comes across as this. Sure, the dons are committing fraud but they are also bringing money to an impoverished frontier region and nobody is being really hurt. In fact, for the first two episodes tobacco smuggling doesn't even carry a jail sentence. Things take a far turn for the worse when the network is used to smuggle cocaine instead.
• Irony:
  • Castro says that Miñanco going to jail will be "one less headache". He uses his jail stay to strike deals with even deadlier cartels.
  • The Charlíns stash the Moroccans's hashish in a pig pen.
  • The episode that name drops Rajoy and says he was against getting kickbacks from the drug dealers also pokes fun at the Bárcenas Affair.
  • After the end of the series, Esther crashed on a Civil Guard building and Oubiña worked at a rehabilitation center for drug addicts.
• Ironic Echo: Pilar yells the mothers of the Érguete foundation to Stay in the Kitchen after being given it by her family for the whole series.
• I Surrender, Suckers:
  • While in Portugal, the president of the Galician regional government advices the smugglers to return and surrender to Castro, promising that they won't go to jail. They do, and they are allowed to walk free after paying bail.
  • Terito does it again in "1990" after he realizes that his search warrant is misspelled.
• It Will Never Catch On: Ventura claims that Rajoy is finished as a politician after Fraga sends him to Madrid.
• Jerkass: Many characters, although Charlín takes the cake.
• Karmic Death: Esther Lago's death after the events of the series is presented as this as she crashes her car on the Civil Guard's sound processing building, and she is implied to have cut the brakes on Avendaño's car.
• Kick the Dog:
  • A literal one for Charlín's sons, who in an attempt to silence Silva sneak into his mother's house and slice her dog's throat.
  • Miñanco crosses the line when his Colombian associates "give a necktie" to Braulio and leave him to be found by Castro.
  • Petete and his pal shoot a stray dog for making noise during a delivery.
• Lady Land: Played with, but subverted in "1985". While the smugglers are in Portugal, the women take over their operation, increase profits and find the way for the men to come back without going to jail. Even the theme song is sung by women in this intro. Yet while the men are visibly pleased, they simply take over again without acknowledging or complimenting them.
• Lens Flare: To an annoying degree. There are massive flares in every night scene.

• Lost in Translation: Many nuances of the location are lost in the English translation. For instance, the word Fariña is translated simply as "Blow".
• Love at First Sight: Miñanco and Camila are instantly attracted to each other, although it is questionable how much "love" is in her part.
• Mama Bear:
  • The mothers of the Érguete foundation decide to shame the dealers in order to make the Law act against them.
  • Charlín's wife breaks her Extreme Doormat persona when she fears her husband's actions will endanger her children.
• Mauve Shirt: Braulio, who is given a little exposure only right before he is killed.
• Miscarriage of Justice: When the dons are finally taken to trial, the guiltiest part ( the Charlíns) is found innocent of all charges.
• Ms. Fanservice: Camila is a former model. She's fully nude in every other episode and wears a revealing dress when she's not.
• The Mole: The dons have several in the police forces to tip them or obstruct investigations, including Montáñez, Valdano and Romero. Castro strikes back by recruiting Braulio and later his widow.
• Morality Pet: Castro's comatose father for him, Braulio's wife and Miñanco's daughters for the latter.
• Never My Fault: The smugglers deny any fault for the damage caused by the drugs to the general population, claiming people are free to consume and that they aren't even guilty of selling drugs, just transporting them.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: As a general rule of thumb, if a character is dead or went to jail for events depicted in the seres, they are given their real name; if not, they are unnamed or given a different one. The most notable exceptions are Carmen Avendaño and Baltasar Garzón, who keep their names due to their notoriety.
  • Camila Reyes is a fictionalized Odalys Rivera.
  • Pilar is based on Josefa Charlín. Her brothers were named Manolito and Óscar rather than Paquito and Moncho.
  • Castro is loosely based on police chief Enrique León.
  • Luis Colón, "Colombo" is based on Luis Falcón, "Falconetti".
  • Modesto Doval stands in for Marcial Dorado.
  • Pedro Ventura is based on Pablo Vioque.
  • The Bustelos are based on the Baúlo family, commonly known as "Os Caneos".
  • Javi Bustelo is based on Daniel Baúlo and Leticia on Yolanda Charlín.
  • Roque and Oli were actually named Ramiro and Olegario.
  • The pilot nicknamed Petete is based on one nicknamed Potoco.
  • A variant in the case of the People's Alliance and Galician president Gerardo Fernández Albor, who are just called "the party" and "the president" but it is clear who they are.
• Not Me This Time: When masked gunmen raid Oubiña's home, the suspects are rival smugglers and vigilante cops angry about a patrolman's death while pursuing a smuggling boat. They are a gang of bank robbers unrelated to both.
• No Woman's Land: The dons don't see their women as being on the same level, even after they prove to be better than them at their job.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Ventura tells his defendants to act as country rubes at their trial, and as a result seem too stupid to run a criminal empire.
• Off on a Technicality: Terito's search warrant is misspelled as "Oterito", prompting him to claim that the cops are actually looking for another guy with that nickname. Portabales is called to pick him from a lineup, but he fails... forcing them to let him go.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Pilar calls her father to apologize because she thought trusting Ventura was a mistake. When she says "We thought it was a good idea" he answers "It was", as he is in the room with him and has proven to be useful.
• One of the Boys: Pilar wants to be a full member of her father's organization, but he keeps deflecting to her useless brothers because they are male.
  Pilar: I was born with cona but I got more balls than my brothers put together.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Camila's Panamanian accent becomes Spanish when she yells (actress Jana Pérez is actually from Barcelona).
• The Patriarch: Terito to the cooperative, Manuel Charlín to his family.
• Pragmatic Adaptation:
  • The Charlín children are reduced to three and the Bustelos (for Baúlos) to one.
  • Castro is a Civil Guard sergeant instead of a police chief like his Real Life counterpart. This gives him jurisdiction in both urban and rural areas and keeps him in the right place of the chain to give orders but also make field work. Thus the show can condensate the whole side of the Law in him.
  • Oubiña and Charlín flee to Portugal unlike in real life, giving more importance to this subplot and allowing Pilar and Esther to grow as characters in their absence.
  • Charlín contacts the Colombians through Miñanco, instead of (also) going to jail and doing it there himself.
  • Baúlo (real version of Bustelo) was not arrested in the same operation as the others but later under slightly different charges. As a result, he was not a protected witness when he was provisionally released and he had no police escort when he was murdered.
  • Miñanco actually fled to Panama and came back, then was arrested. This happened outside Madrid instead of in Galicia.
  • Matta-Ballesteros was Honduran in real life but he seems Colombian in the show, just like his boss.
  • There was a heroin epidemic in addition to a cocaine epidemic. Heroin was consumed mostly by poorer people and cocaine by richer people. The show only references cocaine.
  • Padín was not recognized at a bar by one of the Charlín children but by a cousin. The cousin was named Francisco.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Miñanco's wife and children don't appear after she leaves him.
  • Roque and Oli leave Miñanco when they refuse to work again with Colombians.
  • Terito "retires" when the Colombians murder his driver, Braulio.

R-Z

• Race Against the Clock:
  • "1982": Miñanco must unload the Panamanian shipment before Roque is murdered.
  • "1987": Miñanco must convince Matta-Ballesteros to not murder Bustelo's son before he does it.
• Race for Your Love: Zig-zagged in "1987". Camila thinks this trope is at work when Sito runs to her when she is due to board a plane for Panama, but it's actually because he wants her to convince Matta-Ballesteros to not murder Bustelo's son. However, he apologizes and they reconcile anyway.
• Reassigned to Antarctica:
  • Castro threatens to send Dirty Cop Montáñez to the Basque Country at the height of the ETA attacks.
  • Judge Beigbeder is reassigned to Cantabria when he prosecutes the dons.
  • Offscreen, Rajoy is sent to Madrid after lobbying by the dons, due to his opposition to making deals with them.
  • Castro is threatened with reassignment to Madrid until he threatens the President with exposing the 1984 meeting.
  • Silva is told to leave town and is reduced to work as a waiter.
  • Tati is put on the bench and eventually fired for sleeping with Camila. He becomes a waiter too.
• Recognition Failure: In Panama, Sito and Roque comment that cocaine looks like "flour" and don't know who Pablo Escobar is.
  Roque: The only Escobar we know is named Manolo.
• Regional Riff: It takes place in Galicia so of course there are bagpipes.
• Retirony: Miñanco is arrested when trying to secure his passage to Panama with one last shipment.
• Run for the Border: In "1984", the dons cross the Portuguese border in short notice when they are to be arrested.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The dons have the People's Alliance in their pocket, summon the Galician government to help them a couple of times, and have enough pull to remove Madrid-appointed judges and cops at times. The book goes deeper on this and Terito's personal friendship with AP leader Manuel Fraga in particular. It also claims that Vioque (real version of Ventura) ended financing not just AP/PP for support but also its rivals PSOE and BNG.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: How the connections are made, obviously. Miñanco tries to buy Castro but he replies that he can't buy everyone.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Roque and Oli leave Miñanco when he makes deals with the Colombians and end renouncing smuggling altogether.
  • Nieves leaves Miñanco due to his infidelity and the increased danger of his smuggling business.
  • Terito "retires" when he can't stop his associates from getting involved with drugs.
  • Miñanco thinks of warning the others about Nécora, but when Charlín bursts into his home yelling at Bustelo again, he gives up and leaves them all to be arrested. He warns Terito in the end, however.
• Self-Inflicted Hell:
  • Charlín's sons are a constant disappointment, but he keeps giving them authority because they are his sons. He refuses to do the same for Pilar despite her proving to be more capable. This hurts Charlín's business and sends him into his frequent rages.
  • Charlín and Bustelo keep creating problems for themselves and each other purely because of their mutual dislike. Things would turn a million times better for both if they just made peace.
• Shame If Something Happened: Almost Once an Episode.
  • Braulio compels Miñanco to meet Terito the first time by telling him that he's already disappointed with him, and that not going will make him disappointed twice. Then he will have a problem.
  • Castro threatens Montáñez with reassignment to the Basque Country and Valdano with going to a military prison.
  • The president tries to remove Castro to Madrid, but he stops him by threatening to make the 1984 meeting public.
  • Colombo convinces a reluctant councilor to take his money and allow him to break urbanism regulations by telling him that he will hire a Portuguese hitman for a fraction of that if he still refuses.
  • When Colombo gets sick of being in jail and threatens to talk, the other dons burn down his home. He phones Miñanco and tells him that he understood the message.
• Shout-Out: Obligatory one to Narcos in "1981", when Matta-Ballesteros brags about his friendship with Escobar... and the Galicians don't know who he is. Pity "1986" didn't use the chance to quote "plata o plomo".
• Shown Their Work: Even though the cast is overhelmingly Galician, the show hired a linguist just to make sure they used the right Galician accent for the area.
• Spicy Latina: Panamanian Camila Reyes. Very hot, very sexual, and very determined.
• Star-Crossed Lovers:
  • Bustelo's son and Charlín's niece fuels the feud between their families.
  • Downplayed and subverted with Camila and the football team captain, Tati, as Camila is only interested in a one-night stand.
• Stay in the Kitchen: What the dons expect their women to do, despite proving capable of running the business in their absence. Pilar is almost told this word by word by her mother and father in "1988".
• Stealing from the Till:
  • Silva is pursued by the Charlíns at the beginning for keeping smuggled money they owe him.
  • When a transport ship rams and loses most cargo, Charlín tells his Colombian providers that the whole cargo was lost and sells the rest himself.
  • Leticia escapes after stealing two winning lottery tickets from the Charlíns.
• Take That, Critics!: In a very cheeky move, the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue was expanded to include (and make fun of) the very frivolous lawsuits caused by the show.
• The Stinger:
  • "1984": Miñanco is offered to partner with the Medellín and Cali cartels.
  • "1988": Castro and Avendaño meet Judge Garzón in Madrid, who has just received the confession of Portabales and is going to (re)start the prosecution of the drug dealers based on it.
• The Stool Pigeon: Padín uncovers the Charlíns on TV when he feels cheated. He does this in such a poorly though way that he causes more problems for hismelf than to them.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Invoked by Dirty Cop Valdano. Everyone else is making money with the illegal tobacco trade or wants to, so why not him?
• This Means War!: In "1987", a patrolman dies while pursuing a smuggling vessel, then a smuggler dies while being pursued by the patrols. Both sides take this very badly. Both Charlín and some angry cops call for "war" and blame the other side for it.
• Totally Not a Criminal Front: The tobacco dons claim to be a fishing cooperative, but everyone knows the real source of their fortune.
• Translation Convention: Nearly all the dialogue in the series is Spanish with a heavy Galician accent and littered by "Galicianisms", even when it'd make as much sense for the characters to speak Galician. There are a few times when Galician is used, however, including the theme song.
• Transatlantic Equivalent: An obvious one is Narcos, although the producers claim Romanzo Criminale as their greatest foreign influence.
• Troubled Teen: Avendaño's son is a drug addict whose actions have been reduced to sleeping and looking to take his next dose. His mother says at one point that it would be better to know he was dead for certain than to keep wondering if he is suffering. He is sixteen.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Miñanco brings cocaine and the cartels to Galicia. He is not aware of how destructive they are until it is too late.
  • Castro and Beigbeder lobby to make tobacco smuggling punishable with jail. Rather than stopping the dons, this convinces them to switch to drugs, since they are no longer riskier than tobacco and are much more profitable.
  • Bustelo nearly causes his son's arrest when he tips the cops about a Charlín shipment, unaware that he is working with them.
  • Javi and Leticia cause several problems to their families due to their desire to be and run away together.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The dons are seen as wealth generators until the effects of cocaine start taking their toll on the population.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Charlín and Bustelo dislike each other to the point of sabotage, even while they are supposed to work together.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Every child of Manuel Charlín. No matter their desire to please him, he'll always be disappointed in them.
• Wham Shot: "1985" ends with Castro finding Braulio after he is given a "Colombian necktie".
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The finale ends with a montage detailing the fate of the main characters. Unfortunately, it only tells you about the ones with real names (other than Charlín's sons), so there isn't a hint of the "adventures" the Real Life versions of Ventura, Leticia, Javi and Pilar lived later in The '90s and the Turn of the Millennium.
  • Miñanco went to jail, back into business, and back into jail.
  • Charlín and his sons were arrested and imprisoned for new charges.
  • Esther Lago died when she crashed her car... on the very same building where the Civil Guard listened to her phone conversations.
  • Oubiña completed the last part of his jail sentence by volunteering at a rehabilitation center for drug addicts.
  • Garzón was inhabilitated while investigating the Gürtel case.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Charlín tells Silva to leave town after he repays his debt.