Hotel Cocaine Premiere Recap: MGM+ Takes on Miami’s Late-’70s Coke Scene — Plus, Grade It!
“Every pleasure has a price,” Roman Compte tells us at the top of Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s new drama about the rise of coke in late-1970s Miami. And by the end of the hour, we know exactly how high those prices will rise for Roman and his family.
But let’s back up a minute. As Roman (played by Law & Order: SVU‘s Danny Pino) explains via voiceover, he’s the general manager of the Mutiny Club and Hotel, a coke-fueled disco full of pretty people and celebrities. Even though Miami is ruled by drug kingpins who hold fast to their territories, the club is neutral ground “because everyone was having too much fun,” Roman says.
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One night, the hotel’s owner Burton (Royal Pains‘ Mark Feuerstein) alerts Roman that there’s a guy who’s clearly a Drug Enforcement Administration agent sitting at the bar. That guy — Agent Zulio (The Shield‘s Michael Chiklis) — knows that Roman’s brother, Nestor, is a major drug trafficker in Miami. Roman says he hasn’t seen his sibling in years, but Zulio doesn’t care: He needs an informant in Nestor’s organization. So he tells Roman to reestablish contact, or he’ll make it so that Roman goes to jail and loses custody of his teen daughter, Valeria. “You’re not who I’m after, but I’ll do what I have to do,” Zulio says. “Now are you going to help me out or not?”
Under duress, Roman does. After some wrangling of info with the help of his right-hand woman, Janice (Late Night with the Devil‘s Laura Gordon), he gets the address to Nestor’s heavily fortified compound. That’s where we meet Nestor (Midnight, Texas‘ Yul Vazquez), who is wary of his brother’s reasons for suddenly reappearing.
Roman says he’ll need help with paying for Valeria’s college tuition. In exchange, he’ll bring him information on all of the other “players” that come through the club. A still suspicious Nestor brings Roman to his screening room, where a former employee is strung up and beat-up. Nestor explains that the employee sold him out to some Haitians, who stole his product and now want to ransom it back to him. “Kill him,” Nestor tells Roman. “Prove I can trust you.” Though Roman initially balks, he eventually shoots the man in the head, earning him a hug from Nestor as he officially welcomes him in.
That means Roman is on hand when Nestor and his men meet with the Haitians, ostensibly to buy back their drugs but really to shoot the ever-loving life outta them. Roman joins in on the action and takes the opportunity to shoot Chucho, Nestor’s Number Two, who is convinced Roman has an ulterior motive. The shot takes Chucho down but doesn’t kill him, and right as Roman is about to finish him off, Nestor finds them and orders Roman to help him get Chucho to the hospital.
They dump a nearly unconscious Chucho outside the emergency room and peel away quickly. “Let’s hope he lives, brother,” Nestor tells his brother, who is freaking out on the inside.
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
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