“Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel” is a three-part docuseries on the story of Owen Hanson, a former University of Southern California football player who went from dealing pain killers to his teammates to becoming a wealthy cocaine trafficker. Directed by Jody McVeigh-Schultz, the Prime Video release begins in a similar vein to other stories of athletes who have lost their careers to drug addiction.
This isn’t the story of a star athlete who wasted a life of success and fame due to his vices; instead, it’s one of an underdog who beat the odds and built his own success. That success just happens to come from finding ways to smuggle cocaine in Australia. It should feel morally wrong to sympathize or even root for Hanson to succeed. In many ways, however, that reaction is quite natural.
After being left behind by his mother at a young age after his parents divorced, Hanson threw himself into volleyball. He earned a scholarship to USC, where his coaches eventually told him he wasn’t strong enough. This sparked his first foray into steroids, and the connections earned through this led to him walking onto the USC football team and providing his teammates with various pain killers. Seeing teammates like Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush move onto the NFL forced him to search for his own path to success. He found that success by becoming a bookie and eventually laundering money for the cartel.
The storytelling in the series is a nice reflection of how Hanson is feeling at each point of his story. The first episode, which mainly focuses on his early life and time at USC, is fast- paced and expresses how quickly his life was moving at that point. It is a succinct and efficient telling of the foundations of his life that allows us to understand his later decisions.
Episode two is a lot busier. It is the first time the audience gets exposed to the full scale of money laundering and the consequences of working for the cartel that were foreshadowed in the prior episode. The plotlines in this episode can be hard to follow, as there are many jumbled threads that would all be a worthwhile story on their own. Despite the confusion that this causes, it is also effective because it reflects the complex situation Hanson was dealing with at the time. The viewer goes through the same perplexity that Hanson does, and it puts the viewer in his shoes.
In episode three, the flow becomes clean again once he gets out of trouble with the cartel and starts making more money. There is a shift in the mood and the story becomes brighter as viewers observe Hanson partying and flaunting his money. The atmosphere gradually darkens until the point where Hanson is arrested and sentenced to over 20 years in prison. The transformation is so subtle that you don’t really feel it until it is over and Hanson has no way out.
One of the most unique storytelling devices used by McVeigh-Schultz comes at the start of each episode. Instead of jumping immediately into the plot, the beginning of each episode presents a parody of different documentary styles. Episode one evokes an NFL Films-style opening, with the narrator discussing USC football and introducing us to Hanson the football player. Episode two’s Discovery Channel nature documentary-style opening sets the mood for an episode that will mostly take place in Australia. The History Channel-style opening in episode three, featuring religious references, sets the stage perfectly for the impending downfall of his empire. These introductions set the theme for what the focus of each episode will be.
At the end, after being released from prison early for his cooperation in another case, Hanson is shown talking to a group of young football players about his life choices and what led him to that point. It is the first time since his arrest that we see Hanson smiling and seemingly enjoying himself. It brings us back to the first episode, where Hanson’s whole journey of drug dealing and crime began simply because he was desperate to become a better volleyball player in any way possible. It’s moments like this that demonstrate why “Cocaine Quarterback” is so enjoyable; it’s a story that could happen to anyone.
In some ways, that title is misleading. Hanson wasn’t a quarterback; he was a backup. Hanson wasn’t a sports star, nor was he rich. He was a normal guy who, in the push to continue doing something he loved, got in over his head and saw no way of turning back.
Rating: 3.5/5