Just finished season 1 with my girl. Niether of us know 95% of the characters' names. There's Pena, Murphy, Escobar, Gavira, and the reporter chick Valeria, but other than them... and to be honest, why should we? Besides the wife, everyone is interchangeable and grossly insignificant to the plot. Escobar's is the only character we see beyond what happens in the streets. There is no complexity to anyone (although by episode 9 they finally squeezed in some minor character development with Murphy)
This is really just a trainwreck of a show. Not in the sense that it is an awful production; the acting seems good enough and the plot, for what it is, is engaging. But the plot is basically following the trainwreck that was Colombia in the 70s-80s with Escobar as the conductor. There really isn't anything to the plot, and there is nothing that moves the plot, beyond what next crazy thing Escobar will do. It's a cheap cashing-in on human morbid curiosity. A dramatized documentary of a mad-man. Not to mention, how many productions have already focused on Escobar? It's Diet Breaking Bad, without the suspense or drama.