Viewers Go Behind Bars and Are Held for Ransom on Locked Up Abroad

You’re sweating. You shake. Your eyes shift, suddenly on alert, to where the sounds of heavy boots echo in the terminal. No, they’re just walking by. They have to; it’s their job. Nothing to worry about. A woman’s tired voice calls your flight number, and breathing a sigh of premature relief, you make for your gate. The plane is so close. A firm hand grips your shoulder and an equally firm, and frightening voice orders, “Come with me.” A single tear forms in your eye. You’re busted. They found the drugs.

You’re having the time of your life. This is the vacation of your dreams. Playing tourist, you stand out, but don’t care. It’s a nice change to be on foreign soil, nice to explore a new world. But turning down an alley a man approaches you, and he has a gun. You think you remember running, maybe shouting for help, but you’re not sure because next thing you know you’re tied up in the back of a van, bouncing down bumpy roads, and you have no idea where you’re headed.

These are the plots of nightmares, the stories you overhear on the news while eating dinner in the next room, the stories reserved for your mystery novels sleeping silently on their shelves. And yet, for many, these stories are memories too real to be forgotten, burned forever in their minds.

Locked Up Abroad, has plenty of stories like these, from desperate drug smugglers to tourists held for ransom. Currently, the hour long show is enjoying the beginning of its third season, and viewers can catch full episodes from past seasons on Hulu or if you have On Demand. In the season two finale viewers meet Daniel Van De Zande as he was in his past—a man so desperate for money he tries his hand at smuggling marijuana across the Mexican border into the United States, (a feat which he successfully completes) and as he is now, a man wanting to atone for his past. “I had no interest in making this a career,” he reminisces. But, when still strapped for cash two years later, he attempts another smuggling operation, this time with cocaine from Ecuador. Looking back he calls himself a “lamb led to slaughter, a stupid lamb at that.”

Here’s the crux of the show, as viewers we would like to think of drug smugglers as terrible criminals, ignorant, unfeeling, careless, heartless, and many other unkind adjectives, but Locked Up Abroad, does not provide us that luxury. Through the mix of first hand accounts and reenactments viewers may find themselves laughing and bonding and feeling empathy with our (real life) protagonist. We may find we have come to understand this person and their reasoning, maybe even understanding to the point we find them logical and rational. Like a Hollywood action film, the reenactments keep butts glued to chairs and eyes glued to screens. It’s easy to spot the high levels of creativity brought to life through cinematography in each episode. Different lighting techniques and extreme close-ups make the story move swiftly from scene to scene. But what viewers must remember that they are watching actors, and the dialogue is simply that, a script. So, while the story is true, it’s dramatized for the sole purpose of keeping you entertained and excitement levels up.

While I, personally, never became a huge fan of Locked Up Abroad I have found it entertaining on occasion, and enjoy sitting down to watch it on On Demand when I go home for breaks. It is an easy show to get sucked into, but the stories from week to week just do not differ enough for me to become hooked on the show. But I will recommend anyone looking for an hour of fast-paced entertainment to watch this show…just maybe not right before you go on that overseas vacation!

My rating:

Locked Up Abroad on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/locked-up-abroad
National Geographic's Official site: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/locked-up-abroad#tab-Videos
Purchase the DVD Here: http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/917/4923/703.html

Watch the Season 2 Finale: "Ecuador"

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