Narcos (season 2)

Narcos (season 2)
Narcos season 2 poster
Starring	Wagner Moura Boyd Holbrook Pedro Pascal Joanna Christie Juan Pablo Raba Diego Cataño Paulina Gaitán Paulina García Bruno Bichir Raúl Méndez Manolo Cardona Cristina Umana Damian Alcazar Eric Lange
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	10
Release
Original network	Netflix
Original release	September 2, 2016 (2016-09-02)
Season chronology

The second season of Narcos, an American crime thriller drama web television series produced and created by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro, follows the story of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who became a billionaire through the production and distribution of cocaine, while also focusing on Escobar's interactions with drug lords, DEA agents, and various opposition entities.^[1][2]

It stars Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar – a Colombian drug lord and the leader of the Medellín Cartel, with Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal, Joanna Christie, Juan Pablo Raba, Diego Cataño, Paulina Gaitán, Paulina García, Bruno Bichir, Raúl Méndez, Manolo Cardona, Cristina Umana, Damian Alcazar and Eric Lange playing various real life based characters.

All 10 episodes of the season became available for streaming on Netflix on September 2, 2016 and were met with more favorable critical reviews as compared to first season, with critics particularly praising the performance of Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar. On September 6, 2016, Netflix renewed the series for a third and fourth season.^[3]

Synopsis

Season 2 is a continuation of where Season 1 ended. Some soldiers find Escobar and his entourage right outside the perimeter of La Catedral, but are too petrified by Escobar to make an arrest. At the embassy the US sends a new ambassador who brings the CIA into play. In the beginning, there is little change for Escobar, as he still has the loyalty of his cartel. However, this starts to slip as Escobar needs to use lot of time and resources to hide from the government. Among the tricks he uses to avoid being seen are hiring a cab driver, who in turn hires a young woman to sit in the backseat as a decoy, while Escobar is hiding in the trunk; and having young look-outs reporting about Search Bloc attempts to find him.

At the beginning Escobar easily adopts to his new life, giving money to the community while ruthlessly killing those who tried to grab his empire. The Colombian police and Escobar engage in massive battles, resulting in high tension and unrest in Colombia. Cali cartel forms an unlikely alliance with Judy Moncada and Don Berna, and decide to bring in the Castaño brothers (Los Pepes). Agent Peña starts working with Los Pepes, who kill Valeria and Fernando Duque. After La Quica and Blackie are caught, Escobar goes on the run with Limon. Pablo and Limon hide in a safehouse where he celebrates his 44th birthday. When Pablo tries to make contact with his family, the DEA and military track him down via radio triangulation and corner Pablo on the rooftops. Pablo is hit twice in the ensuing shootout, and though his injuries are non-threatening, Trujillo executes him with a shot to the head. Tata goes to the Cali Cartel for their help in leaving the country. Peña returns to the U.S. and is asked to provide intel against the Cali Cartel.

Cast and characters

Main characters

• Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar – a Colombian drug lord and the leader of the Medellín Cartel
• Boyd Holbrook as Steve Murphy – a DEA agent tasked with bringing down Escobar^[4]
• Pedro Pascal as Javier Peña – a DEA agent, who is on Murphy's task force
• Joanna Christie as Connie Murphy^[5] – Steve's wife, a nurse who works in the local hospital
• Juan Pablo Raba as Gustavo Gaviria – Escobar's cousin and one of the founding members of the Medellín Cartel
• Diego Cataño as Juan Diego "La Quica" Diaz – an assassin routinely hired by the Medellín, based on Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera
• Paulina Gaitán as Tata Escobar – Escobar's wife, based on Maria Henao
• Paulina García as Hermilda Gaviria – Escobar's mother, a former Colombian schoolteacher
• Bruno Bichir as Fernando Duque – a Colombian lawyer who represents Pablo Escobar, acting as his liaison with the Colombian government
• Raúl Méndez as César Gaviria – a Colombian economist and politician and the 28th President of Colombia
• Manolo Cardona as Eduardo Sandoval – the Vice Minister of Justice in President Gaviria's administration^[6]
• Cristina Umana - Judy Moncada - a former leader in the Medellín Cartel who, after Escobar murdered her husband Kiko, led a breakaway cartel and allied with the Cali Cartel and Los Pepes; she is based on the real-life Dolly Moncada^[7]
• Alberto Ammann as Helmer "Pacho" Herrera – a Colombian drug lord and high-ranking member of the Cali Cartel
• Damian Alcazar as Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela - the Leader of the Cali Cartel and one of Pablo Escobar's primary rivals
• Eric Lange as Bill Stechner - the CIA Station Chief in Colombia

Recurring characters

• Stephanie Sigman as Valeria Vélez – a Colombian journalist who also serves as Pablo Escobar's mistress, based on Virginia Vallejo^[8][9]
• Maurice Compte as Horacio Carrillo – a Colombian police chief, based on Colonel Hugo Martinez^[10][11]
• Julián Díaz as El Negro or "Blackie" (né Nelson Hernández) – a member of the Medellín Cartel, who is frequently seen by Escobar's side
• Jon-Michael Ecker - El Lion or "The Lion" - a childhood friend of Escobar's who becomes his first drug smuggler into Miami and subsequently runs Escobar's Miami operations
• Leynar Gomez as Limón - a pimp and taxi driver from Medellín who becomes one of Escobar's sicarios, based on Alvaro de Jesús Agudelo (a.k.a. "El Limón")
• Martina García as Maritza - an old friend of Limon's roped into unwittingly helping Escobar
• Brett Cullen as Ambassador Arthur Crosby - A former Navy officer sent as US Ambassador to Colombia by George H.W. Bush in 1992, replacing Noonan

Episodes

Reception

Second Season generates greater reviews as compared to previous season. Rotten Tomatoes a review aggregator surveyed 20 reviews and judged 90% to be positive. The site reads, "Narcos' sophomore season manages to elevate the stakes to a gut-wrenching degree in what continues to be a magnificent account of Pablo Escobar's life."^[12] On Metacritic, Season 2 holds a score of 76 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[13] IGN gave the second season a score of 7.4 out of 10 saying it "Good" and reads "It may go overboard with its love of Pablo Escobar, but I can't truly fault the show for taking advantage of its best performer and character – or for scrambling to find an emotional core on a show that can feel rather clinical."^[14]

Season received generally positive reviews from many media outlets. Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club lauded the performance of Moura's and said, "While the show never soft-pedals the havoc Escobar created, it makes him surprisingly sympathetic, thanks in part to Moura’s shrewd, affecting performance."^[15] Mark A. Perigard of Boston Herald said, "Moura’s performance anchors this show."^[16] Critic Neil Genzlinger of New York Times said, "Mr. Moura is inscrutably brilliant at the center of it all."^[17] Writing for IndieWire, Liz Shannon Miller said, "The show has figured out how to balance its ostensible heroes. The buddy cop energy between Peña and Murphy was one of Season 2’s most enjoyable side dishes--enough to make one hope for more."^[18] The New York Post's, Robert Rorke said, "Without [Escobar] there’s a gaping hole. So allow yourself to be mesmerized and appalled at one of the most outrageous true crime dramas ever filmed."^[19] Todd VanDerWerff of Vox said, "The second season of Narcos, Netflix’s historical drama about drug lord Pablo Escobar and the law enforcement officers who worked to bring him down, is a marked improvement over the first."^[20]

Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen also reviewed the series positively saying, "Where season 1 spanned 10 years, season 2 captures Escobar's last days on the loose. Each tightly packed episode moves quickly without sacrificing richness, chronicling the uneasy alliances and gross tactics employed to Snare Escobar."^[21] Television critic, Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said, "What works in the early going of season two is that the fall is almost always more thrilling, if not engaging, than the buildup. Escobar senses the loss of power and Moura does some of his best work as viewers read the worry and interior thinking on his face."^[22] John Anderson of Wall Street Journal wrote, "The sense of desperation among all the characters is heightened; the stakes are higher; the politics more sordid. Other aspects of the series, however, have remained disappointingly the same."^[23] However, Writing for Collider Chris Cabin expressed that, "There are potent and provocative ideas that lie frustratingly dormant throughout this series, which seems to be just happy to play a competent but only occasionally compelling Michael Mann riff.^[24]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Narcos (season 2)

• Official website
• Narcos at the Internet Movie Database