Narcos (season 2)

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 Limon, a pimp and taxi driver, who in turn hires his childhood friend Maritza 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.

In the meantime, the Cali Cartel forms an alliance with the right-wing Castaño brothers, Don Berna and Judy Moncada, whose husband Kiko was murdered by Escobar in Season 1. Judy plots revenge against Escobar after he kills her brother Jaime. In a meeting with the Cali Cartel leaders, Judy reluctantly gives the location of Escobar's drug labs to the Search Bloc, resulting in the arrest of multiple cartel members. Enraged, Escobar ambushes a convoy and kills Colonel Horacio Carillo, Gustavo's killer who yearns to kill Escobar.

The Colombian police and Escobar engage in massive battles, resulting in high tension and unrest in Colombia. Agent Peña starts working with Los Pepes, who kill Valeria and Fernando Duque. At Gilberto's daughter's wedding, Pablo has a bomb explode during the reception, with several people injured. Angered at Escobar's merciless attack, Gilberto has Los Pepes follow Hermilda from the Christmas Mass and attacks the Escobar family in their home, killing Tata's brother Carlos. Devastated, Escobar attempts to get his family to Germany, but Steve Murphy follows the family and has the German customs deport Hermilda, Tata and her children to Colombia. Judy plans to give up her allies to the police, but is betrayed by Berna and the Cali Cartel, causing her to flee Colombia and become an informer for the C.I.A.

Little by little, all of Escobar's men are hunted down and killed. After La Quica and Blackie are caught by the Search Bloc, Escobar goes on the run with Limon. They briefly stay in the ranch of Abel, Escobar's estranged father. Abel tells Escobar how ashamed he is of his life of crime, so Escobar and Limon leave. In search of money, Limon steals Maritza's earnings and kills her when she threatens to turn him in for the reward. Pablo and Limon return to Medellin and 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. In the ensuing chase, Limon is shot as he exits through a window and Pablo is hit multiple times; though his injuries are non-threatening, Trujillo executes him with a shot to the head. Hermilda is devastated at her son's death and 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.

Main characters

Recurring characters

Reception

The second season of Narcos received more favorable reviews than the first. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 90% positive: "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." On Metacritic, Season 2 holds a score of 76 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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."

Season two 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." Mark A. Perigard of Boston Herald said, "Moura’s performance anchors this show." Critic Neil Genzlinger of New York Times said, "Mr. Moura is inscrutably brilliant at the center of it all." 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." 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." 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."

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." 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." 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." 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.