This second season of “Narcos” was truly epic and an incredible season that fans will no doubt appreciate! Amazing performances, especially from Wagner Moura and a riveting storyline that literally captivates you from episode to episode, “Narcos: Season Two” is recommended!
TITLE: Narcos: Season Two
TV SEASON AIR DATE: 2016
DURATION: Episodes 11-20 (525 Minutes)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 1:78:1, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English SDH and Spanish
COMPANY: Lionsgate
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: September 5, 2017
Created by Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato, Doug Miro and Paul Eckstein
Directed by Andres Baiz, Gerardo Naranjo, Josef Kubota Wladyka
Written by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, Chris Brancato, Zachary Reiter, T.J. Brady, Steve Lightfrost, Rasheed Newson, Julie Siege, Adam Fierro, Curtis Gwinn, Clayton Trussell, Gideon Yago
Produced by Jesse Rose Moore, Lornezo O’Brien
Consulting Producer: Curtis Gwinn, Carolina Paiz
Executive Producer: Eric Newman, Jose Padilha, Elisa Todd Elis, Katie O’Connell
Co-Executive Producer: Jack Loguidice, Paul Marks, Zachary Reiter, Julie Siege
Music by Pedro Bromfman
Cinematography by Carmen Cabana, Adrian Teijido, Luis David Sansans
Edited by Matthew Colonna, Trevor Baker, Nathan Gunn
Casting by Carla Hool, Carmen Cuba
Production Design by Salvador Parra
Art Direction by Camila Arocha, Catalina Olarte, Anibal Silva
Starring:
Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar
Boyd Holbrook as Steve Murphy
Pedro Pascal as Javier Pena
Joanna Christie as Connie Murphy
Paulina Gaitan as Tata Escobar
Diego Catano as La Quica
Julian Diaz as Blackie
Maria Jose Sanchez Real as ManuelaÂ
Maurice Compte as Horacio Carrillo
Alberto Ammann as Pacho HerreraÂ
Stephanie Sigman as Valeria VelezÂ
Manolo Cardona as Eduardo Sandoval
Bruno Bichir as Fernando DuqueÂ
Leynar Gomez as LimonÂ
Juan Pablo Raba as Gustavo Gaviria
Danielle Kennedy as Ambassador Noon
After drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from prison, the Colombian police, rival cartels, and DEA agents try to take him down in the explosive second season of the hit series.
As Pablo Escobar continues his drug operation and became Colombia’s top drug lord and leader of the Medellin Cartel, President George Bush and his administration has taken a step forward to end drug cartels and the new US ambassador brings the CIA in.
With young lookouts watching the city for him, Escobar hires Limon, a pimp and a taxi driver to help him stay outside of the authorities grasp. And Limon gets his friend Maritza involved with his business affairs.
Meanwhile, the Cali Cartel sees their power decreasing because of Escobar and they form an alliance with the Castano Brothers, Don Berna and Judy Moncada, who wants revenge against Escobar for murdering her husband Kiko and her brother Jaime.
As many police officers are slaughtered by Escobar’s men, Colonel Horacio Carillo wants to take back the power by derailing Escobar’s operations with force and killing him.  And as Carillo tries to get Escobar’s men to give him information and killing them if they don’t, this puts Carillo in opposition with DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena.
All this and more in “Season 2” of “Narcos”!
What is “Narcos” about?
In 2015, Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro’s “Narcos”, an American crime web television series began streaming.
Shot and filmed in Colombia, the first season focuses on the beginnings of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and how he would rise and become a billionare through the production and distribution of cocaine. Meanwhile two DEA agents, Steve Murphy and Javier Pena have the task of taking him down.
A Netflix exclusive that is 10 episodes long and began streaming on August 2015 and now, the series will be released on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate.
The series would also earn two Golden Globe nominations for “Best Drama Series” and “Best Actor”.
The series stars Wagner Moura (“Paradiso Tropical”, “Elite Squad”, “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within”, “Elysium”), Boyd Holbrook (“Gone Girl”, “Milk”, “The Skeleton Twins”), Pedro Pascal (“The Adjustment Bureau”, “Bloodsucking Bastards”, “Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe”), Joanna Christie (“Star”, “Small Dark Places”, “The Girl and the Fish”), Paulina Gaitan (“Trade”, “Sin Nombre”, “Senorita Polvora”), Diego Catano (“Savage”, “Duck Season”, “Lake Tahoe”), Jason Chad Roth (“Bloque de Busqueda”, “El Capo”, “Pura sangre”) and Maurice Compte (“A Walk Among the Tombstones”, “End of Watch”, “The Dream Catcher”).
“Narcos” is a series narrated by DEA agent Steve Murphy and the first season is his account of taking down Colombian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar.
The series would begin in the ’70s as how Pablo Escobar (portrayed by Wagner Moura) had big dreams of becoming rich and with his deep network, how he would establish himself as a black marketeer in Medellin. How his network would provide him the power to move trucks worth of illegal goods and would have personal information that would prevent patrols from stopping him, in generating fear so no one would stop him.
When Mateo “Cockroach” Moreno, an underground chemist who is also exiled from Chile and would create the perfect cocaine, would collaborate with Escobar and together, they would distribute and profit from cocaine.
And how they would grow from a small operation to having large elaborate operations and laboratories and many in Columbia would become addicts and as many demanded cocaine, the crime would also exponentially increase.
And eventually the demand for cocaine would rise, especially in the United States and thus escalating drug-related violence in America. So, a taskforce from the DEA are sent to Colombia.
Steve Murphy (portrayed by Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Pena (portrayed by Pedro Pascal) are sent to Colombia to work with authorities and put a stop the flow of cocaine into the United States.
But despite the power of Pablo Escobar, he would eventually find himself not just in trouble with local authorities, the DEA (which he puts a bounty on their heads) but also with guerilla communists known as M-19. Which would lead to the beginning of the Medelin Cartel.
But if being a wealthy drug kingpin is not enough for Escobar to aspire to, he also has political aspirations to become the president of Colombia. But what happens when Escobar plans to run for politics?
In season two, it is a battle of the drug cartel as the Cali Cartel forms an alliance with the Castano Brothers in hopes to take down Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel.
But as the authorities are going after Escobar, Escobar must deal with a cruel Colonel Horacio Carillo who tries to go after Escobar by any means necessary.
VIDEO:
“Narcos” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio). The picture quality for this series is very good. Shot in Colombia and a good balance of outdoor scenes and indoor scenes. Featuring beautiful imagery of Colombia scenery
I didn’t notice any major banding issues or artifacts.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Narcos” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The series is crystal clear and the lossless soundtrack is primarily dialogue and music-driven. There are some scenes with gun exchanges and scenes that utilize crowd ambiance but it’s a series that focuses on narration, dialogue and its musical soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“Narcos: Season Two” comes with the following special features:
- Unredacted: Declassifying Narcos Season Two – (19:36) A featurette about season two.
- Deleted Scenes – (8:32) Featuring deleted scenes from “Narcos: Season Two”.
- Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary for episode “Al Fin Cayo!” with director Andres Baiz, producer Eric Newman and actor Wagner Moura.
EXTRAS:
“Narcos: Season Two” comes with a slipcover and an UltraViolet code.
If you thought “Narcos” had an explosive first season, season two ups the ante with Escobar now the Colombian drug lord that other cartel have in their targets, along with authorities who want to capture him dead or alive.
This season, we see the ferocity of the Medellin Cartel towards Colombian authorities, his wife Tata fearing for his death from Search Bloc and authorities, especially America’s stance on the war on drugs.
And the story is coming to a head now that the Cali Cartel has formed an alliance with the Castano Brothers and with the violence heightened, seeing how Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, the DEA Agents are having to handle all the violence which they both get caught up in.
So, this sophomore season of “Narcos” is much better than the first and seeing how the storyline has the characters have progressed.
I’m a believer that if you want to create a film or a series with characters from another country, it has to be done right and best to show the characters in their environment, speaking the original language.
Of course, that is not always the case as having a series with the native language with English subtitles is not always ideal, but fortunately, “Narcos” is a series that Netflix believed in and in its support, the series would be filmed in Colombian and would feature a bilingual cast with English subtitles.
And because of that authenticity, it lends to a believable and captivating series which “Narcos” has become and is appreciated for.
Wagner Moura continues to excel in his craft portraying Pablo Escobar. He plays the part to perfection, even so far of gaining 40 pounds for the first season in order to play the role of Escobar in his later years. Escobar has since slimmed down a bit but it goes to show how far Moura went to become Escobar. But to play a character that go from a cheerful man smiling when authorities try to take his photo, to a man who is cold and calculating and would murder someone quite easily. Moura does a great job!
As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is fantastic in HD, lossless audio features crystal clear dialogue and music. And as for the Blu-ray release, there is a good balance of audio commentary, deleted scenes and a featurette.
Overall, this second season of “Narcos” was truly epic and an incredible season that fans will no doubt appreciate! Amazing performances, especially from Wagner Moura and a riveting storyline that literally captivates you from episode to episode, “Narcos: Season Two” is recommended!
