What I’m Watching: Narcos

Narcos: Season 2, Episode 2 “Cambalache” (B+)

An interesting phenomenon introduced in this episode is that we’re getting a lot of new characters that are mostly American. The one notable exception is the attorney general who just looks like a man who can be bought, and the fact that he’s investing his energy and the government’s time in looking into the allegations that Eduardo helped Pablo escape rather than trying to back his president’s efforts to get Pablo arrested again. Pablo is clearly losing patience, not content to be hunted even though he’s well aware that he has done bad things. I thought I recognized Bruno Bichir, who appeared on “The Bridge” last year and whose brother is actor Demian, as Duque, Pablo’s lawyer, and I was pleased to discover that I was right. Added to the cast in this episode were Florencia Lozano as Javier and Steve’s new no-nonsense boss, Brett Cullen’s equally committed ambassador, and Eric Lange’s antisocial CIA station chief. I’m excited to see what role they play, and they’ll definitely be involved now that Pablo has launched a frontal attack against law enforcement in general after he was made to leave his home through a tunnel in the middle of the night. The most regrettable development is that Limon, who was a nice guy who wanted to take care of the girl who would have certainly been murdered by his trigger-happy friend, caved to pressure from the people he runs with and shot one of the cops in the head, confirming that he too has fully crossed over to the dark side.