Dope season 2 recap and review (Netflix)

Netflix

Dope hired some big guns that were familiar with the material for season 2 of the Netflix series, but this batch was a dud.

Drugs are the subject of plenty of documentaries and for good reason. The taboo of drugs and curiosity of people wanting to know more without taking the risk will always have an audience. Those looking for a trip to the deep end need to look further than the Netflix docu-series Dope.

Usually, on the second hit off the pipe, the effects lessen. In the second season of Dope, the episodes do seem a bit weaker. The surface level dynamics of the drug trade have been covered ad-nauseum. This season of Dope does little but show the same stereotypes we’ve all seen before. The characters played to their cliche.

To open we get more background on El Chapo, which is like getting a stepped-on bag of bad grass. Nothing new and no real kick. In Puerto Rico, the devastating effects of the recent hurricane are overlooked to show how drug runners are merely paid in extra cocaine. No new cash is being brought to the island to stay, and that is a problem that only makes the usage rates worse.

The hurricane’s devastation and cocaine opportunists are two issues blended into the background of one episode. Puerto Rico is also dealing with the same cartel fights that plagued northern Mexico a decade ago before mergers of cartels saw more focused enforcement of territories.

Season 2 of Dope has more drug dealer exaggeration than it does cash transactions. El Animal goes straight from basic drug economics to guns and death. Lots of drugs are moving more efficiently. Everything in the world of commerce is moving more efficiently. However, that boat that delivered the cocaine to the dock was not deep seaworthy.