Warning: mild spoilers ahead

The second season of Netflix Original drama Narcos has traded bullets for words, proving itself as one of this year’s standout dramas and becoming the target of the son of the world’s most notorious drug lord in the process.

After season one concluded with Pablo Escobar and crew walking into the jungle following his failed apprehension at the hands of Colombian Special Forces, season two opens with the lay of the land, where Escobar’s subordinates vie for control of the Medellin cartel and government officials scramble to pick up the scent of Colombia’s most wanted.

Both the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Escobar are in a state of disarray: the former following breadcrumbs and the latter taking out greedy lieutenants left in charge of his operation while under house arrest.

The season begins playing out more like a police procedural drama. Photo: Netflix

If anything, the season begins playing out more like a police procedural drama than the ultra-violent game of cat and mouse of season one. But is this portrayal of events fact or fiction?

With a greater focus on relationships and details, and less glorification of the violent nature of the Colombian drug trade, we’re now treated to a measured examination of cause and effect; action and consequence.

Sure, there are horrific moments of graphic violence – usually the result of Escobar tightening his grip on his operation or retaliating for a grievance – but nothing compared to the bloodbaths that punctuated the first season. In that respect, the new season presents itself as a more mature storytelling exercise.

Especially fascinating to watch is the growing hubris and increasingly erratic behaviour of the series’ villain.

Escobar truly believes he is Colombia’s savour and, therefore, should be treated differently in a legal manner to the men he commands to murder on his behalf.

Colombia’s President Gaviria takes a hardline stance against the drug lord. Photo: Netflix

This element of the story escalates as Colombia’s President Gaviria takes a greater hardline stance than ever before against the drug lord; ceasing negotiations for leniency in favour of an all-out manhunt. Naturally, Escobar takes offence at this, and a deadly tête-à-tête ensues.

Like many TV shows or movies ‘inspired by true events’, the producers claim the events of Narcos have been ‘fictionalised for dramatic purposes’, not that this has stopped Escobar’s son from making claims of inaccuracy against them.

Escobar’s son, Sebastian Marroquin – born Juan Pablo Escobar – has cited a number of faults with the Narcos storyline, and claims the series “is an insult to Colombia’s history and to the thousands of victims of drug-trafficking”.

Marroquin, who changed his name in an effort to distance himself from his father’s legacy, also believes the story is heavily biased in favour of the United States’ political interests. He claims the story ignores certain events, particularly how “the Drug Enforcement Agency charged my dad ‘taxes’ so he could send cocaine to the US territory via Miami International Airport”.

The second season of the Narcos has traded bullets for words. Photo: Netflix

Despite his efforts to bring the real facts of these events to light, Marroquin has no love for the world he left behind after his father’s death, in 1993.

“Drug trafficking destroyed my family; it gave us the world and then it took it away,” said Marroquin.

Regardless of which side of history you prefer your TV drawn from, and for all its historical inaccuracies, the second season of Narcos is a gripping tale of avarice, revenge and justice, with a storyline that turns as much light on the motivations of those driving the illicit drug trade as those attempting to end it.