In the first season of the Brazilian thriller New Bandits, a banker and former army officer embeds himself in his birth family, who are a group of bank robbers. Over the course of that first season, he realized it would be better to be a part of that family’s legacy than to try to keep playing things straight. In the second season, he’s almost fully converted to a bloodthirsty bandit, just in time for a war with a rival ceime family.
NEW BANDITS SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We see a flashback scene where Amaro Vaquiero (Allan Souza Lima) is dragging someone through the desert. After dispatching with him, he goes home to see the birth of his daughter Dilvânia, who takes time to start crying; it’s so long that the entire family prays for her to start breathing.
The Gist: In the present day, Ubaldo (Lima) is out for revenge after the death of his adoptive father Ernesto (Ricardo Blat). He drive with his sister Dinorah (Alice Carvalho) and aunt Zeza (Marcelia Cartaxo) to the Maliero estate, convinced that Gastão Maleiro (Bruno Bellarmino) instigated the people who burned down the church where Ernesto died. Gastão and his father Deocleciano (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) deny it, and Zeza cools tensions before shots are fired. As that’s going on, Dilvânia (Thainá Duarte) sorts through the ruins of the church.
At Ernesto’s funeral, mayoral candidate Paulino Leite (Daniel Porpino) and his wife Leinneane (Hermila Guedes) pay their respects. Squeezed for money by the Malieros, Dinorah asks Leinneane if they can help the Vaquieros out, given the family’s staunch support of Paulino’s mayoral campaign. But Leinneane and Paulino’s slaughterhouse is also being squeezed and money is tight.
When two cop cars are spotted nearby, containing the three men who attacked the church and Ernesto, Ubaldo, Dinorah and Lino (Pedro Lamin) go to intercept them. But Ubaldo drives so aggressively that the lead car, containing Chief Pixinga (Black Jr.) is run off the road and flips over, killing Pixinga. In another fit of rage, Ubaldo shoots the three prisoners to death while the drivers of the van holding them are held by his sister.
Meanwhile, Leinneane makes a power play in Paulino’s mayoral campaign against Gastão Maleiro, and when Paulino shockingly wins the election, Leinneane becomes vice mayor.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Even more than the first season, New Bandits (Original title: Cangaço Novo) has a Breaking Bad feel, given that Ubaldo is now fully embedded in the Vaquiero family and killing people left and right.
Our Take: At this stage, New Bandits is less about carrying on the legacy of a classic cangaceiro like Amaro Vquiero but more of a case of the Vaquieros putting together heists just to survive. The Malieros have squeezed them so much that Dinorah agrees to steal an ATM for fast cash, which they end up not even being able to use because the bills are marked and traceable.
Ubaldo is now almost fully converted in to the type of ruthless bandit that his his birth father used to be, and Dinorah always was. In fact, his rage over Ernesto’s death is so volcanic, that even Dinorah is concerned that he could get them in deeper than they need to, a concern that comes true when Ubaldo’s rage causes the death of Chief Pixinga.
As Ubaldo works through this grief, the family has to try to figure out what they can steal without being detected, and how to work with Paulino and Leinneane as they assume power in Cratará. There will certainly be a lot going on, but at the center of it is how Ubaldo changes and becomes even more closely bonded with his family, especially Dinorah and Dilvânia.
Performance Worth Watching: Alice Carvalho’s powerful performance as Dinorah shows that she’s firmly in charge of the Vaquiero family, and she’s going to be the one who has to keep Ubaldo’s rage under control.
Sex And Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Gastão takes care of his father (not in a good way) after the senator makes it clear that he’s disappointed in his son’s electoral defeat.
Sleeper Star: Thainá Duarte’s character Dilvânia is certainly the family’s beating heart, and while she has her moments of anger, it feels like Dinorah and Ubaldo protect her from a lot of the uglier parts of being a family of bandits.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. New Bandits is in a phase where its formerly “good guy” main character is now in deep, and it’ll be interesting to watch how he conducts himself now that his family is in crisis.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.