Netflix’s ‘Dope’ Is Still Thrilling, But Please Don’t Watch It on 4/20

Dope, Netflix’s docu-series about drug dealers and the cops who want to put them behind bars, has always been a solid binge. It’s a series that has the has the same innate watchability as Unsolved Mysteries or other generic crime docu-series. But even though Netflix has released four new episodes of the show today, I’m begging you, do not watch Dope on 4/20.

I say this not as a criticism of the show or as a buzzkill but as someone looking out for those who consider April 20 to be a holiday. When you’re smoking your own dope, there’s likely nothing that seems more appropriate than watching something on Netflix called Dope. They match, and Netflix has never let you down, right? Wrong. This dramatic docu-series filled with mask-wearing criminals and cops doing everything they can to arrest drug users is almost guaranteed to deliver a bad trip.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch Dope; just save it for Saturday.

Just like Season 1, each episode tries to tell both sides of the drug trade in America. The stories are divided between interviews with drug dealers selling different illegal substances all over the United States and officers who always seem about three steps behind when it comes to tracking these criminals down. There’s always been an intriguing fly-on-the-wall tone when it comes to Dope, and that formatting continues in Season 2. It’s not uncommon for the docu-series to show a masked head of a major drug trafficking operation explain their business in detail only to cut to a frustrated and overworked officer minutes later. Like in a cinematic crime thriller, the camera knows both sides of this illegal story, but it’s up to the officer alone to figure out the truth.

Whereas Season 1 dealt with more singular subjects like a RV-driving drug distributor in Oakland, Season 2 seems to have widened the show’s gaze. Rather than focusing solely on individual stories, Dope now uses these narratives to make larger arguments about the drug trade. This season’s first episode, “In This Business You Have No Friends, Only Enemies”, features a race between the law and smugglers shipping drugs across the Caribbean border.“You’re Too Innocent for This Game” also has a larger focus, showing how the meth crisis is effecting America as a whole.

But at the center of these stories there are still the same compelling characters that made Season 1 a good watch. El Animal, a criminal who’s the head of a coke operation, speaks with the arrogance of a real-life Scarface, and the dealer at the center of the Molly episode is shockingly honest about what goes into cutting and rebranding his E-pills. Once again the docu-series doesn’t spend much time dwelling on why these people are dealing drugs. It’s more interested in the practicalities of dealing, and it’s an approach that largely works.

There are few drug-focused documentaries that give equal time to both the criminals and the cops. That’s exactly what Dope does in its own straightforward way while answering a ton of questions about drugs you never knew you had. In the end, Dope‘s second season is just as bingeable as its first. Just don’t watch while you light up.

Stream Dope on Netflix