As everybody knows, this series is based on the real events of the investigation "Lava Jato" - it's written based on the book of the same name, and its pilot episode is titled that too. "Lava Jato" seems to have raised as much dust in Latin America as the Arab Spring has in Middle East, minus the warfare. As a result, it seems that opinions of the show, and of each season, are sharply divided among Brazilians based on their political views, and what they believe each season's message to be. I'm a person rather distant from Brazilian politics, and thus cannot quite speak to the accuracy or neutrality of the production - only to its quality. And it is... alright.
I have learnt some things about Brazilian politics and corruption from the show, but a lot (especially in Season 2) was quite confusing. I fear I might not have been pausing enough to try to understand a particular scheme, stance or piece of evidence - perhaps you just need to have followed the real-world events from day 1, or at least keep a Wikipedia timeline handy; and have knowledge of Brazilian law to boot. Some of it becomes understandable with some effort - the finale of Season 1 has an awesome scene which helps - but on some points I'm still confused.
"O mecanismo" has a strong fixation on relationship drama in a series that you'd think would be about the broader picture. We learn about families of nearly all of the main characters, and witness quite a few of them randomly having sex (mostly in S1). I'm not sure if it's the creators checking some boxes on their thriller-making guide, or just Brazilian culture manifesting. Style-wise, the series has a noirish narration (some lines bordering on the absurd or devoid of meaning), and is a slower boil, with a lot hinging on whether the criminals are going to make a mistake or start cooperating with the law. The characters' behaviour and/or decision-making are not always clear - I could never keep track which investigator was enthused and which was depressed, and who placed hopes on what course of action, and which criminal hoped for what way out: everything is a relative blur, which I guess is kinda bad?.. Finally, the camerawork is often very stylish and cool - you have a lot of still, centred shots that ooze gravity and atmosphere. The editing is a mixed bag.
Overall, S2 is marginally better than S1 but more by Brownian motion than anything, and there are some inconsistencies between them - perhaps at most one could say that S2 takes itself a bit more seriously and has a grander scale of events to work with. If you're looking for a political crime thriller, give both a watch - and potentially await new seasons, if they're going to come about (as "Lava Jato" has been forced to close this month, on one hand they wouldn't have as much to work off with after catching up to the current state of affairs, but honestly the story is flexible enough to follow any Brazilian corruption case straight off the headlines, so who knows).
(I've watched "Lava Jato" in English and the other 15 episodes in Russian)
My ratings by season: S1: 5 S2: 6
I have learnt some things about Brazilian politics and corruption from the show, but a lot (especially in Season 2) was quite confusing. I fear I might not have been pausing enough to try to understand a particular scheme, stance or piece of evidence - perhaps you just need to have followed the real-world events from day 1, or at least keep a Wikipedia timeline handy; and have knowledge of Brazilian law to boot. Some of it becomes understandable with some effort - the finale of Season 1 has an awesome scene which helps - but on some points I'm still confused.
"O mecanismo" has a strong fixation on relationship drama in a series that you'd think would be about the broader picture. We learn about families of nearly all of the main characters, and witness quite a few of them randomly having sex (mostly in S1). I'm not sure if it's the creators checking some boxes on their thriller-making guide, or just Brazilian culture manifesting. Style-wise, the series has a noirish narration (some lines bordering on the absurd or devoid of meaning), and is a slower boil, with a lot hinging on whether the criminals are going to make a mistake or start cooperating with the law. The characters' behaviour and/or decision-making are not always clear - I could never keep track which investigator was enthused and which was depressed, and who placed hopes on what course of action, and which criminal hoped for what way out: everything is a relative blur, which I guess is kinda bad?.. Finally, the camerawork is often very stylish and cool - you have a lot of still, centred shots that ooze gravity and atmosphere. The editing is a mixed bag.
Overall, S2 is marginally better than S1 but more by Brownian motion than anything, and there are some inconsistencies between them - perhaps at most one could say that S2 takes itself a bit more seriously and has a grander scale of events to work with. If you're looking for a political crime thriller, give both a watch - and potentially await new seasons, if they're going to come about (as "Lava Jato" has been forced to close this month, on one hand they wouldn't have as much to work off with after catching up to the current state of affairs, but honestly the story is flexible enough to follow any Brazilian corruption case straight off the headlines, so who knows).
(I've watched "Lava Jato" in English and the other 15 episodes in Russian)
My ratings by season: S1: 5 S2: 6