Dynasties II review: David Attenborough brings wildlife narratives to life in breathtaking second season

Dynasties II is the second season of Sony BBC Earth's celebrated Dynasties series, which puts a narrative spin on the animals that inhabit the earth alongside us in an uneasy peace. While the first season told self-contained stories about chimpanzee, emperor penguin, lion, tiger and African wild dog, the second season introduces the puma, elephant, cheetah, and hyena. And once again David Attenborough, as enthusiastic as ever at 96, is back with his velvety soft voice to ease us into the daily lives of these terrific, majestic animals. What I like about this series (and dare I say franchise?) is it is the lesser-known animals who more often than not leave a stronger impression with their hunting and survival tactics and complex social structures — the reason being, perhaps, that there is less awareness about them.

Puma takes the top award

Just like the painted wolves (or the African wild dogs) stole the thunder from the more familiar and charismatic tigers and lions in the first season (for this scribe, anyway), this time it is the puma, also known as the mountain lion or cougar or more poetically, the 'ghost of the mountains' whose story ended up being more affecting. The opening episode, titled simply Puma, takes us to Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. An achingly beautiful place with an immense landscape of towering snow-capped mountains, vast glaciers, turquoise lakes, and sprawling grasslands, it is sparsely inhabited by guanaco (basically llama, only much bigger), South Andean deer, South American gray fox, and of course puma.

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Our heroine is Rupestre, a she-puma who has a new litter, the dynasty that she needs to feed and nurture. Feeding them her milk requires her to hunt the much bigger and heavier guanaco. Only one in ten attempts, Attenborough helpfully informs us, is successful. The summers are sunny and warm, but months-long winters are starkly cold with barely any prey. She and her cubs would need to gain weight considerably if they want to have any chance of lasting until spring.

If that wasn't enough, she has to contend with rival females and males that want to mate with her. The former will kill her to eliminate any harm to her cubs and the latter would kill her cubs to make her more willing to mate with them.

Is the old girl up to it all? I suggest watching for yourself and finding out. It is a dramatic story full of great defeats and stratospheric victories. The events that unfolds in Puma and the following episodes would make the writers behind today's TV shows sit up and take notice.

Narrativisation of animals — good or bad?

Many take exception to this narrativisation of animal lives and anthromorphisation — basically looking at them with a human-tinted lens.

I happen to like immersive stories involving animals, particularly how the folks at BBC Natural History Unit do it. These stories help convey a sense of how our fellow beings on this planet behave — how they maintain families, protect their young ones, chase away threats, and face the harsh weather and elements. Nothing like weaving in stories to create awareness and appreciation for wildlife. And yes, it can have adverse effects, leading to inaccuracies and oversimplifications of animal behaviour. The trick, which the writers of the Sony BBC Earth films understand intimately, is to balance the storytelling with scientific accuracy.The camera work is outstanding, again

You do not need me to tell you about the quality of wildlife cinematography here. It is, after all, often said that most technological innovations in filmmaking became feasible as a result of the human desire to gain a closer look at wildlife. The photography, using drones and bulky cameras that the crew had to lug around the stark landscape, has seemingly advanced to the point where it cannot get any better. And yet Dynasties II managed to astonish me. The camera work is simply breathtakingly good, enabling us to observe these magnificent animals in unbelievable detail.

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