Let’s be honest with ourselves: though the conditions of Deadliest Catch might be dangerous and unpredictable, there’s never much fear about the crabs getting loose and killing the crew. It’s exciting, but not because the prey is fearsome, but because the men on the boats need to get their big haul to make it through the year financially. Logic would then dictate that a show like Swamp People featuring that financial deadline and then adding prey that could easily kill the hunters should be even more exciting. For the most part it is, but the show truly shines when the Louisiana hunters it follows from episode to episode display some truly clever or daring feats. Also, when was the last time Deadliest Catch reined in an 11-foot, 900-pound crab? Swamp People is the same general equation, but with more action per episode.
The show follows about 5 different teams of alligator hunters, each racing against the end of the hunting season to bag enough hides to fill their government allotted quota. Each day they go out to check their baited hooks, wrestle any shoot any alligators they’ve snagged, and then haul the body into their boats. On average, it’s a two-man job, but every now and then you get a guy like Bruce, the quintessential bayou hunter, who goes out on the boat with nothing but his dog, his tools, and the strength of his arms to take down one gator after another. If that means falling in and wrestling an alligator with his bare hands and putting a bullet in its head from two inches away, that’s what he’ll do. The rest of the teams are much more conventional in their tactics, and each day they hope their lines will have a monstrous gator on the other end, and every so often they manage to hook a truly huge lizard.
The show can be a bit repetitive, but it’s only the narrator insisting over and over that a gator almost pulled someone overboard that gets really tiring.
DVD Bonus Features
The extras only include additional footage.
"Swamp People: Season Two" is on sale December 13, 2011 and is rated PG. Reality. Starring Pat Duke.
