Renegade Nell, Disney Plus’ latest adventure, is missing a crucial wheel

Renegade Nell is a mystery. With the creative background of screenwriter Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack) and the talents of a number of British TV stars, the story of a flame-haired 18th-century English highwaywoman seems to shine. I’m Renfaire bitches).

But – like stopping a nobleman’s carriage and discovering that a third of his luggage was conspicuously empty – Renegade Nell contains a lot and at the same time not enough. And the feeling of a gap between two fun things, where something is fun should were consistent throughout the eight episodes of the season.

That said, there’s a lot of fun stuff Renegade Nell. It’s particularly fun to watch Louisa Harland in the role of the titular Nell Jackson, who delivers her lines with charismatic insouciance. We find Nell traveling home from the War of the Spanish Succession after the death of the dashing captain she ran away from home to reunite with her estranged family, including sisters Roxy (Bo Bragason) and George (Florence Keen). unite.

Unfortunately, their village is currently being haunted by the local judge’s spendthrift son (Jake Dunn), and matters quickly escalate. Nell is framed for the judge’s murder, and she and her sisters go on the run, robbing carriages to get by and finding an ally in Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo), a young man the judge enslaved as a boy.

Oh, and the way Nell survives all of this is thanks to the power of an elf-winged, variable-sized man, Billy Blind (Nick Mohammed), who gives her the strength of 10 men whenever her life is threatened.

Photo: Rekha Garton/Disney

Renegade NellThe numerous fight scenes are lively, entertaining, creatively staged and convincingly acted. The show also showcases a real joy in costuming, from dressed-up nobles to dressed-up peasants. Luckily, the exterior is refreshing for a story about outright highway robbery Outside – there are no empty volume horizons here – and directors Ben Taylor, Amanda Brotchie and MJ Delaney have great fun with it.

But almost every single character in the series feels incomplete, like it was an episode that was established The emotional change, or pursued further The This surprising revelation was simply missing from the list. Character arcs that jump to conclusions rather than simply follow them are a common trait across the eight-episode television season Renegade Nell shouldn’t be any different. And shortcuts like familiar character archetypes and classic plot devices can be a strength in the kind of genre fiction where half the appeal is knowing you’ve seen this hero’s journey before and looking forward to it to pursue again in new clothes.

But Renegade Nell is curiously disinterested in its fantasy elements, a lack of exploration offset by the specificity of its historical basis in the first decade of the 1700s, when Jacobite forces conspired – or at least attempted to conspire – to kill Queen Anne’s Catholic half-brother to kill is highlighted even more clearly. Instead, James Francis Edward Stuart took the throne.

When you criticize a fantasy show for not explaining how magic works, it often sounds like this the most boring person in the world, but I’ll take that risk. Hear: Trailer for Renegade Nell made sure to include Nell’s supernatural abilities. There is a small man with fairy wings who transforms into a glowing ball and flies through her throat, giving her superhuman strength, agility and the ability to deflect bullets with her bare hands. “Why are you here?” she demands of the little gentleman. “I can only assume that your life is very important,” he replies. It’s a joke – what is it? Who sent him? Are there or were there others like him and Nell? How mysterious and fascinating.

Image: Disney Plus

It’s a slight spoiler, but perhaps you could consider it a helpful adjustment of expectations: Renegade Nell does not answer these questions. Nell simply has a wizard who showed up one day to give her superpowers.

Heroes with unexplained supernatural powers can be great fun, and one should strive to appreciate a television show for what it is, rather than what one expects it to be. But Renegade Nell strives for real depth. Wainwright’s script is a story of class conflict, of little people rising up to cling to the upper class – a story of the way society uses every means possible to cut the legs out from under powerful women – and a story of severe abuse of both magical and mundane power. In this thematic context, questions about the seemingly unique origin and nature of the magic that gives a heroine her class-altering power are of immediate relevance.

Metaphorically speaking, Renegade Nell is still an appealing ride full of swag – fun costumes, silly situations, a few standout performances. It’s a shame that a wheel is missing.

All episodes of Renegade Nell are now streaming on Disney Plus.