Ironically, Renegade Nell would benefit from some rules

Renegade Nel is a puzzle. Featuring the creative pedigree of screenwriter Sally Wainwright (Lord Jac) and the talents of a cast of British TV stars, the story of a flaming, 18th-century English highwayman with the powers of a 20th-century superhero seems like a shoo-in for the renfaire bitches (it’s me, I’m renfaire bitches).

But – like holding up a nobleman’s carriage and finding a third of his luggage conspicuously empty – Renegade Nel contains a lot and at the same time not enough. And the feeling of a gap between two nice things where something nice was should has been consistent throughout the season’s eight episodes.

That means: there are a lot of nice things in it Renegade Nel. Louisa Harland is especially fun to watch as titular Nell Jackson, who delivers lyrics with a charismatic carefree attitude. We see 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).

Unfortunately, their town is currently being plagued by the local magistrate’s son (Jake Dunn), and things are quickly escalating. Nell is framed for the magistrate’s murder, and she and her sisters go on the run, stopping coaches to make ends meet and finding an ally in Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo), a young man the magistrate enslaved as a boy.

Oh, and the way Nell survives all this is through the strength of a man with elf wings of variable size, Billy Blind (Nick Mohammed), who gives her the strength of ten men when her life is threatened.

Renegade NelThe film’s numerous fight scenes are lively, fun, creatively staged, and winningly acted. The show also shows real taste in the costumes, from souped-up nobles to disguised peasants. Luckily for a story about a literal heist, the exterior is refreshing outside – no empty Volume horizons here – and directors Ben Taylor, Amanda Brotchie and MJ Delaney have a lot of fun with it.

But almost every character on the show feels incomplete, as if it’s an episode that’s settled this emotional change, or followed That surprising revelation, was simply missing from the list. Character arcs that build to their conclusions rather than run are a common feature of the eight-episode television season Renegade Nel couldn’t be more different. And shortcuts like familiar character archetypes and classic story formats 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 the excitement to follow it again in a new set of clothes .

But Renegade Nel is strangely disinterested in its fantasy elements, a lack of exploration greatly emphasized 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 put Queen Anne’s Catholic half-brother on the run. James Francis Edward Stuart on the throne.

Criticizing a fantasy show for not explaining how the magic works tends to make you sound like one the most boring person in the world, but I’m going to take that risk. Listen: Trailers for Renegade Nel Make sure Nell’s supernatural abilities are involved. There’s a little man with fairy wings who turns into a glowing ball and flies down her throat, granting him superhuman strength, agility, and the ability to twist aside bullets with her bare hands. “Why are you here?” she asks of the little gentleman. “I can only assume that your life is very important,” he replies. It’s a tease – what is he? Who sent him? Are there, or have been, others like him and Nell? How mysterious and intriguing.

Image: Disney Plus

It’s a mild spoiler, but perhaps you can consider it a useful expectation adjustment: Renegade Nel does not answer these questions. Nell just has a wizard who showed up one day to give her superpowers.

Heroes with inexplicable supernatural powers can be a lot of fun, and you should strive to appreciate a television show for what it is, rather than what you expected it to be. But Renegade Nel strives for real depth. Wainwright’s script is a story of class conflict, of little people rising up to master it – a story of the ways society will cut off the legs of powerful women in any way it can – and a story of serious abuse of lust for power. both magical and mundane power. In this thematic context, questions about the apparently unique origins and nature of the magic that gives a heroine her class-altering power are immediately relevant.

Metaphorically speaking, Renegade Nel is still an attractive ride full of loot: fun costumes, crazy situations, a few standout performances. Too bad one wheel is missing.

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