Caught in the middle of the streaming wars, Disney+ has been doing whatever is necessary to keep itself in the game while offering exclusive content. One thing is for sure, the direction they’ve gone with their content has been unpredictable. What started as a place that housed the Disney vault with animated classics and recent successes has now become a shared space for National Geographic, Marvel, and Pixar. Echo was their first foray into a rated-R series while keeping her story tied to the Marvel franchise. But their latest series, Renegade Nell, falls horrendously short of the spectacular and has a laundry list of problems.
A young, quick-witted woman named Nell Jackson (Louisa Harland) is framed for murder. In this period drama set in 18th-century England, she becomes the most notorious outlaw in the country and has a reputation for overpowering men and bringing destruction wherever she goes. After she discovers a magical spirit has been following her, she realizes that she has a grand destiny to fulfill.
There are loads of things wrong with this series and the first begins within seconds. A show that’s set in 18th-century England boasts too much authenticity. The accents are too thick and the nomenclature might be a mystery if one isn’t familiar with that region. Without subtitles, the series would’ve been a headache to get through.
When you see Nell Jackson, you’ll see an amalgam of Peter Pan and Captain Jack Sparrow. She’s dressed like Sparrow and walks around with a Tinkerbell in Billy Blind (Nick Mohammed), wings and all. Now those aren’t necessarily “bad” things, but seeing something so extremely familiar takes away from the magic that’s supposedly being attempted here. Even though they may have intended this for teens, it looks and feels like it’s intended for children, which is dreadful. A man gets shot in the head at point-blank range, children suffer gunshot wounds, and the antagonists dive head-first into dark arts. All of this happens before you find out a man who’s old enough to be Nell’s uncle wants to talk to her younger sister.
The series wasted no time venturing into the bizarre as I was casually eating dinner and got interrupted by Thomas Blancheford (Jake Dunn) inquiring about selling his soul. Part of the wonder and awe of Disney involves magic and imagination, so that’s fine. But inquiring about selling your soul to ambassadors of the occult is something totally different. Things got even stranger when Thomas’s sister Sofia (Alice Kremelberg) tried her luck at casting spells and the Latin was actually translated in the subtitles.
The poster for this series would lead you to believe that this Great Value Captain Hook was off on a swash-buckling adventure with her friends — a woman’s take on Pirates of the Caribbean. Having a prominent woman on display is a calling card for creator Sally Wainwright, which I think is marvelous. Had the story focused on that and stayed there, this would’ve been an incredible journey. A journey where a young girl discovers herself and rises to the occasion when called upon. Instead, we’re forced to deal with pentagrams, pagan characters from English folklore (Herne the Hunter), and patricide (an individual who murders his or her father). There are far too many extraneous factors that detract from the story. Fans and followers of Wainwright might be used to this sort of thing, but this series wouldn’t be the best introduction to a new audience.
Netflix’s Damsel is a good example of how to approach a newly devised period piece. Diverse faces in various spaces that don’t impact the story whatsoever. Here, Nell’s only Black accomplice Rasselas (Ényì Okoronkwo) made it to England because he was “purchased”. So rest assured, if pentagrams and murder are on the table, a sprinkle of slavery is fair game.
If you clear all of the errant trash and debris from this series, it still turns out to be average at best. Nelly Jackson isn’t a character that grows on you easily and Louisa Harland’s performance is pretty par. The fight scenes are fun to watch but even they become predictable over time. On the other hand, it’s far less of a chore to embrace the antics of Charles Devereux/Isambard Tulley (Frank Dillane), a hilarious con artist with a heart of gold who befriends Nell and her sisters Roxy (Bo Bragason) and George (Florence Keen).
Renegade Nell gets a 5.5 out of 10. I had to look far and wide but I finally found the rating for this as a TV-14 series. If you can balance the thick collection of dialects without subtitles I applaud you. They’re taking a big gamble that the standard viewer will be familiar with that outdated jargon and an even bigger gamble that they could identify cockney, let alone know what it is or spell it. It has humor, it has a few high points, but in the broader scheme of things, it’s been done before and it’s bogged down by superfluous, odious trash.
Renegade Nell and all of its mediocrity will be available on Disney+ on March 29.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Disney+
[…] the series does nothing for me. It became clear back in March after Disney’s horrific series, Renegade Nell, that they’re throwing everything at the streaming service and going with whatever sticks. […]