Renegade Nell, Disney Plus’ newest journey, is lacking a vital wheel

Renegade Nell is a puzzle. Boasting the artistic pedigree of screenwriter Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack) and the skills of a solid of British TV stalwarts, the story of a flame-haired, 18th-century English highwaywoman with the powers of a Twentieth-century superhero would appear to be a shoo-in for the renfaire bitches (it’s me, I’m renfaire bitches).

However — like holding up a noble’s carriage and discovering a 3rd of his baggage conspicuously empty — Renegade Nell comprises so much and never sufficient on the similar time. And the sensation of a niche between two enjoyable issues the place one thing enjoyable ought to have been is constant via the season’s eight episodes.

Which is to say, there’s lots of enjoyable stuff in Renegade Nell. Louisa Harland is very satisfying to observe because the titular Nell Jackson, delivering traces with a charismatic insouciance. We discover Nell touring residence from the Warfare of the Spanish Succession after the demise of the dashing captain she ran away from residence for with the intention to reunite together with her estranged household, together with sisters Roxy (Bo Bragason) and George (Florence Eager).

Alas, their village is at the moment affected by the native Justice of the Peace’s wastrel of a son (Jake Dunn), and issues escalate rapidly. Nell is framed for the Justice of the Peace’s homicide, and she or he and her sisters go on the run, holding up coaches to get by and discovering an ally in Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo), a younger man whom the Justice of the Peace enslaved as a boy.

Oh, and the best way Nell survives all that is by the ability of a pixie-winged man of changeable measurement, Billy Blind (Nick Mohammed), who confers the energy of 10 males upon her at any time when her life is threatened.

Photograph: Rekha Garton/Disney

Renegade Nell’s quite a few struggle scenes are brisk, enjoyable, creatively staged, and winningly acted. The present additionally reveals an actual relish in its costuming, from primped-up nobles to disguised peasants. Fortunately for a narrative about literal freeway theft, the exteriors are refreshingly exterior — no empty Quantity horizons right here — and administrators Ben Taylor, Amanda Brotchie, and MJ Delaney have nice enjoyable with it.

However virtually each one of many present’s characters feels incomplete, as if an episode that established this emotional change, or adopted up on that shocking revelation, was merely lacking from the record. Character arcs that leap to their conclusions moderately than strolling are a typical high quality of the eight-episode tv season, and Renegade Nell could also be no completely different. And shortcuts like acquainted character archetypes and traditional story varieties is usually a energy within the sort of style fiction the place half the enchantment is understanding that you just’ve seen this hero’s journey earlier than, and being excited to observe it once more in a brand new set of garments.

However Renegade Nell is curiously disinterested in its fantasy parts, a scarcity of exploration put in stark aid by the specificity of its historic grounding within the first decade of 1700, when Jacobite forces conspired — or a minimum of tried to conspire — to place Queen Anne’s Catholic half-brother James Francis Edward Stuart on the throne as a substitute.

Now, criticizing a fantasy present for not explaining how the magic works tends to make you sound like probably the most boring individual alive, however I’m going to take that threat. Pay attention: Trailers for Renegade Nell made certain to incorporate Nell’s supernatural skills. There’s a bit of man with fairy wings who turns right into a glowing ball and flies down her throat, conferring superhuman energy, agility, and the power to show bullets apart together with her naked fingers. “Why are you right here?” she calls for of the diminutive gentleman. “I can solely assume that your life is essential,” he replies. It’s a tease — what’s he? Who despatched him? Are there, or have there been, others like him and Nell? How mysterious and intriguing.

Picture: Disney Plus

It’s a lightweight spoiler, however maybe you might contemplate it a useful adjustment of expectation: Renegade Nell doesn’t reply these questions. Nell simply has a magic man who confirmed up someday to provide her superpowers.

Heroes with unexplained supernatural powers could make for nice enjoyable, and one ought to try to understand a tv present for what it’s, not what you anticipated it to be. However Renegade Nell aspires to real depth. Wainwright’s script is a narrative of sophistication battle, of little folks standing as much as stick it to the toffs — a narrative of the methods through which society will minimize the legs out from beneath highly effective girls by any means essential — and a narrative about grievous misuses of each magical and mundane energy. On this thematic context, questions in regards to the apparently distinctive origin and nature of the magic that provides a heroine her class-upending energy are immediately related.

Metaphorically talking, Renegade Nell remains to be an interesting carriage filled with spoils — enjoyable costumes, foolish conditions, a number of standout performances. It’s a pity that it’s lacking a wheel.

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