Streaming Service: Disney Plus

Length: 4 episodes

Audio Description Produced By: deluxe

Written By:

Narrated By: Michelle Deco

What is it?: An animated anthology style series exploring four individual adventures that help to shape the Wakanda as we know it. From a Dora Milaj being tasked with capturing a former Wakandan turned foe, to a spy embedded in the battle of Troy, to a retrieval of an artifact that has a protector more than they bargained for, and ultimately the one artifact they can’t retrieve in order to save the future of Wakanda, each story is considered canon.

What Works: If I had to rank the episodes, I’d go 1, 3,4, and then 2. the first episode starts strong with a little story about a Dora trainee that was booted from the program because she flies solo, and is now being asked to do something no trained dora has been able to do. With a franchise that can’t move quick enough to take the mantle away from Shuri, even if it means rapidly aging T’challa’s son, it’s a nice reminder that the women of Wakanda are badass. Not because of Woke, or whatever bullshit people subscribe to nowadays, but because that’s how they were written years ago. It’s important to not this is the only one of the four episodes where the true central spy/warrior is female. The other three are all men.

The third episode has a brush with a previous iteration (before Danny) of Iron Fist. The series itself has interesting commentary on the idea of African artifacts being taken, and requiring reclamation but this one bends it a bit by putting the vibranium inside an artifact that itself is sacred, and protected, putting one protector against another.

episode 4 gets a bit weird as it tries to tie the whole thing into the film franchise, but there are parts that work, including a look into the future for Wakanda. the voice cast were all excellent. This is an effort with some life in it, but I’m not sure it was anyone’s first choice.

What Doesn’t Work: I can’t help but wonder what happened to the live action Wakanda show that Danai Gurira was attached to. it somehow became this, without Ryan Coogler’s involvement. You can feel that in some of the stories. The silly way the fourth episode connects everything only kind of works, and the second episode is why our children are stupid. It felt like someone only had passing knowledge of Troy, and remembered a horse, and Achilles, and ditched everything else. honestly, Bill and ted learned more about their history before bringing it back.

the bigger offense, is ditching the Agamemnon story with Helen of Troy and the face that launched a thousand ships, and instead naming the Wakandan spy Memnon, almost like a middle finger. I’m fine with showing us how wakanda was a part of the battle, but this was such a lazy attempt at doing this.

The Audio Description: deluxe makes some great stuff, and the combat sequences throughout are well described, as are the tech, and the costumes. I’m going to assume that we appropriately cast Michelle as the voice talent. And in case that’s not obvious, yes, i think the narrator for wakanda should have been black, as they should have been for the movies. Sadly, not everyone believed that with the films, and I think the original film on Disney Plus is a stuffy British guy. responsible casting. I’m not going to get into “sounds like” debates, but I’m just going to hold Deluxe accountable for being able to figure out when it matters. They’ve been doing this long enough, they should know.

You Might Like It if: You are really patient with Marvel, and love wakanda. It isn’t their best series, nor is it their worst. it does feel like they were trying to get rid of it by pushing up the release, and dropping all four episodes at once.

Why you Might Not Like it: if you are of the mindset that nothing good followed Endgame, except perhaps No Way Home or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and you only really ever enjoyed WandaVision, and maybe Loki, this isn’t for you. People who are stretched too thin with Marvel, who have released three films and four series so far this year, aren’t going to be won back by this consolation prize.

Final thoughts: A live action show in wakanda was the more interesting bet, but for hardcore Black Panther and Marvel fans, this is enough of a distraction that the total amount of time you’ll spend bingeing this show isn’t a waste of time either.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.9/10