The hype surrounding the docuseries “The Last Dance” and how it highlighted the practice fight between ex-Chicago Bulls stars didn’t live up to the billing.
Here’s my take on how the documentary series focusing on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls team “The Last Dance” missed an opportunity to reach a climax.
Like any good story, a documentary should have a climax prompting emotions, circumstances, drama or conflict to rise and fall. It seems the infamous practice fight between former Chicago Bulls stars Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr could have provided all that.
However, “The Last Dance” didn’t live up to the hype after viewing episodes No. 7-8. How, you ask?
After much promotion, it seems “The Last Dance” fell short of what was advertised. Last week when the news spread of how the director of the documentary series was shocked to learn of Jordan’s decision to approve the footage in episodes No. 7-8, viewers’ hopes were raised only to be let down. About that time, a trailer for “The Last Dance” revealed that it intends to talk about the infamous fight in practice between Jordan and Kerr and that more visuals are available to pique viewers’ interest.
The problem is “The Last Dance” hardly added brought anything new to the discussion of the topic so many people were drawn to learn more about. The visuals didn’t allow viewers to see the actual fight as it went down and how it ended. Mainly, the documentary series provided a chance for Jordan and Kerr to speak on what happened and how it impacted them as teammates.
It makes for an interesting storyline, but not everyone watching “The Last Dance” needs a history lesson. If the problem was a lack of video to highlight the altercation, audio would have sufficed. It’s misleading the way the director alluded to the availability of more visuals.
For these reasons, I was disappointed in this part of the documentary series for not fulfilling its promise to the viewers. “The Last Dance” and its ESPN broadcast may have been designed for mature audiences, but the way it sought to highlight the practice fight between Jordan and Kerr was more deserving of a G-rating.