Summary
A young woman, Louisa Harland, is accused of a murder she didn’t commit so becomes a highwaywoman for some reason.
When you see headlines about Disney + still being far behind their subscriber targets, and still miles away from Netflix, this is why.
A series that is based around one thing, people being shocked that a highwayman is in fact a woman. There is a very memeable scene in the trailer where people audibly gasp because of the fact that she is a woman and they can’t handle it. Even in the more gender norm times of the past I cannot believe that this was that shocking, it is well documented that there were female pirates and female warriors throughout history, so the idea that people would be shocked at a female highwayman is ridiculous. It is all based out of this idea of oh these progressive shows are being edgy and challenging the patriarchy and all this, yet the fact of the matter is that the moment for these sort of shows was about 5-10 years ago, they have now both outstayed their welcome and are also behind the times. Most people would accept a show about a highwaywoman and not question it these days, you do not need to keep reminding the audience that she is a woman we are past that.
Moreover, much like with Disney’s other recent YA fare such as Percy Jackson and Spiderwick, this just feels like generic historical fantasy dross to try and get teens in the door. I would argue it is a bit too tame for that, if they wanted to get the teen audience in they need more sex, look at the CW that brought in teens, supposedly, and that was chocked full of it.
The narrative is just another boring girlboss story and Harland cannot bring the same charm to bear she did in Derry Girls, on a creative level this is a failure. The worst thing about this show is just how dated it feels, if it had come out in the era of Batwoman then it would have fit right in, but that age has past.
Overall, more wasted Disney money.
Pros.
It is unintentionally hilarious
Cons.
The girlboss narrative
It is not shocking or novel
The joke of but she is a woman and people fall over in disbelief doesn’t make sense and it is dumb
The acting isn’t good
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