Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Renegade Nell’ On Disney+, Where An 18th-Century Woman Kicks Butt With The Help Of A Winged Spirit

Renegade Nell is another recent example of Disney venturing into some new content territory for Disney+, especially in the U.S. It’s not a new Marvel or Star Wars series, but it’s also not necessarily geared towards kids and teens. But it does involve a woman who kicks butt and a winged spirit who looks like Nate from Ted Lasso, so, it’s got to be pretty watchable, right?

RENEGADE NELL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A carriage riding through the woods. Gentleman robber Charles Deveraux (Frank Dillane), lying down for a nap, hears the carriage, wakes up and puts his mask on.

The Gist: As Deveraux and his gang of highwaymen rob the aristocrats in the carriage — Deveraux tries to charm his victims as the carriage gets tossed — a woman in a three-point hat and army uniform comes riding by. She doesn’t give in to Deveraux’s orders, and he throws her to the ground; all of a sudden a tiny light goes in her mouth, and she becomes a whole different person.

Nell Jackson (Louisa Harland) takes on Deveraux and the highwaymen singlehanded, with the ability to see guns going off in slow motion so she can catch the slugs coming out of them. She dodges punches, can make herself disappear, and is strong enough to tear off the carriage door and make it a weapon. Then the little light exits her and she’s exhausted.

“Tottenham, 1705.” Nell rides into town, and everyone stares at her; she eyeballs a dead horse hooked to a vegetable cart. She goes into the local tavern and finds a girl named George (Florence Keen); she tells her to get the owner. George calls out her father, Sam Trotter (Craig Parkinson), who is shocked when Nell says to him, “Hi, Dad.”

George is too young to remember her older sister, but Nell’s other younger sister, Roxy (Bo Bragason) is ecstatic to see her; she assumed that Nell was dead, according to what Sam told her. There’s even a makeshift grave marker for her in the local cemetery. Let’s just say Sam was a tad bit chapped when Nell blew out of town, married to an army captain. Now, after the war, with the captain dead, Nell wants to make a new start.

But Thomas Blancheford (Jake Dunn), son of Lord Blancheford (Pip Torrens), the village’s magistrate and landlord, has been terrorizing the villagers. He’s the one who shot the horse pulling the vegetable cart. He’s been getting council from Robert Hennessey (Adrian Lester), the Earl of Poynton, but somehow, he’s becoming even more entitled and violent. Blancheford is ready to disinherit Thomas and give the magistrate over to his daughter Sofia (Alice Kremelberg), if it weren’t for the fact that she was a woman.

One night, Thomas and his henchmen arrive at the tavern, and Nell picks a fight with them, thinking her super fighting powers will arrive. However, they don’t show up until after Thomas hits her and pushes her face in the mud. But once the little light arrives, Nell is unstoppable.

Later that night, she finds out that the light is a winged spirit named Billy Blind (Nick Mohammed); Billy tells Nell that he only helps her to defend herself, not pick fights. She wants to know who the heck he is and where he came from.

The next night, Thomas comes by the tavern again with his henchmen and they take Sam hostage; it doesn’t end well for Sam, and when a member of Blancheford’s staff, Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo), tells his daughters that Thomas was responsible and the magistrate is looking to cover it up, Nell confronts both Blanchefords. But by the time that ends, Nell is a fugitive, and Rasselas rides out of town with her and her sisters.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Renegade Nell has a bit of the same personality as The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin, though the story turns pretty serious by the end of the first episode.

Our Take: Renegade Nell, written by Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack), takes its entire first episode to establish its story, mainly because there’s a lot to set up. We need to see Nell exhibit her superpowers, then we need to see her reconnect with her sisters, see the source of her powers, and find out just how she becomes an outlaw and a fugitive. Yes, much of the circumstances around how she becomes a fugitive consists of her being wrongly accused of murder. But if it’s an impetus for Nell, her sisters, and Rasselas to embark on their adventures, so be it.

At least the exposition in the first episode consists of fight sequences and some witty banter as opposed to long monologues about everyone’s situations. What Wainright and the show’s writers manage to do is establish Nell as a person who shouldn’t be messed with, whether she’s got Billy Blind helping her or not, and that comes through in Harland’s performance. In fact none of the Trotter women are the usual resigning 18th-century females; even little George has her opinions and is tough as nails. The three of them will make a good team as Nell escapes the clutches of Thomas Blancheford and eventually find out that there’s a plot against the queen that they need to defeat.

Sex and Skin: None. It’s a bit too violent for kids — it’s rated TV-14 — but there’s no sex or skin at all.

Parting Shot: As they ride out of town, George asks Nell where they’re going. “I’ll tell you when we get there,” Nell says.

Sleeper Star: Joely Richardson will show up as Lady Eularia Moggerhangar, who owns a string of newspapers. Looking forward to seeing what her character contributes to the story.

Most Pilot-y Line: We’re not “leave the subtitles on” people, but we had to for this show, as it seemed like we were only capturing about half the dialogue between Nell and her family.

Our Call: STREAM IT. We hope is that Wainwright manages to balance the whimsical parts of Renegade Nell with the more dramatic parts. It feels like the whimsical dropped off quickly by the end of the first episode, and it needs to be there for the series to be watchable. But it’s off to a good start.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.