Renegade Nell caught my attention because of its seemingly quick-witted, strong female lead and obvious sense of humour. I am all for the girl power I’ve seen in film and television lately, with more diverse leads and roles that aren’t your typical damsel in distress. What it brought to the table, however, was a whole lot more than I bargained for. Some of it was a pleasant surprise, and some not so much.
The show follows Nelly Jackson, but please call her Nell. She comes back home to her family, the Trotters, who thought she was dead, to find her sisters, George and Roxy, all grown up, the latter becoming the subject of some very unwanted advances from one Thomas Blancheford (Jake Dunn). Nell is a strong, independent woman, and she certainly doesn’t let anyone mess with her or anyone she cares about.
After a tuff with Thomas, things go very, very badly for the Trotter family, and Nell and her sisters end up on the run. There was a brutal scene involving Thomas and Nell that made me physically uncomfortable toward the beginning, which is a good thing on their part. Renegade Nell managed to put the comedy aside, bringing something gritty and uncomfortable to the story and creating a villain who was worthy of Joffrey-level hate from Game of Thrones.
Here’s the thing, though: the show never quite holds up that level of drama or comedy. Renegade Nell seems to have real identity issues, never really knowing what it wants to be. At times, it was funny, then campy, then shocking, then silly. They even stole “You are my person” from Grey’s Anatomy (2:19, if you don’t know what I mean) for crying out loud! It felt like it wanted to have old-school Disney-like gags and cartoons for characters but then wanted to draw expert-level HBO drama, and unfortunately, it just didn’t sit well.
“Renegade Nell managed to put the comedy aside, bringing something gritty and uncomfortable to the story and creating a villain who was worthy of Joffrey-level hate from Game of Thrones.”
It felt like the first one or two episodes of Renegade Nell were written to be a completely different show. Even a character like Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo) begins as a sincere, kind character, but in later episodes, he feels like a bumbling fool—nothing on the actor. He was great. This was all writing at play here. A switch was flipped somewhere to add in what felt like more Disney-friendly content, and the show could have been a stand-out had they stuck to a more teen-rated comedy/drama combination (the show is rated TV-14, but they really dumbed it down a lot).
But then we are watching men beat women and whip them. We see children starving and dying in prison. We are discussing themes of slavery and not taking it lightly. And then, randomly, in episode seven, we begin with a musical number because why not? The tone in Renegade Nell just never found its groove, and that truly did the show a disservice. Part of the show feels like it was made to be a family movie, and other parts felt like they were straight out of Les Mis.
I also found an issue with Renegade Nell constantly swapping out the villain. As I mentioned, Thomas is beautifully painted as the villain, but then, as we move further into the story, it swaps, and a little further, it swaps again. By the end, they make you think it’s swapping back, and then they do another quick heel turn. I felt like I was watching a WWE match with how quickly we went through bad guys, with no one ever really being redeemed.
The costumes and sets in Renegade Nell had a fairytale-like vibe, which could be beautiful at times, and scenes in the forest would feature silly skeletons whose mouths would drop open in shock as a joke. Characters would be so over the top with their physicality that they, too, felt like they belonged in a child’s story.
By the end of Renegade Nell, we felt bad for Thomas and confused about everyone else; even Nell’s companions weren’t entirely great. I suppose you could argue that with a diverse cast and many strong female characters, the creators were going for something a little non-traditional—it’s about time. Maybe showing that people are all flawed could be part of that, but it left very few likeable characters and a lot of villains that didn’t seem to make sense.
All of this goes without mentioning that there are magical powers in Renegade Nell, with Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso) playing the show’s Tinkerbell equivalent, Billy Blind. In the show’s eight episodes, there is never a real explanation for why this little fairy pops into Nell’s body and makes her as strong as ten men when she is in danger. There are rules laid out. For instance, he can only help her when she is in imminent danger and not before—meaning she might take a bit of a beating to show up.
However, toward the end of the show, he doesn’t care about the rules anymore and encourages her to start fights since he believes they are justified. There are comments from Billy, like “I think this is why I’m here,” when it comes to saving children, etc., but the show carries on with its rules for a while despite that. I still don’t know what Billy Blind is, where he came from, or why Nell has him, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else does either. Sister Roxy also has some abilities that never seem to be explained either.
I can continue on this road of “Renegade Nell doesn’t make any sense,” but it would be a very long-winded review if it isn’t already. Instead, I’ll move on to what I liked. Aside from having to accept that nothing quite makes sense, the sets and costumes in Renegade Nell are stunning. They feel like they are out of Cinderella. They truly went above and beyond with every little touch. Forests felt enchanted or cursed; every carriage was tailored to who was riding in it, and you could tell that the costumes really helped the actors get into character.
I also must note that every actor brought their A-game to Renegade Nell. Villains were easy to loathe. Sister George was a standout, especially so young. From early on in the series, Florence Keen, who played George, was immediately my favourite. Every line and glance was so expressive I was incredibly impressed. Nelly herself, Louisa Harland (Derry Girls), absolutely crushed everything she did. Though the show’s plot didn’t make a lot of sense, Harland sold every damn scene.
“Something else I really appreciated was Renegade Nell’s attempt to bring women to the forefront, especially in this time period.”
Renegade Nell was incredibly well-acted. The comedy could make you laugh out loud, and the dramatic scene definitely made me shed a tear. Even the characters that were a little more over-the-top, like Lady Eularia Moggerhangar (Joely Richardson, The Sandman), Polly Honeycombe (Ashna Rabheru, Sex Education) and Charles Devereux (Frank Dillane, Fear the Walking Dead), still stole the show and charmed us, or repulsed us in Moggerhangar’s case.
Something else I really appreciated was Renegade Nell’s attempt to bring women to the forefront, especially in this time period. We had Nell, who clearly strays from the norm, avoiding anything “ladylike” at all costs. We have a Queen rather than a King. We even have Sofia Wilmot (Alice Kremelberg), Thomas’ sister, whose role I won’t spoil, but she was powerful. Sofia played into her role as a “manipulated” woman, and her character spent time really challenging standard female roles.
Even the Trotter daughters, though young, were tough and strong-willed. Moggerhanger ruled the press and was a clear woman of power. These are all roles regularly played by men, and in this case, we had not only women in important roles and in places of power but an extremely diverse cast all across the board. It is good to see things moving in the right direction.
Renegade Nell had everything going for it and just tried to do too much. I can see bits and pieces of a mature-rated show and other parts that really wanted to speak to children, and unfortunately, they just didn’t fit together. Though Renegade Nell is fun to watch if you can ignore the glaring plot issues and tonal confusion, I just can’t say in good conscience that it is a great show, even if it did strive to do great things.
