'The Dynasty' Finally Manages to Mix a Little Dynasty into the Patriots Dynasty

AppleTV just dropped episodes 7 & 8 of it's 10-part docuseries The Dynasty. And like I said after the unnervingly grim fifth and sixth episodes:

… I'm watching this series like it's my job. Because it is. If I were just a casual Patriots fan, I'd have tapped out in the second episode when a show that put the word "Dynasty" right into the title reduced back-to-back championships to a 10-second montage. 

I mean, it's worth asking who this was even made for. Certainly not Pats fans. It's been impossible not to sit there picking out all the incredible achievements and unforgettable moments:

… that didn't make the final cut because the producers decided there's still so much meat on that "Drew Bledsoe wanted his job back" bone. Or how the 21-game winning streak never got a mention. Neither did Tom Brady becoming the first unanimous MVP. Because Goddell forbid they take a minute away from cracking the Aaron Hernandez murder case wide in what amounted to nothing more than a true crime episode of Dateline: NBC. 

And while we're talking about NBC crime shows, maybe after 296 wins, eight consecutive trips to the conference title game, nine AFC championships, and six Super Bowls, Bill Belichick might deserve better than to be treated like he just walked into a kitchen to find a film crew and Chris Hanson asking he came to see. Just a thought. 

It just so happens that Patriots fans problem with the dark, negative tone is shared by the author of the book the series is based on:

WEEI - Both Pats fans and non-Pats fans alike have deemed the work a ‘hit piece’ on former head coach Bill Belichick, professing that owner Robert Kraft seemingly has his hands all over the production of the docuseries.

Jeff Benedict, who wrote the book ‘The Dynasty’ and served as a producer of the docuseries, responded to said notion on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Wednesday:

“There’s a lot of things in this film, in my opinion– there’s a lot of things in the book, that if the Krafts controlled it, you wouldn’t see. I mean some knucklehead even alleged that this was like, a series that was done to help Kraft make a case to get into the Hall of Fame. …

“I would be uncomfortable veering away from what we know to be true. And it is true that Aaron did go to Bill and he did express serious concerns about his own physical safety and the safety of the two other individuals in his family… and Bill did offer to bring in the Patriots’ security. And Aaron did not take him up on the offer. Now, everyone takes a hard left and says, ‘Well this is bad for Bill because he didn’t trade him.’ Well, there’s another perspective to that which is, ‘Why didn’t he take Bill up on the offer?’ Why doesn’t anyone ask that?”

But I'm semi-happy to report that after watching the most recent episodes, my relationship with this show has evolved from Hate Watching to Love-Hate. Something I'm pleasantly surprised by, given the fact Episode 7 is called, predictably enough, "Under Pressure." That's right. We no sooner put away the cold case file on Murdnandez than we land right into the 2014 AFC championship game against the Colts. And relitigate that all over again. 

Granted, you can't tell the story of the Patriots without it. In fact, none of us have ever tried to avoid the subject. If anything, it quickly became a source of pride in New England. It galvanized a fanbase in a way that simply enjoying success without the whole rest of the country coming at us with these ridiculous allegations never could. 

For a while, my problem with the way The Dynasty handles Deflategate is that it goes wading into the accusations up to its neck without presenting the other side. The Ideal Gas Law barely comes up. The blatant inaccuracies, biases, and psuedo-science of The Wells Report get skipped over. But we get lots of the prosecution's case. From the incorrect Chris Mortensen Tweet to all the media hysteria to the "Tom Brady DESTROYED his phone!!!" lunacy. And of course, leans hard into the "Bill threw Tom under the bus" narrative. Like a coach who pours cold water on the balls on a random training camp rep and makes his team practice in the snow had ever spent 10 seconds of his life worrying about how his QB prefers his footballs prepared. Though the most egregious sin of all is they show parts of the Mona Lisa Vito press conference without the Mona Lisa Vito parts. 

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That I do not forgive.

What I can forgive the filmmakers for, is how they eventually get around to portraying how ridiculous it all was. New England recognized how absurd the mass, nationwide panic was right away. And while it takes longer than it should, "Under Pressure" finally gets there. Dave Portnoy and the arrest of the Brady 4 protestors get a few minutes:

And from there, it's game on. Highlighted by a great edit where Al Michaels is on a talk show saying he thinks the whole thing is a tiny, minor issue and yet it's leading off network newscasts over things like war and terrorist attacks. Jump cut to an excruciatingly awkward clip of a newscaster segueing from Deflategate to the fate of Japanese hostages being held by ISIS. Chef's kiss.

More than anything though, the years from that game against the Colts to Brady's four game suspension in 2016 and Super Bowl LI are presented as what they actually were. A classic hero's journey, straight out of Joseph Campbell. Good triumphing over evil. An innocent man, falsely accused and ultimately winning his redemption. 

And the highlights they show from both XLIX to LI make it worth staying with this story. Sure, there's not much here you probably can't find online. But it's a tale that can be told any number of ways. From NFL Films to Kraft Productions own releases like 3 Games to Glory and Do Your Job, to Brady's own movie about four old hens road tripping to the game against the Falcons looking for some geriatric hookups. 

This is just another take. One that happens to go really hard in the paint about how mean Belichick is, how hard he coached Brady, and how insulted Brady felt about him drafting Jimmy Garoppolo in 2014. Which is fine by me. All I took out of that is that Brady is a man who always responds in a positive way to adversity, and played for a coach who was the best ever at making sure he provided it to everyone. His style was not for the faint of heart. No one was immune from being coached hard. And that drove Brady to push himself beyond the limit anyone else had ever achieved. Which we should all be grateful for. 

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Which brings us to the obvious cliffhanger ending. Which makes it abundantly clear what we're getting the rest of the way is the story of tension between Brady and Belichick. No surprise there. The show started phoning ahead that reservation when the trailer first dropped months ago. I've already braced myself for two solid episodes of nothing but that interpersonal drama. But as long as they find time to include a couple of little matters like going to two Super Bowls and winning one, I can accept them reminding us these two alphas were never bestest buddies. They were merely the two halves of the greatest collaboration in the history of sports. All I ask is for Apple to keep the Dynasty in The Dynasty.