In a scene that has already been the subject of countless memes, The Last Dance, ESPN’s new 10-part documentary series, introduces Barack Obama as a “former Chicago resident”. Beyond the comedic effect, the understated description was revealing. It spoke to the enormity of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. In the late 90s, both were so fascinatingly extraordinary that even former presidents had to take a backseat to them.

After all, Michael Jordan not only possesses one of the greatest athletic careers of all time, but also one of sport’s most compelling stories. The beauty of Jordan’s narrative lies in its simplicity. A fiendishly competitive athlete who excelled early eventually overcame a cartoonishly villainous Detroit Pistons team, won six titles and then finished his career with a title-winning shot, thus establishing himself as the NBA’s Greatest Player of All Time. As Brian Phillips wrote in The Ringer, “Jordan’s story was so simple and charismatic that it convinced us to overlook all the places where it wasn’t actually his story.” In the popular imagination, events like his brief detour to baseball or his comeback with the Washington Wizards were, at best, ignored and, at worst, forgotten all together.

Thus, for any Jordan-related documentary to be successful, it must deviate from that narrative to some extent, or at least provide us with new aspects of the same narrative. With hours of exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the 1997-98 Bulls season, The Last Dance certainly had the potential to do that. Moreover, almost every major stakeholder was interviewed for the project, making The Last Dance one of the most anticipated sports documentaries in history. However, while the unprecedented level of access granted to the filmmakers makes it a must-watch, it also simultaneously inhibits its ability to achieve true story-telling greatness.

Throughout the first four episodes, Director Jason Hehir excels in describing the origin stories of the 1997-98 Bulls and how these stories shaped their behavior in that turbulent season. Scottie Pippen’s vivid description of poverty in rural Alabama helps us understand why he signed a “safe” contract in the early 90s. Similarly, Jordan helps us understand how his manic competitiveness was shaped by years of battling for his father’s attention with his brother. And perhaps most remarkably, head coach Phil Jackson explains how his diverse life experiences, ranging from living on a Native American reservation to coaching in Puerto Rico, provided him with the emotional intelligence to handle such a volatile locker room.

But the star of the documentary is Jordan whose surprising candour — especially for a celebrity of his stature — allows us to get a sneak peek into his remarkable mind. He describes Pippen’s request for a trade as “selfish” and holds back no punches when discussing the Detroit Pistons, perhaps his most significant foil. The best moment of the documentary occurs when Jordan initially refuses to watch footage of Isiah Thomas discussing the Pistons’ walk off in 1990, describing it as “all bullshit” and exclaiming that “there's no way you can convince [him] he wasn't an asshole.” The moment also displays Hehir’s craft, as his decision to share footage from other interviews with Jordan helps us see his unvarnished reaction to the comments made by his contemporaries.

Similarly, the archived footage from the 1997-98 camera crew is compelling, as we see Jordan navigating his own fame. Yet, the footage is sparingly used, often teasing the viewer before being replaced by simplistic and linear story-telling about Jordan’s career.

Indeed, the primary issue with The Last Dance is that the filmmakers are trying to tell two different stories. The first is the story of the 1997-98 Bulls told through the footage and interviews with key protagonists, a narrative with so many unexplored storylines that it could fill an entire novel. The second is the story of Jordan’s entire career; a compelling yet clichéd narrative that has been told a thousand times. The former is far more interesting, but the latter is more self-serving to Jordan and his legacy; he still seems to be the gatekeeper of this narrative.

Before the release of the docuseries, Jordan claimed that the footage would show him as a “horrible guy”. While we do see some footage of Jordan’s notorious bullying, especially with General Manager Jerry Krause and Toni Kukoc, the possible adverse consequences of this are not explored. Instead, we are told that Jordan’s nastiness compelled his teammates to be better and helped them achieve success. This may be true, but the potential mental toll of Jordan’s domineering behaviour is left unexplored. After all, Jordan’s teams were littered with talented yet sensitive players who could not keep up with Jordan’s combativeness. Because the filmmakers are so keen to affirm Jordan’s indisputable greatness, they seem reluctant to address such questions. Unless this changes over the next six episodes, the documentary risks devolving into hagiography.

With millions of viewers for the first four episodes, The Last Dance has already become a cultural moment in its own right. It will be remembered for years as one of the only pieces of original sports content during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, for the documentary to achieve story-telling greatness in the next six episodes, Hehir and his fellow filmmakers have to stop treating Jordan as a demigod and instead examine him as the extraordinary yet flawed human being that he is. The glimpses so far have been promising, but they can only maintain interest for so long. For this documentary to truly soar, his Airness needs to be brought back to Earth.