It is 9 a.m. this December 10 when the five episodes of the documentary Polo produced by Archewell, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s company, appear on Netflix. Highly anticipated, this series is the fourth work of the couple, who signed a $100 million contract with the streaming platform in 2020. Prince Harry and Meghan had to produce content “that informs but also gives hope “. After Harry & Meghancentered on their exile from the British royal family, a documentary on the Invictus Games and another on leadership, here they are getting into sport. Polo Is it worth paying attention to? According to British reviews, move on.
The documentary is not worth wasting your time, but the editorialists’ articles soaring on it are not lacking in salt. Sarcasm and irony on the program. “Flat, laborious and really boring” writes the Daily Mail“Comic without meaning to”, for the Guardian“Polo is the stupidest and most pretentious sport that humanity has ever known. a playground for the rich”, continues the Guardian. In short, Prince Harry’s bet failed, his favorite sport did not succeed in bringing people together. Even after five episodes, a few shirtless players, galloping horses and mysterious music.
A disappointing series
However, Harry and Meghan tried to mix all the elements of a good Netflix production into Polo. From the first episode, the editing, the interviews with the players and their wives, the dramatic soundtrack, make you think of a mix of reality TV and a sports show. The five episodes follow professional polo players as they prepare for the 2024 US Open tournament in Wellington, Florida, the biggest competition of the American season. The synopsis does not convince. “The series focuses on the World Cup in Florida, with lots of very thin women with very smooth faces and much less smooth necks, cheering on muscular men who take it all very seriously,” quips the Daily Mail.
The cultural site Decider goes further in his analysis. The series remains too much on the surface. If the first episode explains the rules of the game clearly enough, it is not exciting enough to satisfy the viewer’s curiosity. No focus on the players’ professional entourage, those who take care of the horses or even on the less privileged participants who do not earn as much as the stars of this sport. A regret that the site expresses by summarizing the situation clearly, “We see a group of privileged people playing an elitist sport”, “boring to death”, adds the journalist. The comments of the polo players interviewed were also mocked by the press the day after the broadcast. “’Our lives are at stake every time we step on the field,’ says one of the polo players as if he were a firefighter, a naval officer or a humanitarian worker,” writes it Daily Mail.
Where have Harry and Meghan gone?
Another negative point, no Harry and Meghan on the horizon. Except for a few minutes, in the last episode. “These television pros” as they are mischievously nicknamed by Daily Maildecided not to appear in the soap opera. “What the series does not overflow with is Harry and Meghan, who, let us highlight a historic first, do not bring everything back to themselves,” notes the Telegraph. “Fans of royalty will be disappointed by the shyness and discretion, once in a while, of the couple.”, insists the British daily.
Not kind to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the critics are letting go and predicting a dark future for future Archewell productions. “This failure could well leave traces in the career and media ambitions of the Sussexes”, concludes the Telegraph. In a few months, another documentary series, this time signed by Meghan, should see the light of day. A show which celebrates “the joys of cooking, gardening, entertainment and friendship” stated the official press release from the princely couple’s production house. “The end of the season (from Polo) announces a probable sequel, but I don’t think we deserved that. Hopefully the cooking series will do better,” writes the Guardian. Fingers crossed.
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