Apple TV aired the final two episodes of its Patriots docuseries “The Dynasty” on Friday and the series “lands the plane” when it "came time to tell the story of how the dynasty finally ended," according to Michael Hurley of WBZ.com. The end of the Patriots' run has been the “obsession for a large part of the project," which has "led to quite a bit of consternation and complaints from New England football fans over the past month.” The most common complaint about the series has been that it “spends too much time ‘bashing’" former coach Bill Belichick or "diminishing his impact on the dynasty.” The ninth episode, which “focuses mainly on the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles, will absolutely send those criticisms to another dimension.” But the 10th episode “makes sure to dig into the details of what Belichick did to fool Sean McVay and the Rams in the Super Bowl a year later,” providing “some balance for those who have felt it was lacking.” Belichick “didn't offer any real feelings or thoughts for the entirety of this docuseries,” and that “holds true till the end.” What was “seemingly the main focus of the entire project” was the split between Belichick and former QB Tom Brady. It is “certainly not a pleasant tale for Patriots fans,” but it is a “significant chapter of football history.” Thanks to the input from team owner Robert Kraft, Brady, and some other Patriots teammates, it is "told in a thorough and compelling fashion" (WBZ.com, 3/15).
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FINAL CHAPTER: In Boston, Chad Finn noted he “wrote favorably” about the entire 10-episode arc back on Feb. 14, when the first two episodes were set to air and he is “kind of waiting for someone else to join me in saying they enjoyed it.” Player interviews and the reels of previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage “outweighed ownership’s predictable narrative-twisting.” Finn: “In retrospect, I do think I insufficiently acknowledged the Krafts’ shameless shirking of responsibility for anything that went wrong because I was anticipating them to do just that, and therefore not surprised.” Finn wrote he also thinks those who suggest Belichick is “being scapegoated for everything should listen to those player interviews a little closer.” The Krafts’ “finger-pointing is one thing, but when ultimate Patriots such as Matthew Slater and Devin McCourty talk about how bad the Belichick/Tom Brady relationship got, that carries real weight” (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/16).
