Drama
Andor
The critically acclaimed Star Wars series ‘Andor’ is back. For fans, it is a return to form. For families, the show is still potentially a ride through an asteroid belt.
Lady Lara Croft isn’t exactly what you picture when you think of a rich, manor-living, British noble.
For starters, Lara doesn’t really care for her title. She’ll only wear a dress if it has pockets—and she’ll likely pair it with a pair of sneakers. And the manor that belongs to her family? Well, the only good it’s done Lara recently is to store all the ancient artifacts she’s spent her life collecting.
That’s because Lara Croft is also a tomb raider. At times, the job can be a bit controversial: Many people consider her more a thief than an archaeologist. And more often than not, Lara comes up against forces that would rather she didn’t remove precious relics from their homes.
Take, for instance, Lara’s most recent job. She and her mentor, Conrad Roth, went after a mysterious green box rumored to bring the bearer great wealth. Along the way, Lara was chased through the jungle by men wielding machetes. Ancient booby traps waited for her at the ruins where the box has been housed for thousands of years. Then an alligator tried to drown her as she swam through submerged tunnels.
But that wasn’t the end of it. After collecting the box, Lara, Conrad and the rest of their crew were besieged by the box’s protectors. And Conrad was killed before they reached home.
Lara has lived with the guilt of Conrad’s death ever since, giving up tomb raiding entirely. She even decides to clear out Croft Manor, donating or auctioning off every artifact collected by herself and her father (another prestigious archaeologist).
However, on the night of the big auction, Lara realizes her work isn’t done yet.
A man breaks into Croft Manor, stealing the green box Lara and Conrad had acquired on their last mission. Lara gives chase, but the mystery man escapes, leaving her with an ill sense of foreboding.
Lara soon learns the box contains a pendant that grants the user supernatural mind-controlling abilities. What’s more, there are three other pendants scattered throughout the world, each with their own unique powers.
Before she knows it, Lara is back in the tomb-raiding life. Only this time, failure won’t mean a missed paycheck: It’ll mean the end of the world.
Lara Croft has flitted in and out of pop culture since her now-iconic character first showed up in the 1996 video game, Tomb Raider. Her shorts-and-tank-top combo (combined with exaggerated feminine curves) quickly turned her into a sex symbol. And more often than not, Lara’s career of raiding tombs invokes supernatural and mystical forces.
This Netflix series is a bit milder in some senses. The cartoon Lara isn’t nearly as sexualized as former iterations (see my note about wearing sneakers with a fancy dress). And the onscreen violence, while certainly intense, is naturally a bit desaturated due to its animated nature.
However, families will still want to exercise some caution regarding all that mystical mumbo-jumbo. Most of what we see here is based in Eastern mythology (although the franchise as a whole has historically been rooted in myths and legends from many cultures). Also worth noting: Some plot points focus on the Crusades and a few Templar Knights who defected from the Church.
Not surprisingly these days, one of Lara’s comrades is gay, and we see him dancing with another man at a friend’s wedding. And there’s a hint that Lara may have been romantically involved with some female characters in the past (though nothing is confirmed).
All in all, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is about what you would expect, perhaps mitigating some of the franchise’s historical problems while at the same time adding some new concerns.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
When a man steals a mysterious green box from Lara’s home—the last artifact she collected before giving up tomb raiding—she’s pulled back into the tomb-raiding life, desperate to stop him from destroying the world.
Men chase Lara through a jungle, wielding machetes. Later, they surround her and Conrad, holding the pair of them at gunpoint. Lara and Conrad fight back. Conrad tells Lara to look away as he shoots one of their assailants in the head, later telling her that he had no choice: It was him or her.
Flashbacks show Conrad getting killed with an axe by a faction of the same men who attacked him and Lara after they stole the green box. At least one of her friends blames her for his death; Lara blames herself, too, refusing to move on.
Lara gets attacked by an alligator. It bites her leg and drags her deeper into the water. She escapes by stabbing the creature repeatedly with her knife. Lara escapes pursuers who are chasing her by leaping across a ravine and catching herself on the cliff opposite with a knife. While falling, Lara narrowly avoids landing in a spiked pit—a booby trap meant to deter intruders. Lara and another woman fight each other in a competition, hitting each other in the face and drawing blood.
A man breaks into Croft manor, shattering a glass window on the roof. He steals the green box. Lara tries to stop him, getting into a brief fight, but the man escapes. Lara steals a car and someone’s bicycle to chase the thief.
The green box is rumored to make the bearer wealthy. We’re told the writing on the box either means “gift of God” or “curse of God.” After it’s stolen from Lara, the thief opens the box, revealing a glowing green pendant. He dons the pendant, and it grants him the power of mind-control. He immediately orders a sailor to kill his captain. The sailor arms himself with a harpoon gun, but the thief stops him from killing the ship’s captain just in time. The pendant also seems to grant the wearer control over the weather.
Carvings in ruins show a burning city with an angry god. Crosses mark some graves. A woman burns her deceased husband’s belongings as part of a ceremony to help her move on. Someone calls Conrad a “god amongst men.” There’s a joke about ghosts.
A character suggests wine-tasting. Folks drink in celebration. Lara drinks and gambles with the wait staff at a charity event.
Lara has a nightmare in which her friends turn into zombies, all accusing her of killing Conrad as he burns alive. There’s a bit of double entendre.
There are two uses of “d–n” and two misuses of God’s name. Someone says, “for the love of all that is holy.” Another person says, “holy cow.”
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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