Article content continued

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

The series begins with a shot from behind of a seated Jordan gazing out into the horizon as a crawl sets up where things stood at at the time, Star Wars style. To recap: Jordan’s Bulls had won five titles in the last seven seasons and were preparing to try to three-peat for the second time, but everyone was wondering if this would be it for one of the greatest runs in sporting history because of various hard feelings in the front office and amongst some of the players owing primarily to jealousy and monetary disputes.

Interspersing clips of Jordan’s franchise-saving arrival in Chicago in 1984 with the man himself, fittingly addressing the United Center crowd 23 years later with five NBA championship trophies set out in front of him, The Last Dance gets rolling, immediately pulling viewers in. It never stops doing that, at least over the first four episodes that Postmedia was given to screen.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

At first it’s a bit jarring to see a young, humble, low-key Jordan with hair vs. all of the intersecting later shots of the most dominant player in NBA history doing his thing, along with the reflections of the current business titan, now in his late fifties.

Unlike the VHS tapes and DVDs of the 1980s and 90s that built up the Jordan legend, putting him in a class, as one person interviewed in the doc says, only with the likes of Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali, this work is not mere hagiography. Jordan is presented warts and all. From cruelly ripping long-time Bulls general manager Jerry Krause — the driving force of the ill-conceived desire to tear apart the team — to his face, to being relentless with his teammates during tough stretches, there’s a reason Jordan told director Jason Hehir (Andre the Giant, The Fab Five, The ’85 Bears) that people will think he’s “a horrible guy” and won’t understand why he acted the way he did when they watch the film. “My innate personality is to win at all costs. If I have to do it myself, (I will) do it … It drives me insane when I can’t,” Jordan says years later in trying to explain his mindset and actions. His mother, Deloris, and brother, Ronnie, also provide some insight into where he got those traits from, based on his upbringing.