Last Chance U: Koszykówka

The biggest problem is that Netflix itself has recently offered the same thing (i.e. how school basketball offers the only possible way out of a bleak environment and at least some prospect of an education, a scholarship and therefore a future) in a better form with Rezball. That was about high school basketball and the hope of escaping a reservation instead of escaping the reality of LA ghettos for a generation older guys, but at the core it has a lot in common. The advantage of Last Chance U is that it has the good fortune of having very distinct characters who like the camera, which wasn't so true of the other docuseries. Everyone is interesting here, whether it's the peculiar caring coach who often drops a rap, or the mix of outcasts that features a kid who has talent and vision but has a hard time (he lost both parents in a short time), a young man who has a lot of talent but lacks the drive and will to do something about it, a kid who, despite his athletic qualities, teeters on the edge of "F in everything" at a school that doesn't play for averages, and a dude with no humility who had his sights set on decent schools and a shot at the NBA, but drowned it in drugs, blaming others, and even delinquency, and ended up behind bars. It's undeniably rewarding to watch, but it lacks the overall likeability and "let them make it" cheerleading that abounded in the competitive (off) basketball fortunes of the boys on the reservation. | S1: 3/5 | (11.03.2021)