Summary
The fall of the Showtime Lakers in episode five brings us some of the most emotional beats from the series to date.
This review of the Hulu documentary series Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers season 1, episode 5 contains spoilers.
Access the reviews, news, and recaps for Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers.
Last week on Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers, we saw the demise of the Showtime Lakers as we knew them. From Kareem and Magic retiring to the firing of Pat Riley, things started to fall apart for the dynasty. Will they be able to get back on their feet? Let’s dive in.
Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers season 1, episode 5 review
The episode begins with footage of the 1991 trial of the cops beating Rodney King. Then, we get a montage of the players talking about how upset they were with the findings by the jury. Simultaneously, as this was happening off the court, the Lakers had their hands full that night in the playoffs. The team was one loss away from being eliminated from the NBA playoffs.
While the Lakers took game three, the team and fans found out they had to take alternate routes home because of the rioting on the streets. Next, we find out they had to move the next Lakers home game to Vegas because the tension was at an all-time high. Because of the move, the Lakers weren’t in front of their home crowd and lost game four to the Blazers.
We saw the aftermath of the Showtime Lakers falling apart with a revolving door of coaches, players, and the front office. You can’t help but love what we saw transpire during these challenging times. The fans went from cheering to booing them, which showed how quickly fans forgot about the number of titles this franchise had won. The fans were spoiled, and that hindered this new generation of players. Even when Magic Johnson took over as a Coach of the team, things weren’t so rosy, and even Magic couldn’t figure out how to get this team on the right path.
One of the more insane things to watch throughout the beginning of this episode was hearing Byron Scott’s story about how he spoke out against the verdict. While Scott disagreed with the rioting and looting, he did think they had a point. Unfortunately, the backlash that unfolded was very similar to what we have seen over the last few years, with Kaepernick, Lebron, and other athletes speaking up. Mind you, it was 1991. What has changed? Not a whole lot.
Another thing I loved was seeing the rise of Jeanie Buss. Her story has always been in the limelight but hearing about the adversity because she was a woman in sports was insane. In this episode, we get the story that Jeanie posed for Playboy, and everyone thought it would hinder how people viewed her in the business mind frame. Jeanie told a story about how shortly after posing, a man decided to take it upon themselves to grope her. We hear her talk about how vile it was but how she used this moment to motivate her to strive for even greater heights.
Overall, the episode was downright amazing. Legacy: The Story of the LA Lakers is a must-watch TV weekly. Plus, we know the rise of Shaq and Kobe are ahead of us with the little tease at the end of the episode. I am excited about what’s ahead—incredible work by the writers and directors of this series.
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