The Last Dance: 6 Things we learned from episodes 1 & 2

ESPN’s new 10-part documentary series, The Last Dance was chock full of interesting revelations about Michael Jordan and the 90’s Bulls. Here are a few.

Wow. In what was indisputably the fastest two-hour time-period of this nationwide quarantine by (I’m sure) the accounts of most underserved sports fans, the first two episodes of ESPN’s monumental The Last Dance documentary series offered insights into some of the origins and pitfalls of the 90’s Chicago Bulls’ historic dynastic runs.

You know you’re watching a quality piece of television when you’re left adamantly wondering about what’s going to happen next on a cliffhanger that actually took place over 20 years ago.

How is Scottie Pippen actually going to be traded? Did it sour his relationship with Michael Jordan? How about Phil Jackson? 

These are all questions I’ll delve into with abundance in my upcoming predictions piece for episodes three and four, but for the moment, the film’s initial installments left us with no shortages of jaw-dropping revelations and new information about one of the most polarizing, god-like figures the world has ever seen – and the people who made him so incredibly great.

The Last Dance focuses on the team’s final escapades after general manager Jerry Krause effectively put a damper on the upcoming 1997-98 campaign by preemptively announcing that even if he managed to lead his team to an 82-0 record that year, it would be Phil Jackson‘s last.

In turn Jackson, always the spiritual optimist, decided to tab a little additional billing onto that year’s squad in efforts to give their final run together a more reverent, nostalgic vibe. And as such, “the last dance” was born.

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This sent players, coaches and staff alike an encapsulating message that this season, this group, and this legacy would be one of the most important they had been a part of.

But “the last dance” is incomplete without the dances before it – the homecomings, the spring formals – all are equally important in building the anticipation for the culminating prom.

And the tidbits we were shown from the grit and grind of prior years allow us to realize, and form a true appreciation for how much it took for this team to take down that final crown in ’98.

Here are the biggest things we learned about from episodes 1 and 2.