Netflix’s Untold Returns with Four New Deep Dives into Sports History

Sports documentaries and docu-series are chasing the non-stop crime docuseries pipeline for streaming prominence over the last few years. There seems to be a new attempt to mimic ESPN’s critical and commercial success with “30 for 30” every month as people turn to television for sports more than anything else. The truth is that sports broadcasts outnumber all other kinds of content on television, and so finding related content to appeal to those viewers makes total sense. Most of them are talking-head puff pieces, promotional material for a professional sports season that you were probably going to watch anyway. However, there are some stand-outs. Netflix’s recent “Quarterback” is worth a look, and their consistently interesting “Untold” returns over the next four weeks with another quartet of sports tales to tell. Some of the films—these really are feature films more than episodes of television—from the first two seasons are among the best when it comes to sports docs. (I highly recommend “Malice in the Palace” and “Breaking Point,” and “Operation Flagrant Foul” is interesting despite its limited POV.)

The new season features stories on the Urban Meyer Era Florida Gators, Johnny Manziel, the BALCO scandal, and Jake Paul. It’s probably unintentional but there’s a theme here in that they’re all a bit about “bad boys”—people like Meyer or Paul whose aggression became part of their brand and their success. More than most seasons of “Untold,” it feels like a few punches are pulled this year with some natural follow-up questions ignored and some potential analysis saved for another documentarian. However, these are still all worth your time, whether you’re a sports fan or not. This is a series that tackles sports from a different angle, trying to illuminate the human beings at the center of these massive stories.

Andrew Renzi was an executive producer on “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” and “The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For,” and so he knows a thing or two about branding, which is at the core of what has made Jake Paul a star. As much of a promoter as he is an athlete, Paul pivoted when his YouTube celebrity status fell apart to become a legitimate fighter. Stories of second chances are common in Hollywood, but Paul’s is more fascinating than most, and the access given to Renzi in “Jake Paul the Problem Child” makes it the best of the new season of “Untold.” It asks fascinating questions about the line between professional athlete and troublemaker, but the truth is that Paul gets people paying attention to a dying sport. There’s also an interesting dichotomy between a public persona that appears to take nothing seriously and an athlete who clearly has trained himself into fighting shape. The film flirts with some issues related to potential abuse by Paul’s father that I wish had been unpacked further as to how that has shaped the young man’s life, but it feels like maybe he’s not ready for that yet. Jake Paul has been a Disney star, a massive internet phenomenon, and now he’s changing the way people look at professional boxing. Mike Tyson himself actually sums him up well when he says, “He’s not a villain, he’s an anti-hero.” You don’t have to like him, but you can’t ignore him.

The chapter of “Untold” that’s likely to get the most attention is “Swamp Kings,” which is the only one this season that’s not feature-film length, unfolding instead over four episodes of television. And what’s funny is it still feels like there’s way more story to tell here given the vibrant personalities and issues regarding Urban Meyer’s coaching style that it arguably doesn’t take seriously enough. Florida Gators superstars like Tim Tebow comment on how seriously Meyer takes his work between scenes of him yelling and swearing at players in locker rooms, players who are often seen in extreme physical duress during workouts, and it feels like maybe there’s a version of this that questions Meyer’s choices a bit more. Meyer is placed a bit too high on a pedestal, especially given his recent flameout in the NFL, but what makes “Swamp Kings” work is the participation by the actual players like Tebow, Brandon Spikes, Brandon Siler, Major Wright, and Ahmad Black. When Meyer speaks, I question how much of it is public image manipulation, but one can sense the truth in Tebow’s regret over not winning another championship or hear the joy in Spikes’ voice when he speaks about Florida highlights. College football fans will eat it up.

They will also likely find a decent meal in “Johnny Football,” which pretty traditionally unpacks the story of Johnny Manziel, who went from Heisman Trophy winner to NFL flame-out in just a few years. Manziel is open in telling his story, but this chapter kind of feels, well, told. Manziel’s saga unfolded in such a public eye that it’s hard to gain much insight into it, especially when it feels like the truth is that Johnny just didn’t take the sport as seriously as some of his competition, openly admitting that it came easy to him … until it didn’t. There’s an interesting aspect of the Manziel story in that he seemed unprepared for stardom at such a young age—maybe there’s something to freshmen not being eligible for the Heisman—and maturity, which is often an over-used buzz word when assessing college athletes, actually applied here. Manziel is such a laid-back presence that anyone expecting a deep dive may be disappointed, but the truth is that the interesting thing here might be that the saga of Johnny Football was pretty shallow.

Speaking of shallow, I’m not sure what to take from “Hall of Shame,” other than Victor Conte is the kind of interview subject that a documentarian adores. The founder of BALCO became an international figure when the steroid scandal exploded, taking down household names like Marion Jones and Barry Bonds. Conte is the kind of hustler who comes off like he believes what he’s saying, which includes the idea that he deserves a prominent place in sports history because of how he “helped” people break records and win medals. He’s startingly shameless until the final act when he gets teary over the personal sacrifices he made, but even that is in an unexpected manner. Conte became a figure of public ridicule and feels bad for having done that to others less than the actual, you know, cheating. Some of the best stuff in “Hall of Shame” reveals how shoddy and rushed parts of this investigation were, leading to only four months behind bars for Conte. My favorite segment involves the response from authorities when Conte went on “20/20” and basically admitted to the crimes they were investigating. Like even the worst episodes of “Untold,” there are things to like here, even if it feels like we’re only being told part of this massive story.

All four chapters of “Untold” screened for review. “Jake Paul the Problem Child” premieres August 1^st, “Johnny Football” premieres August 8^th, “Hall of Shame” premieres August 15^th, “Swamp Kings” premieres August 22^nd.