‘Dynasties’ Recap: ‘Lion’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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​I’m coming to realize that more often than not, when I settle in to watch a nature show, my mind instantly locks onto how the animal kingdom and the domain of mankind, eerily match up on a regular basis, and with good reason. Because animals do a lot of the things that we do, they settle down, they have children, and work hard to provide for their families and that somehow allows for myself, and I would hope others, to feel a deeper connection with nature and our world. If anything, it’s a feeling that draws me back to these documentaries time and time again and it’s why I was so excited to watch the latest nature related offering from BBC America, Dynasties.
 
Because the teasers for this series, promised us an in depth look at five different species from around the world, wherein we would learn more about their daily struggle to keep their respective family alive and healthy and well, as I settled in to watch the series premiere of this new saga, ‘Lion’, it seemed as though we would be treated to business as usual when it comes to this particular documentary. After all, it seemingly had a simple story to tell since we were introduced to a pride of lions roaming the countryside in Africa, the Marsh Pride to be specific. But as it turns out, they were facing quite the conundrum, since the males in this particular pride felt the need to just up and leave, meaning it was up the Lioness to take care of her cubs and well…that revelation is when this series immediately transformed into something so much more than the traditional nature documentary.
 
For this story, found a way to suck us right into the heart of this pride’s plight, by allowing for us to truly get to know this family since we were privy to their personalities and habits and even the names the documentary crew gave them, and the one that matters the most in this tale, is Charm, the Lioness who takes charge of the pride in the absence of the males and my goodness, seeing her in action and seeing how much she cares about feeding her pride and keeping them safe was downright breathtaking. Because she stopped at nothing to make both of those things happen, and while we know animals care for their young, I’ve never seen a story that showed us how far they’re willing to go to ensure their safety and while that made for a journey does indeed parallel our world, the emotion and power of the images and moments present here were incredibly moving to say the least, and that’s something I simply didn’t expect to find in this show.
 
But, while it is incredible to see Charm go the extra mile and while it is also a blast to root for her to succeed, this documentary continued to outright move me, by also taking the time to remind us that the wild can be quite the harrowing and heartbreaking place, since we saw some tough, tear-jerking moments play out before our eyes. Because survival was quite the struggle for this pride at times, and despite Charm’s best efforts to keep her babies safe, nature and mankind’s interference claimed the weak and hurt the pride respectively, to the point where she was forced to abandon a poisoned cub and bid farewell to her cousin, and the arrival of new males only made matters worse when they chased off a vast majority of her cubs, leaving her without anything to show for her desperate and dedicated efforts in keeping this pride alive.
 
However, happy endings do happen in nature. For eventually, Charm was able to give birth to a new pride, and her only remaining daughter is also helping to keep the family line going, and it was nice to see Charm get some sense of satisfaction that her dynasty will indeed survive and well, when all is said and done, I am instantly in love with this series. It already offers more than the average documentary since it just plunged us right into the thick of Charm’s fight for survival and it was done in such smooth and classy fashion that you’re instantly vested in every single aspect of her journey and well, if this is what the opening chapter of this saga looks like, I can only wonder what kind of raw and beautiful and sometimes painful tales await us in the weeks to come. Until next time.  

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