Why in the World is Carmen Sandiego So Good?

Carmen Sandiego’s a good show. You’re welcome for the recommendation.

Courtesy of Jon Sprague.

Okay, that was mean of me. Normally I’d reserve the end of January for my usual compare-contrast piece, but that’ll have to wait. In the meantime, I’ll share my thoughts on Season 1 of Carmen Sandiego. A show based on a 1985 computer game would’ve been the last place to find a family-friendly, dark subversion story, let-alone a good one, but after 9 episodes, I think there’s enough to warrant a blog entry. (Be warned, spoilers!)

The story follows Carmen Sandiego, a Robin Hood-style thief who’s caught the eye of Interpol. We learn, through a conversation with an old acquaintance, that she’s from Buenos Aires and was abandoned as a baby outside a criminal organization called VILE. Initially a prankster, Carmen, or “Black Sheep”, becomes interested in joining VILE. Despite failing her final exam, Carmen sneaks out of VILE’s headquarters and realizes what’s actually going on. She then escapes and adopts the name of Carmen Sandiego, dedicating her life to foiling VILE’s operations.

It’s a pretty basic set-up, but it’s interesting if you’ve followed the franchise before. Carmen Sandiego’s been the focus of several games and shows, but she’s never been a “heroine”. She was always the main foil, a thief who steals out of boredom and leaves clues for the heroes to find. Here, however, she’s an anti-hero, stealing valuables from other thieves and returning them to their owners. It’s a controversial take on the character, essentially.

But it’s an interestingly one, though. While past entries were interesting, I’d never understood what made Carmen Sandiego tick. I’d never been able to pick her brain, or get a feel for who she was. Carmen Sandiego, despite being a departure from tradition, does exactly that. And it’s all-the-better for it.

This change makes for a more interesting cast. Ignoring Carmen Sandiego, franchise staples like Zack and Ivy, normally the duo trying to stop her, are now accomplices, while Player’s given a face. The Interpol agents sent to hunt Carmen, Julia and Chase Devineaux, are also fun to watch, especially with how much more competent Julia is than Devineaux. Even the VILE operatives are quirky and colourful, instead of generic grunts. I do wish that VILE weren’t another “evil for the sake of it” corporation, but that’s a minor quibble.

Aesthetically, Carmen Sandiego’s top-notch. Flash animation gets flak for being “cheap and lazy”, but the end-results can be excellent if done well. And this is easily on-par with any traditionally-animated film from Hollywood, even with its budget limitations. You can pause at any point in an episode and admire the attention to detail, a sign that lots of hard work went into it. The character models are also really pleasing, which helps.

I like the voice acting, too. Carmen Sandiego has a strong roster of VAs, including heavy-hitters like Liam O’Brien and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, but shout-outs go to Gina Rodriguez and Finn Wolfhard as Carmen and Player respectively. Rodriguez brings an innocence and vulnerability to Carmen, while Wolfhard cranks up the confidence of Player to 11. You can tell they’re enjoying their roles, which makes watching them interact that much more entertaining.

That also helps with the show’s educational segments. The games’ focus was on teaching kids geography and world history, and it transfers over to this show. Each episode begins with Carmen and Player bantering back-and-forth about their current destination, serving as exposition for the greater objective. While this could easily get boring, Carmen Sandiego plays into this aspect with excellent visuals. I’m not ashamed to admit that I learned details about different countries that I never knew prior, and I used to study maps!

Carmen Sandiego leans on a narrative hybrid of episodic storytelling and overarching storytelling. The episodic content feels like “villain of the week” material, with Carmen and her crew foiling the latest attempt by VILE and the villain(s) narrowly getting away at the end. This feels a little repetitive after a while, more on that later, but it’s complimented by solid action and clever writing. The overarching narrative, however, is where the real meat of the show is, delving more into Carmen’s history and existential crisis:

What’s Carmen Sandiego’s real name?

Why was she adopted by VILE?

How did she develop a conscience?

And why does VILE hate her?

It’s interesting seeing the show go this route, and it opens a can of worms not touched on by previous iterations. Carmen, by osmosis, becomes the Western equivalent of Fujiko from Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, given that both shows tackle their respective franchise’s female lead and delve into their psyches. If you’ve seen both shows, then you’ll notice parallels. I doubt this is accidental either, and I’d be surprised if the show-runners for Carmen Sandiego hadn’t looked there, as well as Kim Possible, for inspiration.

Is Carmen Sandiego flawless? No. Aside from the repetitive nature of the episodes, more on that in a bit, the show, or its first season, feels like a “Villain of the Week” series. This is because VILE’s operatives are unbelievably-incompetent, constantly being foiled by not only Carmen, but her accomplices Zack and Ivy. I understand the former, since Carmen’s the “best of the best”, but when Carmen’s allies can fool expert thieves, there’s a problem. In one episode, Zack tells an unconvincing lie to a VILE operative to distract him…and he buys it. In another, Zack dresses like an aristocrat, goes to a dinner party for VILE’s elites, breaks character several times and still manages to foil their plans! This got to be such a running joke that when VILE operative Paperstar succeeded at her mission in Episode 7, I was relieved to see something different for a change.

The show, after the two-part introduction, can also feel, like I mentioned earlier, repetitive: Carmen goes to a part of the world to stop VILE. Carmen fights a VILE operative. Carmen wins. Carmen returns what was originally stolen, and the VILE operative escapes yet again. By the time Episode 9 rolled along, I was half expecting this to happen yet again because I was so used to it. So when the episode, instead, revealed a surprise twist involving Carmen’s relationship to Shadowsan, it shocked me.

Overall, Carmen Sandiego’s already showing lots of promise. It has its kinks and bugs, partly due to being episodic, and being family-friendly definitely holds it back a bit, but the parts that work more than compensate. Best of all, it’s subversive while being fun and educational. Not many shows can claim stake to both simultaneously, so it’s impressive when they are. I’m anxiously awaiting the next batch of episodes when they arrive later this year on Netflix!