“Greatness Code is a landmark short-form unscripted series…”
At first glance, the description of the AppleTV+ series Greatness Code sounds like typical PR/marketing bluster. When you declare your own product to be a “landmark,” it automatically raises the expectations of the audience, it instils a sense of doubt, before even having seen this thing.
Then again, they may be on to something here. The first thing to understand about this series is the sixth word in that opening line. Each episode of this seven episode season averages at about seven minutes, and features one athlete, and one moment of their career. Greatness Code never wanders and never overstays its welcome. Like a great YouTube video, each episode is hyper focused on the moment and the athlete. There are no other voices to set the scene, no teammates or coaches to provide context. This is about a moment and the only voice that matters in that moment.
Just as in episode one, when LeBron James talks about the fifth game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 2012, or in episode two, when Tom Brady talks about his “perfect” game. Or Alex Morgan’s first start in the US Women’s National Team. Or Shaun White’s Olympic qualification run. Or Usain Bolt’s world record race. A lot of these aren’t what other people would consider the athlete’s defining performances, but these are the moments that stand out for the athlete themselves. It would be easy to just pick the big winning moments, the ones in which they won a title, a game, or an Olympic gold (okay maybe it’s not so easy in the case of these repeat champions), but to focus on what the athlete considers a defining moment was a masterstroke in story telling.
The interview footage is simple, the athlete is on a chair, black and white camera, single camera angle. No fancy cuts, no second camera. It is, however, in the cutaways where these episodes shine. Each episode is absolutely filled to the gills with animation, making it feel more like an ad for a sports brand than a documentary series. Instead of just relying on old game footage, these moments are amped up to 11 with graphics and animation that are driven by the athlete’s voice.
The show was created by Gotham Chopra (GREAT. F*CKING. NAME.), son of alternative medicine guru Deepak Chopra, along with Tom Brady and LeBron James. Greatness Code could have very easily fallen into the worse kind of hero worship, self hero worship. The look-at-how-amazing-we-are traps would have been everywhere.
But, despite opening the series, the involvement of LeBron James and Tom Brady seem to have given the series a direction, and steered it away from those traps. This isn’t self hero worship.
Both Brady and James understand that this is the value of the series, not the big game-changing decisions they made, but rather the times they got into “the flow,” in order to be in sync with their teammates, as Alex Morgan says in her episode. Tom Brady isn’t talking about one of the six (!!!) Super Bowl Championships he’s won, he’s talking about a (slightly inconsequential) game against the Buffalo Bills. Shaun White isn’t walking us through one of his three (!!!) Olympic Gold medals, he’s talking about the run that earned him his Olympic team place. This series isn’t about the heights they’ve reached, it’s about what it takes to get there.
The big downside of the series, however, is the lack of international athletes on show. Aside from Usain Bolt in Episode 4, all the athletes featured are, not just American, but also from American-centric sports. Yes, I know Alex Morgan plays football, but it’s women’s football, a sport which the American Women’s National Team has thoroughly dominated since the mid 90s.
All in all, Greatness Code is a great short-form docu-series that looks at sports and athletes from a different point of view. Calling it a “landmark” series may be a little premature, but it’s definitely on its way to reaching the heights that the AppleTV+ PR/marketing team has set for it.
Greatness Code
AppleTV+, Season 1, 7 episodes
Creator: Gotham Chopra
Director: Gotham Chopra
Cast: LeBron James, Tom Brady, Alex Morgan, Usain Bolt, Shaun White, Katie Ledecky, and Kelly Slater
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