Where In the World…?

Recently as many of you may have noticed a new series titled “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego” has come out on Netflix. Now, for those of you who didn’t see a cute cartoon girl in a spy costume and instantly click play allow me to describe the basic contents of the show. Carmen Sandiego is our protagonist and vigilante, a master spy capable of remaining undetected, going through limitless traps, and a master pickpocket. Combined with her intelligence team, one 15-year-old with an insane setup codenamed Player, Carmen and Player travel the world stopping the bad guys. Who are the bad guys, you might ask? Well, that would be V.I.L.E, Villains International League of Evil, who are surprisingly, ya now… bad. Carmen has dedicated her life to stopping V.I.L.E. Another huge factor comes into play when you include the rival agency ACME. ACME is intended to fight VILE but believes Carmen is also part of VILE. This comes down to ACME vs. VILE, even though VILE does not know ACME exists, VILE vs. Carmen, knowing who she is, and ACME vs Carmen, even though they do not know who she is, and she is technically on their side.

I’m not going spoil anything but I’ll give a brief overview of my opinion. The first episode starts off great with some high-quality spy material, stealing priceless artifacts with help from the intelligence men. The cop tries to chase her down, but she evades him, all the solid spy stuff. But as the episodes progress, they get educational and less spy-like. At its heart, it is a kid show, and while I was hoping for a little more, I am content with what was delivered. It’s nothing like the classic spy movies of the 80s but it does help fulfill my desire for spy movies.