Time Bandits Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2 Review: Kevin Haddock / Mayan

Apple TV+ released the first two episodes of the Time Bandits series on Wednesday, July 24. Time Bandits Season 1 Episode 1, “Kevin Haddock” and Time Bandits Season 1 Episode 2, “Mayan,” both offer high production values but childish humor that may put some people off.

The show is aimed at families with small children, for better and worse.

Time Bandits is based on the ’80s film of the same name by legendary director Terry Gillam. Both movie and series star a young boy named Kevin who is thrust into a time-traveling adventure with a band of thieves. Kevin and the bandits stagger from one era of Earth’s history to the next, using a mystical map to find openings to different periods.

The show wastes little time setting up the adventure, with young Kevin Haddock pulling into the time-travel shenanigans before the ten-minute mark hits the first episode.

The young history-obsessed boy suddenly discovers his wardrobe leads to a beach with Vikings, not unlike Narnia, and he ends up with a Viking in his room. Not long later, a group of bandits wander into his room through the same portal, and he ends up unintentionally joining the team.

The bandits are an oddball group led by Penelope, played by Lisa Kudrow of Friends fame. The bandits offer the most comedic relief in the first two episodes, with Kudrow’s genuine detached performance helping to establish a light-hearted tone.

The rest of the team consists of a cowardly actor, a big brute, the map reader, and a shy empath who isn’t good at reading people (yet at least).

Right away it’s clear the show’s biggest strength is its high production value. While the series still suffers from occasional dodgy 3D models and bad green screen effects, it’s the practical effects where the show’s budget really shines.

The costume designs, monster make-up, and sets are Time Bandits’ biggest advantage. Demons and their leader, known as Pure Evil, are established as the big bad of the show and feature the most impressive make-up in the series yet, with each demon looking unique and real.

Taika Waititi, the director of Thor: Ragnarok, directs the first two episodes of the series. Waititi’s directions add a cinematic flare to the first two episodes, with the director encapsulating the dream-like logic of the story wonderfully.

Waititi also plays the Supreme Being, the deity of the Time Bandits world, who is chasing after the bandits for stealing the map.

However, the series follows a very loose logic, with characters not acting or behaving like real people. Everyone acts like an over-the-top caricature, with Kevin’s parents behaving as the most outlandish and unsympathetic.

Their unreasonable, cruel, or indifferent attitude towards Kevin’s passion for history is set up for laughs but doesn’t work on an emotional level.

Because of the family-friendly nature of the series, most of the humor is for young children. The humor can be awkward in many parts of the show, yet there were the occasional great jokes in the first two episodes. There is a particular bit with Stonehedge in the first episode that hit hard because of how well it was set up earlier in the episode.

The bandits meet Zheng Yi Sao, visit Stonehedge, and get inside the Trojan Horse in the first episode. All those visits make the first episode feel overstuff, with little room for the characters to breathe and form attachments.

The second episode primarily focuses on the ancient Mayan civilization while continuing the ongoing threats of Pure Evil and his minions.

The Time Bandits show gears towards a younger crowd, and the humor and dream-like narrative may not click with many older viewers.

But the impressive production design, plus the occasional good joke, elevates the series while potentially hinting that there’s more to it than its juvenile humor and story.

What did you think of the first two episodes of Time Bandits? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Time Bandits airs weekly every Wednesday on Apple TV+.

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