Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft is a delightfully straightforward binge

There’s a welcome simplicity to Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft. You may wonder: Who is Lara Croft? But then the title of the series answers you in no uncertain terms: She’s a tomb raider. And it really is that simple. Whether in the wildly successful video games of the late ’90s, the Angelina Jolie-starring films that soon followed, or those most recent PlayStation titles, the joy of immersing yourself in the Lara Croft universe has always rested on her continued globe-trotting adventures where hidden temples, mysterious objects, and forgotten lore keep her on the move, tackling and overcoming one obstacle after another.    

This latest iteration of Croft’s story—of her legend, even—is enjoyable precisely because it doesn’t veer too far from the basics of what makes a Tomb Raider tale worth watching or playing. It helps that as a way of introduction, this eight-episode animated saga plunges us back into a flashback where we get to see this wily British archeologist (voiced here by Hayley Atwell) doing what she does best: namely, extracting a coveted object from some ruins in a remote area of the globe. In this case, it’s a jade box that ends up forcing her then companion Conrad Roth (Nolan North) to kill a group of men intent on keeping the box safe and away from the hands of those like Lara. Not only will that box become key to a world-spanning journey that will find Lara trying to ward off an encroaching threat foretold by an ancient Chinese myth (naturally). But the series also anchors Lara’s own emotional journey in the grief she’s grappling with since losing Roth during another ruinous mission where he gave his life to spare her. 

Deadened still by his death and happy to wallow in that pain away from those who love her, Lara is soon enough reeled into a self-guided campaign that will find her reconnecting with old friends and maybe even with her old self. And it all begins when that jade box she and Roth had retrieved together is stolen by a mysterious rogue (are there any other kind in shows like these?) who has ulterior motives and may well need to be stopped by Croft herself. Voiced by Richard Armitage, Charles Devereaux proves to be quite a foil for Croft, searching as he is for some treasures that may threaten the very balance of power in the world as we know it. He is also grieving and aggrieved; and Lara could become just like him if she doesn’t heal and forgive herself for what happened to Roth.

Devereaux’s search for other boxes around the globe (which, of course, requires scouring through centuries’ old myths) forces Lara to yet again recruit the help of her friends. That includes tech expert Zip (Allen Maldonado) and trusted travel companion Jonah (Earl Baylon, whom viewers may recognize from his voice work on previous Tomb Raider games), who are eager to get the wounded Croft to face herself and forge a path ahead that’s not merely beholden to her father’s (and Roth’s) legacy. She may wish to go about it all on her own, to lessen the risks to their lives, but time and time again, she realizes she cannot. She can either embrace her coterie of collaborators or she can follow in Devereaux’s steps.

Lines like “The sooner you start learning to stop needing people, the sooner you’ll learn to survive” and “You should value the people in your life—those are the treasures, not the ones buried in tombs or in ruins” are lobbed at Lara and the audiences alike in ways that quite bluntly spell out this choice. Lara’s journey may take her to hallowed mountains where age-old creatures and forces demand that she put her parkour and self-defense combat training to good use, but her story is also about learning how to embrace the community she’s long relied on.

But what makes up the bulk of Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft are many quite entertaining sequences where one of the most famous video-game characters ever gets a chance to showcase her wit, knowledge, and many badass moves. Throughout this first season, you get to see Lara fend off a cat burglar while wearing a dress, hopscotch her way through a lava-filled cave, outrace a flood while on motorcycle—all while also schooling us on everything from Templar Knights lore to Battle of Zhuolu mythology. This is as straightforward an adaptation as you’re likely to find. The show is a propulsive watch that winningly brings Croft to life, and the TV medium feels perfectly suited for her many archaeologically-inclined missions.

Shuttling between its two modes—an action adventure that finds Lara solving puzzles and fending off muscled goons in far off places that soon enough becomes increasingly supernatural, and a touching drama grounded in grief and the power of building lasting connections—Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft joins the recent X-Men ’97 as an heir apparent to those Saturday-morning animated series that defined the millennial generation. Moving with grace from level—er, episode to episode—this Netflix series is a welcome, enjoyable binge watch that’s likely to land with Lara Croft novices and fans alike. 

Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft premieres October 10 on Netflix