“Into the Lion’s Den” is an excellent example of Eyes of Wakanda’s unique, refreshing personality, especially amidst the inconsistent and often soulless Disney+ selection. The episode follows Noni, a former member of the Dora Milaje, on a mission to capture Nkati (the “Lion”), who has stolen Wakandan technology, captured people for his cult, and killed previous Wakandan agents sent to apprehend him in 1260 BC Crete. “Into the Lion’s Den” excellently plays out as a simple, contained espionage story with various recognizable elements from such stories. From the skilled ex-agent protagonist who refuses to follow the rules to the rogue secret agent antagonist, the potentially confusing science fiction premise ends up being simply a compelling addition to a familiar spy story. On top of the science fiction elements, the particular context of Wakanda’s secrecy and the iconography familiar to fans only add to the tight, engaging, simple story. 

Eyes of Wakanda embraces a beautiful and unique visual style in both its still frames and action sequences. Much of “Into the Lion’s Den” is contained within a fleet of the Lion’s warships. The crammed interiors, the vast seascape, the towering ships, and the Lion’s lavish quarters are colored and designed beautifully. As Noni makes her way from boat to boat, battling with the Lion’s henchmen, the visual style remains engaging and fluid. Nearly half of the episode consists of fighting, yet it never gets boring thanks to the show’s unique visual identity and an impressively shocking abundance of death. While never excessively brutal, this is extremely refreshing to see, as much superhero media avoids explicit violence or permanent death, while others shower their heroes in as much blood as humanly possible. Finally, Noni suffers permanent damage from the fight (a sliced eye), a small consequence that massively helps the story feel extremely important. Even though the sliced eye is a minor detail, the gravity it adds to a half-hour, contained story elevates the episode and the show as a whole. 

The simplicity of the story prevents it from being anything incredibly special. The two primary characters are interesting enough to sustain the half hour, especially when most of those minutes are visually pleasing fights or strikingly colorful images of water, fire, or clouds. The story and characters are never completely breathtaking or groundbreaking, but this is not a serious issue with a story of this scale. Ultimately, the story was successful, establishing a familiar conflict, adding science fiction and historical intrigue, and having interesting visuals. The script could have been spiced up, but the simplicity of most dialogue interactions and plot points seriously helps with easing the audience into the unfamiliar setting. 

The best it could have been was a simple, unique, and interesting story. Even beyond the MCU, there should be more of these unique stories that engage and excite based on striking visuals and interesting yet simple stories on television. Eyes of Wakanda, even in one episode, seems to have a great grasp of its identity as a simple, quick glimpse into Wakandan history. “Into the Lion’s Den” does not do anything extraordinary, but it is certainly unique and has a great understanding of exactly what it needs to be.  

Rating: 7/10