In "The Magic is Back", Episode 2 of "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty", Magic Johnson, fresh off his injury, is looking forward to making an impact and being the center of attention with the Lakers again. But as the season inches towards the playoff, drama surrounds not only him, but his teammates, and Coaching staff.
The trade deadline is just around the corner - Coach Westhead's system is working well with Norm Nixon at the point while Magic has been out - would it be wise trading the all-star and potentially ruining the team chemistry - chemistry that the team has openly enjoyed since Magic has been injured.
Jerry Buss starts to be enamored with an old flame and acts upon his desire by seeking her out and seeing if something is still there. While this is going on, Jeanie Buss (Hadley Robinson) has her own personal challenges regarding her Tennis Franchise.
Meanwhile, questions continue to surround Magic's knee and whether it's 100%, but only under wraps. Tempers flare in the locker room as the team enters a challenging series against the Houston Rockets in the 1st round of the playoffs.
This episode tempered down the myriad of themes from Episode one, but it still feels like there's a bit too much going on. The tennis franchise storyline with Jeanie in addition to Dr. Buss chasing his old flame seems a bit forced and unneeded in this episode - it could have done just as well with the direction of the team regarding Magic coming back from his injury and the path toward the playoffs.
The acting and cinematography continues to be superb, and the theme that I'm seeing is that due to the multitude of excellent performances, the series may be stuck in promoting too many storylines - the cast IS that good, and we're lucky to watch it play out, even though at times we may be pulled away from the main storyline.
"The Magic is Back" does mostly a good job of sticking to the plot, and hopefully the series sticks to the main theme of the story as we continue through the season. I would expect the storylines to weave in and out of episodes as the writers see fit - I'm just hoping that they don't take away from what the series is all about: The rise of the showtime Lakers.