There will be spoilers!
While I continue to wait for our Entertainment Desk to get some assignments completed, I will do what I do best: write about the Discovery channel show Serengeti—again.
—From: The Editor-in-chief of The NJ Editorial Report
A tyrannical king is taken out by an unexpected killer; A mother grieving the loss of her child goes on an anti-killing revenge mission; Two young warriors complete their training and are sent out on their own. Once again, these are not scene’s from a new HBO drama, but those of the Discovery channel’s Serengeti, which wrapped up the mini-series event on Sunday. It’s got all the elements of “Game of Thrones” spin-off except that it is real life in parts of Tanzania.
After watching numerous episodes, audiences may have grown tired of the tyrannical baboon leader banishing political opponents from the pack. Not to mention his close-minded approach to a young couple who decided to adopt a baby that was left orphaned by fate. Well, like most despot rulers, he met an unfortunate end. After being chased up a tree, by himself, one of nature’s most ferocious big cats, the lion, pounced upon the neck of the ruler bringing him to a quick end. Audiences were left with a far away aerial shot of the closing of the longest-running story arch’s of the show before it switched to another tale of growth and loss in the wild world they have grown so accustomed to.
This brings us to the next scene in our recap: In the baking sun, in a harsh and unforgiving landscape, we see the face of giraffe gone before its time. Towering over the body, both in emotion, and the actual size, is its mother. We are informed that she has been undertaking this grieving process for several days. She is interrupted by a commotion.
Nearby, A cheetah is in the process of teaching her cubs to hunt. They have come upon a pack of gazelles. One of the Gazelles is a child with its mother. It is just the right size for the cubs.
On their mother’s signal, they pounce. The Gazelle is captured quickly. But they do not kill it, they grab it by the nape of its neck and carry it over to a now isolated area. They set the calf down; they proceed to chase it again. The Narrator informs viewers that this is the method in which to train the cubs in chasing, pouncing, and tripping their prey. I watched in horror as the weak gazelle continued to think it had escaped only to be tripped and tortured further. I haven’t been this disturbed watching a scene on television since Ramsey Bolton tortured Theon Greyjoy. The Gazelle calf has a better quicker, and better ending, however.
Remember that mourning giraffe? It hears the gazelle’s cry for help and responds. It has the amazing ability to recognize that young gazelle is another animal’s daughter. on queue, I could swear the giraffe looked at the camera and said, “not today.” It didn’t though; giraffes cannot talk. But it did do something genuinely surprising: It intervened. Mama giraffe went storming into the training session standing taller than usual on its hind legs and made loud sounds that subtitles should have appeared for. The cubs and their mother wanted no part of what she was selling. They fled. And the gazelle was free to reunite with its mother and the rest of herd.
The giraffe would later hear a pack of wild dogs eating a carcass nearby. Determined to end the senseless slaughter, she intervenes once more. This time, however, she is not successful. Wild dogs don’t care—their hungry. The rogue giraffe gives up realizing that the animal she is trying to save is already and returns to her child.
The cubs are eventually successful at catching and eating a separate gazelle. Their mother watches from afar with pride. She realizes it’s time to set them free. Without so much as a post-it note, she walks away as her cubs eat. You may be thinking that it is not possible to feel sympathy for the predators that you recently watched torture a gazelle, but this is “Serengeti,” and nothing is simple. When the cubs realized that mama is gone, they call out for her, not with a cheetah roar but with the tiniest little meow that will remind you of your house cat asking for treats. It’s truly a sad moment—but you did just watch them sever another animal’s spinal cord to incapacitate and eat it.
Look, I’m not saying they don’t need to eat. But watch it for yourselves if you haven’t already. You will be searching for some type of wildlife peace treaty to get the images out of your mind. My solution was to litter the desert in cans of fancy feast—No need to go torturing gazelle’s when you can eat filet mignon with extra gravy.
We have spoiled a lot of the finale. But I will not ruin the ending. Serengeti was a great show, and I hope that the team behind will produce another series either there or a different location. What I don’t trust, however, is a spin-off show to try to capture the same feel. Discovery managed to produce the highest ratings for a documentary in years, and I fear we will end up with another vet show epidemic, which makes up most of the animal programming on cable. I will admit that vet shows are also great, but as with a copy of a copy, their quality did begin to decrease after a while. I give best wishes to the Discovery crew that created this television event. I hope there are awards in the future.
