There is no denying that Marvel has struggled to make the magic that had so captivated the hearts of the fans in the first three phases of the MCU. But this episode didn't suffer from forced interconnectedness, nor from being so disconnected the story feels arbitrary. Instead we got a part of Wakanda's backstory so ancient it reconnects us to those dangling threads of Hercules, Black Knight and the like. This is exactly the level of connectedness I've needed. And it was enjoyable not seeing, until the very end of the episode, how this fit into the previous episode (and its placement in history).
The result was what currently seems to be an enjoyable one-off (just like the comics do), that may later matter more or less.
We were also presented with multi-layered ethical quandaries between the main characters here, as sometimes the people who genuinely care for each other may also have ulterior motives and disparate missions.
The choreography of the fight scenes was also really well done, as was the overall composition of the shots (whether or not one cares for the artistic style and its use of texture and shape). And the music is excellent too.
So while this didn't move me nearly as much as X-Men '97, it's still a very decent animated short run, worth watching for fans of the fictional world of Wakanda, and its related lore.
