There may come a day when we get excited about a show that wasn’t made for children. But it is not this day. This day, we talk of Netflix’s series Carmen Sandiego.

I don’t even remember how we got turned onto this show. All I know is that we ended up watching it in early 2019 when the first season released, and we found it strangely gripping for a kid’s show. I don’t even think that we had much nostalgia for the old Carmen Sandiego, other than remembering her catchy jingle. Nevertheless, we enjoy this new iteration from Netflix. The third season released just a couple of months ago, and we are well pleased.

A Story That’s Anything But Vile

Carmen is an orphan who was found and raised by a massive criminal syndicate known as V.I.L.E. To the rest of the world, the Valuable Imports, Lavish Exports company is a legitimate business. But they’re actually the Villain’s International League of Evil, intent only on stealing and accruing power and filthy lucre.

Like all crime syndicates, they recruit with a boarding school. What, you’ve never heard of this age-old tactic? How do people find out about and apply for a secret boarding school for thieves? What sort of SAT score would one need for such an enterprise? Don’t worry about that too much. The point is that V.I.L.E. has this secret island academy, and Carmen was raised there. She learned the ways of the thief and eagerly awaited the day when she could put her skills into practice.

But as soon as she goes out into the real world and sees how their evil deeds affect people, Carmen realizes she wants no part of this. She steals some of V.I.L.E.’s secret hard drives filled with data about their upcoming evil plans and escapes. Those files contained information on a large chunk of V.I.L.E.’s operations all around the world. 

Carmen takes it upon herself to thwart V.I.L.E.’s plans and return everything they’ve stolen in the past. Using a quirky crew of Bostonian friends that Carmen met off-screen, Carmen travels all around the world to upset V.I.L.E.’s plans. So while episodes might take place in locations varying from Jakarta to Egypt to Mexico, each is still connected to the others through Carmen’s overarching goals of ruining V.I.L.E. and discovering more about her own past.

Quirky Characters

Carmen Sandiego is a show for kids at its core. But that doesn’t stop it from having a lot to offer. Carmen is a surprisingly layered character, even if most of her partners and adversaries may not be. 

That’s not to say I don’t like the others. Carmen’s sidekicks––Ivy, her brother Zack, and Player––are fun and bring oodles of levity to the show. Zack’s job is to comically misunderstand everything so that someone else can explain things properly. Ivy helps keep her brother in check and accomplish all the things Carmen needs done. Player is Carmen’s technical wizard. Despite being young enough that he’s probably never heard of a VCR or a Walkman, he magically hacks his way into high-security locales to ease Carmen’s entry.

The villains of V.I.L.E. are also fun and likeable, for the most part. They aren’t particularly deep characters, usually with just one defining trait or characteristic. The society itself should be called S.O.N. (the Society of Obvious Nicknames) because who on earth would believe that V.I.L.E. is just an import/export company and not something more sinister? The operatives and leaders of the group each have a codename they’ve chosen, as well. Some of them take their names a tad too literally. 

For instance, Tigress seems to think it’s a good idea to attach claws to her fingers to make them better weapons (you know, like a tigress?). I think that’s silly. She’s probably ruined so many pairs of gloves that way, and with Carmen running around ruining everything for V.I.L.E., who does she think is going to keep paying for those?

Even those who seem to have only one note do play their notes really well, though. You’ll see the various heads of V.I.L.E. in each episode. But V.I.L.E.’s individual agents will show up randomly across the series. The variety in characters makes it feel like you’re getting a full range of real people. And specific agents so infrequently means that you aren’t irked by the same sound being played over and over again.

The only exception to that might be Agent Devineaux, who works for Interpol. He’s in charge of investigating Carmen’s thieving activities, along with his partner Jules. Devineaux has a cocky, “I’m cooler than you because I can drive fast” sort of attitude that kind of grates on my nerves a bit. Fortunately, he’s balanced out by Jules, who’s quiet but brilliant. She’s one of our favorite characters, alongside Carmen herself.

Carmen is a confident, soothing sort of person.  She’s compassionate, even when she loses her temper. And, despite possessing the sort of thieving skills only possible in an animated show, she is a singularly wholesome person. There are some complicated emotions driving her, but she never broods. She presses on doing her best to make the world a bit brighter by destroying V.I.L.E. It doesn’t hurt that Gina Rodruigez, who voices Carmen, does a stellar job as well.

From Here to Timbuktu

Because V.I.L.E. has operations in just about every country imaginable, Carmen and her crew have to jet all around the world. Each episode takes place in a different country. And every time they’re en route to a new location, they give a thirty-second elevator pitch for the country with some fun facts. It’s part of making the show at least pretend to be educational for little ones. 

I enjoy seeing the convoluted plots that V.I.L.E. comes up with to accomplish their malevolent goals. It always cracks me up because I just sort of sit there and wonder how people who are clearly so smart can be so…dumb? For example, in one episode V.I.L.E. wants to steal some clothing that belonged to the Medici family in Italy way back in the day. They’re apparently quite valuable, even though I’m pretty sure they aren’t in line with the spring fashion anymore.

The clothes, rather than being locked in a vault like they normally are, will be part of a display for an upcoming fashion show in Milan. So what does V.I.L.E. do to pinch them?

They invent mind-control hats to affix to the fashion models so that they can command the models to steal the Medici gowns in the middle of the show “without suspicion.” But who isn’t going to be suspicious of that? Models are not usually tasked with taking away the props in the middle of the show. I’m sure somebody would call foul.

Honestly, the silliness of their plans and the elaborate lengths Carmen has to go to to stop them are a huge part of the show. Some plans are more evil than others, but they all have the same sort of storybook villain vibe that gives the show so much charm. We’ve found the show more gripping than it has any right to be, and we highly recommend it for your family.

Who to Binge With

Carmen Sandiego is a fun show for families. It’s rated TV-Y7, though kids as young as 5 might be fine watching it. There are no curse-words or inappropriate jokes or behaviors. The main thing to watch out for is the violence. Carmen constantly has to engage in hand-to-hand combat with her adversaries, which involves a lot of punching, kicking, origami shurikens, and even the occasional cattle prod. The scuffles are usually brief and not especially intense. There are no guns or gore of any kind. Nevertheless, we wanted to point them out as something for parents of littles to consider.

Carmen Sandiego is currently available only on Netflix, so you’ll have to have a subscription (or a friend with a subscription) to watch. But it’s a great show that’s well worth binging as a family.