Of the many places one prefers not to end up when jumping through a time portal, a yawning abyss is very near the bottom of the list. Time Bandits Season 1 Episode 6, “Mansa Musa,” delivers Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) and (nearly) all the Time Bandits to a West African desert during the Mali Empire.
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Once everyone has landed (predominantly on their faces) in the vast expanse of sand, Judy’s (Charlyne Yi) absence is noticed. As the portal they arrived through via airless void is located somewhere above the surface of the earth, there’s no option to jump back in it. Also, no one actually wants to return to the airless void. Penelope (Lisa Kudrow) is left knowing she’s lost another bandit while the others mourn Judy’s gone-ness.
Time Bandits’s “Mansa Musa”
Realizing they’re in a desert, Penelope directs them to get moving before they die of exposure. Kevin scrapes a large arrow pointing the way they’re going in case Judy arrives later. Over the rise, they discover an enormous nomadic camp. This is Northern Africa in 1324 CE.
With Judy M.I.A., Penelope asks Bittelig (Rune Temte) to chat up the people around them and he learns this camp is the hajj of Mansa Musa (Kelvin Taylor). Kevin fills in the details, reading from his book, describing Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca. The entourage includes 60,000 people carrying a lot of gold. Mansa Musa’s wealth makes him the richest man in history. This catches Penelope’s attention.
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She quickly outlines an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist plan, which features Kevin putting everyone to sleep with his history explanations while she steals the gold, and Alto (Tadhg Murphy) DOESN’T play a camel. Penelope’s backflips are particularly convincing of her stealth skills.
Walking in Their Purpose
Kevin worries that they’ll never get to save his parents. Penelope responds that they’re thieves, and although they didn’t plan on traveling to 14th-century Africa, they’re there now, and they must steal when there are riches to be stolen.
In his throne tent, Mansa Musa asks Queen Inari (Andrea Solonge) if she’s enjoying herself. She demands a bath. One of the servants hears this, spots Bittelig hiding behind a sprig of straw, and orders him to help with a mission.
Alto attempts to relieve the treasure tent’s guard. The guard questions him aggressively and Alto decides to become a camel and run away. Just then, Penelope and Kevin approach. Kevin expresses doubt they’ll be able to carry out the heist she’s planned. In defiance, Penelope rolls and grabs two bags of treasure only to be apprehended by two treasure tent guards who are most definitely not Alto.
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In the desert, Widgit (Roger Jean Nsengiyumva) realizes he’s lost. Somewhere else in the desert, Bittelig and Musa’s servant, Farba, are digging a hole.
An Audience With the Mansa
The guards bring Penelope, Kevin, and Alto to Mansa Musa. They report that Alto imitated a camel while Penelope attempted to steal two bags of “emergency fire-lighters”, aka camel dung. Musa rules that they are just people trying to keep warm. He offers them some gold to take with them. As they leave, Kevin comments on the excellent reputation Mansa Musa has. Musa calls him back to tell them more of what he knows of Mansa Musa.
They ask Kevin where he’s from and are aghast to learn he’s from England which they know as a foreign land full of The Plague, unbathed people, and bland food. Musa names Kevin a friend and invites him to ride with him to Cairo to meet the Sultan. He also requests Kevin tell his caravan more of his fascinating stories. When Penelope scoffs, she and Alto are taken away.
What’s the Point of Me?
That evening, Mansa Musa’s griot, the historian Balla Kouyate (Wayne Colley), introduces Kevin to the listening crowd. Kevin’s incredibly excited to go first—it’s never happened before. He speaks about Musa’s wealth, trying to make it rhyme. In the audience, Penelope is glum that she’s not a master thief after all, sitting next to Alto, who admires Kevin’s showmanship.
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Out in the desert, Widgit lies on the sand, also feeling glum that he’s failed as a navigator. Staring at the night sky, he realizes he has to use the stars to interpret the map. This epiphany energizes him and he leaps to his feet, suddenly seeing the universe clearly. “The portals are not inconsistent: They’re informed by the universe’s incomparable symmetry. The map holds the infinite information, unlocked by the infinite nature of the cosmos!”
Back in the tent, Kevin regales them with the tale of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which brings Queen Inari to tears. Musa tells Kevin he is the most interesting person he’s ever met, and he’s overcome by the compliment.
The Truth Can Get You Killed
Widgit wakes up and can’t remember his breakthrough. Elsewhere, Bittelig and Farba finish digging in the sand and fill the hole with water. Farba tells Bittelig that there’s someone he really likes but whom he’s never told. Having lost Judy without telling her his feelings for her, Bittelig advises Farba to tell her how he feels. When Farba shares that he loves Queen Inari, Bittelig feels more unsure about him declaring his adoration since Farba could be beheaded for it.
The hajj arrives in Cairo. Musa and Balla show Kevin around the Khan el-Khalili Market. Alto tries to cheer Penelope by inviting her to go stealing, but Penelope’s ambivalent. He reminds her they don’t know where the others are. Penelope can’t be bothered to look for them.
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The Sultan’s men approach Musa and Balla and invite Mansa Musa to meet the Sultan at the citadel. Musa acts aloof but agrees. Inari is shopping when Farba tells her they’ve prepared a bath for her in the desert. She thanks him but says she’ll bathe in Cairo with her new soaps. Farba declares he is in love with her. She acknowledges his statement and deems it sweet. Futile, but sweet.
Farba breaks down in tears after she moves on. Bittelig holds him and comforts him by pointing out that at least he wasn’t beheaded. Farba and Bittelig offer the chance to bathe to anyone interested in riding for two hours by camel. Out in the desert, Widgit comes across the prepared bathing pool but dismisses it as a mirage and walks away. Further out in the desert, Fianna (Rachel House) finds Kevin’s arrow and follows it.
Penelope in Crisis
Alto catches Kevin, Musa, and Balla before they reach the sultan and asks to take Kevin for a moment. Pulling him over to talk, he notices a crying Bittelig arriving. Alto tells the others that Penelope’s in crisis. Kevin goes to talk to Penelope. Because she’s sitting on the ground, looking sad, people keep dropping gold bars for her. She throws them away, frustrated they keep giving it to her.
Kevin returns to Alto and Bittelig and says he’ll think of a plan to cheer her up after he meets the Sultan. He accompanies Musa and Balla as they are presented to the Sultan. However, when Musa is told to kneel before the Sultan, he refuses. He demands the Sultan kneel before him. The Sultan’s man suggests that the Sultan will kneel after Musa kneels to him.
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The Sultan approaches Mansa Musa and states that he won’t kneel first because this is his palace. Musa states that a mansa is a higher rank than a sultan so the Sultan should kneel first. The Sultan becomes impatient and threatens violence if things don’t progress soon. The respective warriors eye each other and prepare their weapons. Kevin looks around nervously. Mansa Musa looks at Kevin and acquiesces, stating that he will kneel in honor of the Almighty simultaneously with the Sultan. The Sultan reluctantly accepts the compromise.
Common Ground
Afterward, Kevin asks how Musa thought of the solution to their stalemate. Musa replies that there is always common ground. He advises Kevin to be reasonable so he can find it. Kevin expresses a wish that Musa was his dad, and Musa is honored. They hug. Kevin sees Penelope walking away with her head bowed low and asks Musa if he can pretend that Penelope successfully stole from him so she’ll feel like she has a purpose again.
Later, Balla and Farba walk by an alcove where Penelope, Alto, and Bittelig are sitting. They speak loudly about Musa golden staff, a beautiful item the mansa considers his most precious belonging. They proclaim that only a master thief could steal it. Widgit wanders in a finds the other bandits. He tries to tell them about his breakthrough but Penelope is focussed on the new heist.
Choosing a Purpose
Seeing Penelope approaching, Mansa Musa declares the game of chess he’s playing with Kevin is so engaging that he’d never notice if someone stole his staff. Penelope ignores the staff lying in plain sight and walks up to Musa and Kevin to say that they are leaving now. She asks Kevin if he’s coming. Musa invites Kevin to stay with him. Penelope reminds Kevin about his parents. When Musa hears that Kevin’s on a quest to save his parents, he insists that Kevin continue his quest. Kevin is torn. He loves how appreciated and welcome they’ve made him feel. He wonders if telling them stories is his purpose. Musa tells him that telling stories is what he does. His purpose is to save his parents. Penelope leaves without trying to steal the staff.
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As Kevin and the bandits head to the next portal, he asks her about the staff. She says she didn’t steal it because she was happy, knowing that he’d set the whole thing up for her. Having him as a friend made her feel valued. She also shares that while the Sultan and Mansa Musa were arguing about kneeling, she stole the Sultan’s rubies. When Kevin saw her walking with her head low, it was her giggling over the rubies she was holding.
Changing History
She checks with Bittelig to confirm he put the rubies in his bottomless bag. He points out his bottomless bag has no bottom so anything he puts in it falls out. Penelope wants to return to Cairo to get more rubies but Widgit says they have no time as they have a portal to catch. He states he knows where this one goes. As the portal forms, Kevin opens his book and discovers the passage about Mansa Musa’s hajj now numbers the people at 60,005. They’ve changed history. This makes him hopeful they’ll be able to save his parents by changing history again.
In the Sky Citadel, the Supreme Being (Taika Waititi) is reviewing prayers with Jasper. He’s not keen to answer any of them. He tries praying to himself to get the map back. Nothing happens. He shrugs and tells Jasper that it’s a consolation he now knows where the map is headed. Looking over his shoulder at Judy pruning a plant, he admits he learned it from her when he captured her.
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Back in the desert, Kevin has missed the portal. He jumps up and down on solid sandy ground, looking around for the others. After a couple more jumps, something happens, and he yelps as he falls through.
Time Bandits streams on Apple TV+, with two new episodes dropping every Wednesday.
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