I read the thread last week, then watched it tonight and liked it a lot. I expected a bit more cricket, because that England team were amazing to watch in a relentless sort of way, and there's a more sporting story there to be told. But they were definitely right to focus on the story they did.
I thought everyone came across better than I was expecting. Flower only seems OTT tough from today's standpoint, very few people were seriously objecting to those methods in 2010. I thought it said a lot about him that he was able to look back and be so self-critical, when a lot of the previous generation of coaches take an attitude of "world's gone soft, I went through it and turned out ok etc."
I wouldn't go as far as to say that time has vindicated Pietersen, but one of the realisations I had while watching it was that his attitude has actually aged kind of well? He wasn't shy about the fact that he hated being made fun of, and at the time that was seen as being childish, thin-skinned and, as one interviewer implied, "un-English". But in 2020 the reaction would be closer to "maybe be considerate of the fact that he's sensitive and don't make fun of him?"
OTOH, the fact that his career path was defined by his bitterness about the quota system couldn't have aged much worse.
I found Trott really likeable, and fascinating to listen to. I realised watching him how rare it is to see people with anxious and introverted personalities on TV or other forms of media. He reminded me of so many people I know, but most of the time you'd get the impression they just don't exist.
I really want a documentary about Mitchell Johnson. Even as a villainous background character, you could see the outline of a great story in the symmetry of the England team throwing hard things at a picture of him in their 2010 boot camp, then him throwing hard things back at them in 2015.