From Air Jordan and 'Be Like Mike' to the '92 NBA Finals and the Olympic Dream Team, Michael becomes a global cultural icon like any other. But his reputation takes a hit after he refuses to publicly endorse U.S. Senate hopeful Harvey Gantt. A young Lakers guard named Kobe Bryant makes a big impression at the 1998 NBA All-Star Game and forges a close bond with Jordan.
Sam Smith's book 'The Jordan Rules' exposes the darker side of Michael Jordan's competitiveness, and questions arise about whether he has a serious gambling problem, but he remains focused on winning a new title in 1993. Dealing with the pitfalls of fame and attempting to complete the first three-peat leave Jordan increasingly exhausted and isolated.
Crushed by the death of his father, a mentally exhausted Michael Jordan retires in 1993 - to play baseball. The Chicago Bulls move on with Scottie Pippen in the lead role. In 1998, Jerry Krause confirms this will be Phil Jackson's last year as the coach of the Bulls.
Michael Jordan's return in 1995 energizes the Chicago Bulls, the city and the NBA, and the playoff loss the previous season fuels him to work harder than ever to get back on top. In 1998, Phil Jackson was given one final season with his legendary squad and thus the last dance of the 90s.
In the 1998 NBA finals, the defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls played against Utah Jazz in a repeat of the previous year's Final. With Utah leading 86-85 and few seconds remaining of the definitive match, John Stockton passed the ball to Karl Malone but Jordan stole the ball away and dribbled down the court to hit a 20-footer to end the finals. Battered and exhausted, the Bulls conclude their 'Last Dance' with a sixth championship. Michael, Phil Jackson and others reflect on the end of the dynasty.
China's last empire, the Qing, lasted from 1644 to 1912. It began in violence and war as the Manchus swept down from the north, but invaders became emperors, with three generations of one family ruling the country. Among them, Michael Wood argues, was China's greatest emperor - Kangxi.
Under the Qing, China doubled in size to include Xinjiang in the far west, as well as Mongolia and Tibet, creating the essential shape of China today. The new dynasty tolerated a diversity of cultures and religions, including Islam. In Kaifeng, Michael visits a women's mosque with a female imam, a delightful scene that ends with laughter and selfies! The Qing also undertook huge cultural enterprises. At a traditional printing house where the wood blocks are hand-carved, we see how the Complete Tang Poems were reproduced - all 48,000 of them. We travel through the wintry countryside to a remote village where a hardy audience watch open-air opera in the snow and visit a painter's studio, and 'storytelling' houses in Yangzhou. In the 18th century, China was arguably the greatest economy in the world, and we get a fabulous sense of the rich culture that came with prosperity. But then came the clash with the British, in the first Opium War, when a British expedition destroyed the Qing navy and extracted territory and trading rights. We leave with a glimpse of the future. 'Every dynasty has risen and declined,' says Michael, 'and has needed new life to regenerate, and this time the catalyst was the British.' Among the ports China ceded was an almost uninhabited island, Hong Kong, one of today's greatest financial centres, and Shanghai, a small town then but now one of the greatest cities in world.
A young Lakers guard named Kobe Bryant makes a big impression at the 1998 NBA All-Star Game and forges a close bond with Jordan.