‘The Dynasty’ on Apple TV+ is nearly perfect, just like the Patriots dynasty it reveals

The Dynasty explores the relationships and motivations between Bill Belichick (from left), Tom Brady and Robert Kraft.

Near the end of the 10th and final episode of “The Dynasty” — Apple TV+’s docuseries about the Patriots’ two decades of dominance, and all the joys, clashes, and consequences that accompanied it — Tom Brady offers a synopsis of the era that also comes a screen pass’s length from summarizing this project.

“It’s perfect,” says Brady, so engaging during his interviews that you’ll come away convinced he will be an instant star in Fox’s broadcast booth next fall. “It doesn’t need to be anything more than that.”

“The Dynasty,” which is produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries, based on Jeff Benedict’s book of the same name, and debuts with the first two episodes Friday, isn’t quite perfect. Let’s call it the equivalent of a 14-2 season that ends with the duck boats rolling down Boylston Street. An unforgettable winner, blemishes or not.

The appeal comes from its thoroughness — Episode 1 kicks off the chronology with the Patriots’ storybook ascent to Super Bowl champions in the 2001 season — the candor of the approximately 80 people director Matthew Hamachek and his collaborators interviewed for the project, and especially the access. Hamachek mined more than 35,000 hours of behind-the-scenes footage for “The Dynasty,” and the result is a docuseries that provides so many insightful scenes — such as Bill Belichick bluntly addressing the team in 2007 after the “Spygate” scandal broke — that either Patriots fans have never seen or have been nudged from memory.

“I think the thing that is so unique here is that this is not what you’re used to seeing,” said Hamachek, a Packers fan who immersed himself in the Patriots. “This is the team that has kept everybody at arm’s length for 20 years. We’ve all seen the ‘We’re on to Cincinnati’ press conferences and things like that. That’s what we’re used to, right?

“There were really no roadblocks. To everybody’s credit that’s involved, there was total freedom. We go into everything, and in the last five episodes, we detail the unraveling of the dynasty in great detail. But I also think that it’s really important to be able to do that in a way where you can understand why everybody made the decisions that they did.

“So if you’re watching this thing, I think you understand why Bill did the things that he did. And I think you understand the reasons why Tom felt the way that he did and same for Robert [Kraft] and same for every other person that’s in that building. And I think that you have to tell a story that way for it to be unvarnished and accurate.”

Grazer, whose film credits include the Academy Award-winning “A Beautiful Mind” as well as “Apollo 13″ and myriad others, said it was crucial that players and coaches share their honest feelings, to tell the story truthfully and in full.

“We really wanted to be able to get into every single absolute detail of what it felt like at every meaningful moment, the palpable experience of being in a game or in the locker room, when they win and when they lose,” he said. “Feeling everything emotionally like they did allows for an even greater understanding of what they accomplished. We needed them to be revealing, and even vulnerable, and they were.”

Most of the time. Brady is often hilarious (his off-color assessment of the tuck rule is also dead-on accurate) and doesn’t hide his emotions (the only other time we have seen him this vulnerable was during ESPN Films’ “The Brady 6″ well beyond a decade ago).

Kraft, whose fingerprints appeared to be all over Benedict’s book, plays some of his greatest hits (stories about calling Belichick a “schmuck” after Spygate and rookie Brady telling Kraft that he would become the “best decision he ever made” recur here even though they are a long-established part of Patriots canon). But he is the most forthcoming about why Malcolm Butler was benched in the Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles, even as the mystery lingers.

Belichick, however, remains the nut that refuses to crack. His genius is often reiterated beyond a doubt, but his stubborn refusal to praise anyone, even the brilliant quarterback with whom he won six Super Bowls, leads to a familiar awkwardness. Hamachek’s camera often lingers on faces a beat or two or three longer after the person finishes speaking, which leads to extremely awkward moments when Belichick’s face looks as if it is about to retreat into his neck.

Questions about the scandals, controversies, and tragedies are asked. They are not always answered — Belichick shrugs off his fan letter to Donald Trump — and no, Jim McNally, John Jastremski, and Matt Walsh are not part of this. The episode focusing on Aaron Hernandez is downright chilling. Deion Branch, who was one of the Patriots who could get through to Hernandez, seems almost haunted. And former receiver Brandon Lloyd is starkly straightforward about Hernandez, a convicted murderer who committed suicide in prison at age 27 in 2017.

The interviews with former players — and the perspective and insight that comes with time — are what makes “The Dynasty” truly excellent. Ty Law and Tedy Bruschi are expert storytellers. Randy Moss is downright hilarious and should narrate everything. Danny Amendola — whose line about the players working for Belichick but playing for Tom has made the promotional rounds — is the most forthcoming of anyone. But it’s Ernie Adams of all people who best explains the spirit of the era.

“People say there’s no fun,” says Adams. “You know what’s our fun? Our fun, frankly, is being on that field after the Super Bowl, with confetti pouring down, your fingerprints on the Lombardi Trophy. That’s the fun. That’s the payoff.”

With “The Dynasty,” Hamachek does a nuanced and admirable job of detailing everything, good and bad, and still leaving Patriots fans with a warm — and defiant — feeling at the end.

The truth is captured and celebrated: It was our region’s dynasty, imperfect but perfect.

And as Brady said, it doesn’t have to be anything more than that.