The Power review: Shock me like an electric eel
Prime Video's adaptation, which stars the likes of Toni Colette and John Leguizamo, centers on teen girls with the ability to zap
TV Reviews The Power
Who doesn’t want to see women and teen girls shooting little lightning bolts from their hands? Since its publication in 2016, Naomi Alderman’s bestselling book about girls obtaining electrical powers has been begging for a visual adaptation, and now here it is: The Power, which premieres March 31 on Prime Video, boasting an all-women writers’ room and a cast as sparky as the fingertips of the women in the story.
The basic premise is that teen girls all over the world discover, in the span of a few weeks, that they’ve each grown a special new organ in their bodies that gives them the power to zap people and whatever else they deem worth zapping—the way that eels do. (They really talk about eels a lot in this show, and eels deserve it, guys!) Eventually, the girls discover they can “give” the power to women by activating certain “buds” that live along their collarbones. It’s compelling to envision a world in which tables are suddenly turned on awful men who would, and do, harm women: no car keys gripped tight, no fear of nighttime walks, just a built-in taser at the ready whenever the situation calls for a little jolt. But it’s not necessarily that simple, and that’s what makes this show most rewarding to watch. It has mined the ethical depths of the issues this big change would present as well as its potential geopolitical and interpersonal upsets. The book excelled at this, but the show takes it even further, resulting in some thought-provoking world-building and giving us some mighty fun special effects along the way.
We see this event, and its fallout, through the perspective of multiple characters based in different parts of the world (but mostly the U.S.). There’s Roxy, the illegitimate daughter of a London crime boss (Eddie Marsan) trying to prove her worth to her shady family; Allie, a teen in foster care learning to use her voice; Tatiana Moskolev, a Moldovan former gymnast turned dictator’s trophy wife; and Tunde Ojo, the Nigerian journalist who is first to film the power in use and travels the world covering the story, played with charm and depth by Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso). This show has been freaking thorough in its exploration of how the power would be viewed across cultural contexts. And there are more central characters to get into. (There are a lot of characters in this show.)
The family at the center of this story consists of Auli’i Cravalho (Moana herself) as Jos Cleary-Lopez, teen daughter to Toni Colette’s character Margot Cleary-Lopez and husband Rob, played by John Leguizamo. (See? Star-studded.) Leguizamo’s character, significantly expanded from the book version, is a doctor who provides insights into the new phenomenon through a medical lens, encountering ethical quandaries that lead him to spar with his wife, Margot, the mayor of Seattle, who makes the right to exercise the power into her defining political position. These are much more interesting grounds for a couple’s spat than the familiar tale of being too busy for each other, and these two actors really lean into their performances. The acting throughout this show is stellar; that cannot be overstated.
One of the challenges of adapting a book for the big or small screen is that the level of detail a book can accomplish is often hard to match, but the economy with which exposition is delivered in this show is impressive. And not just that: It’s resonant. There are scenes added to this version of the story, like the way in which it’s revealed that Roxy is not recognized by her father’s family, that break your goddamn heart while establishing backstory and character motivation. And some aspects of the world the book creates are updated to reflect the current political and social landscape, which makes the show feel more grounded in reality. For example, when gender conflict erupts in Saudi Arabia, the Moldovan president, watching the coverage, says, “I told them women driving was a bad idea.” At the time of the book’s publication, this ban had not yet been lifted. The show also reimagines an existing character, the sympathetic nun Sister Maria, as a transgender woman (Daniella Vega, star of the 2017 film A Fantastic Woman), loyal to the mean main nun for taking her in back when no one else would. But while we see her, we don’t know, early enough, how the narrative will treat her.
And here’s the thing: Apart from Vega’s character, this show doesn’t do much in its first few episodes to include intersex and transgender folks in the conversation about how the power is distributed. Addressing it later, as in the book, just does not make for a satisfying twist for any viewer with an awareness of these identities. It feels too late, like a glaring omission in a real-world climate where gender-nonconforming people are policed and intersex erasure is still hair-pullingly rampant. It makes you worry that you’ve punched a ticket to TERF town, and presents the central conflict of the show as so binary at first that it’s hard to accept the world The Power presents, however well-researched it is. If not for this, the show would get an easy A-. The performances and storytelling are really that good. As such, it’s a B, with a zap, and definitely worth the watch.
The Power premieres March 31 on Prime Video.
23 Comments
May I activate your certain buds?
Best certain buds forever!
Kind.
I do not consent to being zapped by anyone other than Heather Thomas
+1 Scott Baio
The show also reimagines an existing character, the sympathetic nun Sister Maria, as a transgender woman So this is an alternate-universe version of the Catholic Church?
Right no covenant would ever allow a transgender woman in the nunnery
The convent is excommunicated
It has mined the ethical depths of the issues this big change would present as well as its potential geopolitical and interpersonal upsets. The book excelled at this, but the show takes it even further, resulting in some thought-provoking world-building and giving us some mighty fun special effects along the way.That sounds extremely impressive considering that the book literally ends with SPOILER****************Humanity bombed back to the stone age and human history literally repeating itself only with women fully taking the place of the former patriarchy, complete with bringing back everything from revisionist history to male genital mutilation.
Ha, that’s awesome. Reminds me of that scene in The Invisibles where it’s pointed out that our timeline was actually created by white Europeans who were enslaved by African masters and had their afro-futuristic tech co-opted so the slaves could come back and “right the wrongs.”
Which probably hasn’t aged well but it’s Grant Morrison, he’ll do whatever the fuck he wants.
*they will do whatever they want
Good catch, I forgot they came out as non-binary. I’ll masturbate in front of a TV as penance tonight.
We all have to masturbate at the same time, or it won’t work.
That’s what surprised me about the novel. It began by engaging in some crowd-pleasing toxic male-zapping, but very quickly descended into examples of women being every bit as cruel as men. Not that that’s unrealistic, I just expected that there’d be a bit more “yay, womanhood” before the raping started. (That said, good book and certainly should be good fodder for a series).
This was my complaint about the book – it was great, but the gender flipping was too binary. Everything evil that men do/did, women now with power do. I got what they were going for, the double meaning of power etc, but it lacked nuance.
“I’m not a person who thinks the world would be entirely different if it was run by women. If you think that, you’ve forgotten what high school was like.”
– Madeleine Albright
I really enjoyed the book (except for the silly historical artifact sections, but those were pretty disposable). Glad the show is looking good.
Wow, they didn’t devote multiple episodes to explaining how the silly zap power impacts the 0.018% of the world that is intersex? C- and that’s being generous.
“Apart from Vega’s character, this show doesn’t do much in its first few episodes to include intersex and transgender folks in the conversation about how the power is distributed.”Hopefully it will be treated just like gender cultists treat it in real life; where the most perverted and misogynistic of the patriarcy has highjacked “gender dysphoria” to treat being a woman like a cosplay of the most outdated stereotypes in existence. Nevermind the whole castrating and mutilating confused children. The whole cult is without a doubt the most vile and groomery group of awful men that has ever existed.Meredith Hobbs Coons, you keep calling women fighting for their rights, “TERF” – a lot of us women and our supporters are tired of it. There WILL be a day when you won’t walk away from such vulgar misogyny. Gender cultist groomer.
Is the book good?
I was disappointed this trailer did not feature the characters with the power break out in dance to the 90’s classic, “The Power!” by Snap!
I’ve watched the first episode and now they’ve got a new fan. I hope they have a set number of seasons in mind.I want to see who is going to be Prof X /Magneto but maybe it won’t be so “classic”, I look forward to seeing where it goes and how power seduces.