While we all know that LGBT rom-com "Love, Victor" is on Hulu because Disney is run by a pack of cowards, "Extraordinary" is on Hulu because that's exactly where it belongs. This show is for mature audiences, though the premise and characters are anything but mature.
Created by Emma Moran as one of the first UK productions for Disney streaming, "Extraordinary" is a superhero themed comedy, set in a world where everyone gets a superpower after they turn eighteen. A trio of twenty-something friends - Jen (Máiréad Tyers), Carrie (Sofia Oxenham), and Kash (Bilal Hasna) - share a flat and attempt to navigate adulthood together. Carrie is a conduit for deceased spirits, and works for a law firm that specializes in probate law. Her boyfriend Kash can rewind time a few minutes, and is obsessed with the idea of putting together his own vigilante group. Then there's our main character, Jen, who despite being twenty-four shows no sign of having a superpower. She works a dead end job at a party store. Eventually the threesome are also joined by Jizzlord (Luke Rollason), a shapeshifter with amnesia who was stuck as a cat for three years, and is having to relearn how to be human.
I enjoy the way that this show handles superpowers, which is to use each character's relationship with their powers to demonstrate their personality. Some powers are cool, some are awkward and embarrassing, and some are just a hindrance. Powers are so normalized in this universe, nobody is really surprised by the insane things that people are able to accomplish with them. People with cooler powers like flight or teleportation tend to be coded as more successful and desirable than the ones with oddball powers - like the dweeby guy who can cause people to orgasm through any skin contact. However, some people with great powers, like Kash or Jen's mum (Siobhán McSweeney), don't do much with them. Also, while the show features a lot of superpowers in every single episode, it's not really what the show is about. Front and center are always the trio's growing pains, and the show works because those growing pains are true to life.
Jen not having powers is the bane of her existence. It's a metaphor for her not having her life together and feeling left behind by her peers. She has an ongoing rivalry with her younger sister Andy (Safia Oakley-Green), who is more talented and poised for success. She's in love with Luke (Ned Porteous), who will hook up with her, but won't consider her romantically. Her friendships are all she has to depend on, and they're pretty chaotic since all of these youngsters are in a constant state of flux. The show's depiction of twenty-something life is on point. Sex and rude language are rampant. There aren't any real enemies, but just one uncomfortable situation after another - job interviews, family obligations, and bad dates. The tone is closer to "Girls" than "The Boys," though the content isn't as strong - all nudity is kept just out of frame.
The budget for the first couple of episodes must have been considerable with the amount of special effects required to include all of these superpowers. However, it's to the show's credit that they frequently feel completely mundane. I barely noticed when the show shifted to more character-based hijinks, because by then the show had done the work of getting us to care about the characters separate from their abilities. The cast is great, with Máiréad Tyers walking that thin line between being lovable and terrible, while Luke Rollason steals every scene with his perpetually befuddled expressions and physical oddity. Watching him trying to work a can opener is a highlight.
Would I have watched "Extraordinary" if it weren't a genre show? Probably not. I lasted all of three episodes with "Girls," and tend to avoid coming of age titles. I'm still not quite over the bildungsroman burnout I experienced a few years ago. I like the characters here enough that I'll stick with "Extraordinary" for a while regardless. I'm on the same wavelength with the show as far as humor, which doesn't happen too often these days. I appreciate that more than anything else.
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