Teenage girls around the globe start being able to generate electrical shocks, called explosive outburst disorder or EOD, a power that upends the power dynamic between the sexes. We're told via narration that this will ultimately lead to a revolution, but "The Power" starts at the beginning, showing us how several different girls and women get EOD, and how it changes their lives. Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz) is the daughter of a British gangster, Bernie Monke (Eddie Marsan), and wants a place in his crime family. Tatiana (Zrinka Cvitesic) is the miserable wife of an Eastern European tyrant. Jos (Auli'i Cravalho) is the daughter of Seattle's ambitious mayor, Margot Cleary-Lopez (Toni Colette) and a doctor, Rob Lopez (John Leguizamo). Eve (Halle Bush) is an abused foster child who talks to a voice she thinks is God, and eventually becomes a religious figure. Finally there's Tunde (Toheeb Jimoh), a male Nigerian reporter who gets the opportunity to travel around the globe and report on how EOD is causing social change.
"The Power" wants to talk about female empowerment and gender-related issues through an allegorical lens. When the show is at its best, it does a great job of highlighting areas where women have traditionally lacked power by showing what happens when they gain it. In some cases the effect is very dramatic, such as the episode focusing on an uprising in Saudi Arabia. Jos, Roxy, and Eve learn more about their powers very gradually, but the moments of discovery are often violent and dangerous. I appreciate that everyone in the show has the potential to be a monster, no matter how justified they are in using force, or how good their intentions. We spend the most time with the Cleary-Lopez family, which is dysfunctional to begin with, and Jos getting EOD just makes it worse. By the end of the season, Margot finds herself up against a rival politician, Daniel Dandon (Josh Charles), who wants to suppress any use of EOD, while her teenage son Matt (Gerrison Machado) falls under the influence of hate-spewing men's rights activists. And I'm not sure I should be rooting for Margot.
The first half of "The Power" is much stronger than the second, when the show is setting up the rules of the world and how EOD works. There's a scientific mystery angle that's a lot of fun before it shifts to the messy business of charting a path toward revolution. The writing is occasionally too heavy-handed, especially when it comes to Margot trying to justify her political aspirations, and Jos and Matt opening a new front in the American culture wars. However, the Cleary-Lopez clan are well positioned to show us how the government responds to EOD - first denying its existence, then using strong-arm tactics, then surreptitiously looking for ways to eradicate it. I prefer the smaller, more character based storylines though. Roxy and Eve's stories are much more personal, and equally as compelling as the larger scale conflicts. This is one of the few shows I've found with such disparate storylines, where I could watch a full series based on each one individually. This makes it all the more exciting when some of the girls finally start to cross paths in the final episodes.
The acting talent is strong across the board, but I want to single out Ria Zmitrowicz and Halle Bush, who are relative newcomers and have no trouble carrying their parts of the show. Bush is especially good at making all the material involving spiritualism come off as stirring instead of silly. John Leguizamo and Toheeb Jimoh also deserve their kudos for shouldering the male POVs, and keeping the show from being too one-sided. Jimoh's Tunde is especially vital as someone with great hopes for what EOD could do to make the world better, and ends up severely disillusioned.
In the end, I wish that this season of "The Power" had come to a more definite conclusion, since we leave many of the characters on cliffhangers, and I don't think the show is doing well enough to be renewed. The creators spent all season setting up characters and conflicts, and in some cases they're still a long way from paying off. "The Power" definitely has its problems, but as it stands, I'd definitely tune in for more.
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