This just isn’t your on a regular basis story of electrifying female empowerment.
Prime Video’s recent series “The Power” posits a world wherein young women across the globe, in an inexplicable twist of nature, suddenly develop the power to electrocute people at will — flipping society, and the patriarchy, on its head (“A world built for us, where we’re not afraid” says a protagonist).
The eight-part series, cloaked in sci-fi, takes some time to charge into high gear, but once it gets going is rife with social commentary that resonates in today’s culture.
“The Power” relies on Naomi Alderman’s eponymous 2016 novel and features an ensemble forged of younger, nuanced actors working alongside A-listers Toni Collette, John Leguizamo and Josh Charles.
Together, they form an exciting core that keeps the motion moving at a brisk pace.
The series begins six months earlier, when teen girls Allie (Halle Bush), Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz) and Jos (Auli’i Cravalho) begin to experience the primary inklings of their newfound electrical powers.
Allie, who’s living within the South with strict, creepy foster parents, hears a girl’s voice in her head assuring her every part is going on for a reason and that it’s time to take destiny in her own hands — which she does, literally, by frying her sexually abusive foster dad to death.
In London, Roxy lives a threadbare existence together with her loving mother but craves the emotional support of her father, wealthy English businessman Bernie Monke (Eddie Marsan), who lavishes all his attention (and money) on his second family.
Jos, meanwhile, lives in Seattle and feels isolated from her parents — particularly her mother, who … wait for it … is Seattle mayor Margot Cleary-Lopez (Collette).
She’s married to Dr. Rob Lopez (Leguizamo) and her unforgiving work keeps her on-the-go 24/7, driving Jos’ resentment — while the mansplaining, condescending governor (Charles) tells Margot “don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Dude, really?
Then there’s Tunde (Toheeb Jimoh), an aspiring journalist who lives in Nigeria (Lagos) and starts to listen to rumblings of local women with magical powers, which he soon sees for himself — posting a startling viral video just as an epidemic of hundreds of young women possessing this high-wattage capability (some greater than others) overcomes the planet in a tidal wave — causing fear, confusion and, in Seattle, hysteria and witch-trial-style finger-pointing. (Highschool girls are barred from riding school buses and are kept in one-person isolation booths within the gym.)
There’s far more, as the varied story threads begin to converge and “The Power” grows, well, much more powerful.
It’s all very engrossing, with twists and turns you won’t see coming and a few decent computer graphics (not on par with the “head-popping” of Prime Video stablemate “The Boys,” but effective enough so that you get the purpose).
“The Power” offers a novel twist on culture and the ramifications of historical hierarchies, with none hitting-us-over-the-head preachiness.
The performances are all solid, even within the smaller roles, and I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see the way it plays out over the course of eight action-packed, thoughtful episodes.
