Kicking asses in corsets and killing with umbrellas, the Victorian sci-fi drama “The Nevers” arrives under, or at least alongside, a cloud: creator Joss Whedon, who left the series in November claiming exhaustion, has been the subject of several accusations since then last summer, of creating an abusive work environment on other projects, including Ray Fisher of the “Justice League” and Charisma Carpenter “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Michelle Trachtenberg.
But if it meant that HBO would face an even greater demand by turning its ambitious new series, now directed by showrunner Philippa Goslett, into a worthy successor to “True Blood”, “Game of Thrones” and “Watchmen”, it is one that the cable giant overcame. Opening on Sunday, “The Nevers” deftly continues the network’s tradition of making fantasy and science fiction a prestigious television activity, this time in the splendor and courage of 1899 in London.
Divided into two parts, consisting of six and four episodes each, due to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (the release date for the second installment has not yet been announced), “The Nevers” is a joy to watch and an emotion to follow. Supernatural realism, complex narrative, fantastic powers and current realities come together in this clever, suspenseful and colorful production. A litany of different characters keeps this tale from another world grounded. Action-packed battles and suspenseful investigations move the story in a quick clip. And the whole lush setting and ambitious wardrobe along the way – from London’s sewers to high society – is a visual candy store of the era’s nostalgia.
The city is in turmoil, still recovering from an inexplicable event three years before it imbued part of the female population, and a handful of men, of paranormal abilities. “The Touched”, as they are so delicately called, inspires some curiosity and a lot of fear among their fellow citizens, and a campaign to free England from this “female plague” is gaining momentum.
The touched widow Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) offers a safe haven for these human “oddities” in an old orphanage. She has extraordinary fighting skills, sees fragments of the future and drinks like a sailor. Her best friend, inventor Penance Adair (Ann Skelly), sees all forms of energy – which are useful during the dawn of electricity – and invents machines, weapons and more to defend herself against those who wish her cohabitants harm. Each has a different power: one makes the gardens grow simply by touching the soil; another forces people to reveal their deepest secrets in her presence.
Ann Skelly, as inventor Penance Adair, draws attention in HBO’s “The Nevers”.
(Keith Bernstein / HBO)
The power of women and their fear drives “The Nevers”. Divisive politicians have declared that the Tocados are a direct threat against the empire. No one seems to know who or what is behind the mysterious phenomenon of 1896, when “no man of stature” was afflicted, as Lord Massen (Pip Torrens) tells his government cohorts. “This is the genius: they came to us through our women. … The heart of our empire was interrupted because of the whims and ambitions of those for whom the ambition was never intended. ”Watching women seize the same power and the panic of patriarchy with this abrupt change is beyond fun.
But the furious old boys’ club is not the only opposing force in this tale where pious religiosity meets the scourge of modernity. A Touched terrorist faction led by crazy Maladie (Amy Manson) is believed to be responsible for a series of murders and disappearances. She and her talented gang of gangsters, which includes the fireball Annie (guess how she kills), are being tracked down by police investigator Frank Mundi (Ben Chaplin). His reign of terror placed a target on the back of those with skills.
Disabled philanthropist Lavinia Bidlow (Olivia Williams) warns against defaming the Tocados, immigrants and other “deviations” from the norm. “It’s the end of a century,” she proclaims. “These old prejudices are useless.” She finances the orphanage while using her younger brother, Augie (Tom Riley), as a de facto footman. They interact with a cast of diverse and engaging characters, from Hugo Swann (James Norton), a pansexual aristocrat and extortionist who runs a private sex club, to doctor Horatio Cousens (Zackary Momoh), a West Indian immigrant who literally heals with his hands, and the crazy American surgeon Edmund Hague (Denis O’Hare), who appreciates the macabre delights of the Victorian surgical procedure.
“The Nevers” is for anyone who loved “Penny Dreadful” or “Harlots”, “WandaVision” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. This period drama about the persecution – and power – of the marginalized has broad appeal to the genre, while focusing on painfully contemporary themes. And it’s full of puzzles to keep us locked up.
The intriguing Lord Massen says it best when the alarm goes off for his one percent companions: “What women are horrified today, they will accept tomorrow and demand the next day. And the immigrant and the deviant. This is the power exercised and not by us. The blade is ready, gentlemen. We need to know whose hand is in [sheath]. “