When The Nevers‘the first footage was released earlier this year, I clearly remember thinking, “Oh, it’s steampunk Buffy with corsets! ”Now that the drama, created by Buffy the Vampire Slayerby Joss Whedon, released his first four episodes to the press, I can confirm: It is, in fact, steampunk Buffy with corsets – and for several reasons, this is no longer an attractive concept.
Of course yes, The Nevers is part of Whedon’s kickass-girl-power work, which includes Buffy and Doll house, as well as elements in Angel, Firefly and SHIELD agents The period drama, which opens on Sunday (HBO, 9 / 8c), focuses on a group (mostly female) of 19th century Londoners who have been mysteriously “touched” by a force that has granted them various powers.
These skills – or “twists and turns”, in the jargon of the program – range from strangely specific (one character can transform objects into glass with his breath) to almost superheroic (another can create fireballs with a movement of his palms). As society does not understand what is touched, it fears and insults it. Therefore, with the beginning of the series, many of those touched came to live in an orphanage run by Mrs. Amalia True (played by Outlanderis Laura Donnelly).
At one point, True calls the orphanage assembly a “heterogeneous coven,” and that is appropriate. The description must also be incredibly familiar to the viewer BuffyThe last season, when the show’s central heroine discovered herself as Miss. Hannigan indeed to a house full of young women who would one day follow in his footsteps at the stake. If you allow me an abbreviation for my companion Buffy Fans: We are essentially watching the Potentials storyline unfold again, except that this time, we know more about the girls’ names. And, of course, a nefarious and mysterious force is trying to eliminate the touches forever.
But even if you’re not a Buffy buff, there’s enough retreading here to give viewers of Whedon’s other series a déjà vu. The heroine struggling severely, despite the darkness brewing inside her? The clever helper with the talent to conjure up things that help the heroine do her job? The crazy villain spouting free verses between attacks of very bloody violence? The fragments of visions that give the good guys a thin knife edge? A shiny sphere of unknown origin? Yes, it’s all there. Sometimes it seems like all that is missing is a discolored blond bad boy screaming over his newly acquired glowing soul.
To be clear: none of the above does The Nevers a bad show, but nothing surprising. What soures the experience for me is the Whedon-ness of it all, in light of recent allegations about his backstage behavior over the years. What is an audience like to defend female characters created by someone who former employees claimed to be “toxic”, “hostile” and “inappropriate” during their time on their programs? (In November, Whedon announced that he had left The Nevers, calling the series a “joyful experience”, but saying that I was “genuinely exhausted” and “returning to martial my energy towards my own life, which is also on the verge of an exciting change.” Whedon remains the executive producer on the program; Philippa Goslett took over as a showrunner.)
The bright lights in this dark situation are Donelly and his frequent scene partner, Ann Skelly (Vikings), who plays the cheerful Miss Penance Adair. Skelly brings a lovely warmth and depth that is peculiar to Adair, an innovative thinker who can feel electricity and who acts as True’s right hand. And Donnelly is incredibly watchable as True, who swerves with ironic humor, seethes with rage – although at the end of episode 4, we’re still not sure what, exactly – and regrets that being a good general means not getting too close to his soldiers. The cast also includes Ben Chaplin (The Truth About Cats and Dogs) as tenacious police inspector Frank Mundi, Denis O’Hare (american horror story) as depraved Dr. Edmund Hague and Pip Torrens (The crown) as the tenaciously anti-touched Lord Gilbert Massen.
Perhaps the premium spot on the cable show will allow the show to flourish in a different way than the other Whedon series, all broadcast on broadcast networks. Unfortunately, however, the most notable indicator so far of The Nevers‘more permissive network patterns are the proliferation of chests because of chests, courtesy of a parallel plot about the establishment of an illicit gentleman. Do you know what makes it even more difficult to see this show through feminist lenses? When naked women in a sex club who are present only for the pleasure of men walk across the screen … apparently only for the pleasure of men.
THE TVLINE BACKGROUND: With a feeling that Buffy was there, she did it, The Nevers it is a repetition of family tropes by a now controversial breeder.