TRANSlating Everything Recaps The Power: Episode 1
The shape of Power looks an awful lot like a novel
We open with Toni Collette delivering an “I Am Iron Man” press briefing. The only difference is she won’t need an arc reactor to generate her Power.
If you listened to Dave Chen and Joanna Robinson opine over Game of Thrones with their acclaimed podcast Cast of Kings, then you know the pleasures of a recap show with a host who is an expert on both the books and the show.
That’s where I come in!
My work in research, publishing, and activism recently earned me the nomination as the second-only transgender nominee for 40 Under 40 from University of Georgia.
With that attention comes it’s own kind of Power — and with great power comes great yadda yadda yadda…
So for the foreseeable future, I’ll be using my unique insight into the book and Amazon Studios show The Power to offer a recap series like no other.
Season 1 Episode 1: “A Better Future Is In Your Hands”
Written by: Naomi Alderman
In Amazon’s 9-part global thriller The Power, all teenage girls in the modern world suddenly develop the power to electrocute people at will. It’s hereditary, it’s inbuilt, and it can’t be taken away from them.
Younger girls can awaken the Power in older women. Soon enough, every woman in the world can do it. And with that comes a startling reversal in gender-based power dynamics — and the revelation that how the world responds may merely repeat the mistakes of the past.
We open with Toni Collette delivering an “I Am Iron Man” press briefing. The only difference is she won’t need an arc reactor to generate her Power.
Senator Margot Cleary-Lopez (Toni Collette)
There is a voice in Margot’s head. It says; You can’t get there from here.
She sees it all in that instant, the shape of the tree of power. Root to tip, branching and re-branching. Of course, the old tree still stands. There is only one way, and that is to blast it entirely to pieces.
Margot is played by the legendary Toni Collette (previously by Leslie Mann, who unfortunately had to be recast due to complications from the pandemic).
Margot Cleary-Lopez begins as a small-time Mayor uncertain how to combat the unique problems presented by a world rooted in patriarchy.
Imagine House of Cards if it had started with Robin Wright as the main character. Watch out for Josh Charles as Daniel Dandon, the governor of Washington State determined to crush her from existence.
In the brief moments before Margot walks out to present undeniable findings to the public about the Power, she recalls flashes of the last six months.
And in those flashes, we get our first glimpses of the people who will be the major players in season 1 of The Power. Like the best trailers, these tantalizing glimpses do more to titillate than spoil what’s to come.
What you’ll remember from these glimpses, all you need to remember, are the sparks sent from women across the world suddenly expressing the ability to generate electric shock.
As Margot takes the stage, she promises to explain all that led to this moment.
SIX MONTHS EARLIER
Allie/Mother Eve (Halle Bush)
“God loves all of us,” [Allie/Mother Eve] says, “and She wants us to know that She has changed Her garment merely. She is beyond female and male. She is beyond human understanding. But She calls your attention to that which you have forgotten. Jews: look to Miriam, not Moses, for what you can learn from her. Muslims: look to Fatima, not Muhammad. Buddhists: remember Tara, the mother of liberation. Christians: pray to Mary for your salvation.” — Mother Eve
Allie begins her life in circumstances not entirely dissimilar from those in which I grew up in Mississippi. The only difference is that I was nearly 40 years old before I found my Power.
She begins as a 16-year-old girl in Alabama living with foster parents. She’s frequently beaten and sexually violated by her father…until a voice tells her how to fight back.
In the show’s introduction for her character, she meets with her parents and a social worker to determine what’s best for Allie’s future.
Allie is mute. Silent. Or rather — silenced. But she will become the voice of a religion and a movement that reverses the gendered power dynamic across the world.
We cut to Allie now in church, in which the Preacher blames “Eve.”
And that common lie signals the moment Allie’s voice awakens.
Is it a voice? Is it her own voice? Is it truly the voice of God?
I believe this is a signal for her developing schizophrenia at the moment her skein awakens — a skein is the new organ developing in girls that empowers them to generate electricity.
The moment Allie’s skein awakens, so does her schizophrenia. But there are other explanations. Her deep connection to the Power may instead have connected her to a unified consciousness between everyone who has the Power. It could simply be the voice of God in all Her glory.
It’s up to the audience to decide (unless the show decides for us…but I don’t think it’s that kind of show).
If it is schizophrenia, that’s different than DID, in which one person is actually multiple people in one vessel/body, but the perceptions and experiences of each identity are as real as if they each had their own body.
As someone with DID rather than schizophrenia, my understanding of schizophrenia is that the person’s perceptions are not reflections of reality. They are delusions and hallucinations that may seem real to the person, but they are not “real” in the way I consider a person’s alters or fractured identities to be real.
The Voice: “No point running girl I’m in your head. Call me a guardian angel. A devil.”
The Voice: “You can feel it, can’t you? The Power. A better future is in your hands.”
The Voice
Stand aside Adam Levin, Adina Porter instantly soothes, compels, and disrupts as The Voice. The Voice is never explained in the book. It on occasion shows up as a sort of presence for other characters, but it’s never clear if that’s truly just literary artifice or the characters sharing a connection with an elevated sentience.
We’ll have to see if the show turns the Voice into a more distinct character. I honestly will be thrilled no matter which direction they go.
Adina Porter also played Prioress in Paper Girls, as well as several characters in American Horror Story, Indra in The 100, and Lettie Mae Thornton in True Blood.
Roxy Monke (Ria Zmitrowicz)
With immense control, she deadens their arms one by one, making them drop their guns. Roxy then jolts the water, making the policemen drop to their knees.
Roxy is the daughter of crime boss Bernie Monke.
Her story speaks to me deeply about being forced through trans conversion therapy in Mississippi in the 90s so my parents could follow “God’s” orders to turn me into a copy of my brother. Even at the end of her story, the scars of her trauma are described in the book as an inverted rainbow.
The less you know about Roxie, the more fulfilling each surprise will be. In the meantime? Imagine if Stephen King’s classic horror character Carrie had been able to awaken the same Power in everyone else who’d ever been bullied.
When we meet her, she is doing her makeup, preparing for a big event.
“Are you crying?” her mom asks. “You belong there as much as any of them.”
Roxy has never felt like she belonged. Not even with her own family.
There’s a pretty funny scene that shows just how violent her family can get when it comes to cake, then we’re off to meet the next character.
Jos Cleary-Lopez (Auliʻi Cravalho)
You’re eyes and your ears aren’t deceiving you. That’s Auliʻi Cravalho, the voice behind Disney’s indelible hero Moana.
Auliʻi plays Jos — who is the daughter of Margot.
She is like many other cisgender, intersex, and transgender women who struggle with a variety of medical obstacles to society accepting them as real women. It is this unique experience of bigotry that makes her empathize with one of the only men in the story [REDACTED] to also manifest the Power.
When we meet Jos, she’s browsing social media — with a special focus on Ryan, the gender non-conforming boy she’s fallen head over heels for.
But I want to draw your attention to one moment in particular that highlights this show’s commitment to being an ally for all trans people.
Nikki De Jager, known as NikkieTutorials, is one of the most influential names in the YouTube platform’s beauty community. She collaborated with Lady Gaga. She was named a global artistry adviser for Marc Jacobs beauty. Amazing for a transgender beauty expert.
But she had intention of coming out. She was blackmailed into doing so over the pandemic in 2020. Fortunately, she was met with the kind of warmth and acceptance she said she never dreamed was waiting for her.
De Jager opens her 17-minute video by saying she had always wanted to share her story on her own terms, but having had the opportunity “taken away” wished to reclaim her own “power”.
For more, check out this article: “NikkieTutorials: Beauty YouTuber reveals she is transgender” (BBC News)
Back to the story, Jos looks at those hunky hunky pics of Ryan — and shocks her computer. WTF just happened?
Her mom — Margot — calls her downstairs.
Tunde Edo
Tunde is a 21-year-old aspiring journalist from Nigeria.
In the book, he’s the only male protagonist — of sorts. But to say more would be a spoiler the show is clearly keeping chambered for the right moment.
His scenes in particular shock readers by subverting our ingrained expectations for the male gaze toward violence. The show promises to subvert our expectations just as neatly, even if you’ve already read the book. Read on to see what I mean.
Tundi is on the way to a very special meeting. His friend Ndudi gives him a ride and uses the ride to beg Tundi to go with her to a fun gathering of girls exploring the limits of their power.
He really doesn’t want to go. But she begs him and begs him. And then she sees why he doesn’t care.
“What?” Ndudi says. “Is that Tinder? You are having fun on your Tinder?”
He’s about to get a casual hookup.
He has her drop him off so he can go have sex with Adunola at a POSH residence.
Once Adunola is alone with Tunde, she explains to Tunde that Ndudi — the girl who dropped him off — still likes him after they had a one-night stand. Adunola can tell.
But Tunde is a typical boy. He doesn’t pay any mind to his friend’s lingering feelings for him. He says that’s not a problem. “That was just a one-time thing.”
He says it so he and this girl can ****.
And they’re going at it hot and heavy when it also gets wet and electric.
Adunola’s POWER sparks him. And he suddenly understands why Ndudi was trying to get his attention.
This is not just a group of a small group of girls playing and pretending. This is much, much bigger than just getting laid.
Though he makes sure to do that, too, I guess.
Roxy
Back to Roxy.
She arrives at the big party her dad the mob boss is hosting.
Her asshole brother Terry grabs her arm. She flips him off. But Terry reveals he dropped a couple of laxatives into the speaker’s drink, so this will at least be fun to watch.
“You look like a bag of dicks, Darrell,” Roxy says.
I really can’t tell you anything about Darrell except to say he will become Roxy’s nemesis in ways she cannot imagine — but only because she cannot yet imagine her own Power.
Once alone with her dad, she insists to him that she’s tougher than Darrell. This may have been her one chance to prove it, but the thing is that to her dad, a woman will NEVER be the authentic owner of Power.
She tries and tries. She keeps telling people “I’m Bernie Monke’s daughter” as though she is an extension of her father’s power. But Roxy will discover that she must find her own place. Her own Power.
Jos
Huge Booksmart vibes as she enters the school. The song you hear is “Wizard” by Dora Jar.
And as soon as she’s at school…there’s RYAN!!!!!! This will be your favorite cisgender and yet gender non-conforming man in the whole story. Unless you’re an asshole, then you’ll love Darrell.
“You’re weird…in your own skein.”
If you watch that locker moment between Jos and Ryan closely, you might predict a twist the book reveals immediately, but that the show is keeping a secret for at least the first three episodes.
Jos tries to collect herself in the bathroom, and that’s where she encounters Anissa Matlock, one of the most AMAZING gender non-conforming actors in the business.
You’ll recognize Anissa from Mayfair Witches, The Gifted, The Resident, The Walking Dead, and now The Power. They are truly an inspiring presence in epic storytelling.
In this show, Anissa plays Cat. This is a brand-new character created just for the show. To say this character needs their own spin-off is putting it lightly.
Cat is a powerful representation for the place gender non-conforming people have in the worldbuilding of the show. It is Cat who recognizes what’s happening with Jos and offers them their first point of contact.
Allie: “Never. F***ing. Again.”
The Voice: It comes when you need it. You’ll see.
Allie peels and cuts potatoes for her evil foster parents.
And the Voice begins to speak to her. To guide her. To show her the way.
The Voice: Not yet. When the time is right, you’ll know. A better future is in your hands.
She’s then eating dinner with family, or she’s about to, when she finally says the words she has forever denied her. The words that have always belonged to her and never could be taken without her consent.
“No,” she says. “No thank you. I don’t like meat.”
Her parents can’t understand. “But you always eat it…?”
“You never ask,” she says.
Mr. Montgmomery says, “Well look who’s chatty Cathy all of a sudden.”
“I never understood taking pleasure in something’s death,” Allie says.
“Don’t talk to your mother that way.”
“But you’re not my mother. And you’re not my father.”
It’s perhaps the first time she has said no to the foster parents abusing her.
“Know your place.”
“This has never been my place,” she says. Once you have seen the truth, you can’t deny it.
So upstairs, her foster father comes to abuse her. And the Voice now tells Allie it’s time.
The Voice says it ends now.
“Never again. NEVER. Fucking. Again.”
Allie kills her foster father and runs. The mom dilly dallies in the kitchen and puts on music so she can’t hear. It’s the reason Allie can sneak past her.
She knows, like most women do — but especially women who are of color and gender non-conforming — that almost no one will see her actions as the cost of her liberation.
Tunde
He calls a friend and finds out where the meetings between girls experiencing the Power are being held. He needs to investigate what’s happening.
Roxy
Lesbian Power! Lesbian Joy.
Roxy is gay. Or bi. Or pan. But she’s definitely not hetero. Unless she comes out as a trans man…and with this show, you never know what twist is waiting for you.
She’s making out with a lovely lady when their playful argument erupts into an explosive electric shock from Roxy. She sees that something is different about herself. She’ll soon discover she’s different from anyone. Even most other girls who have the Power.
Jos
Walks with Cat, who has been experiencing the Power for two weeks.
“So does it just like happen,” Jos asks. “Or can you control it?”
Cat smiles. As a gender non-conforming person, they are more in touch with their gender and their power than most cisgender people will ever be.
Cat instructs Jos to place their hands on the metal pole. And not in the gross Shazam sort of way.
Jos: “It doesn’t work when I try.”
“You’re overthinking it. Just feel it.”
You know what it’s like as a trans woman?
You know what it’s like if you get clocked as anything that other people perceive as gender non-conforming?
We get caught up trying to feel a mere connection to our Power. And yet just like Jos being instructed by a gender non-conforming person who has already taken that first step, in time I too discovered what waits within when you learn to trust what you already are.
Roxy
Roxy begs her mom for a shot in her dad’s business. She wants POWER.
Her mom explains blah blah. But Roxy puts her in her place. Women like Roxy and her mom deserve Power. But look at Roxy’s mom after everything they’ve been through.
“Now you’re living off the fruit of your LOY-ahns.”
Except that delightful mother-daughter moment wasn’t meant to last.
The attack is fast. The attack is brutal. The only way for Roxy to defend herself is to find her Power NOW.
This is the scene in which we meet Roxy in the book, so the audience is really getting a fantastic and well-deserved expansion of Roxy’s backstory.
Tunde
He goes to the house where the girls met, and there are black hand marks everywhere, like a bomb went off or —
Or there was an explosion of Power.
His friend sees him, says dude you gotta go. Other girls see there’s a man in their space! Ndudi attempts to fight them off, and she loses. Badly. One of the girls shocks her so hard, her skein lights on fire.
This is essential storytelling. The audience needs to know that girls are not immune to each other’s shocks. Rival factions will lead to a unique kind of war.
Roxy
This badass bitch awakens after the horrors she just survived. She’s covered in blood, but she is finally present.
Allie
The Voice: “You’ll see the signs.”
Allie awakens, too.
She raises her hand and brings forth electric shocks that symbolize an awakening of Power across the world.
Roxy
After having murdered her would-be assassins, Roxy returns to the party, the very visage of classic horror character Carrie having awakened to a purpose not even Stephen King could imagine.
She goes to her dad, who pretends he didn’t know anything about it. Her brothers feign horror. I am not even pretending to hide this spoiler. These dudes fucking suck. They are evil.
Allie
Allie visits a sci-fi exhibit for electric eels.
See? This isn’t a fantasy. A delusion. This is normal.
It’s just biology.
The Voice: “This power exists in nature. It was around before you. It’s the most natural thing in the world.”
EASTER EGG FORESHADOWING (spoiler): This is when Allie learns that eels can use electricity for mind control. One day, so will she.
The end of the episode
Roxy and Allie awaken. The Voice tells Allie all will work out. She will see the signs.
Are you ready for the signs?
