totally plagiarize himself with the new HBO series “The Nevers,” but he comes pretty close. Whedon, who stepped down as writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner in November 2020, is no longer affiliated with “The Nevers,” but the first part of this first season unmistakably bears all his fingerprints. (Six episodes will begin airing on April 11, while the second four, delayed to COVID, will be available at a later date.) Women (mostly young, pretty) alternately tortured and empowered by supernatural abilities (given mysteriously, resented by men) come together to save the world (even though it’s a patriarchal cesspool). “The Nevers” is steampunk “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” with the Turned here as the Slayers and the Scooby Gang, and you don’t get closer to late-seasons Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, with her self-hating sexual choices and desire to abandon all responsibility, than the brawl-happy, pint-chugging Mrs. Amalia True (Laura Donnelly). None of this is to discredit the sprawling cast of “The Nevers,” who—particularly Donnelly—attempt to grasp mysterious, disparate, silly plot threads and bring them together into something sensible through the sheer charisma of their performances. It feels like Whedon’s fault that it rarely works.