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Sunday, 11th April 2021 at 11:00 am
New HBO/Sky Atlantic drama The Nevers introduces a sort of Victorian X-Men story, with a host of unassuming people (usually women, but not exclusively) gaining strange afflictions or abilities that set them apart from normal society.
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Called âThe Touchedâ, these people are intriguing to some, feared by others and hunted by many more, with the unique âturnsâ often being more of a curse than a gift.
But what powers do the characters in The Nevers actually possess? What are their turns and how do they work? While we havenât learned the truth about every character just yet, hereâs an early look at what The Touched can do.
Kicking butt in corsets and slaying with parasols, Victorian sci-fi drama âThe Neversâ arrives under, or at least alongside, a cloud: Creator Joss Whedon, who left the series in November citing exhaustion, has been the subject of multiple allegations since last summer of creating an abusive work environment on other projects, including by âJustice Leagueâsâ Ray Fisher and âBuffy the Vampire Slayerâsâ Charisma Carpenter and Michelle Trachtenberg.
But if this meant HBO faced an even taller order turning its ambitious new series, now helmed by showrunner Philippa Goslett, into a worthy successor to âTrue Blood,â âGame of Thronesâ and âWatchmen,â itâs one the cable giant has surmounted. Premiering Sunday, âThe Neversâ ably continues the networkâs tradition of making fantasy and sci-fi a prestigious television pursuit, this time in the splendor and grit of 1899 London.
Despite the showrunner change and writing credits by Jane Espenson, Kevin Lau and Madhuri Shekar, Whedonâs fingerprints are all over The Nevers (as well as the first episodeâs title credits as director, writer, creator and executive producer). The four episodes made available to critics bear the mark of a creator given infinite and inflated latitude, favoring lavish, indulgent sprawl over synthesis. The storylines balloon from an unexplained supernatural event that mark (mostly) women with strange, idiosyncratic talents to a forbidden sex club, a Jack the Ripper-style female serial killer, a deranged doctorâs cruel underground experiments, union strikes and the fate of the British empire, among other ideas. Itâs unfortunate, given the female action hero premise, that such thematic dabbling is occasionally absorbing in isolation but, as a chaotic chorus, canât muster the requisite charm to override the off-screen Whedon baggage.
Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article gave an incorrect debut date for The Nevers.
“The Nevers,” an offbeat sci-fi series on HBO about Victorian women fighting against nefarious forces, is a Joss Whedon show.
That’s important to know at the outset, both creatively and culturally (and you’re not going to hear it from HBO). And that alone may be enough to turn some people away.
Whedon, who created shows including the brilliant “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the (hot take) overpraised “Firefly,” and directed some “Avengers” movies, has been accused of unprofessional behavior and creating an abusive work environment, both in his recent projects but also dating back to “Buffy.”