âThe Neversâ has too many tricks up its sleeve
By Matthew Gilbert Globe Staff,Updated April 7, 2021, 2 hours ago
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Laura Donnelly as Amalia True in HBO s The Nevers. Keith Bernstein/HBO
Sorta kinda like âThe Leftovers,â HBOâs new supernatural drama âThe Neversâ begins with a mysterious event that alters a seemingly random number of Londoners. Itâs 1896, and in one moment a small population of people, mostly women, receive strange powers and undergo physical changes; suddenly, one lady can fling firebombs, another is as tall as a street lamp, and yet another is only able to speak in foreign languages. They become collectively known as âthe Touched,â and theyâre scorned as monsters and criminals by the dominant white, male Victorian culture, so much so that many of them try to stay âin the closet.â
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Combining two of televisionâs most popular themes of the moment - a period setting and superpowers - seems a risky proposition, but
The Nevers, several years in the making, has wrung something new from these tropes.
Created by
Buffy The Vampire Slayerâs Joss Whedon (who has stepped down as the series showrunner amid investigations into his behaviour on 2017âs
Justice League, as well as during his time on
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.
Thursday, 8th April 2021 at 5:57 pm
The Nevers – the latest big-budget series from HBO – is set to begin airing in the US this week, but UK audiences will have to wait a little while longer before it becomes available on this side of the Atlantic.
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The series, which was created by Joss Whedon before he left the show last November, boasts a fine line-up of British acting talent and an intriguing premise, offering a sci-fi twist on Victorian London.
Read on for everything you need to know about The Nevers, including how to watch in the UK and what we know about the plot.
The Nevers Featurette: Discover HBO s New Sci-Fi Series – /Film slashfilm.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from slashfilm.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.