Reviewed By Torin Chambers. Powers is so aggravatingly frustrating. ‘Mickey Rooney Cries No More’ gives the essence of a good show; the world is compelling but poorly rendered, there’s an almost limitless possibility for visual style but it’s VFX are on par with your average student film. The characters seem to have real depth but we never actually get to see it, instead we’re beat over the head with the concept that they have depth. These are far and wide not the same thing. Let me dispel the belief that by the third episode the show find its legs and really gets the ball rolling, it’s doesn’t.
It’s as problematic as ever with no sign of change. I’ll reiterate the hair-string budget and add that maybe if Sony wants to start a television revolution they should put more than nickels and dimes into it. I’m pretty sure you can find the exact tutorial they used for the intro off of Video Copilot. Now the budget could be totally forgiven if the writing had more substance, or even consistency at the very least. There’s a stark divide in the quality of the writing per character. Deena and Johnny Royalle are truly engaging, they feel vivid and alive, Royalle steals literally every scene he’s in. They show genuine signs of complex humanity, unlike their robotic walking contradictory co-stars.
I feel this is totally a shortcoming of the writing and not the actors, Sharlto Copley for one has chops but they give him nothing to work with. Walker is 100% surface, constantly throwing temper tantrums about not having powers anymore while the exposition machines reassure us that he’s a good guy with depth. He’s so much more nuanced in the comic, it’s incredibly disheartening to see him act like a baby here.
Not to outdo itself episode 3 starts out just as problematic as ever. We’re introduced to Triphammer which is neat but he’s maybe the most frustrating character yet, which is not so neat. He is trying to cure “powers” and his intentions appear good. There seem to be at least a small contingency of powers who cannot control their powers. They could feasibly want to be cured so they are no longer pose a risk to others. This seems to be the exact situation of the prisoner who Triphammer is trying to cure at the outset of this episode only he goes about it in the most insane way possible.
Triphammer tells the prisoner that there’s an experimental treatment that if he agrees to it they may possibly let him go and/or cure him. His cure comes in the form of a green light that appears to only work when they flare their powers up, but instead of telling them this he tells them to attack him. It’s a sick and twisted and not to mention entirely unnecessary power trip for Triphammer. Like he’s asserting some kind of warped dominance over someone who clearly would’ve accepted had he just be plainly told what was needed of him. Triphammer even removes all of his armor and weapons as a sign of good faith. Then when it fails he’s astonishingly distraught about the death. Why does someone who has good intentions, disarms as a sign of respect and is clearly distressed after causing an accidental death also needless bullies said person. Another mind shattering contradiction of a character.
Another bizzaro turn of events comes when Retro Girl flip-flops her opinion of Calista when she tells a story that seems just as bogus as her previous lies Retro Girl didn’t believe. It’s dumb, Retro Girl is dumb and we’re all dumber for having watched it. The episodes continues down this road until an authentically emotional scene and a breathtaking cliffhanger cap off the episode, both of which revolve around, no surprise here, Royale. His recounting of how he first learned of his powers is heartbreaking and the highest peak the show has hit thus far. On the other hand you’ve got a major issue when your villain is 1000x more likable than your lead protagonist. They should just cut their losses and make Johnny Royale the protagonist, now that’s a show I would enjoy.
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Torin Chambers is a rad dude from the nineties who does film stuff or something. Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite transformer. Find him on Twitter @TorinsChambers