Powers: Season 1, Episodes 1-3: Pilot/Like a Power/Mickey Rooney Cries No More

     This is Playstation’s first step into their own original series. It comes from an amazing, Eisner Award winning comic book series written by master comic scribe Brian Michael Bendis. The combination of that, Sony’s bankroll and the promise of it being “from the studio that brought you Breaking Bad,” make it seem like the show is destined for greatness. Big shoes to fill on multiple levels and lots to prove.

From the trailers you can tell the show has no intention of matching the look of the comic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as the cast is pretty impressive and fit their roles pretty well. The thing that comes as a shock within the show’s first five minutes is the fact that it also has no intention of following its source material. Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there are some pretty strange goings on with the plot changes. Even the visual style is vastly different. Where everything was largely closed in and noir in the comic, the show is very open and bright.

The similarities with the comic book seem to both begin and end with the characters and environment. Most of the characters from the comics are present, but they have mostly been revamped or just changed in someway. The characters also look very different. Triphammer in particular is vastly different. As of now it seems like they shuffled the hell out of everything in the comic.

The story is interesting for the moment, but they’ve killed off a lot of the riskiness and mystery that made the comic so great. Beginning the first episode with the revelation that Detective Walker was once the superhero Diamond being public knowledge was hurtful to potential future stories. They should have dragged that out at least a little bit instead of starting with him being such a mopey “I miss my old life,” style character. They’ve made him too much of an open book, which in turn hurts Detective Pilgrim’s character. In the comic she was a perfect counterweight with her unconventional attitude and potty mouth. Now she just seems to feel sorry for Walker while simultaneously being a little bit of an ass.

These seem to only really be concerns for fans of the comic series however. I think the show can do pretty well on its own. I don’t see the fear of being offensive as an issue with the show and the story isn’t anything to complain about. The actors are all doing an excellent job, especially the villains Wolfe and Johnny Royale. I’m sure there will be immense permanent changes in the status quo and risk taking here. Fearlessness is needed in something like this. I’m sure the show would never have been made if it wasn’t for the fearlessness of the comic book.

Then there are the superhuman, called “powers,” that are largely just normal people with a little something extra. Some are going as far as making youtube style videos and trying to get famous, while some are heroes, others are villains and the rest are simply just trying to get by. They’ve even started a culture of non-powers, called “wannabes,” who worship everything about these individuals.

Then comes, Sway, a drug for powers that enhance their abilities. Such an interesting way to go. There are pros and cons as always with adaptive materials, but I think this one shows a lot of promise, especially for fresh eyes.

Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.