And Eve (Halle Bush), an abused foster kid from Alabama, embarks on the most unpredictable path of all under the guidance of a seemingly omniscient voice (Adina Porter) who she believes might be God herself. From Lagos, Tunde ( Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh, tempering his usual warmth with the well-meaning naivete of privilege) strikes out on a journey to document the front lines of shifting gender dynamics around the globe. Over in London, teenage Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz) inserts herself into a crime drama as she grows closer to her mob boss dad (Eddie Marsan), sometimes deploying her gift on his behalf. There’s the relatively familiar domestic drama of the Cleary-Lopezes, as Seattle mayor Margot (Toni Collette) struggles to balance the demands of her career and the needs of her family - which includes a loving but skeptical husband (John Leguizamo) and a moody teenage daughter, Jos (Auli’i Cravalho), who’s having trouble harnessing her new ability.Īcross an ocean and on the other end of the relatability spectrum is Tatiana (an enjoyably high-strung Zrinka Cvitesic), the miserably unhappy wife of an Eastern European dictator (Alexandru Bindea) who vows to crack down on the new powers, also referred to as EOD, with overwhelming force. Each is rendered in a slightly different tone, and while of course any viewer will have their preferences, it’s mostly a compliment that none is dramatically more interesting than the others. The series’ core storylines are carefully chosen to offer a cross-section of experiences.

Particularly in the first half of the nine-episode season (of which critics screened the first eight hourlong chapters), The Power too often relies on archetypes over complex characterizations, and talking points over nuanced conversations - though by the final installments, it does manage to generate enough sparks to make a theoretical second season look much more promising.Ĭast: Toni Collette, John Leguizamo, Auli'i Cravalho, Toheeb Jimoh, Josh Charles, Eddie Marsan, Ria Zmitrowicz, Zrinka Cvitesic, Halle Bushĭeveloped by: Raelle Tucker, Sarah Quintrell, Naomi Alderman, Claire Wilson Its narrative encompasses half a dozen leads spread out over three or four continents, and includes plotlines as intimate as a teenage romance and as sweeping as national political movements.īut if the broadness of its scope is intriguing, the broadness of its storytelling sometimes comes as a disappointment. Like the Naomi Alderman novel it’s based on, it’s set in a world transformed by a quirk of biology that suddenly gifts teenage girls the ability to generate electric jolts from their fingertips - and like the Alderman novel, it attempts a forest- and-the-trees approach to the premise. Amazon’s The Power does not want for ambition.

The power naomi alderman amazon