The Nevers review, Episode 2, “Exposure”

The Nevers is full of colorful characters and inventive flourishes, but the actual plot is having trouble puttering to life. Second episode is still fun, though:

The Nevers continues with its agreeable mix of light comedy, period fantasy and vague world-building in its second episode. The show can get a little high on its own supply, but the characters, performances and production are all sharp enough to make it a fun watch.

Man, that pilot really did pack a lot of plot in. Maladie, a member of the supernaturally gifted group of Londoners known as the Touched, has kidnapped Mary, another member, and squirreled her away in a subterranean hideout. Hot on their heels is lead character Amalia True, who runs an orphanage for the Touched on top dealing with her own power, or “turn”: she sees flashes of the future, which eventually leads her to Maladie and Mary, with some help from Detective Frank Mundi (Ben Chaplin).

This second episode is easier to follow than the first, and even easier on a repeat viewing. Some things still seem remote, though. The characters spend an awful lot of time talking about Mary’s turn: she can sing a magical song only the Touched can hear. Apparently it gives them hope, which Maladie can’t abide because her whole identity is tied up in her being hopeless and miserable. Also she’s insane and talks in long absurdist monologues the show isn’t selling as well as it wants to, although I appreciate the writers giving the characters unique voices.

The characters are carrying the show, and there’s an unforced pithiness to the dialogue that goes down easy. “Lord Massen and I agree on almost nothing, it it the bedrock of our friendship,” says Lavinia Bidlow, the proprietress of Amalia’s orphanage. “All rumors are ugly,” says the hedonist Hugo Swann. “No one whispers about virtue.” And on and on like that. Even sub-tertiary characters drop little bon mots. “Two lovely ladies to see you,” an unnamed police officer tells Detective Mundi at one point. “I’m off to drink lunch.” It’s nice, knowing there’s probably gonna be a line that tugs on the corners of your mouth coming every couple of minutes.

And even without dialogue, the show is still young enough that we can enjoy some of the characters just for the creativity of their powers. Harriet has ice breath, Lucy can shatter things just by touching them, and Primrose — still the show’s most charming creation — is a 10-foot-tall preteen, talking oh-so-politely about her parents abroad in Zurich, standing there in her football-field length dress.

A bunch of the Touched go to a party thrown by Lavinia Bidlow, the idea being that they can ingratiate themselves among an English elite that’s wary of them. The party is a nice chance to relax with these characters a bit, without the plot pulling them into the next superhero scenario. We spend some time with Amalia’s right-hand woman Penance Adair, who’s involved in an alarmingly low impact romantic subplot with Augustus Bidlow, Lavinia’s younger brother; we (and he) found out he was Touched in the premiere. These two are incredibly delicate and proper, to the point where their flittering flirtations make me want to roll my eyes, but I think the show benefits from letting us get to know them and the other characters.

In the end, Maladie kidnaps Penance and threatens to hang both her and Mary, giving Amalia a choice: choose one, and the other dies. It’s all very Batman-and-Joker, complete with a bloodsmear in the shape of a smile staining Maladie’s face, a souvenir of the thrashing Amalia gave her when she first breaks into the hideout. We also learn that Amalia and Maladie — whose real name is apparently Sarah — have a history; Alamia betrayed Maladie somehow, but it’s not really spelled out, which struck me as odd. Maladie is already a hard character to get a bead on, but I guess they’re waiting to reveal the specifics.

Mary’s hope song also has a vagueness to it I don’t like. The characters spend some time talking about how important it is, but we don’t really feel it. Amalia is able to resolve the Mary-Malaide-Penance situation without anyone dying, but without clear stakes and an understanding of who knows who and how, the climax of the episode isn’t as effective as it could have been.

The show could stand to slow down a bit, but I suppose it only has so long to find an audience and get renewed, which could be tricky given the scandal surrounding creator Joss Whedon, who has left the project.

But the show remains fun and inventive. I’m still watching, hoping for it to take a leap into greatness.

Episode Grade: B-

The Bullet Points:

• “What good’s an address?” “In terms of arson, it’s rather crucial.”
• We have a little side-story about an Italian immigrant who is discovered to be Touched and makes for Amalia’s orphanage, gets duped and ends up on the table of some psychotic surgeon who’s cutting up members of the Touched in the hopes of finding out how their powers work. It sort of seemed like a waste of a character.
• At the end of the episode, we get the big reveal that the surgeon is working for Lavinia, who is excavating the shapeship (or whatever it was) that gave the Touched their powers, the one that only Maladie remembers. Twist!
• I love Livinia’s wardrobe of puffy-shouldered formal wear.
• I liked Penance blowing a literal horn when her steampunk car gets caught in traffic.
• The crazy girl working for Maladie who desperately wants to be Touched is interesting. “Every inch is an inch closer to being gifted by God,” she says of the toe she cut off.
• Augie’s power is that he can possess birds. He’s basically the Three-Eyed Raven from Game of Thrones but only for birds, and without any of the time-travel stuff.

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