“The Power” Gives the Upper Hand to the Girls, Gives Us the Gays

This review will include mild spoilers for the first four episodes of The Power, mostly about the gay and trans characters.

Prime Video’s The Power imagines a world where, after generations of oppression, nature decides to even the playing field a bit and gives women their power back.

And I do mean that literally. Teen girls around the world start to realize they have the ability to shoot sparks from their fingertips thanks to a brand new organ that developed in their collarbone; and of course this happening all over the world all at once causes a bit of pandemonium.

Based on Naomi Alderman’s book of the same name, the show follows a variety of different characters all over the world as this power awakens. Tatiana, the first lady of Moldova, who grew up an Olympic gymnast with an abusive mother; Tunde, a Nigerian vlogger with dreams of being a journalist who goes to Saudi Arabia to document the revolution; Jos Cleary-Lopez (played by queer actor Auli’i Cravalho) and her mother Margot who is the mayor of Seattle.

Angry teen girl with mommy issues, yes please!

AndAnd I’m delighted to report that there is not one, but two different storylines that involve LGBTQ+ characters.

The first is Roxy, the lesbian daughter of a British mob boss. At first, when her father offered her a job in the countryside and suggested she could find a nice boyfriend “…or girlfriend, whatever” I wasn’t sure if he was just stereotyping her because she’s more like her rough and tumble half-brothers than her hyper-feminine mother. But then she ends up making out with a girl in the alley so they wasted no time letting us know exactly what’s up. Roxy is desperate for her father’s approval (her father who, by the way, accused Roxy of being “too emotional” to handle the business when he literally punched a wedding cake because it was green mere moments ago) and when she discovers her spark, she tries to use it to prove she can be just as useful as her brothers.

I hope Roxy learns she shouldn’t have to beg for her father’s love.

She’s not a particularly likable character, on purpose, even though sometimes you can’t help but root for her. But what’s great about that, and what more shows should do, is that you don’t have to like Roxy just because she’s gay. Too often in shows I find myself trying harder than I should have to just to defend or like a character because they’re the only queer character; but not in The Power! Because there are more queer characters to choose from!

In the Bible Belt of the United States a Black girl named Allie finds herself in a foster home with older white foster parents. The man is abusive, and at the same time Allie’s spark is unlocked, she gets a voice in her head; a voice she identifies as God, a voice I identified as sci-fi icon Adina Porter. She uses her powers to escape, and eventually finds herself at a girls’ home run by rebel nuns. (Not to be confused with Warrior Nuns.) They were nuns that supported things like human rights for LGBTQ+ people and therefore not allowed in the church properly, so they started their own nunnery. Among these nuns is Sister Maria, a trans woman played by Daniela Vega, who is gentle and kind to Allie, and all the girls.

Nuns who actually believe in “love thy neighbor” WHAT A CONCEPT

The head nun, Sister Veronica, is wary of these new powers, but Allie’s voice encourages her to take charge, and before long the voice in her head confirms she has found her family, as the girls start to follow her lead when she uses her powers to do things like bring a bird back to life and stop a girl’s seizures that usually last for hours after only a few minutes.

Among the girls in this new found family of Allie’s is Gordy and Luanne, who decide one night to experiment with their powers…sexually. Gordy is gender non-conforming and adorable, and Luanne is fat and beautiful, and I love them so much, your honor. They are not hugely developed as characters yet, but I’m hoping that changes as Allie continues to build her relationship with the girls. But the scene they did have in the chapel while all the girls were unwinding and enjoying a metaphorical sigh of relief away from the prying eyes of the nuns was very sweet and cute and JOYFUL.

I love a little Christian rebellion!

If I hadn’t just lived through how media the world over handled the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I might have found the response to the outbreak of girls with powers a little far-fetched, but as we unfortunately know all too well, the fact that it started with news outlets declaring it all a hoax is quite believable. And maybe my own sheltered, naïve, teen self might have found the immediate outlawing of the powers, forced quarantining, people outing each other, and capital punishment a bit overdramatic…but unfortunately it doesn’t look all that different from the anti-trans and anti-abortion laws plaguing us today.

To that end, at times the metaphors seem a bit on the nose — for example, when Jos says, “A whole chapter on the French revolution, when am I going to use that in my life?” juxtaposed with the women of Saudi Arabia having a literal revolution; or how Margot’s (straight, white, cis male) boss says things to her like “calm down” and “don’t get hysterical” — but it’s also cathartic in a way. To be reminded that there’s a spark in all of us, and just because they tell us we’re not allowed to use it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Doesn’t mean we can’t. And the parts that might sound redundant to folks who are constantly reading about and engaging in topics like these might be new to some people who don’t. Like when Tunde’s new friend Nourah says “I want change, but I’m not fighting to leave.” It’s something you hear people in Florida or Texas say all the time; and maybe this will reach the ears of people who don’t doomscroll on Twitter 24/7 like I do.

One of my favorite aspects of the spark these teen girls find themselves with is that the organ exists in older women, too, but they need a teen girl to jump start it for them. It reminds me of how I feel when I see Gen Z influencers on TikTok just saying no to established systems; no to gender constructs, no to staying in the closet. In using their voice, they’re reminding so many of us of older generations who have grown a bit weary that just because our voices are hoarse from years of yelling doesn’t mean we can’t still be heard.

I have a few things I want the show to address. I want them to address non-binary people and where they fall in all this; and my preference would be they all have sparks regardless of sex assigned at birth. I want one of the younger girls at the group home to spark — either on purpose or accidentally — Sister Maria and I want her to have a spark, too.

Overall I’m enjoying the show, enjoying seeing the interpretations of how this sudden movement might look in different parts of the world. It’s not unbelievable how quickly things escalate — from full rebellions in some areas to mandated separation in others (aka a “no girls on the bus” policy.) It’s interesting to see who embraces their powers and who doesn’t; how some people will use it to get revenge, some to defend themselves, some will abuse the power, and some just use it to start their generators or make a fire to keep warm. It begs the question: what would you do if you suddenly found you had more power than you realized?