'The Power' Review: Toni Collette Leads Intriguing But Incomplete Adaptation Of Naomi Alderman's Novel
Any discussion of a series attempting to adapt a beloved novel, which has already seen several attempts to mixed results this year, must strike a balance between comparing the two versions of the story and evaluating them on their own different terms. conditions. It is clear that the visual language of television is vastly different from the written word and must work with the tools available for it. At the same time, there is the potential for the ideas first introduced in the source material to bring new life and energy to the screen.
In Prime Video's sci-fi series The power, there are glimpses of it everywhere; it tells the story of what would happen if women and girls were given a power that allowed them to emit electricity. Based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Alderman Naomi, the show captures many of the broad aspects of how this all plays out while exploring some new elements of its own. Unfortunately, many of the changes and additions feel simplistic, crowding out the more complicated reflections that made the book so compelling. Over the eight episodes of the 10-episode season shared with critics, it feels like it's only just scratching the surface of what made Alderman's work so gripping. There's some awe to be found in what's revealed, but this initial introduction can only hold a candle to the full scope of the story it draws from.
The series follows an ensemble of characters, much like the novel, and follows the way the modern world can be forever reshaped by these new abilities. Some of this is based more on social interactions, but there is a growing sense that the power structures themselves may soon be turned upside down. While no character knows this when it all begins, they'll all quickly get swept up trying to make sense of this new world they're in for. Seattle's ambitious mayor Margot (Tony Colette)and her rebellious daughter Jos (Auli'i Cravalho) are at the forefront of events, even more so than in the original story. Building a move is the almost heavenly Allie (Halle Bush), who discovers that she not only has a voice to guide her, but may well have a power greater than any on Earth. Looking for revenge is the sloppy Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz) who suffers a tragic loss early in both the novel and the series that only she seems to care about. In search of her own power by any means necessary, the patient Tatiana (Zrinka Cvitesic), the wife of a much older dictator whose male-dominated political empire underestimates her. The fast-growing journalist Tunde tries to capture all the growing changes and turmoil (Toheeb Jimoh) getting some of the first video footage of the force that will change the world.
What turns out to be the most intriguing part of the series is when we fully understand just how powerful the characters are becoming. When Allie finds herself wandering alone and almost becoming one with the natural world and the energy that flows through it, it's a standout scene of many that brings the show to life well. We feel her tap into something and believe every moment of the first steps she takes on her journey. Even if there are other storylines that use endlessly distracting CGI, the more grounded examples with Allie shine through. Likewise, there are several well-staged sequences in which Tunde observes women taking to the streets in the early stages of a revolution that will engulf entire countries.
Many of these scenes are taken directly from the book, drawing attention to how the women can now save others from the casual yet brutal subjugation that takes place every day. While there isn't the rich imagery of the novel where we got a glimpse of Tunde just taking the smaller snapshots of discovery alongside the more explosive ones, these sequences still draw on something more dynamic. They feel organic and inhabited and really immerse us in the world as characters travel down the street. There's a sense of verisimilitude to it as we see the costs that come from rising prices, while also getting a chance to observe how different corners of the world are shaped. Where the series starts to run into problems is when we move away from these moments to focus on storylines that don't appear in the novel.
Where the novel strikes a confident balance by letting all the other characters navigate their own storylines that increasingly begin to intersect, the series expands on Margot in a way that begins to drag the rest. Scene after scene with her occasionally dorky husband Rob (John Leguizamo) tries to show how they drift apart, but the storyline doesn't carry any weight. What seems like repeated attempts at humor about marriage and the more interpersonal dynamics of Margot's life starts to feel very out of place with the trajectories of the rest of the characters. It's not that there can't be comedic moments, especially since the book is often darkly funny, from the winking introduction to the caustic final line. It's just not that interesting to watch this play out when the more interesting chapters of this unfolding story are just off screen. Those elements remain much more dynamic and ultimately feel like they're being subsumed into this subset of the story. Besides the structural hangups this creates, the fact that Margot is from Seattle, when she was in Michigan in the novel, feels like an odd change without much thematic purpose - that is, unless one were to try to read it as some sort of debauchery against the city's real former embattled mayor. Even then, the more interesting elements of where these stories are all going too often take place elsewhere.
Without hinting anything at all about where the story is headed, as it's clearly ready for a second season (with much of the novel not even touched on yet), what Alderman does so well is in the shift in tone that begins to take hold. While there is much liberating to see wrongs being righted, there are key passages that begin to show that this can fall apart. When characters refer to the force - in this case the electrical charge they can generate - it's more than just the sci-fi element. It is the power to hurt, control and destroy. In Roxy's story, which leads to a series of extreme violence, she thinks to herself that the power to hurt is "the only thing worth having." In Allie's story, just before a similar act of violence, she justifies what she's about to do to herself with the logic that "the only way to be safe is to own the place."
When the shoe falls in the novel, Alderman subtly reveals that within everyone there is the potential to inflict immense harm on others that may feed on itself until all is consumed. All this is rolled up with more dexterity in her hands. However, there is a sense that this is looming in the series and could be featured more prominently. Unfortunately, at least for now, the show's plot is incomplete and only hints at the deeper ideas of the original story, which still stands alone in everything it managed to accomplish. The first season of The power still lays a useful, if often tenuous, foundation for delving into the dark elements that made the novel such a starkly sinister work.
Judgement: B-
The power premieres March 31 on Prime Video.
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