The Nevers Review

The Nevers, which just aired its midseason finale for its first season, is very much a Joss Whedon television show – for good and for ill. It has the quippy dialogue, the “strong female characters,” the female lead who appears weak in society but is actually able to pack a massive punch (both intellectually and physically – and who has a brainy female sidekick), and a sprawling sci-fi adjacent narrative that requires you to watch closely in order to really understand what is going on. And, as of the airing of the midseason finale, it also no longer has Whedon at all involved in the series.*

*Over the past year, the reckoning in Hollywood over the abuses by key power players came – by all accounts, rightly so – for Whedon, with stories leaking regarding his abusive actions in recent works such as the failed Justice League film and as far back as during his time showrunning his first TV hits Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. While Whedon stepped down from his post as showrunner of The Nevers before the bulk of the accusations came to light, it’s hard not to draw the line between the impending release of the information and his leaving the series.

The Nevers is a steampunk Victorian era series that follows a host of characters imbued with seemingly supernatural “turns” that give them a superpower of sorts. There’s Amalia True (the sensational Laura Donnelly, who deftly carries the series on her back much like many a Whedon protagonist before her), skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat but also granted the power of premonition (albeit a power that she can’t control and one where she only gets a small snippet of what will happen), Penance Adair (Ann Skelly, taking on the sidekick with a heart of gold role with aplomb), who has the ability to “see” electrical currents which leads to her inventing a host of fun gadgets, and then the villain of the series (or rather, one of the many – more on that in a moment), Maladie (Amy Manson, who manages to find the shades within what could easily be a one-note character), whose power is yet to be revealed, but who is absolutely unstable and a threat to all of London.

There’s also a host of supporting characters – both “Touched” (those with powers) and normal folks – competing for screen time and character development. Which is where the wheels are threatening to run off the wagon with the series. There’s a really good – possibly even great – show at the heart of The Nevers, but there are so many characters with competing storylines (and competing wants and needs) that it’s incredibly hard to follow at times. If we just count the potential non-Maladie villains (or characters with morally gray elements), there are more than enough for three series. There’s Lavinia (Whedon favorite Olivia Williams, who is making the best of the little she has had to do thus far), a powerful woman within Victorian society with questionable aims for her charitable endeavors. There’s Hugo Swann (James Norton, who is great but utterly wasted), a society playboy with no real purpose within the narrative, save for having orgies and appearing alongside the requisite amount of HBO female nudity. There’s Lord Gilbert Massen (Pip Torrens, who also has had precious little to do thus far), a connected politician who hates the Touched for a personal reason. There’s Dr. Edmund Hague (Denis O’Hare, playing a typical Denis O’Hare character and doing a great job of it), an unhinged surgeon committing horrific acts on the Touched. And there’s still a bunch of supporting “good guys” I haven’t even mentioned. Yes, sci-fi and fantasy series often have a variety of characters and need time to fully introduce them and world build, but rarely does a show throw all of its characters at you in one fell swoop and ask its audience to weed out the story arcs connected to each. It’s a lot to ask for viewers new to this world, its conceit, and its characters. And, to be honest, it was almost too much for me to commit to.

But then came episode six, the aforementioned midseason finale, and the series was able to bring its central arc into sharp relief while also offering some key character development for its central character. And I was willing to give it some more of my time. I won’t spoil specifically what happened, but suffice it to say, the series pulled a plot point directly from another Whedon series (the disappointing Dollhouse, which only turned into a series worth watching when it did this same thing so many years ago), and slotted so many of the confusing pieces of foreshadowing into a neat puzzle. I’ve gone on the record as being someone who doesn’t like “puzzle box” storytelling (where “twists” are thrown around so frequently that it begs the audience to “solve” the narrative rather than focusing on the characters’ journeys throughout a season), but when you drop enough breadcrumbs and then pay them off? I can get behind that.

But here comes the real question for The Nevers moving forward: What does the series look like without Whedon at the helm? As I mentioned earlier, his fingerprints are all over it. Philippa Goslett, who has a string of writing credits but has never run a series before, is taking over the showrunner spot, and with it, the chance to slim down the series and refocus the story on its strongest elements. When the series is focused on True and her charges at The Orphanage (where the Touched are able to live together in relative safety) and their fight to stop Maladie/stop Dr. Hague, the series is at its strongest. These are the characters whose arcs naturally tie together, and as is so often the case when it comes to shows about those with supernatural powers, the “normal” characters are often the least interesting of the bunch and are often best served when they are a threat to our leading super characters. Cutting the fat from the series will help pull in some of the narrative bloat as well.

Now, I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to fully extricate the seemingly superfluous characters at this stage of the game. By season two? Absolutely. But Goslett can easily begin laying the groundwork now for a slimmer, more streamlined second season that can rely on the show’s assets to carry it into stranger territory (again, superpowers means strange stories are bound to pop up moving forward). But if she falls into the trap (a tantalizing one, for sure) of thinking she can captain the ship and keep all the balls in the air, well, I don’t think The Nevers will be able to reach its full potential. So, if you’re looking for an intriguing supernatural show about women who kick ass and take names, The Nevers is right up your alley. There’s a really good show at the heart of it – it just needs a bit more work to get it there.

The Nevers has aired the first six of its twelve episode first season. All six episode are currently streaming on HBO Max.