Some shows come out with a bang, creating buzz from their first episode and riding that momentum of popularity through multiple seasons. They either continue successfully and end at the perfect time before they run out of ideas (the rarer of the options), or they overstay their welcome and jump the shark enough that even the fan base begs for the show to be canceled. Other shows come in quietly, building up a small fandom over time and eventually becoming a household name that will, again, probably fall victim to one of the aforementioned options. DC’sPowerless, a show that aired its first episode in 2017, is…neither.
Powerlessis a strange case in the superhero TV world, because it came in with a whimper and wasn’t able to build enough of a fanbase around it; the show never got high ratings and wascanceled after only one season. The most tragic thing aboutPowerlessis that it had a good cast and a really interesting premise, but those elements alone weren’t enough to get it off the ground, due to some flawed execution. However, the one season that exists is still a fun watch, particularly for those who are fans of seeing superhero stories from another perspective.
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Powerlessfollows a group of people who work for Wayne Security, an insurance company in a world where superheroes like Batman and Superman exist. Their department is focused on creating products to help protect ordinary people like them fromthe fallout of superheroand supervillain fights (like a super-strong umbrella that can protect against falling rubble, for example). It’s essentially a workplace comedy in the vein of something likeThe OfficeorBrooklyn Nine-Nine, but in DC’s world of superheroes. It’s a really great premise that has so much potential, and they really try their best to explore what they can do with those ideas while still keeping the show light and fun.
The cast itself is great, with big hitters and relative unknowns alike. Vanessa Hudgens plays the main character Emily, who is a new hire at Wayne Security and whose peppy, Type-A attitude quickly turns her department around from almost being dissolved to producing some really great products and being on the upswing again. She plays the character well, riding a constant line betweenendearing and annoyingthat works well for who Emily is supposed to be. Danny Pudi (ofCommunityfame) is also great as Teddy, one of the other employees of the office who invents a lot of the new product ideas and often likes to waste time on pranks rather than actual work.
The best performance in the show, however, comes from Alan Tudyk (known for his role inFirefly, as well as countlessiconic voice performances), who plays Vanderveer “Van” Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s self-absorbed cousin who is the boss at Wayne Security. Tudyk plays the role perfectly, hamming it up to play the over-dramatic and occasionally incompetent Van while also giving him just enough heart to let the audience root for him. One of the other big standouts from the cast is Christina Kirk as Jackie, the very laid-back and seemingly apathetic personal assistant to Van who provides a perfect foil to Hudgens’s Emily.
Overall, the cast and the concept for the show are really solid, and it had a ton of potential. Unfortunately, it was canceled after only one season, with NBC even pulling the last couple of episodes from airing entirely. The show gotmostly positive reviews, though some critics found it to be “generic” and pointed out that it didn’t always take full advantage of its premise, but the ratings and viewership were low enough that the network pulled the plug early andPowerlessnever got more than its 12 episodes.
If the show had been given more seasons, it could have really grown into something great. Again, the premise was really solid and theyhad a strong cast, it was just that the writing occasionally left something to be desired. Some of the jokes can fall flat, and it feels like they could have done more to explore the characters past just a surface level, but again, that all could have been done in the subsequent seasons that the show never received.
It’s fun to see a piece of “superhero media” that isn’t really about the superheroes, and is instead about the impact that living ina world with heroes and villainshas on the normal people just trying to live their daily lives. The implications of living in a world where you could get caught in the crossfire of a superhero battle are really interesting, andPowerlessdoes a great job of exploring that when it can and trying to show this universe from the perspective of its very normal characters. The show is light and really funny most of the time, and kind of a breath of fresh air compared to what a lot of DC or even Marvel shows are like.
One example of how the show utilizes its central premise is in an episode titled “No Consequence Day”, where the characters learn that Lois Lane has died, so they conclude thatSuperman will do what he’s done in the pastand fly around the world fast enough to reverse time and save her. This means that anything they do for the rest of the day will be meaningless because time will be reset, which leads to a lot of hijinks and hilarious situations. Storylines like these that wouldn’t be possible in a normal sitcom are what makePowerlessspecial, and these are the moments where the show really excels.
It’s well worth a watch for anyone who is a fan of superhero media and wants to see a satirical take on it, or just for anyone who’s looking for a workplace comedy with an interesting premise.Powerlesshadso much potential to improveand really explore that premise even further, so it’s unfortunate that it was never given the opportunity to do so. It’s nice when comic studios like DC or Marvel are able to joke about the tropes present in their stories and find new and interesting ways of telling them.
