In many ways, The Nevers first season is a show of two halves, and not just because of the unusual nature of its release on HBO. *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*
Primarily driven by the pandemic, which caused production delays, HBO are releasing this first season of 12 episodes in two batches, with the second six episodes arriving later on this year. With a lot of shows now having to make similar decisions, we’re getting used to some odd hiatus moments, but some have handled it better than others. Here with The Nevers, there is a sort of natural pause in the narrative, which will no doubt serve them well in the long run.
The basic premise is that in Victorian-era London, a number of people gain special abilities after what appears to be an alien entity showers glowing spores over the city. Most of the affected seem to be women, with only a few men seemingly having any new powers. As it is set a period before any kind of enfranchisement for women has taken place, the fear of ‘the other’ in the general populace is heightened by social attitudes that fuel paranoia and calls for what would essentially be a ‘witch hunt’.
Protecting these ‘touched’, as they become known, is Amalia True (Laura Donnelly – Tolkien, Britannia, Outlander), who runs an orphanage which harbours all comers. Supporting her is Lavinia Bidlow (Olivia Williams), who appears to be dedicated to helping the touched, and whose patronage keeps the orphanage going. Alongside Amalia is Penance Adair (Ann Skelly – Death and Nightingales, Vikings, Rose Plays Julie), whose power makes her especially adept with technology, almost like a Nikola Tesla figure.
Fighting against them are various enemies, the identities of which aren’t always entirely clear, but with the mysterious Dr Hague (Denis O’Hare – American Horror Story, True Blood), and the Beggar King (Nick Frost – Fighting with My Family, Shaun of the Dead, Sick Note) among them. These forces aren’t the only driver of the narrative at the beginning of the show though, with the overarching alien mystery also being slowly mixed in with the more pressing issue of a killing spree by the insane ‘Maladie’ (Amy Manson – Once Upon a Time, The White Princess, Doom: Annihilation). Also one of the touched, Maladie gains her power through others pain, but is convinced she is on a mission from God…
At the beginning of the series, The Nevers comes across as a bit of a Steampunk X-Men, with a lot of H.G. Wells thrown into the mix. Much like some episodes of Doctor Who that have dabbled in the popular Victorian-era for this kind of thing, it’s not exactly breaking new ground, and there is a sense of familiarity about it. There are, as you’d expect, the common themes of Empire, the ruling classes, and the juxtaposition with extreme poverty and violence on the grim streets of London. To a degree, the alien aspect is sort of sidelined early on, with there being more of a focus on establishing a lot, and I mean a lot, of different moving parts. Probably too many.
Because of that, the early episodes can be campy fun, but it all hangs together loosely and is a bit of a mess. Scenes tumble on top of each other without entirely having a sense of a direction, and then you suddenly find a sex scene or other aside thrown in without any real need for it. Problematically, some characters in those scenes are also more like caricatures than they ought to be, and some just don’t seem to be well drawn enough to be either interesting or believable.
What does keep things moving though is that Donnelly and Skelly are inherently engaging, rooting the show with two great performances that the rest of The Nevers can revolve around. Alongside them Ben Chaplin’s Inspector Frank Mundi, and Amy Manson give this a richness that helps lift this through the difficult stages. This continues to be the case right up until episode 6, where things begin to become a lot more interesting with the appearance of the always excellent Claudia Black.
This again is where the impression of The Nevers being in two halves comes into play, with a complete left turn in the narrative changing the essence of the series. The underlying truth of the premise has obviously been pre-planned, with references thrown in the early episodes, but the developments at the end of this short run suddenly give the show some cohesion. It is a nice twist and makes things much more intriguing, but in the effort to keep this reveal from the viewer, too much was left unexplained. There’s nothing wrong with muddying the water, but you shouldn’t make it too opaque.
The problem is probably that the first 5 episodes of The Nevers needed more time to explore the vast number of key characters and give us some proper sense of what is going on, before tackling the big reveal. There was plenty of scope for exploring this world in a 12-episode run, and then flicking the light switch on, rather than cramming it all into far too short a period. It’s not entirely clear what the impetus for speeding through it was either, as HBO seem to be fully behind the series, and it doesn’t seem in jeopardy, even if there are other external issues being reported on.
Those issues revolve around the creator and producer Joss Whedon, who faces an increasing number of allegations of toxic behaviour from previous colleagues such as Ray Fisher and Charisma Carpenter. Having written and directed a number of these episodes, he has also now left The Nevers, citing personal reasons arising from the pandemic, with Philippa Goslett taking over as showrunner. Whether he wanted to reach this point before leaving or not is a bit of a mystery, but potentially the case.
What it does mean though, is that the second run of six episodes will have a different flavour, giving us a pre and post-Whedon version of The Nevers. It will be interesting to see if the pacing changes, and if this now goes off in a slightly different direction. With a number of experienced writers still on board, such as Jane Espenson (Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones) and Doug Petrie (Buffy, Angel, 4400, Daredevil, The Defenders), we do know that everything is still solid behind the scenes, so the potential is high.
There is much to like in The Nevers, and in some ways it is a victim of having too many intriguing elements happening all at once to let itself breathe and stretch its wings. It’s not for lack of a quality cast or ideas either, as both are in evidence throughout. Hopefully, this enforced hiatus in the middle of the season will give them a chance to re-evaluate things and then come back fully engaged, with a tighter idea of where they’re going. Nobody minds a complex series like this, but it has to be complex, backed by a well thought out plan.
