– Spoiler Review –
The coincidences are powerful in “You Are Not It,” but in no means makes for a bad hour of Powers, as some the bigger stakes for the back half of the season are revealed.
Everyone’s a chatter about Wolfe’s plea to have himself permanently drained and both Royalle and Walker want to meet with him, but the purpose of their visits couldn’t be any more different. Royalle wants to tell Wolfe the truth of what he’s done while Walker wants to know why Royalle kept visiting the cell without ever freeing him. Both conversations lead to some big information, potentially setting the stage for a confrontation where our hero Walker could end up looking like the villain.
But before either can meet with Wolfe, they have to both find some loopholes, with Royalle’s being the easier of the two: he needs to prove the drainer is actually harmful. Captain Cross denies Walker a visit, but wants Royalle to see Wolfe even less, and ‘suggests’ something be done to stop it from happening. Walker and Pilgrim are excited to get some leeway to dig deeper into Royalle and Simons’ operation and get a search warrant for their club. Simons flees from Walker and Pilgrim because he knows the big secret regarding Walker: he can now drain powers from anyone, at anytime, after taking Sway. And while Simons, in a cool little sequence, flees with several copies running around, Walker does some ‘cop shit’ and convinces Simons to absorb his copies and come in to be questioned.
And this is where the coincidences hit: the second drainer is up and working at Powers division, not all of Simons’ copies have been absorbed, and Royalle is still looking for a way to prove the drainer is harmful so he can visit. Well, Walker and Pilgrim throw Simons in the drainer cell, only for his copy currently hanging out with Calista and gathering up Sway drops, presumably, dead. Thus, the drainer is harmful and Royalle can visit. It’s not a big deal, per se, but it was a little too obvious how well that all worked out.
Anyways, Royalle opens up to Wolfe about what he has done and how Walker can now absorb powers from anyone who has taken Sway. I love how Wolfe really seems to enjoy that information, revealing he really doesn’t want to be completely drained, and mentions how he can feel the location of everyone who has ever taken Sway whenever the drainer above him glitches briefly. His excitement for easier access to power-tasting snacks is chilling.
Calista has been pondering taking Sway ever since Simons gave it to her, but she finally makes her choice in, “You Are Not It.” Krispin has been desperate to have her back, but she keeps ignoring him because of his prejudice against Powers, especially seeing as she’s convinced she is one, and how the video Chaotic Chick spiced up has gone viral and started a small movement using the name Krispin graffitied around places, ‘Kaotic Chic.’ They have a big confrontation at Royalle’s club, where she tells him about her potential, which basically destroys his heart and hers, and the fallout pain forces her to take the Sway. She’s sweating it out at the end of the episode, where Royalle and Walker have a few words with each other before Royalle teleports them away, destination unknown. Will her Powers finally manifest? And where is Royalle taking Walker?
Before Walker goes on an impromptu trip with Royalle, he gets a chance to meet with Wolfe, who offers him a deal: if Walker can free Wolfe, he’ll give him his powers back. As I predicted last week, Wolfe knows Walker will likely stop at nothing to get his powers back, and Wolfe’s planted the seeds for the possibility of getting them back into his mind. It’s hard to tell with Walker if he’d actually go so far as to free Wolfe, potentially getting hundreds of innocents killed, just to get his abilities back, but I’m happy his character has been written so morally ambiguous otherwise this whole scenario wouldn’t seem plausible/fall into cliché territory.
A B-plot running through the episode is Zora’s rise to fame and all the deals/contracts that come with it, which somehow sets her on a collision course with Janis a.k.a. Retro Girl. While Janis is being told she’s basically old news and needs to keep her image fresh by helping out Zora, Zora is making big deals with Under Armour and the like as her star is on the rise. The two end up having a little one on one (thanks to a forced coincidence on their agent’s parts to have them meet) and I loved the duplicity seemingly hidden in Janis’ advice to the young Powers starlet. Even when Zora admits to Janis she didn’t take out Wolfe (something which Janis already knows), Janis seems to be out to prevent the young Power from taking away any of her spotlight. The theme about Powers never changing when they get their abilities pops up again, as Janis, despite now regal and refined she likes to act, doesn’t seem to want anyone taking the limelight away from her.
The last coincidence ends up in murder, as the Powers who disrupted Krispin and Calista’s tagging session is lured into a trap in an alleyway and her throat is sliced open. Whomever it is that does it ends up tagging ‘Kaotic Chic’ at the scene of the crime, proving things never end well and never go peacefully when starting an underground movement of people against other people. Could this cause Krispin to rethink his involvement with the obviously dangerous Chaotic Chick? Part of me thinks it was her and this has been the opportunity she’s been waiting for to go about killing Powers, hiding amongst the people in their movement as she gets all the revenge she wants, while the other part of me thinks the killer actually doesn’t matter.
Here are a few other things:
- A little disappointed no more mention or follow-up on the whole Black Swan mystery.
- I don’t know what they are using in terms of practical effects for showing people floating/flying, like the Power at the end, but they need to work on it because it looks too cheesy.
- When Janis isn’t possibly misleading people, her talk with her agents about how much people scrutinize her is an ugly truth, one which echoes the celebrities of our world and a lot of people’s unhealthy obsession or need to pick apart every little detail of their lives. Not the first time the show has given commentary on how we treat our reality’s celebs, but definitely one of the stronger examples.
With superheroes that are never truly super, Powers makes itself entertaining on that aspect alone, digging up storylines other superheroes would be jealous to have. “You Are Not It,” adds more to the pot, stirring in some questionable doubt about what each character might do when pushed up against a wall, and we just have to wait and see if the recipe will be worth it.
+ Wolfe’s glee at easy access to Powers/deal with Walker
+ Janis’ conversation with Zora
+ Wolfe’s taunting
– Things all work out a little too nicely
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
POWERS REVIEWS:
Season One: Ep. 1: “Pilot” | Ep. 2: “Like a Power” | Ep. 3: “Mickey Rooney Cries No More” | Ep. 4: “Devil in a Garbage Bag” | Ep. 5: “Paint it Black” | Ep. 6: “The Raconteur of the Funeral Circuit” | Ep. 8: “Aha Shake Heartbreak” | Ep. 9 “Level 13” | Ep. 10: “F@#K the Big Chiller“