The second episode of NBC’s superheroless superhero show kind of flops before it ever really gets off the ground.
1. Hmm…
I enjoyed the first episode of Powerless enough to come back for a second helping. But I think I might be done after watching the second episode. After watching the pilot episode I compared the show to Eureka which was a show that had cheesy low-budget graphics, weird science-y stuff, and a lot of heart. It was a good show and I had hoped that Powerless would follow a similar formula, where the focus was on the weird inventions this team of engineers creates to keep normal people safe in a world overrun with superhero/supervillain. But if this second episode is any indication that does not seem to be the case. It seems like the show will have a similar storyline to other 30 minute sitcoms. Where the focus is on relationships and friendship and people just being so quirky. I get why the creators are going this route with it. I do. It’s a lighthearted comedy on NBC. And NBC knows its audience. NBC is not a network to really take too many chances. They have their formula and they very rarely shy away from it, especially when it comes to the comedies. Maybe it’s my fault for getting my hopes up. Maybe it’s my fault for expecting more from a show with a solid premise.
2. Cliches Abound
Emily is a cliche. She’s the new boss and she just wants to fit in and be friends with her subordinates. Even though everyone tells her that the idea of being someone’s boss and friend is a myth. But Emily can do it all. Because she’s got gumption. She hasn’t been beaten down by corporate America yet. And she really, really just wants some friends. But when she see that being “friends” with her employees is starting to impact their work output she concocts a plan to blah, blah, blah.
I talked briefly in my review of the pilot episode about how I generally do not like office comedies. And this entire episode is basically why. I work in an office and I just don’t care enough about my work or anyone else’s to bring that shit home with me.
Powerless has all the office cliches. There’s the spunky new girl and the token black guy and the mean girl who’s actually not that mean when you get to know her and the head boss who’s so incompetent that he would have been fired or forced to resign long ago and the assistant who knows everyone/everything and has been there and done the and seen it all.
And honestly I just couldn’t care less.
3. Meme Joke
Ugh, there was a meme joke and I think that this was probably where the show officially lost me.
4. Alan Tudyk, You Bastard
Alan Tudyk’s Van Wayne character was one of my favorite parts in the first episode. I thought his character was funny and that there were some really good places they could take him – he’s a Wayne, but only a cousin so he was always overcompensating. But it appears they are taking him a different route. In the second episode he’s a whiny, bumbling man-child. There’s even a “joke” about him getting in trouble for peeing in the hotsprings at a resort somewhere (or something) and he replies with a line: “No one tells a Wayne where to pee.”
And I was like Nope, you lost me.
Van spends the majority of the episode crying about how he was cut out of the “Wayne Dream Team” staff photo (and how he’s the only one in the photo who’s an actual Wayne), and then the rest of it trying to photoshop himself into it. (This is where the meme joke comes in).
I wonder how many “…but, but, but I’m a Wayne” jokes they’re going to lay on us this season. If this show even makes it a full season, which I’m not sure it’s going to.
5. Maybe I Just Don’t Get TV Anymore
I’ll admit that I don’t watch much TV and I’m not saying that in a I’m so much better than TV, hipster douchebag kind of way. I just don’t. I don’t have the time. I have a baby at home and a full time job and a writing career I’m trying to get off the ground. So what little free time I do ever have, there are just other ways I choose to spend it. I had high hopes for Powerless. I really did. I mean, I knew it wasn’t going to be some life-changing show or anything, but I thought it might at least be an enjoyable enough way to waste thirty minutes after a hard day at the old salt mines. Kick back and maybe get a few giggles out of it. I don’t know.
Continued belowBut if this episode is any indication on where this show is going, those high hopes of mine just died a fiery, disappointing death.
I think the real problem is Powerless is not a show that was made for me, or people like me. It’s not a show for comic book fans. It’s a show for people who are only vaguely familiar with superheroes or the DC universe. It’s a show for people who like jokes about cuff links and HR policies.
I still plan on watching the next episode. Maybe because I’m holding out hope that they can fix this thing (even though I don’t really think think they can). What is more likely is that I’m planning on watching the next episode because I just like to hate things. I like to get myself all worked up and complain and bitch and moan.
