The Nevers 1.6: Sporific Terrific

Well, I really enjoyed The Nevers 1.6, and only regret that I won't be able to see episode 1.7 next week, because 1.6 was the finale of the first part of the first season, and who knows when the second half will be here.

And not to be too clever about it, but isn't that not knowing what's up -- or down, and in between, for that matter --  the essence of what The Nevers has been before tonight, and what tonight's episode was supposed to answer, which it didn't -- certainly not completely -- but did at least a little?

Yes.  So let's see. The Galanthi are an alien species in the future -- possibly one being with many facets, but more likely just an alien species -- and they come to Earth and endow some humans via spores with the magical powers we've been seeing in the first five episodes.  I especially like the spores as the vectors of superpower because a review of The Nevers I saw somewhere said that the series was "soporific" -- as in putting you to sleep -- and I didn't agree with that at all, and spores as the vehicle are a good way of answering that sophomoric "soporific" critique.  (Hey, have some tea or coffee if The Nevers is putting you to sleep.)

So how far in the future is this?  Hard to say, but the fighting had a World War I plus high-tech feel to it -- the war that ended the Victorian/Edwardian age -- and that age is where the action up until tonight had been taking place.  We meet Molly who is really Amalia (not Amelia) somewhere around there, and also someone who I think is Maladie, who I think is still somehow on the side of the good despite the apparent evidence to the contrary.

My favorite scene in that amorphous future (stretching back to the "present" Victorian age) which is really prologue to the five episodes is how Amalia comes to meet Dr. Cousens.  They're a good couple.  The doc takes good care of both her body and soul.  What remains to be seen in the real future of this first season -- that is, the episodes to come, not the future as prologue -- is what will happen now to our band of the Touched?

Joss Whedon, as you know, alas, left the series.  So we may never know what he intended to do with The Nevers, or might have come up with whatever his intentions on the day that he left.  But I'll be back when the new episodes hit, and will let you know what I think.  In the meantime, my compliments to Joss Whedon for succeeding with the difficult combination of Victorian super powers and aliens in the future.

See also The Nevers 1.1: Never Say Never ... The Nevers 1.2: Song and Gun ... The Nevers 1.3: Mary's Melody ... The Nevers 1.4: Who Needs to Be Found? ... The Nevers 1.5: "Mindful of the Roses"

The Nevers 1.5: "Mindful of the Roses"

All kinds of good lines in last night's The Nevers 1.5, but my favorite was Maladie's "mindful of the roses". Maybe because it reminded me of that great, haunting song by the Jaynetts (from the Bronx!) from a few months before the Beatles in America, Sally Go 'Round the Roses.   That song not only transcends time, but has lyrics as recondite as the storyline of The Nevers.

Back to that, I'm against capital punishment, so I was very glad to see Maladie outwit the rope.  I'd have felt the same way even if Maladie deserved it, but I don't think she does.  At the same time, I would have been happy without anyone dying, but, then again, that would have been a different show.  Detective Mundi figured it out.  He's the smartest (presumably) untouched human.

The other significant element in this episode is the "galanthee" or however it's spelled.  It sounds like  galant but it's more than that, and I'm not even sure that it's galant.  But it may explain the Touched -- how they came to be, why they're in London, who knows.  That would be very welcome and a very big deal.

Amalia wanted to focus on the galanthee, and not rescue Maladie.  That might have been wise but certainly not galant.  Did Amalia know that Maladie had made the switch?  Probably not.  But you never know with these usually galant women.   I was glad to see that a majority of them joined Penance not Amalia on whether to rescue Maladie.  That was galant indeed.

Next week will be the final episode of Part I of this series.  That's a big deal, too, since Joss Whedon won't be back for the second part, which apparently hasn't even started filming yet.  That was due to the pandemic -- Whedon's leaving -- which, in a sense, looms over this series, even though it takes place in late Victorian times.  There are two World Wars, and two pandemics ahead of that Victorian time.  Would have been good had the Touched been real, and somehow been able to stop some of that future.

Speaking of the future, I'll see you here next week with my review of episode #6.  I'll likely do a podcast after that with my reviews of all six episodes.  

See also The Nevers 1.1: Never Say Never ... The Nevers 1.2: Song and Gun ... The Nevers 1.3: Mary's Melody ... The Nevers 1.4: Who Needs to Be Found?