by Chelsea Dee, Editor-At-Large

I’ll admit that I’ve caught up on the show so I’m trying to remember each episode separately and writing them that way. There are so many things I love about Powers as a comic series, and most of them are already on display here. I like how everyone has their reasons for doing the things that they do, although some of them at the moment are not known to us. I’m not entirely sure what Royale’s intentions are; he seems good to Calista, but he was planning on killing her last week. He creates a club for young powers, and it’s possible he really does want to help them, or he’s trying to regain the feeling from his youth when he was a young and happy power himself. Whatever went on between him and Christian all those years ago however was very serious, and it’s clearly haunting them both in different ways. People believed that Royale was responsible for helping Wolf kill a whole lot of people, and maybe he was. But there might be more to the story too. I like this huge history going on in the background and there’s clearly so much rich material going on under the surface. I can’t wait to watch it unravel. Anyway, previously on Powers, we were introduced to the world. Christian used to be a famous superhero but he lost his powers, apparently because supervillain Wolf took them away. He now is a detective with the Powers division of the police who try and manage superpowered people whenever they can. Which isn’t often. He is trying to find this young wannabe-superhero Calista who is tied to the death of a former hero Olympia.

At the end of the last episode, Christian jumped off the building with Calista and they were both about to die. RetroGirl yoinked them in the nick of time and took Calista away. Christian wakes up on the roof and speaks briefly with the security guard, who used to know him when he was a hero. While he’s dealing with his issues, Deena and the rest of the Powers division are going after someone. She is too green and almost ends up getting fried, but they manage to make the collar. Olympia died with the drug Sway in him, and Royale seems to be behind it, sending it through Calista. Christian and Deena go to RetroGirl’s house, since he knows where she lives. It’s fun to see that even superheroes can have awkward reunions with their exes! She wants to know what happened with Calista, since she feels at least slightly responsible for her biggest fan. However, Calista overhears that she intends to give her to the police, so she flees back to Royale. She feels betrayed by her hero. Calista’s slightly annoying with her cloying innocence, but I feel like she’s being set up for eventual character development. Her friendship with Royale might be sincere, but honestly, he’s hard to read right now.

Royale decides to go public and register himself as a superhero with the police. He was presumed dead and also considered  a villain. He was thought to have supported Wolf, but he claims he didn’t, and he hid because all of his friends were dead and the world had the wrong idea. You’re super suspicious, man. Christian comes back from his emotional reunion with his ex to find his ex-friend, who he clearly has a lot of issues with, in his department. It seems that Royale set this up, because he taunts Christian just enough that he gets aggressive. They get the fight on camera, so the police are the ones who look bad for it. I definitely can’t wait to hear more about these two, and also about their relationship with Wolf. Where has Royale been all these years? Why now did he decide to come back? What are his true intentions? Hmmmm. Later that night, Royale confronts Christian at his house, and tells him to stay away. His powers are really helpful by the way. Teleporting would be a great power, although I wonder how he knows if where he’s teleporting to is safe. He probably needs to intentionally know nothing is put where he’s teleporting.

All around a great episode! There wasn’t a lot of action here, but I’m actually fine with that. I like this as more of a mental show; I don’t need big superhero fights. I’m glad to see Deena’s learning and growing herself, and that their partnership is at least a little bit warming up. He teases her about failing to capture the Power in the right way. I like that she calls him out on when he’s making mistakes too, Christian probably needs someone like that. Why is she involved with Powers though? What’s her background? There’s so much I want to know, and I think that makes for good television. They’re very slowly giving us details, and none of it feels like clunky exposition. So far so good!

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Powers Season 1 Episode 2 4 out of 5 Royales Dance-Teleporting

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