The Power, Amazon

The Power, based on the novel by Naomi Alderman, is a definitive and all-encompassing chronicle of the state of gender politics, feminism and misogyny in 2023.

The opening episodes of the series on Amazon feel massive, traversing continents as the story and its characters move from Nigeria, to the middle east, to London and back again.

Not only is the show able to move between countries, The Power is impressive in the way it manages to move between an array of feminist issues, providing a comprehensive picture of global misogyny in 2023. The series covers toxic male vloggers; the relationship between trans and womens’ rights; the desire for men to create legislation relating to womens’ bodies, as well as the show’s central provocation: what would violence against women look like if men no longer had a physical advantage over them? The way that the device of ‘the power’ is able to tie together all of these issues in one coherent narrative is a feat.

While the narrative is coherent, something about it is quite saturated and the lack of relationship between each individual story strand stifles your enjoyment and investment in the series at times.

It was maybe a strange choice to favour the bureaucratic, subtle narrative that follows Senator Margot Cleary-Lopez (Toni Collette) over the heart-wrenching and action packed strand led by Ria Zmitrowicz. Zmitrowicz played the lively, rowdy Cockney daughter of gangster Bernie Monke (Eddie Marsan) who rises through the ranks of her father’s business as it becomes clear she is now the most physically threatening. She probably should have had more airtime than she did.

The fragmented narrative strands built pace and intrigue into the final episode, where attempts were made to cross the stories, but you got the sense this could have come sooner. All in all The Power was a gigantic undertaking that, due to its scale and scope, slightly stifled your investment in individual characters.