Powerless: Season 1/ Episode 1 “Wayne or Lose” [Series Premiere] – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

I don’t know what I thought this was, what it could be, or what I was thinking, but I watched the first episode. Leaving me with the general feelings I watch when it comes to NBC programming. Who in the hell watched this and said, “Let’s put it on the schedule.”

The Introduction

In Charm City, not Gotham, there are the usual problems of people having their commute interrupted by the fight between villains, in this case, Jack-O-Lantern (Kimani Ray Smith) and heroes, the Crimson Fox (Atlin Mitchell). Emily Locke (Vanessa Hudgens), a newly hired young lady to be the director of Research and Development at Wayne Security, she is to find the next big thing which will help defend the powerless against supervillains. Problem is, she has a team that has been beaten down by rejection to the point they’ve given up. Hell, their boss really just wants to be transferred to the Gotham headquarters. Because Charm City, to Van Wayne (Alan Tudyk), is a taint. One that he almost got the chance to escape before Emily ruins everything with a good idea.

Things To Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered

Where was Van’s family when Bruce lost his parents?

Highlights

The Concept

The idea of a company which focuses on creating products which protect those who are the powerless, and Batman stealing said tech when it is really good, was interesting.

Low Points

Everything Else

However, their ideas aren’t on a Luscious Fox level and something about this show screams that it would never have the budget to really have some interesting gadgets shown off. Though perhaps the real issue is, NBC loves making the type of characters who can never really sell you in the pilot. To me, their comedies are all made to be cult hits. The kind people petition for one more season year after year and the general populace question why?

This show is no different. Emily is so optimistic that she is annoying and cartoony. Van, well if you have seen Alan Tudyk in just about anything he has ever done, same annoying character, different name and motive for getting out of the bed. As for Danny Pudi, perhaps the one person who you’d think would redeem this show, does he do it? No. This is Abed in a different universe but perhaps a bit more social skills.

And I could go on and on but the other characters just don’t really pop, per se. A token Black guy, a heavyset girl who is mean and supposed to be funny, and someone who used to be happy go lucky like Emily until Charm City, and Van, broke her spirit.

Overall: Negative (Don’t Watch)

I was, at the very least, hoping like The Good Place this maybe not worth reviewing but could be something to watch when I’m bored on weekends. However, with the show not taking place in Gotham, meaning none of your favorite villains, and the villains they do have not even being B-list ones probably, on top of no recognizable heroes? What is the sell here? It’s not funny, we aren’t going to see some cool sci-fi stuff, and at this point I feel like NBC is just trying so hard for a hit that while they may get a “This Is Us” every now and again, the monkeys at the typewriter are mostly typing “asdlhasdlksdnia;sdh;aoidhaoishasd” and that is put through Google translate and we get something like this.