The Power (2023)

Matt Roush says...

Naomi Alderman’s provocative page-turner becomes a sprawling series that unfolds on a global scale, dramatizing the literal shock waves when teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to shoot electricity, sometimes as powerful as lightning bolts, from their hands. “Every revolution begins with a spark,” notes an introductory voice-over (which sounds like a promotional tagline), anticipating the tectonic shift in the world’s gender balance when women get the upper hand. It’s a slow build, but the cast is terrific, including Toni Collette as Seattle’s mayor and Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho as her daughter, Halle Bush as foster-care refugee Allie, whose inner voice suggests a life-changing destiny, and Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh as a Nigerian vlogger who’s among the first male observers to understand the implications of this strange and terrifying new gift.

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