Hey, everyone! How’s it going? Today I’m here to review the drama The Power, which transforms a simple sci-fi premise into Prime Video’s most provocative and thought-provoking limited series, asking what would happen if women suddenly possessed the ultimate equalizer in a world that has historically oppressed them.
The Power premiered on Prime Video on March 31, 2023, featuring 9 episodes with approximately 60-minute runtime each. The first three episodes dropped simultaneously, with subsequent episodes released weekly until the finale on May 12, 2023. Based on Naomi Alderman’s award-winning novel and created by Raelle Tucker, this sci-fi thriller stars Toni Collette, Auli’i Cravalho, Toheeb Jimoh, and Halle Bush in a story that explores what happens when teenage girls worldwide develop the ability to generate lethal electrical charges.
The Power isn’t just another dystopian series. It’s a sophisticated examination of how sudden shifts in power dynamics can both liberate and corrupt, using the lens of supernatural abilities to explore very real questions about gender, violence, and systemic oppression. The series functions as both speculative fiction and contemporary social commentary, showing how power itself can be the ultimate corrupting force regardless of who wields it.
When the Current Changes: A World Turned Upside Down
The Power begins when teenage girls around the world suddenly develop the ability to generate electrical charges from their hands, creating a biological weapon that can stun, torture, or kill. As this power spreads to older women and becomes hereditary, the fundamental balance of global power begins to shift, creating new hierarchies while challenging existing ones.
The series excels at showing how this supernatural change affects every aspect of society, from intimate family relationships to international politics. Each episode explores different consequences of this power shift, demonstrating how quickly established social structures can crumble when the basic assumptions about physical vulnerability and dominance are suddenly reversed. The narrative avoids simple wish-fulfillment fantasy, instead showing how power corrupts regardless of gender.
Mayor Margot Cleary-Lopez: Toni Collette’s Political Awakening
Toni Collette delivers a commanding performance as Margot Cleary-Lopez, the Seattle mayor who must navigate the political implications of this new reality while dealing with her own daughter’s dangerous abilities. Collette brings her characteristic intensity to show a politician who recognizes both the opportunities and threats presented by this seismic shift in power dynamics.
Margot’s character represents the series’ exploration of how institutional power adapts to revolutionary change, as she attempts to harness women’s new abilities for political gain while struggling to maintain control over increasingly chaotic situations. Collette shows us a woman who understands that power must be wielded strategically rather than emotionally, even as she grapples with the moral implications of enabling violence in pursuit of equality.
Jos Cleary-Lopez: Auli’i Cravalho’s Dangerous Evolution
Auli’i Cravalho portrays Jos, Margot’s teenage daughter whose electrical abilities become increasingly powerful and uncontrollable. Cravalho brings vulnerability and menace to the role, showing a young woman who discovers that having ultimate power doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness or fulfillment. Her performance captures the intoxicating rush of being feared rather than vulnerable.
Jos’s character explores the series’ central theme about how power changes those who possess it, as she evolves from typical teenager to someone capable of casual violence. Cravalho shows the gradual corruption that occurs when someone who has been powerless suddenly becomes dangerous, demonstrating how revenge fantasies can become addictive and ultimately destructive.
The Global Reckoning: When Power Corrupts Absolutely
The series’ later episodes showcase how women’s electrical abilities transform global politics, creating new forms of oppression and violence that mirror historical patterns of male dominance. The show demonstrates that changing who holds power doesn’t necessarily change the fundamental problems with how power operates, as women begin to replicate the same cycles of violence and control they once suffered under.
The climactic episodes reveal how the initial promise of liberation becomes corrupted by the same impulses that have driven male violence throughout history. Without spoiling specifics, the finale suggests that true equality requires more than just reversing power dynamics, as the series explores whether any lasting change is possible when power itself remains the ultimate goal.
The New World Order
The Power features strong supporting performances from Toheeb Jimoh as Tunde, a Nigerian journalist documenting the global transformation, and Halle Bush as Allie, a young woman who claims divine connection to the power. Each supporting character represents different responses to this revolutionary change, from those who seek to document it to those who would exploit it for personal gain.
The series particularly excels at showing how this power shift affects men, who must suddenly navigate a world where they can no longer rely on physical dominance. The supporting cast helps create a global perspective that shows how different cultures and societies adapt to this fundamental change in human relationships and social structures.
Success on Prime Video
The Power achieved moderate success on Prime Video, earning a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.7/10 on IMDb. While critics praised the series’ ambitious themes and strong performances, particularly from Collette and Cravalho, some viewers found the pacing uneven and the violence disturbing. The series sparked important conversations about gender dynamics and power structures, demonstrating Prime Video’s commitment to thought-provoking content that challenges viewers’ assumptions.
Why This Sci-Fi Revolution Demands Your Attention
If you love speculative fiction that uses supernatural elements to explore contemporary social issues, The Power is the perfect series to binge on Prime Video. This isn’t just entertainment; it’s a profound meditation on how power operates in human society and whether true equality is possible when the fundamental dynamics of dominance and submission remain unchanged.
Why This Series Redefines Power Dynamics
The Power succeeds because it refuses to provide simple answers to complex questions about gender, violence, and social change. By showing how power corrupts regardless of who wields it, the series creates television that’s both dramatically compelling and intellectually challenging. It’s provocative, disturbing, and absolutely essential viewing for anyone interested in how society might change if fundamental power dynamics were suddenly reversed.
Series Details
Number of Episodes: 9 episodes
Platform: Prime Video
Release Year: 2023
Current IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller/Dystopian Drama
Status: Limited series concluded, Season 2 not confirmed
Protagonists: Toni Collette (Margot Cleary-Lopez), Auli’i Cravalho (Jos Cleary-Lopez)
Antagonist: The corrupting nature of power itself and the cycles of violence it creates