Last night marked the beginning of a new DC comics television show, Powerless. In contrast to its comic counterparts, it’s an NBC comedy that focuses on insurance workers rather than crime-fighting superheroes. Although it’s deemed as a DC show, Powerless lacks the constrictions of comic lore because it’s not about heroes or villains. Rather, it’s about the people who make a difference by creating gadgets to protect against the debris left behind by supers.
Full Recap
The pilot, focuses on Emily Locke (played by Vanessa Hudgens), an unusually positive person. She tries to lead a very uninspired insurance team at a failing security company. Van Wayne, a very distant cousin to billionaire Bruce Wayne (AKA Batman to all comic fans), envies and idolizes his cousin and wants to work alongside him in Gotham. But Wayne Security proves to be faltering as Bruce decides to cut his losses. Unfortunately, this means that he’s firing all employees and sending Van to Gotham city. All on Emily’s first day of work.
Being a confident leader, Emily makes it her personal mission to save the business and everyone’s job. But she’s really the cheerleader of the team as well as the new girl no one takes seriously. Despite her unpopularity, she wants to see Wayne Security succeed because she truly believes they can make a difference. Eventually, her plans follow through as they create a device to detect the scent of a bad guy. It would then give the citizens of Charm City time to protect themselves from harm.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this show has a very specific purpose: to laugh and lift our spirits. Like aforementioned, it’s advertised as a DC show, but it’s not apparent as a comic book fan. For this show, they feature superheroes and villains that are more obscure, unknown, and foolish, which partly insults the art of the comic book world. But as a sitcom, it serves its purpose. All while poking fun at the constant destruction that vigilantes and criminals bring upon cities.