Strength review: Amazon explains why society sucks for women

It’s as accurate as a sledgehammer – but that’s the whole point

• by
  
  Petrana Radulovic
  

• on March 31, 2023 6:31 PM

Three hours of episodes Power To finally say the thing you want to say – namely, that teenage girls have been shown to have the (ha) horrific ability to be electrocuted at will.

While some shows actually need three episodes to prove knowledge and world-building, Power Pretty much it happens in a world like ours, except for that very weirdness. So in order to get to the point that young women develop this strength because of how much society mistreats them, we have to see roughly three hours of women being abused — from microaggressions in the workplace to sexual assault and everything in between. There’s nothing subtle about it, and that’s the point, but at the same time, being so blatant for so long makes one long experience that might get you going, Well, okay, I see.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the first three episodes of Prime Video’s The Power.]

Photo: Katie Yu/Prime Video

Based on the 2016 novel of the same name, Power It is not limited to just one aspect of femininity. The cast is broad, showing the different types of discrimination faced by a wide range of women. Margot (Toni Collette), the mayor of Seattle, grapples with the double standards placed on women in politics, while Roxy (Ria Zmitroitsch), the illegitimate daughter of a London mob boss, fights a home invasion that killed her mother. However, the most painful scene to watch is Ally (Haley Bush), a teenage runaway whose powers emerge after being sexually assaulted by her adoptive father. It is important to remember that women all over this world suffer, and in different ways. Still, having three episodes of women suffering as the plot slowly creeps into the audience finding out mainly halfway through the first episode is painful. We got it! Do we really need two and a half hours of suffering women?

Obviously creative Power You want the audience to feel just as frustrated as the women on the show. Women know that something is out there, but they don’t know about any information. They degrade when they ask for help; They’re evil when they don’t. Margot learns in the third episode that the government already knows what’s going on, but refuses to do anything about it because she doesn’t want people to panic. (This comes with a comment about how evil the people initially warned about COVID-19 have become, so, again, not accurate.) Drawing this period out of confusion and aggravation makes some sense. But at a certain point, the show has to trust that the audience understands what’s going on and knows that the way society treats women is unfair.

Photo: Prime Video

after three episodes, Power Finally, with the plot guiding somewhere rather than zigzagging in circles. Now that the plot is finally locked in and loaded, it looks set to completely smash the target of a patriarchal society bent on keeping women down. And she certainly will, because this is not a show that will leave anything unaddressed. if something happens, Power He will turn every single stone to make sure the audience understands what is going on.

And perhaps it works for some people who live happily unaware of the horrors of the world. But others are well aware of the bitter truth that society treats women unfairly and really don’t need any more reminders than necessary.

The first three episodes of Power Streaming now on Prime Video.

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