Series Review: ‘The Nevers’ Promises Intrigue but Nothing More

The Nevers, created by Joss Whedon, can be pitched as “X-men but set in 19^th century England”, and the X-men are all women. And the government knows them. And they have a Professor X, but here, he is a woman. The similarities, I’m sure, continue, if we dig deeper. The Nevers’ mutants are called the touched, and are ostracized by the general public. Unlike the X-men, however, The Nevers lacks the freshness of originality. 

The first episode, released on HBO, introduces us to the world of the touched. They are gifted and, in some cases, cursed beings. The world they find themselves in is a harsh world that disregards their humanity. The general public perceives them as deformed and repulsive. Since it is 19^th century England, the patriarchy is quite prevalent. This is a point particularly stressed by the pilot episode. 

The episode follows recent murders of some women and the attack on two touched women as they head out to recruit a newly discovered girl. On this outing, some mysterious men attack the recruiters. While they managed to fend off this attack, the identity of these men remained a mystery . The women spend the episode figuring this out. While at it, a new villain is introduced, and a new hero with a peculiar gift is also introduced, creating a new conflict.

With actors like Laura Donnelly, Amy Manson, and Ann Skelly shepherding the heroes and villains of the series, the acting appears to be quite effective thus far, and shows no reason for one to expect otherwise in later episodes. The dialogues are crisp and usually pleading for ripostes which, to the pilot’s credit, were effectively delivered.

The Nevers’ pilot promises that the new HBO series will be intriguing, however, this isn’t anything that we haven’t seen before.

Our verdict: Watch.

The Nevers is currently streaming on HBO Max.