Who can trust the touched? The Nevers led with the question in its premiere episode led by Joss Whedon, and it’s clearly going to be a recurring query to move forward, as the second episode “Exposure” (also directed by Whedon) is based on the same idea. Maybe that was the point of the avalanche of villains in the pilot: Where the touched turns (not meant to be a pun, my bad!), There is someone sneaky waiting for them. Lord Massen, and his group of government friends. Maladie, and her pendants and sycophants. Hugo Swann, and his promise of female entrepreneurship. The beggar king and his desire to hold on to the underworld. And the mysterious doctor of the premiere, who is now revealed to serve a specific master: the benefactor who supports the orphanage and employs Mrs. True and Penance. Why Lavinia Bidlow and dr. Hague?
The Nevers has already given pieces to this answer. Dr. Hague is experimenting on humans – maybe to draw? – to try to see what is different to the brain of the Affected, and what can cause the turn. (The ‘spark’, he calls it.) The result is apparently the creation of work slaves on the one hand, and those who kidnap bullies like bullies on the other. The former will excavate the pilot that I think is the crashed vessel, while the latter is responsible for the abduction of additional people touched from across London for Dr. Hague to cut open. And all of this, in my opinion, is funded by Lavinia, who in this episode insists on practicing the touched social civilization – while in the last conversation with dr. The Hague says: ‘It’s not nice. It’s war. “But declares his war on the touched, or does she think his work with they?
I think Jane Espenson’s writing here is deliberately opaque, but I go on to suggest that I put up fake kites for the orphanage and use Mrs True’s face to lure desperate people, just to make their turns to dr. The Hague to learn, like lambs. for the slaughter is not especially benevolent on the part of Lavinia. (Poor Ms. Cassini. The chase scene, with its variety of floating obstacles, also felt a bit Fantastic animals, but Domenique Fragale’s fright at revealing her secret was very believable.) I would think it’s only a matter of time until Mrs True, or someone else from the orphanage, sees one of the posters, but whether they can link to Lavinia is in the air.
“Exposure” begins in the aftermath of Maladie’s opera attack. The city is on point, and Inspector Mundi is setting his sights on the orphanage. His (failed) interrogation of Mrs True had a good rhythm – yelled at the offended Penance “How are you not great?” – and helped establish that, despite the fact that for whatever reason he was in Hugo Swann’s pocket, not a complete idiot. “Do you regularly use public violence?” is a sarcastic question, but at its core a valid question. Mrs. True is a bit of a lively thread, and it seems that the super strength, super speed and cabling offered by her turn makes her more powerful than almost every other member of the touched.
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Except of course for Maladie. Yes, she’s very much a villain in Whedon’s disturbed Drusilla or Vampire Willow form, and I admit that all her mumbling and grumbling about God and crowns of thorns and pain made me wish I was just watching True Detective season one for the millionth time. But Maladie seems to be working completely outside of everything Lord Massen is trying to do with the government’s control of the affected, and whatever Lavinia / Dr. The Hague is trying to find the source of power of the Touched. She, as Mrs. True remarks, is driven by this zealous desire to please her God – and perhaps to hurt Mrs. True? The conversation between the two of them was difficult to trace, but I think they knew each other as children, and Mrs True (“Molly”) handed over Maladie (“Sarah”) to the authorities who run their orphanage? Do you remember that Mrs True kept saying that she was not ‘from here’ – so she and Maladie come from the same place? And when madam apparently again Maladie abandons to save the imprisoned Mary and Penance, she puts the Affected who are in line with her in danger? It does not look like Maladie will take this kind of rejection lightly. (She probably does not like Bonfire Annie turning her on either.)
Questions, questions! Although the introduction of the truth-forced Désireé means that we get this episode honesty from different characters (Mundi and Mary were engaged, but she left him at the altar; Mary does not know the meaning of the song she sings, only the Touched). can hear; Mrs True is overwhelmed by the responsibility of running the orphanage), of course we also get more uncertainty. Who gave Mrs. True the ‘mission’ that compels and frightens her at the same time? Does she refer in a figurative way to the ‘mission’ and compare her turn with a kind of responsibility to the rest of those affected, or does she speak literally? Can Augie, who reveals his bird-dwelling conversion to penance, realize that his sister has the bad intention? Or will he take her (big) decision to stay away from fines seriously?
Finally: What does Mary’s song say? ‘Hope’ is a big and vague concept. Hope for social acceptance, respect, solidarity, unity, what? The Touched does not work as one entity, but Mary’s song seems to bring them together. This can scare people: Remember that dr. Hague to Mrs. Cassini says before lobotomizing her: ‘Maybe your darkness is part of her plan. I mean, his, but she wants to do it. Lavinia seems to be the ‘hair’ here, but who is the ‘his’? And put Mary’s song a target on her back from another villain in The Nevers universe?
Lost observations
- Laura Donnelly’s smile during the discussion of ‘bendy Wendy’ should immediately be a poison.
- Do we get an explanation for what ‘The Nevers’ means in this episode? No we do not.
- We already knew Lord Massen was a tough guy, but the blame for the Swann family’s tragedies on Hugo? Even if Lord Massen did not know about Hugo’s authenticity (which I’m not sure), it’s still an impressively cruel proclamation.
- However: Does Hugo Swann look like a conman jerkoff? Also yes. Two things can be true at the same time.
- Interestingly, Lord Massen and Mrs. True both have the immediate aversion to Hugo; recalls that she sarcastically described him to Inspector Mundi as “the man with his cock out” during the opera performance. And also interesting that Lord Massen seems to have a kind of remorseful respect for Mrs. True, even though he directs her and the rest of the touched.
- Augie is in a hurry to invest in Hugo’s sex club, but I’m going to be honest. May not impress much fine!
- Do we hear this episode again ‘It’s just a prototype’? We do! But admittedly, those Matrix-styled sunglasses that block explosive light were pretty good, and I’ll be sure to see the fire extinguisher come up again.
- Désireé is my new favorite character and ‘I’m a Whore, a Little Known’ was perfectly rendered by Ella Smith.
- Have we really established all of Mrs True’s powers? She brags to the Beggar King that this is not her face; Maladie still calls her the woman who ‘can shed her skin’ – which Mrs True does not exactly deny.
- “How many nephews did they have to hire?” I love that nepotism even exists in this supernatural steampunk version of our reality!