HBO Max fantasy The Nevers is a slick steampunk X-Men (in corsets) – CNET [CNET]

HBO Max April 11. It actually begins with a wordless opening scene in which people wander about in old-timey frocks for several minutes, but hang in there: The fun soon starts as our Victorian heroines seek out a child who may be cursed by the devil. That leads to an acrobatic fight scene packed with luminescent hand grenades and weaponized parasols, setting the tone for an adventure full of kick-ass women taking on sinister baddies. Well, I never!

The strange storm over London has gifted young women (and a few men) with a variety of superpowers. From alleyway to high society, regular people are afraid of these mysterious “turns,” not least because of a supernatural serial killer stalking the land. And so the stage is set for this charming cast of magical misfits to band together and protect one another through fun misadventures in an atmospheric Victorian setting, like a steampunk X-Men.

The show was created by Joss Whedon, though he exited during production to be replaced by Philippa Goslett. The Nevers is filled with motifs familiar from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other work by Whedon, as well as Jane Espenson and the show’s other creators. Women armed with supernatural powers and killer quips deliver knockout blows to both villains and social attitudes, the bad guys are a mix of glib psychos and childlike villainesses, and the goodies form a found family of misfits. Buffy the corset-slayers.

The cast is anchored by winning turns from a relatively unknown cast, led by award-winning theatre actor Laura Donnelly as the capable Amalia True. She’s joined by Ann Skelly as the luminous Penance, facing Amy Manson as scene-stealing murderess Maladie. Among the more senior members of the cast, Olivia Williams is a suitably ambivalent version of Professor X, Ben Chaplin is a gravel-voiced copper and James Norton is a decadent aristocrat — all of whom have their own designs on the turns, creating a suitably shifting web of secrets and lies.

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