A mix of superhero adventure, supernatural mystery, steampunk science fiction, and 19th century period piece, The Nevers follows a group of ordinary people (mostly women) in 1890s London who suddenly manifest extraordinary abilities after what may have been a close encounter with alien visitors.
The show was created by Joss Whedon and true to his legacy (which includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer) it is built around strong women characters. Amalia True (Laura Donnelly), who has flashes of the future and mad fighting skills, is the leader of this group, aided by the shy but brilliant young inventor Penance Adair (Ann Skelly). She's a swashbuckling hero, an advocate, and a den mother of sorts for the community of "touched," protecting them from both the fear and bigotry of London's civilian population and the violence of other powered beings—notably the mad, homicidal Maladie (Amy Manson), a kind of Victorian answer to Batman's The Joker.
There are a lot of characters and storylines stuffed into the first six episodes of the series. There's a society woman (Olivia Williams) providing financial and political support for Amalia's retreat, a chauvinist politician (Pip Torrens) who sees these empowered women as a threat to society, a tormented police detective (Ben Chaplin) who reluctantly works with Amalia to stop Maladie, and a cold-blooded scientist (Denis O'Hare) dissecting the touched to find the source of their powers. It makes for a slow build and many critics complained of the overstuffed quality of the show and its similarities to previous Whedon productions involving misfit groups of super- or supernaturally-powered characters.
Those similarities, however, include a narrative driven largely by women characters and a story that takes on issues of female empowerment, patriarchy, and bigotry. The show also features impressive effects, inventive imagery, and at least one action sequence so unique and cleverly staged that it is more memorable than many of the big-screen superhero movies.
Whedon stepped away from the production after accusations of workplace harassment from previous projects became public knowledge and writer Philippa Goslett ably took over as showrunner, maintaining the style, the strong writing, and the vivid performances even as the Covid pandemic shut down production and forced adjustments in the inaugural season. It was broken into two parts, with the first six episodes released in spring 2021. Despite these challenges, the show developed into an engaging and often compelling series that became more interesting with each episode and leaves off with a revelation that adds a new dimension to the scope of the story. The show returns to HBO in early 2021 with the next six episodes of the first season.
The DVD and Blu-ray editions feature six episodes and two exclusive featurettes created for the disc release, along with short "Creating The Nevers" productions for each episode and other cable featurettes. Highly recommended.