As the first episode of The Nevers begins, we’re transported to London on August 3, 1896. We see people going about their normal business until something happens in the sky and a woman drops into the river. Then, we jump forward three years and we join Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) who walks around her home and gets dressed whole Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) works. The two join up moments later. A young boy selling newspapers on the street says Maladie has killed the fifth victim. They discuss their next move and talk about a girl named Myrtle Haplisch. They knock on the door and talk to Mr. Haplisch. He already knows about them because the reverend told him they were coming. He is concerned that Myrtle might be touched and that she might not be right. They explain that being touched is not a character defect.

As for Maladie, she is homicidal but they’re not sure if she is touched. His wife comes in and suggests that Maladie is a vessel of Satan. They discuss Myrtle and the things that come out of her mouth before Amalia has a flashback of sorts. Then, they head upstairs to see Myrtle (Viola Prettejohn). They find her chained and learn she was the only one who could earn a wage with the new labor laws. She agrees to let Penance set next to her. Penance explains they’ve worked with many girls who’ve been turned and they’ve ended up fine. They ask her to speak and order Satan to speak so she speaks a foreign language. Amalia approaches, makes sure she can understand her, and begins speaking Chinese. A bit later, Amalia tells the parents that she was speaking Chinese, some Russian, and a little Turkish.

Penance believes they can rule out any sort of Satanic influence. Then, they learn about the acrobats that they saw at the park. Seconds later, they hear Myrtle grunting so Penance guards the doorway and Amalia runs upstairs. Two men seem to be trying to kidnap Myrtle and Amalia is swiftly knocked to the ground. We see the scene she saw earlier with the two kids standing above her. She gets up and approaches the door. Penance comes up and receives a sign before Amalia kicks the door open. She finds the two men trying to carry Myrtle out of the window. Penance throws out a device that stuns one of the men while Amalia beats them up. When Amalia slams a guy through the window, she finds some strange creatures trying to put Myrtle in a steel coffin. She tries to stop the shock troopers.

They try to escape and get into a carriage with Penance but a shock trooper attacks Amalia and cuts her on the stomach with a knife. Penance throws her an umbrella which she jams in the trooper’s neck and electrocutes him with it. She escapes in the carriage but the shock troopers chase them on horses. They can’t outrun the horses so Amalia says they should use the prototype. When a shock trooper climbs onto the carriage, they escape out of the back with a makeshift car. Along the way, Myrtle agrees to come with them. True has a sighting of the opera. When Penance asks how they’re going to deal with the fellas, True says they’re going to the opera. After the brief intro, General Pecking (Tim Bentinck) says it is just a woman. He talks to the others about Maladie murdering five men.

We learn that the Prime Minister intends to take a public position on the Touched. One suggests it is only a few women, but another says it is hundreds. It is believed that these are biological anomalies caused by electricity. One man talks about a girl who got her arm stuck in a press and pulled it out just fine. She snapped the hydraulic without so much as a bruise. Massen says the PM will not be taking a position on the Touched and he won’t allow any official debate on the subject. He admits they could be a direct threat to the empire. He says the blade is in and they need to find out whose hand is on the hilt. After that, Detective Mundi goes into the tunnels to talk to the foreman (Jay Simpson). Mundi is taken to a dead body. He also finds a message on the wall.

He doesn’t think the message is from Maladie because she can spell. Mundi wants to know who moved the body since he doesn’t think she was killed there. He decides to check every digger for blood. Mundi admits the touched are weird before accusing the foreman of letting a killer get off by making it harder to catch one. The foreman says he knows about Mundi who is referred to as the East End Ape and always uses his fists first. Mundi is told it isn’t his case if it isn’t Maladie. He claims it was Maladie and he wants to know what was there before the foreman dressed it up. Penance and the others return to the orphanage and Primrose (Anna Devlin) is told to come check out the motorcar.

Harriet (Kiran Sonia Sawar) thinks it is a big deal though. When the vehicle pulls up, Horatio (Zackary Momoh) tells everyone not to smother them since it is only a carriage. He admits it is amazing before he is introduced to Myrtle. True says it was an eventful day before telling Lucy (Elizabeth Berrington) to send a letter to Mrs. Bidlow to let her know about the attack. Penance introduces Myrtle to Primrose who used to say she didn’t have anyone to talk to. Primrose stands up and appears to be massive. She learns about Myrtle’s language problem before agreeing to get her a cup of tea. Harriet tells her boyfriend that they should be married in the vehicle. Moments later, Penance and Amalia talk to the others about their day and people coming down on them because they’re thriving.

Amalia doesn’t think Myrtle is the first and that they’ve been doing this for some time. She says they’ll need to bolster their security. Then, she says she needs to see the beggar king. He has been feeding them candidates and he might’ve been feeding someone else too. Horatio says you don’t just ask him to come but she says she isn’t asking. Moments later, Hugo Swan (James Norton) wakes up with a man and a woman next to him. He soon learns that Augustus Bidlow is there to see him. He steps into the other room and talks to Augie (Tom Riley) seconds later. They talk about the crows nearby and Augie says they’re lovely, intelligent creatures. Hugo wants to know why he is so ruffled so Augie begins telling him about Lavinia’s charity endeavor.

It has to do with the orphanage and the touched. Hugo doesn’t seem to understand them but knows they have deformities and afflictions. Lavinia has opened a home for them and it has become controversial. She is upset because a touched girl was attacked and wants people to accept them. Hugo learns that she is bringing them to the opera. He encourages Augie to flirt with the ugly one but Augie is worried she is going to be an Elephant Man of sorts. Augie encourages Hugo to come since he knows everything about flirting. Hugo doesn’t want to go and says he has an important meeting with the Minister of Finance. Both agree that Lavinia pushes Augie around before Hugo agrees to come. He wants Augie to come with him to the Ferryman and let someone flirt with him. He gives him a Ferryman coin and Augie takes it. When he leaves, he talks to his friend about Augie being perfect.

Then, Horatio takes care of Amalia’s stab wound with some magic. He warns her about getting into trouble with the Beggar King and she tells him he should be the Royal physician. Myrtle comes in with a dress and a letter before Amalia says she is going to the opera. The doctor thinks she should rest, but she says it isn’t hard labor. She gets dressed and meets up with Penance moments later. Along the way, Amalia says they have to go to the opera but she isn’t sure why yet. Declan Orrun gets in the carriage with them and apologizes for Odin’s odor. They know he is the beggar king and he knows Penance as the great inventress. They tell him about the attack and show him a picture of the attackers. He says he is searching for a way that doesn’t end with him killing them.

He doesn’t want to tell them anything about his business and whether he sold the information to anyone else. Amalia wants to know who is hunting the Touched and why. They agree to give him an automated motor-carriage designed to his specifications and they promise to pay if he helps. He threatens her with a knife and puts it up to Amalia’s face, but she claims it isn’t her face. When a man laughs at the beggar king, he decides to take one of his fingers. Then, the girls enter the opera and Amalia nervously plays with her fingers. Augie wheels Lavinia (Olivia Williams) into place and she talks to Dr. Beldon (Martin Bishop) about the new terms he has adopted. Hugh joins them briefly and quickly leaves again.

Livinia doesn’t know why Hugo is there as he goes around handing out Ferryman coins. Hugo returns and Massen joins them too. They discuss replacing the employed with the employees. Massen doesn’t understand the need for it before Amalia interrupts and gives her opinion. They discuss the debilitation of some of the women before Augie quickly tries to find out what is wrong with them. Hugo tries to restate it more politely. They suggest the turn is a trick but Amalia says that isn’t the case. Instead, she says Penance is an inventor. She says she can see energy or potential energy like electricity. As for Mrs. True, she tends to stay a few steps ahead of everyone else. Massen says there is harmony in the world that is worth saving. The opera begins moments later.

Augie pays attention to the people around her while Hugo has sex with a woman backstage. Maladie kills a man on stage and says she has killed the devil. As she goes on and on, Amalia imagines Maladie climbing up and getting close to her. Everyone seems stunned by Maladie. She talks about being there because she saw god. She claims he came and everyone turned their backs on him. She tells her partner to take the angel and he begins shooting at people from the stage. Her other friend prepares to throw fire before Mary Brighton (Eleanor Tomlinson) begins singing and everything calms down. Amalia jumps on stage and begins fighting them. Maladie tries to escape with Mary but Amalia goes after them. Amalia eventually stops Maladie and they get into a fight. Maladie’s friend throws fire at Amalia and they escape with Mary.

Mundin (Ben Chaplin) arrives and checks out the crime scene. Hugo talks about enjoying the violence and Katie (Skye Lourie) believes he is telling the truth. Mundi gets her to leave so he can talk to Hugo alone. They discuss Hugo not trying to stop Maladie and True getting involved. Mundi says it is a good thing Amalia doesn’t know what he is up to, but Hugh says they’re both up to it. Hugo says the Ferryman’s Club can become a profitable business when he gets the right investor and Mundi sends him enough girls. He says he might even forget a few debts before making Mundi take some champagne. He agrees to tell him Mary’s name. Next, we see a doctor performing an experiment of sorts on one of his patients. Penance finds her friend and she seems a bit distraught. They discuss Mary and Maladie taking her.

They say that Mary’s song reached right into them. Penance says it told her she belonged there and they need to get Mary to sing again, but Amalia isn’t sure they’ll be safe. We go back in time and see Amalia jump into the water before a weird object flies through the sky. We see how that day changed everything. Massen watches as his daughter collapses to the ground. When the flying object leaves, everything continues on as normal. Maladie struggles with the people at the asylum before Amalia pulls herself out of the water.

 

The Nevers Review

I really had high hopes for The Nevers because I love James Norton and Eleanor Tomlinson. I also thought Tom Riley had an interesting character. Sadly, I couldn’t get into this at all. It didn’t excite, interest, or hook me in the least. It just doesn’t have any flare or personality. It doesn’t help that the story is all over the place making it incredibly difficult to follow.

I can even appreciate Pip Torrens but I couldn’t find anything to like about this television show. I guess it is a bit different but that isn’t always a good thing. Hugh Swan is such a cheesy, sleazy character that I feel embarrassed for James Norton even picking such a role. The show really doesn’t know what it wants to be. At times, it feels like a sci-fi period drama aimed at teenagers.

Then, we have lousy jokes about hard-ons and other stupid stuff. I have to wonder why HBO even decided to greenlight this and why some of Britain’s biggest names decided to touch it with a ten-foot pole. Maybe it’ll get better? I don’t know but I don’t have much hope for it. I could barely make it through this one. If there are errors above, blame it on the show’s inability to hold my attention and to be even remotely coherent.

Dang thing took me several hours to watch and recap yet I still don’t have a clue what any of it means. The opening episode scores a 5.5 out of 10.