"The Nevers" Mid Season Finale Review: More Questions Than Answers

We are currently six episodes in on HBO"s "The Nevers". I can safely say the mid season finale gave us more questions than answers. Let's get down to dissecting the craziness. But before that a spoiler warning is in effect.

SPOILER WARNING: Turn back if you havent seen episode six.

"The Nevers" started out as a fun story about powered people (referred to here as "touched") in Victorian England. Most were women but there were a few guys. No one is sure where these powers came from. The "turns" (ie special abilities) are really all over the place-- one girl speaks in multiple foreign languages, one can make plants grove, one's breath can turn objects into glass, one is a giant, one can make objects float etc. The girls are often turned away by their families for being different. An orphanage called St Romaulda takes them in.

There we find our protagonists. Mrs Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) and Penance Adair (Ann Skelly). Mrs True's turn is she has brief flashes of the future. She also has some mad fighting skills, Miss Adair can see electrical currents. She also builds lots of fun steampunkish contraptions.

The orphanage is sponsored by a wealthy woman Lavinia Bidlow. She and her brother Auggie play more heavily into the series as it progresses. We also have the British upper class (led by Lord Massen) who view the touched as a challenge to their status and therefore want to eliminate them.

Nearing the mid season fianle, we have Amalia and Penance going off in two different directions. Penance wants to save Maladie from hanging. Who knows how many people the crazy has killed at this point. Penance devices a plan and takes a group with her. But of course, it's a trap. Maladie appears to hang herself (after most of the spectators are electrocuted or trampled to death). But its actually the girl with four toes cut off that we met a few episodes back. Maladie is free to wreak havoc on London again.

Meanwhile Amalia takes another group to find the Galanthi. It's the ship that gave everyone their special powers (that only Maladie can remember). Amalia is told of it by Mary's song before she is viciously mowed down in the park. The ship (I think?) is hidden underground by Lavinia. Is it a big alien dinosaur? Not sure but we see a big eyeball as one point.

Episode 6 (aptly named "True") opens in the distant future. This looks nothing like our Victorian "The Nevers". None of the characters are the same. From what I can gather two different human divisions are at war. Members from both show up at a secret base trying to locate the last Galanthi. The Galanthi are aliens who came through a portal to Earth to help us with tech (to revive that nearly destroyed planet). When they find it, the last Galanthi is trying to hightail it out of there. I guess Earth is doomed? A soldier (named Zephyr) has lost all hope. She kills herself. Somehow the Galanthi takes her soul into the PAST. When the alien ship arrives in 1890s England to give all the gifts to the "touched", her soul is inserted into the woman who drowned herself in the river. Say what??? This explains why Mrs True is: 1. Such a good fighter; 2. Keeps saying she's on a mission; 3. Made several mentions that her face is not her own. Also when Amalia finds the Galanthi, it asks her if she thinks she is the only one? We then see flashes of the Beggar King and several other characters (indicating their souls came from the future as well).

Mind blown.I can safely say I did not see that coming. Amalia tells Penance what happened.Their life's work is to save the planet. Next stop, telling everyone else at the orphanage.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). I'm still not sure what I think of the mid season finale. Was it a brilliant twist or did it sink the series? Either way, I still quite enjoyed "The Nevers". The sets and costumes are beautiful. The actors do a great job. The witty banter is fun. It is a Joss Whedon production after all. The various contraptions Penance comes up with are delightful. It's a great visual to have an electric car zipping around the horses in Victoria England. I'll definitely be back to see how it pans out. There is currently no ETA for the final six episodes. Hopefully we'll see some in 2021.