In Prime Video’s new drama The Power, which premieres today, teen girls suddenly develop the ability to zap people with their bodies. Consequently the world, in more ways than one, is shocked.

In a moment, we’ll want to hear what you thought about the premiere of the series, which is based on Naomi Alderman’s 2017 novel. But first, a quick recap.

The episode introduces us to several key players, most of whom do not interact during the first hour. They are:

ALLIE | A Black teen in the care of white, highly religious foster parents, Allie (played by newcomer Halle Bush) doesn’t speak. She does, however, hear a woman’s voice in her head telling her “I’m here to keep you safe. You don’t got to be afraid.” We see that Allie’s foster father touches her in a way that’s too familiar; when he does so, her collarbone starts to glow a little. “It comes when you need it. You’ll see,” the voice reassures her. She uses her own voice at dinner to protest the choice of meal, which gets her sent to her room with her foster father quick on her heels. While his wife eats dinner downstairs, choosing to ignore what’s going on above, he attempts to sexually assault her… but is incapacitated when she sends a charge through his head by placing her palms on his temples. “Finish him, Allie,” the voice commands her. She does, and he dies.

Allie goes on the run, sleeping wherever she can hide for a while, until she winds up at an aquarium that has an electric-eel exhibit. As she communes with the sinuous animals, the voice reassures her that her new power has existed in nature forever. “That’s right, baby,” it croons, “you are going to do big, big things.”

ROXY | Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz, Mr. Selfridge) is a British, working-class teen who is close with her mother. She attends a large, posh wedding but seems irked by the whole affair; we later learn that her father is a violent, well-to-do crime boss (the huge wedding is for one of Roxy’s half-brothers) who is very concerned with his own family and who treats Roxy and her mom as an afterthought — when he thinks about them at all.

She gets her dad, Bernie, alone for a minute and asks to come work for him. He says she’s too hotheaded, and offers her a position far from the action. She gets drunk, makes out with another girl and accidentally starts a fire with her hand when she gets angry about what’s gone down. She’s back at home with her mom when men break in and start beating up the women. She’s able to zap one of the assailants (though it surprises her as much as it does him), but then she gets knocked out. When she comes to, her mother is dead.

She cries, hugs her mother’s corpse, and then returns to the wedding covered in blood. Her half-brothers rush her back to the facility’s kitchen, where her father holds her as she collapses.

JOS AND MARGOT | Margot (Toni Collette, United States of Tara) is the mayor, to the great annoyance of her teen daughter Jocelyn aka Jos (Auli’i Cravalho, Moana). At school, Jos breaks the metal detector when she walks through and then accidentally shocks her crush — they’re both touching the lockers — when she nervously chats with him. Another student finds her in the bathroom later and says she knows what’s happening, and they’ll meet up later.

That other girl has the power, too, and she can kind of control it. When Jos wonders what the power actually is, the girl responds: “I don’t know. Who cares? It’s ours.” They both place their hands on a light pole and concentrate, causing the bulb to burst and kicking off a massive blackout.

TUNDE | Tunde (Toheeb Jimoh, Ted Lasso) is a young man in Lagos, Nigeria, who’s more concerned with hooking up than with helping a friend journalistically investigate a group that’s reportedly up to some crazy stuff. His plans for naked fun times with one woman end abruptly when she accidentally zaps his bum, then leaves quickly; he later joins the friend, Adunola, at a house where there are burn marks all over the walls. There are a bunch of women hanging out there, and Tunde creeps around, taking photos as the ladies dance and light joints with their power. He finds Adunola, who’s documenting it all, and she gets territorial. “This is my story,” she says. Their conversation draws the attention of the women, who get angry that Tunde is there. As the emotions rise, someone discharges a jolt that hits Adunola. She hits the ground and starts convulsing as the women run and Tunde cries for help.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the premiere? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments!

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