The Power Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Scarlet Minanow

The Power is already halfway done with Season 1, but the path to the finale still seems unclear. We can’t tell if the final notes will be one major battle or a bunch of individual battles. The Power Season 1 Episode 5, “Scarlet Minnow” explores Margot, Zoia, and Tatiana’s lives since the development of these powers.

Each one of these adult women has been —in some way — a victim of oppression.

Daniel Dandon and men like him are Margot’s enemies. However, in comparison, Margot’s story feels not as empowering as Zoia and Tatiana’s stories, because the two sisters’ victimization has been so much more outwardly traumatic.

Nevertheless, one of the messages of “Scarlet Minnow” is that the pain and scars don’t have to be severe to be traumatic. They also all need and want this EOD power for different reasons but it all circles around power, freedom, and control.

The EOD power allows them to fight against their oppressors.

It just doesn’t feel as glorifying to see Margot get it because she already has some power and privilege. Additionally, Dandon has the personality of a cartoon villain. He’s dangerous but also in a comic sort of way. This makes it hard to take him seriously.

And truthfully, Margot’s entire storyline feels a little less captivating than Zoia and Tatiana’s storylines. Margot’s storyline also goes very much off the rails when Rob becomes drunk and leaks classified information to the press.

Rob telling his wife to ask him about his day (I assume) plays out for comedic effect and to show the gender role reversals in their relationship. This is the type of conversation you may come to expect from a neglected wife in a movie or Tv show, not the husband.

The Power plays on the stereotypic gender roles by reversing them a lot in this episode, including Matty asking his father if he thinks he deserves to be harassed by the girls at his school.

Also, Rob’s whole behavior seems childish and nonsensical. Everyone who watches any spy movie knows that it’s never a good idea to leak classified documents. Plus, Rob leaking it to a former friend will make it easy to trace back to him.

Rob’s behavior seems unrealistic, especially for a highly intelligent person. This entire part of “Scarlet Minnow” becomes very predictable and unrealistic.

However, the Cleary-Lopez parts of the episode have two major strengths. They both include the Cleary-Lopez children.

Jos’s speech is very compelling and it helps explain why these powers matter. You understand why these powers are liberating. We also feel the happiness they give her.

Additionally, this moment reminds us how women and girls have to live in a constant state of fear just because of their gender. It’s also nice to hear that Tunde now understands this and working to be part of the societal change.

The second strength is seeing Urbandox’s influence on Matty. The introduction of Urbandox feels very relevant and believable. We see these Urbandox-type characters every day now.

These kinds of toxic masculine ideas can really affect impressionable young men, especially those angry at the world. In real life, they would thrive on creating anti-feminist ideas based on the powers.

This makes this introduction very important because it’s definitely going to continue to develop throughout the season, possibly in very destructive ways.

The “Scarlet Minnow” works best when focusing on Tatiana and Zoia. Both their past and present stories offer fascinating looks at how poverty and inequality have led them down different paths but with the same outcome.

They’re both prisoners to different versions of the same types of men. Showcasing how women have been oppressed and powerless for centuries is what The Power does best.

Seeing both Zoia and Tatiana gain this power is such an empowering moment, especially since we now know how much it would have helped them as young girls.

These powers are a new beginning for both of them. The final scenes work because we get to see their teen years and how powerless they were in their lives until the day they gain the EOD powers.

It also makes us desperately want them to find each other again.

It’s this misconception that adulthood brings freedom and control. However, most adults know that’s not exactly true for one reason or another. Therefore, seeing these older women get power is empowering because it gives them a little more freedom and control, something that has been taken from them their entire lives.

The storytelling and characters are really what make The Power an interesting show. However, it’s unclear if there will be some big showdown at the end of the season.

Is there a big battle against the oppressive governments coming? Or will all the stories focus on individual battles? Or some combination of the two?

The Power doesn’t need a big battle to work, but it would have been more interesting if this episode began to lead us toward the finale. Its stakes and goals. It might have but I just don’t see the direction yet.

This Prime Video series could just be a show about these characters and that’s how it stays for the entire first season. Not every show needs a big-bang finale. I just want to understand if that’s the direction of the show.

What did you think of this episode of The Power? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Power streams on Prime Video every Thursday night. 

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