Hello Ebi! Hello Fam!

You already know how much I love sci-fi and fantasy. After The Magicians ended (still w- the tissues and tears), I looked for some new shows to sink my teeth into (besides the usual Star Trek Discovery flavor). So, imagine my joy when not only one but two new programs came out within the last two weeks: The Nevers and The Irregulars. Today I thought I’d give you a synopsis of these shows thus far.

Watch The Irregulars on Netflix For Free
The Irregulars: Netflix, Season 1

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

This show is a lovely, twisted mix between dark magicks and the world of Sherlock Holmes within Victorian London. Our misfits, protagonist Bea, her friends/family Jessie, Billy, Spike, and outsider, a wealthy fellow named Leopold, find themselves immersed in the supernatural.

Poor and determined to survive, leader Bea and her tight-knit crew do what they must to eat and keep shelter over their heads. They grew up in a workhouse as orphans and are determined to never return as it holds horrible memories for them all. 

Bea feels a strong sense of responsibility for her friends but even more so for her half-sister Jessie. Jess battles with nightmares, so much so that the crew fears that Jessie’s fighting some illness and needs medical attention, something they obviously cannot afford.

Cue the abrasive, rude, and wealthy Dr. Watson (vastly different from previous incarnations of Dr. Watson) who approaches Bea with a creepy and suspicious opportunity to earn money for her sister’s care—investigate the abduction of missing babies. He knows that there is something “unique” about Jessie and that she is key to the answers Bea seeks.

Meanwhile, Leopold, a hemophiliac who comes from royalty, has been sheltered all his life. On his 17th birthday, frustrated with his secluded life, Leopold desperately wants to venture outside his home. A ride in a carriage with his caregiver gives Leopold a snippet of a vastly different universe and allows him to discover Bea and her compadres. Leopold, immediately enamored with Bea, decides that he must find her again and becomes involved in their adventures.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. There’s much more than meets the eye (corny but true) 😊, and I’m looking forward to discovering everyone’s backstory and Dr. Watson and Holmes’ secrets. I’ll be watching the fourth episode this weekend. 

How to Watch 'The Nevers' For Free on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, and Mobile –  The Streamable
The Nevers, HBO Max, Sundays @ 9 pm

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

The Touched. That is what protagonist Amalia True and her friends/family are called by the people of Victorian London. Thanks to a supernatural incident where a spaceship flew overhead and released what I can only call sparkling dust, several individuals (primarily women/girls) manifest special abilities. For example, Ms. True can see snippets of the future, and she’s insanely strong. Her partner in crime, Penance Adair, can see electricity (a/k/a potential energy) and uses that insight to enhance her ability as an inventor.

Three years after the supernatural incident (which you don’t find out about until the end of the first episode), Amalia has gathered a number of the Touched at St. Romaulda’s Orphanage. She and Penance have been rescuing the Touched that find themselves in unfortunate circumstances. It is how they discover a teenager by the name of Myrtle Haplisch whose parents chained her to a bed because she began speaking in gibberish that sounded evil. Many foreign languages crowded Myrtle’s brain, making it impossible for her to speak one language at a time. Three men attempt to abduct Myrtle, but Amalia fights them off, and she, Myrtle, and Penance barely escape. They now know that this abduction of a Touched individual was not a singular incident.

Meanwhile, Inspector Frank Mundi of Scotland Yard, investigates the violent murder of a woman in a subway tunnel. Some believe it is the work of serial killer Maladie, who is also of the Touched, but he thinks otherwise. Amalia says that “Being Touched is not a defect of character.” But characters such as Lord Massen, a likely antagonist (we’ll find out as the story moves forward), lost his young daughter on the day of the event. He has a real problem with change, especially when it was not his doing. “We are the first generation accustomed to the impossible. What women are appalled by today, they will accept tomorrow and demand the day after that. And the immigrant. And the deviant. That is the power being wielded and not by us. The blade is in, gentlemen. We need to know whose hand is on the hilt.”

I’ll be watching the second episode tonight. Unlike Netflix, where the entire season is already available, I’ll have to suffer and wait for a new episode. The reviews for both shows are varied, but I don’t usually go by that! I find it interesting that both programs whose storyline occurred during the same period came out simultaneously. It reminds me of when The Prestige and The Illusionist came out about the same time in 2006.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide which show you like best. But I’ll continue feeding my love of the supernatural and Victorian London each week!

Ibukun! Blessings!

S-