The Power – A New Organ

By starrymag | April 6, 2023

By: Dawn Inchaurregui-Miller

 

 

The episode opens with a recording of the plane moments before it crashed down. You hear a young girl panicking as her father does his best to calm her down. There is also an air steward’s voice talking to the girl as you hear her scared and frantic. In the background people start shouting as beeping can be heard alongside rumbling, crashing noises and then nothing.

 

Mayor Margot Cleary-Lopez (Toni Collette) looks around the wreckage of the plane at the crash site while being briefed that the flight seems to have experienced an electrical malfunction as it was on its descent to the ground, making it come in too low. Margot notices the press have arrived and tells Helen (Edwina Findlay) that she doesn’t want names released until the families have been informed, but they should prepare a statement. Daniel Dandon (Josh Charles), the Governor, interjects saying that he already has his team on it, only just arriving on the scene Margot tells him she’s got it, but he insists on taking over as she’s tired. He heads over to the press, leaving Margot and Helen frustrated and undermined.

When he’s gone Margot turns to Helen to ask if there were any young girls on the plane, Helen, understanding why she’s asking, says the survivors were already taken to the hospital and they should go.

 

Allie Montgomery (Halle Bush) has passed out on the side of the road, her young body finally giving in to exhaustion. Someone we don’t see yet pulls up and places her carefully into their car. Her eyes roll open briefly to see a sign stating she was entering a convent, then her eyes flutter shut again.

 

Sitting in an office Tunde Ojo (Toheeb Jimoh) has a huge smile on his face as he watches his followers grow second by second. His video entitled “Electric Girl” is now viral and his phone ringing is confirmation of this. He is shocked when the caller tells him he’s from CNN and offers him a job. They want to buy the footage he already has and put him on a contract for more coverage. When his dad enters he panics, hastily ending the call and sits quietly as his father tells him he should be getting ready for his exams. He mocks Tunde for running around recording rubbish and tells him he has shamed the family. Tunde is disinterested in following his fathers path and says nothing in response as he leaves.

 

Jos (Auli’i Cravalho) has her headphones on, drowning out the world around her as she heads for the school bus. When the doors open she takes off her headphones to find that no girls are allowed on the bus today. She steps back off and watches Ryan (Nico Hiraga) hang his head out of the window and shout for the driver to stop, but the bus continues to drive away.

Jos walks side by side with Cat (Anissa Matlock) telling her what the driver did as they pass people in the halls talking about the various electric girls viral videos. One student mentions seeing someone with the back of their elbows shooting electricity out like a chainsaw, to which they look confused. As Cat heads off to her class, Jos is joined by Yuki (Ashley De Guzeman), who asks why Jos still hangs out with Cat when everyone knows she has “it.” Yuki asks Jos if she has yet seen the video of the girl sneezing it out of her nose and they make plans to meet up on Friday.

As they part ways Ryan catches up to her, apologizing for not getting off the bus, but he was confused as to what was happening. He asks to meet up with her later, but she already made plans with Cat, so she agrees to meet him on Friday. Pushing aside her plans to meet Yuki on Friday, she then repeats the story that Yuki told her about the sneezing girl.  Just then a tannoy announcement rings out asking all students to return to their home rooms, cancelling first period.

 

When they have all returned to their home rooms, Mr. Ellis (Mark Arnold) tells the other teacher Mrs. Elms (Amanda Drew) to leave the door open. She tells the students that they have had a directive issued by the Governor’s office. Mrs. Elms asks them to raise their hands is they have experienced the electricity themselves and to come to the front. Mr. Ellis is noticeably impatient and when none of the girls feel comfortable to raise their hands, he suggests they raise them if they know someone who has it. It instantly turns into a witch hunt with students pointing fingers at exes and friends they’ve fallen out with. Yuki raises her voice to tell them that she has seen both Jos and Cat doing it. Mr. Ellis seemingly wants to take all of the girls and looks at them with cold disgust. Several frightened girls begin to raise their hands saying they can also do it and join the others at the front. They’re told to leave their bags and are led out of the room in a line.

 

Helen tells Margot that there were only forty-six passengers and a single flight attendant that survived the crash as they enter the hospital. A father is at the reception shouting at staff to see his twelve-year-old daughter and is eventually approached by two FBI agents who claim they need to keep her for questioning as there are witnesses linking her to the incident. Margot steps up asking what is happening and when they try to dismiss her she informs them she is the Mayor and doesn’t understand why the FBI would be there when crashes are dealt with by the NTSB. They leave and Margot empathetically approaches the father. When she notices a tattoo on his arm he tells her he served in Afghanistan so she thanks him for his service. His name is John Kelly (Ty Olsson) and tells her his girl, Makayla, is a good kid and didn’t do anything wrong; however, she is just afraid to fly. He chokes up as he tells her she is probably alone and terrified. They build a rapport with Margot joking that he had better not deck one of the agents so she can help him see his girl. With a comforting touch on his shoulder, she leaves to call her husband asking for a way into the hospital isolation to see the girl. He tells her he will contact Tash, who unfortunately turns out to be his ex-girlfriend.

 

Waking up in a bed, Allie meets Sister Maria (Daniela Vega) who hands her a plate of food and patiently sits waiting for her to sit up. She tells her no one will hurt her and Allie begins to wolf down the food. Sister Maria tell her she is in the Sisters Of Christ convent and asks her name. Allie responds her name is Eve, to which the voice is impressed. The Sister tells her they grow their own food and make soap from seaweed so they have money for other things. She then mentions that they need more and more since they have taken in so many girls like her. Allie looks up anticipating a negative answer to this, but asks what she means by girls like her. Sister Maria answers, “Girls with no other place to go,” and she will be meeting them soon. The Sister tells her they found a cross in her bag as they had to check for weapons, drugs or alcohol. She asks if Allie is a believer and the voice mocks her when she responds yes and that she talks to god everyday. She then makes sure to use the pronoun “she” when following up that god talks back. Unfazed and almost satisfied with the response, she is told to rest as long as she likes and sister Maria leaves the room.

 

Allie walks outside into the sunshine and sees other girls everywhere working on various things. She passes two girls taking care of a third who is apparently going through a fit and eventually ends up in a common room of sorts,with dozens of girls watching videos of electric girls on the TV. After travelling for days, it’s the first time Allie has seen this in the news and realizing it isn’t just her, she asks aloud if any of them have it. They respond that most of them do and that’s why they’re there, to which Allie says she guesses everyone is special now. As the girls frown and look confused at each other, but the voice comforts her by saying that no one can do what she can. The moment is broken when a clothes donation is brought into the room and Allie steps back as the girls all but jump into the box.

Sister Veronica (Emily Kuroda) calls them outside for a meeting where they are all told not to use their electricity. Apparently there was an incident with a chicken which several of the girls at the back giggle about. According to the news the mutation is spreading across the world and seems to be dangerous. Sister Veronica tells them they will be made to leave if any of them are found using it and demands they get back to work. This initial interaction has Allie wondering if this isn’t a good place.

 

Margot walks along the hospital halls in a biohazard suit that they have been instructed to wear until they know more. Margot talks briefly to Dr Tash Bulan (Lexa Doig), asking how she met Rob – Margot’s husband. When they reach the room Tash tells her to keep an eye on time so she can miss the FBI agents doing their rounds.

Inside the room Margot finds a very small and frightened young girl hugging her knees. Makayla (Thailey Roberge) asks for dad but Margot tells her not to worry as she has just come from him. She makes sure to say she just wants to know what happened. Makayla explains that when the plane shakes it frightens her, which Margot says is something that also scares her own daughter Jos. She tells her that she had slept most of the journey on the Benadryl her father gave her and then woken up with a fright when the plane started shaking. She then began to feel as though she couldn’t breathe. She went on to tell her that her hands had been tingling for days and when the flight attendant tried to help put her belt buckle on the blanket caught fire. She begins to cry as she says that the plane then started to come down and asks Margot to apologize to “her.” Margot asks if she means the flight attendant, to which Makayla responds that she thinks she hurt her.

 

Flight Attendant Lacey (Karen Holness) sits in another room isolated and Margot takes a seat opposite her. She explains she had no idea how afraid Makayla was and was just trying to assist with her seatbelt. She tried to help with her head as she thought Makayla was starting to fit, but as the little girl tried to push her back she put her hands on Lacey’s chest and sent a jolt through her body that hurt like hell. Then, she pauses as she says to Margot that it then didn’t hurt at all – it felt amazing. She lifts her hands and Margot sits open mouthed as she watches the electricity crackle between her finger tips. She quietly says she can’t explain it but thinks Makayla passed it on to her and that together they both brought down the plane.

One of the officers opens the door and asks Margot to leave and begins telling off the hospital staff as she reaches into her pocket to answer a call from her husband (John Leguizamo). She tries to excitedly tell him what she has just seen, but he interrupts her saying she needs to get to the school now. It’s about Jos.

 

When Rob and Margot get to the school they burst into the gym calling for their daughter. The sight of girls all separated by panels with rubber gloves and cable ties around their hands enrages Rob, who immediately confronts the principal. He asks where his humanity has gone and reminds him that he has had dinner in their home. Margot finds Jos, who only wanted her dad and is not happy about her mother being there. Rob screams that the ties had better be taken off immediately. As the security guard takes the cable ties from Jos Margot warns him that all the girls had better be back home with their parents within the hour. Rob turns for a moment to take in the horrifying sight of the girls’ segregation.

 

Margot and Rob are outside with their daughter, holding a fire extinguisher as she stands apart from them with a newspaper in hand. She tells them some can aim and control how much they use but her electricity doesn’t work the same. They ask how hers works and she tries to concentrate on the paper. It’s as soon as she gives up that it catches fire in her hands. Dropping it to the ground, they put out the fire and she walks away.

 

At the convent the girls are busy working, some boiling down seaweed, others making labels and Allie with Sister Veronica doing the laundry. Allie tells her she wants to leave, but Sister Veronica has asked a doctor to look her over considering the shape she was in when she arrived. However, a storm is coming so they won’t arrive until after the storm has passed. She tells Allie that she has to go and fill out ID forms for their records, but the voice tells her to leave no paper trail. Allie wants to leave as soon as she has her shoes and Sister Veronica tells her that’s fine by them, but it has to be before the afternoon as they are locking the convent down.

 

Alone in the office Allie rushes around trying to find things to steal, her rummaging is interrupted by sister Maria telling her she won’t find much as they all took a vow of poverty. She asks her to sit, promising no repercussions or police,  asshe just wants to talk to her. She nods at the walls and tells Allie about the movements that Sister Veronica has been part of and that she isn’t all bad. The pictures on the walls show marches for AIDS research and gay rights protests. She goes on to explain that Sister Veronica had been excommunicated by the church for supporting her as a trans woman. She had been cast out, living in the streets, when Sister Veronica found her and took her in. Allie states that it isn’t very catholic of her, to which Sister Maria agrees. They are nuns and sisters of Christ in their hearts, but not in the church. All of the nuns there have been cast out, fighting for justice. When Allie asks why she is against them using the electricity then, Sister Maria tells her it’s a crisis of faith. She’s a revolutionary but worries about the consequences that come with change. She asks Allie to stay. “Rebel nuns and wayward girls,” the voice says knowingly. It goes on to say, “See, I told you there’s a place where you belong.”

 

Rob and Margot talk in the kitchen while Joss sits trying to watch the TV,  hearing every word. Margot says everyone’s claiming it’s just a hoax, but there are videos everywhere, fires, power outages and Governor Danden just ignored her warnings. Her husband knows she did, but tries his best to comfort her. She tells him about Makayla quarantined like a lab rat and worries the same will happen to Jos. He argues that it won’t come to that as there are hundreds of thousands of them, she isn’t the only one. In the front room Jos’ brother Matty (Gerrison Machado) grabs the remote from her and slumps down on the other side of the sofa. He flicks the channels landing on a documentary about electric eels, comparing Joss to them. In the kitchen Margot and Rob hurriedly decide to contact a therapist they have previously met to talk with Jos. Back in the front room Matty makes a crude comment about his sister and an offended Jos grabs the other end of the remote and the two of them begin to fight over it. Accidentally, a shock crackles from her hands and shoots up Matty’s arms, seriously hurting him. As he cries out in pain, clutching his eye, their parents come rushing into the room and Rob shouts for her to get Frank to bring the car out front.

 

Tunde drives to Ndudi’s (Heather Agyepong) house at night, creeping round the back as they have both been warned to stay away from each other. He knocks on the window and she eventually comes out the back. He apologises and just as she’s about to forgive him, he tells her about the CNN job offer which instantly angers her again. It was her story and he took it from her. She tells him to do something for himself that he believes in for once. He goes towards her saying he doesn’t know what that is, but she backs away reluctant to help after the hurt he has caused her. Her family comes outside and shouts at him to leave, even following through to the front door to make sure he goes. In the darkness near his car he sees a girl across the street stretch her hands out and restart the generator for her house. Tunde smiles and rushes back to his house.

 

As he frantically packs, Tunde’s brother Danni Ono (Emeka Sesay) tries to talk him out of leaving, warning him that their father won’t allow him back. Tunde doesn’t want to work with his father, doing lessons and exams he doesn’t care about. He tells Danni about the CNN job, saying that he can get into places and do things other journalists can’t. He takes a moment to say that Allah has shown him his path. He knows the power is spreading and it’s going to change the world.

 

At the hospital Jos sits in the waiting area with her younger sister Izzy (Pietra Castro), opposite her brother’s room where her mother sits by his side. When Margot comes back out Rob calls her saying they have the test results back. The doctor tells them his eye will heal, but there will be some scarring, so he recommends they look into surgery. Rob greets his ex, Tash, and Margot takes a seat beside their daughter. She tells Jos that they know it was an accident but she immediately bites back at her mother, claiming she is just pretending to care about her. Margot is surprised and tells her she loves her. Jos says it’s the most time they’ve spent together in over a year, to which Margot apologizes. She thought Jos didn’t want to be around her, making Jos grunt in disagreement. They notice Rob staring from across the room and he calls Jos over to get some answers.

 

They are getting ready to run Jos through an MRI machine while Margot, Rob and Tash watch from the control room. Through the microphone her dad tries to keep her calm but alone inside the tight space she begins to panic. She calls out to her mom and dad as the machine begins to glitch and ultimately cuts out.

Rob and Tash are looking at the images and gesture to Margot who is sitting outside with her arm around Jos. Tash shows Margot that although the machine broke down, they were able to get a clear image of her chest lighting up as it happened and can see where the electricity comes from. The two doctors talk fast between themselves, so Margot coughs and asks them to translate into layperson for her. “It’s a new organ” are the surprising words that follow. They tell her that the brain, heart and eyes all generate electricity but this is a new organ that does nothing else but generate it. Rob says it can’t be a genetic mutation as it’s happening to too many of them. Tash floats the idea that it’s a genetic switch that flipped after laying dormant. Margot in disbelief wants to know why and her husband guesses that perhaps it’s environmental like polluted soil and contamination, but Tash suggests that maybe it’s survival. Margot flaps her arms up trying to fathom what is being suggested and says, “So either we did this to them…” She pauses, realizing the likelihood of the second option “or they developed it out of necessity.”

 

Margot is back to calling Governor Danden, showing her call log endless with attempts to reach him. When he eventually answers he is angry and calls it harassment, but she gets straight to the point telling him that it’s a new organ. The girls’ bodies are evolving and had they put resources into it, they could have prevented the fires and deaths. She becomes annoyed when he tells her to calm down, brushing her off again as she warns him it could be contagious. She tells him that Makayla, the girl from the crash, passed it onto the air steward, but his response makes her instantly realise that he already knew, keeping it secret from her and the terrified public. When he tells her that Washington already has its own plans in place to deal with it she barks back at him that all he cares about is his campaign. She insists that parents need to know so they can help their girls and that the girls themselves deserve to know what’s happening to their bodies. Governor Dandon makes it clear that he doesn’t want his face, which is currently soaking in a moisturiser mask, attached to this and instructs her to let Washington deal with it. Margot, finally having enough of him, calls him a coward. She says when he should be a source of comfort for the people that he represents, he does absolutely nothing. His tone changes as he leans in, making a thinly veiled threat for her to stay quiet and not mess things up for him.

He tells her he’s serious. She retorts “so am I.”

 

Helen walks into Margot’s office saying they’re ready for her. They prepare for the worst but are essentially two women ready to lose everything if it means doing the right thing.

The shot shows an empty stage at the end of a walkway, with journalists sitting on either side. Margot walks to the center of this stage, places her speech on the stand and steadies herself.

She addresses everyone there, thanking them for coming and tells them she knows that they are being told that the rumours of electric girls are merely a hoax. She pauses briefly before announcing, “it is not a hoax.” The journalists murmur and begin writing. She isn’t there to talk to them only as their Mayor, but also as a parent. She doesn’t think it’s ok as a mother with two girls at home for politicians to make the choice whether or not they should know what’s happening to their bodies. She brings up times in the past that these choices have been taken out of womens hands leading to shame and desperation. She lists back alley abortions, teenagers with no money being forced into childbirth, post partum mothers silenced and rape victims that are too afraid to report the crime.

She then moves on to tell them everything they know so far…

The scene briefly changes to Rob turning when he hears his wife’s voice on the TV behind him. Jos is already watching it and shakes her head with a smile when her dad asks if she knew Margot was planning to do this.

Cutting back to Margot, she announces that the electricity is not a virus, but comes from a new organ located between the collar bone on the chest. It occurs naturally in girls ages twelve to nineteen but it can be transferred. She explains that though it mimics the electrical impulses of the heart, they don’t know why. She ends by saying the world may never be the same again.

 

The episode closes with a montage of news reporters and leaders from all over the world relaying the information. Some inform the public as facts, but as the montage progresses we are shown male leaders briefly saying things like use tranquillisers, lock the girls up if necessary and capital punishment, among other things. However, the last imagery is of girls looking and feeling stronger, with gangs walking the streets adorning a lightning bolt across their faces.