The Power – The Shape of Power

By starrymag | May 19, 2023

By: Dawn Inchaurregui-Miller

 

 

Riddled with guilt for the death of Sister Veronica, Allie/Eve (Halle Bush) sees flashes of her and imagery of snakes from the garden of Eden. Allie/Eve is struggling under the weight of her actions, made in service to a mystery voice that may or may not be that of God. The lights from emergency service vehicles reflect over the walls as she listens to the voice telling her it was an act of war against an enemy, but the guilt is still visibly gnawing at her insides. The voice (Adina Porter) tells her that a soldier will come. Reassurances like this make her feel she is on the right path and temporarily work to alleviate the guilt.

 

Having only just heard of him, Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz) rushes to the house of a man who had apparently been in a long time relationship with her mother, completely unbeknownst to her. She hammers on the door looking for answers, announcing who she is. He opens the door slowly, apologising to her for her mothers death. But after a moment’s pause, she uses her EOD to force the door open. Derrick Reena (Edward Foy) tries to hold the door, but she bursts through. He tries to reach for a gun, but she shoots that from his hand with her electricity. Roxy has a one track mind today for vengeance and has come demanding answers. She backs him into a corner as he tries to explain everything. He had been investigating her dad, Bernie Monke, when he fell for her mother, but fear led him to destroy his files and quit the police force. Evidently; however, not quick enough to save the woman he wished to marry from being murdered by Bernie to protect his secrets. Roxy sobs, asking why neither he, nor her mother told her of their relationship and can’t believe he didn’t reach out to her or even leave flowers at the funeral. Still hunched down in the corner, he confesses to being a coward after Bernie sent such a violent message. He calls Roxy one of Bernie Monke’s soldiers now and anticipates death, but Roxy, unsure who she is anymore, storms back out of the house, leaving him there.

 

Margot’s (Toni Collette) campaign video shows flashes of Urbandox but primarily concentrates on the extreme measures that Governor Daniel Dandon has been taking. She talks of his attempts to criminalise the use of EOD and shows a girl kept inside a prison cell to emphasise the point. When the video finishes, closing on an image of her with her family, her campaign team applauds, but she takes a moment to correct her expression, lost in that ending shot of her “happy” family. Her campaign manager Caleb Ezra (Christian Vincent) and Helen (Edwina Findley) remain inside the room with her and noticing her expression, Caleb begins to ask if there are any cracks in her personal life. He asks about Ryan, Jos’s intersex boyfriend, whom Margot’s son Matty had posted videos of to the Urbandox website. Both Caleb and Helen believe these make her look less relatable, which she takes as them attempting to ask her to make Jos end her relationship with him. They both reassure her that’s not their intention, but instead Helen suggests that she talk with Ryan’s parents as there is concern for his safety. He is, after all, the only known intersex person with enough Chromosomal irregularities to have developed a skein. Margot is then asked about her marriage to Rob, which she enthusiastically claims is fine, though she is painfully aware now of his intention to divorce her.

 

Walking through the halls, Ryan (Nico Hiraga) keeps his head low while being mocked on all sides by girls and boys alike. In the opposite direction, Jos (Auli’l Cravalho) approaches, seeing her childhood friend, Yuki (Ashley De Guzman) burning “Sparky” into Ryan’s locker. She snarls at Jos asking if she’s worth talking to now that she also has EOD and calls Jos “Fizz,” intending to mock her previous inability to use EOD properly. Jos pushes her up against the locker stating she has no idea why she had ever been friends with her to begin with and tells her to evolve. She then proudly takes a sheepish Ryan’s hand and they walk away together.

 

In Ryan’s family home, Helen meets with his parents to discuss keeping him safe. She hands them a leaflet saying he could go to a summer camp to learn how to control his EOD and stay safe around other people his age. It’s unclear if this is a genuine camp or somewhere that Helen and members of the campaign want to hide him away. They tell her they have received threats and are terrified of losing their jobs, to which she seems empathetic, though a little insincere, giving a dark sense of foreboding.

 

On the bus for his wife’s campaign tour, Rob (John Leguizamo) sits being interviewed by Kate Hayes (Rachel Robinson) who compliments him to the point of being openly flirtatious. He tells her he likes to think of himself as the man beside the woman, not behind and talks of how much Margot wants to help people – the girls with EOD – but the people around them too. He asks when the article will be out, leading her to offer to email him a copy beforehand. He gives her his professional email address, but pauses a moment before offering to give her his personal one instead. A moment is shared between them that leaves the viewer feeling uncomfortable, not just because it will crush Margot, but because Kate herself seems to have an ulterior motive.

 

Matty (Gerrison Machado) sits playing computer games when he hears his laptop receiving a call behind him. He moves towards his bed becoming excited when he sees the call is from Urbandox himself. He finds himself in turmoil when Urbandox asks him to spy on his mothers campaign, playing on his feelings of being ignored and overlooked. Matty doesn’t want anyone else getting hurt and Urbandox claims to be against the violence that men have been doing in his name, that he wants no violence at all and plays up to Matty’s fear after having been accidentally injured by his sister. Urbandox goes on to explain that if his mum wins, that the family will become even bigger targets and claims to want to make sure that doesn’t happen.

 

Tunde Ojo (Toheeb Jimoh) lays on his back across the metal table in the hidden interview room at the bottom of the palace where he has clearly been waiting in fear for some time. He jumps up when he hears the door unlock and steps backwards when Tatiana Moskalev (Zrinka Cvitesic) enters the room, unsure of what to expect. He begins to awkwardly speak, but she shuts him down, checking behind her that no one can hear her before asking where is her sister. He tells her that she is by the border in an abandoned bath house and that Zoia had him memorise a phone number to give Tatiana. Without breaking eye contact, Tatiana hands him a lipstick and offers up her arm for him to write the number down. She turns to leave but he grabs her arm pulling her back, to say Zoia wanted him to pass a message, “Pick a side.” She tells him a car has been arranged to take him to the hotel for his things and then straight to the airport, telling him to go home when he tries to interject. Before leaving she tells him she will see him again.

 

Back at his hotel Tunde stands amidst a chaos of people running back and forth, fleeing the hotel. He approaches the counter and asks the concierge what is happening, to which he gravely tells him that Viktor Moskalev is dead. Time slows down as the news, carrying the potential for disastrous consequences, leaves him reeling. Back inside his room, desperately packing, he calls Declan (Risteard Cooper), who had selfishly left him there for dead. He is livid with Declan for turning on him, but Declan makes no apologies, claiming he’s the reason Tunde has the story of his life. Asking if he’s seen the news, he tells Tunde that Viktor was murdered by a hairdresser who was potentially a sympathiser of the rebels and tells him to immediately get out of the country. Panicking, Tunde says he needs to warn Zoia, but Declan is already on his way there and tells him not to bother. Declan hangs up, leaving Tunde shouting and swearing, realising while he had been left potentially for dead, Declan was happily taking advantage to steal his story.

 

Approaching the river bank on the opposite side, Declan calls out to General Zoia (Ana Ularu), asking to speak with her and claiming to be friends with Tunde. She cuddles her new born baby, asking what he wants. He tells her he knows Tatiana is her sister and wants to hear her story and tells the world, mimicking the words of Tunde Ojo without an ounce of the same compassion. The women talk amongst themselves as he stands waiting on the opposite riverbank. After some discussion, one of the women tells him to cross the river, with a smirk across her face. “Okay,” he says, then immediately begins boasting about how he crossed through a river before while escaping a cartel, winning a Pulitzer for the story. The women laugh amongst themselves, completely unimpressed by his arrogance. One of them slides her hand into the river and shocks him, making them all laugh as he hops in the water. When she does it again he immediately begins to curse at them proclaiming his self importance as a journalist and calls them all cows. Zoia’s face drops at the insult, all them momentarily falling silent as though waiting for an apology that never comes. The best he gives them is a shrug, so with the damage done and a nod given, the woman plunges her hand back into the water, shocking Declan to death.

 

The camera follows through a dark house towards the sound of water running from a tap. Bernie Monke (Eddie Marsan) stands in the darkened kitchen drinking a glass of water, jumping in fright when his daughter speaks to him, breaking the silence. She asks him, “What keeps you up at night?” And then follows with, “Is it all the people you’ve had killed?” Most likely realising her meaning behind the loaded question, he changes the subject, asking where she has been. She tells him she went for a walk, not breaking her gaze from him or her lessening her steely tone. He tells her to go to bed, which she refuses, so, with a hint of fear, he says he will go to bed instead. Roxy quickly stands and shouts the name Derrick Reena, the name of her mothers boyfriend. She asks him why he was such a threat, was he worried that either herself or her mother would forget about him? A moment of silence passes before he answers that Derrick was a police officer and begins crudely verbally attacking her mother for being so stupid as to sleep with him. Behind Bernie we see Roxy’s brother Darrell (Archie Rush) enter the room, asking what’s happening and Roxy asks their dad to say what he did out loud. He walks around the kitchen island, explaining that her mother knew everything about him. That after him housing her, paying everything for her and refusing to cut her off, she was still sleeping with a cop. He laughs and raises a glass of champagne, finally admitting it was him without any remorse. Roxy leans across the kitchen island, distraught with grief, rocking back and forth on her feet before spitefully telling him that she is glad his son’s dead so he knows how it feels. She tells him it never goes away, raising her hands and saying at least she was there, she was the reason it happened. Bernie begins to smash glasses off the counter, clearly too afraid to strike his daughter, as his wife Barbara (Juliet Cowan) enters having heard the commotion. Roxy screams that she will kill him and her dad holds out his arms inviting her to do so. She turns her attention to Barbara, asking if she knew. Barbara doesn’t understand the question and asks “Know what?” Roxy responds “about my mum.” Barbara, still unsure what’s been happening, asks what about her mum, directing this firstly at Roxy. Looking around at her husband, she walks toward him redirecting the question, slowly realising what he has done. Roxy walks towards them, turning to Barbara and tells her that if she is going to stick by him, she will need the only thing Roxy can give to keep her safe. She places her hands on her stepmother’s chest and passes a current through it, waking up the skein in her chest. Darrell pleads for his sister to stop but Barbara now has it and stands lightly crackling electricity between her fingers. Roxy turns and says bye to her dad, leaving them in the kitchen and heads upstairs to steal jewellery.

 

Sister Maria (Daniela Vega) enters Allie/Eve’s room, telling her she can come out now that the police have gone. Guilt is written across Allie/Eve’s face as she asks for news, but Sister Maria reassures Allie/Eve that no one mentioned her being in the convent and tells her that they aren’t sure if Sister Veronica suffered a brain haemorrhage or had fallen. Allie/Eve soon realizes that Sister Maria is also feeling guilty and she sits down beside her. She saw Sister Veronica as a mother figure and wished she had taken better care of her.  Allie/Eve responds that she herself never had a mother, until god started speaking to her. She tells her that Sister Veronica is now by God’s side and the voice calls her clever for using faith to build the army that she needs. Sister Maria thanks her, feeling comforted, safe in her reaffirmed belief in God.

 

The scene changes to Allie/Eve talking alongside and overlapping the voice in her head, speaking of God as the mother and creator of all things. She performs a baptism on Sister Veronica and several of the other nuns, while surrounded by all the girls from the convent. The moment is broken when Savannah (Emily Renée) comes running in, declaring that Allie/Eve is a fake, that she doesn’t speak to god, she’s crazy and a murderer. All of the girls stand in silence by Allie’s/Eve’s side, who calmly responds that God offered Savannah salvation and will not forget that she turned her back on it.

 

In an airport across the other side of the world, Roxy watches the baptism on her phone, smirking and remarking how clever it was to convert nuns. Her phone begins to ring when Darrel calls to warn her that their dad is trying to find her. He knows she’s fleeing to New York with the jewellery she stole and when a tannoy announces her name for a standby ticket to New York, she has to quickly decide somewhere else to go instead. At the desk, she panics, as they need to have a specific location to be able to change the ticket, so looking down at her phone while the video of the baptism continues, a soldier makes up her mind.

 

Tatiana Moskalev (Zrinka Cvitesic) sits at a long table by herself, ending a phone call to an unknown recipient. Behind her General Miron (Bogdan Albulescu) tells her the army is in place and ready to move on the rebels. She stands and leans against the table, extending her leg for the tracking bracelet to be removed while telling him that she is sacrificing her sister for the good of the country. She holds out her hand, which he takes and kisses to show loyalty. Touching his face with tears in her eyes, she asks him not to let her down, to which he responds, never. Sitting back up onto the table, she crosses her legs and smiles to herself.

 

Tunde runs through the streets, desperately trying to find transportation to warn Zoia of the coming army. He climbs into a bus, but looking round at a bus full of women he becomes afraid and disembarks. He finally finds a car rental shop and takes the last car amidst a chaos of people trying to flee the city.

 

In another car far across the globe with the rest of her family, Jos repeatedly texts her boyfriend Ryan having heard nothing from him since the day before. Her younger sister Izzy (Pietra Castro) watches the baptism of Sister Maria at the convent on her iPad and Matty receives a message for Urbandox asking if he is still with them. Margot reaches her hand over to her husband Rob, but remembering that he is leaving her, she removes it from his.

 

The family stands for photos with a backdrop that reads ‘We’re stronger together,” but as the photo shoot ends Rob turns to look at Margot, who silently looks back, before turning her attention to the campaign team. Upstairs the kids walk to their hotel room, with Jos asking if they’re ok with Pizza as Matt reads statistics from his phone regarding female politicians that receive threats of rape and murder. Jos asks him if he’s suddenly a feminist now, saying no, with an immediate look akin to disgust, he asks if she is not scared for their mother if she wins.

 

In the lobby Rob has been drinking with several people they know from the campaign team. He stands up to leave so he can go back to his kids, but bumps into Kate who takes a seat as he goes. He awkwardly goes to the elevator, wishing he could stay and talk with her. As he waits for the elevator to arrive, Kate slides in front of him, hands him a bank card that he left and tells him her room number. As he watches her leave with a big smile on his face, two drunken men in suits bump into him, instantly enraging him to the point they almost fight.

 

Helen runs through statistics and facts to prepare Margot for the showdown she is about to have against Governor Dandon, telling her that of the people sitting in the middle, undecided between the two potential leaders, half want bodily autonomy that will be covered by insurance and half want EOD registered like a gun. Caleb warns her that Dandon intends to keep bringing up the cases of EOD violence and warns her not to let him turn it into a men versus women argument. With five minutes to go, Helen reminds her to say that rape and domestic violence are significantly down since the beginning of EOD. They leave her to her thoughts to calm herself and get mentally ready, but she can feel her skin beginning to swell so she quietly discharges some of the electricity.

 

Having taken their opposing podiums, Governor Dandon (Josh Charles) starts by bringing up Clyde Montgomery, the man that Allie/Eve murdered after being continuously raped under his care. Dandon calls him a good Christian man and talks of the delinquent foster girl that is still missing, but Margot replies that they still don’t actually know the facts from that case yet. Daniel turns this around, stating that those words would be a good slogan for her “we still don’t know all the facts.” He goes on to say that they should be collecting data to make lists of the women and girls with EOD, but she thinks that would be discriminatory to women. He tells the crowd that they shouldn’t be allowed to work as it poses a danger to others, then contradicts himself that he has no problem at all with the people who have EOD. He tells her he merely wants to create legislation to prevent violence before it begins, but Margot tells him they already have laws, assault is assault, whether it’s a fist or EOD. Margot believes that EOD should be treated as a healthcare issue that, not a criminal one, now that it affects half the world’s population, but Dandon responds that all people who pose a threat should be locked up. Margot tries to turn the talk to data, to which he interrupts saying that speaking of data, the confidential file leak had most likely been caused by her husband Rob who was college friends with Declan. Margot handles it swiftly, saying her husband has many friends and that Declan is an extremely successful journalist who knows many people. Calling Daniel desperate, she finally gets the chance to say how overall violence is down, that the statistics of rape and domestic abuse have lowered by a significant amount and that crime on trans women has stopped altogether in the last three months. The crowd burst into applause when she firmly states that it is a promise for a better future. When the applause dies down, the mediator between the two tells them a woman from the audience has a question. She comes forward and tells them both that she is a feminist, but has chosen not to have EOD as all she has seen from it is violence and after living in a house with violence, she wishes not to perpetuate that. Matty applauds as do several other men in the audience and Rob leans in to his children saying that it is her choice after all. The lady says to them that she feels EOD is being forced on women and she doesn’t want herself or her daughter to be forced to carry a gun on her body. She merely wants to know what measures are being taken to contain and control the EOD for those who don’t want it. The floor is passed to Danden, who is excited to answer, stating that EOD is, after all, an unlicensed weapon. He then uses this to tell them that his team are working on a bill that would outlaw transferring EOD. Margot spins her head to look at him in shock as several of the audience groan in disbelief. He tries to claim that transferring could cause long term health conditions for those who it is transferred to. When it’s Margot’s turn to respond to the audience member, Penelope (Michelle Cyr), she acknowledges the struggles she must have gone through to ensure her family life is not the same as what she grew up with herself. She then asks her if she thinks all women feel that same safety at home, do they feel it when they walk in the street, or does she herself feel as safe in the street as she does at home? Her answer to all of these questions is no. Margot follows this up by saying that women with EOD are making the streets safer for women like her, that though she does support a woman’s right not to have it, she doesn’t believe other women should be forced to have the ability to protect themselves taken away. The words resonate with all deeply, leaving the whole room applauding, including Penelope, but Dandon has one last trick up his sleeve. He talks of a conversion school in California where children are being experimented on and force fed medication, pointing out that it’s where her daughter’s boyfriend was sent. Jos’s jaw drops in the audience, as does Margot’s, who honestly had no idea that Helen had sent him away. Margot clitches at her chest, trying to remain calm but visibly reeling at the news. Dandon calls Margot a liar, leading on with claims that her daughter is a loose cannon that injured her own brother. Margot shouts at him to stop, but as she does, she releases an EOD charge so strong, he bursts back, crashing to the floor, twitching and writhing. As panic breaks out across the room, Margot looks to her daughter Jos and shakes her head, completely unsure of what to do, but across the room with blood coming from his mouth, Dandon is not looking good.

 

Driving into the woods, the sounds of gunshots ringing out across the distance, Tunde fearfully exits the car and begins filming with his phone. There are guns, bodies and signs that EOD is being weaponized everywhere. As he streams live, following the path to the river, he tells his followers that the army was sent to confront the rebels, but that Zoia and her army were ready for them. The camera pans out showing bodies of both sides floating dead in the river but his attention is drawn to that of Declan. He speaks his name and bends to his knees to see if he is still alive, but with eyes wide open, pale skin and no pulse, Tunde stands and retreats to the car. Behind him he hears screaming as a man in flames comes bursting from the woods. He runs to the man’s aid, pushing him to the ground to put out the fire, but when he rolls him over, he sees the familiar face of General Miron. Helping him drink water, General Miron tries to tell him that Tatiana betrayed them and warned the rebels and while screaming in pain from the severity of the burns, Tunde helps him into the back of the car. His phone begins to ring in his pocket, he reaches for it instantly relieved to see the face of his best friend. Ndudi (Heather Agyepong) asks if he was hurt having seen the live stream and begs him to come home, while all he can do is cry on the floor beside the car.

 

The rebel women, formerly trafficked and raped daily by men in disgusting buildings, in towns where no one dared ask questions, triumphantly kill the remaining soldiers. Zoia sits breastfeeding her new baby girl, talking on the phone with her sister Tatiana, now an aunty and the president of Carpathia, about a world that will be different for Zoia’s daughter. The rebel women celebrate their win, shooting guns into the air and cheering as they record themselves.

 

Bursts of electricity tear through the water as Roxy stands in the ocean, sun beating down, laughing to herself as she fires her EOD. Allie/Eve quietly walks into view behind her and suddenly Roxy can no longer produce electricity. “I thought you’d be taller,” she says to Roxy, who spins round, soon realising that Allie/Eve is controlling her with her mind. Impressed by the talent, Roxy still refuses to believe it’s god, stating that it might work on other people, but not her. Roxy then tries with all her might and rips out a current of electricity that sends Allie/Eve hurtling backwards into the sand. Pleasantly surprised, she tells Roxy that she is the most powerful person she’s ever seen. Roxy gives a cocky, but warm smile and reaches out a hand to help her up. “What took you so long,” Allie/Eve asks her new friend and in true Roxy style, she responds that she had to make a stop at Disney to decide what princess she wanted to be. They keep eye contact for a moment, in what could either be attraction, or respect, possibly both, before Allie/Eve welcomes her to her new home. The other girls begin to collect on the grass beyond the sand, curious to see the newest member of their convent and seeing them, Allie/Eve, takes Roxy’s hand and walks the soldier that had been foretold, toward her new family.