What I’m Watching: Powerless

Powerless: Season 1, Episode 5 “Cold Season” (B+)

This episode was really funny, and I like how it incorporated elements of the show’s universe into it. Emily’s response to the impending cold season made sense, but of course in this world, it’s right in the middle of the summer when all the icy supervillains come to town and start freezing things. Teddy’s heat gloves were pretty cool, able to pop popcorn and then eventually able to be used by Crimson Fox to defeat the villains. I love that Emily motivated Teddy to initially consider submitting to the Wayne Innovation contest by comparing him to the “Hobbit” movies, and that he had offended her earlier by describing something as “Emily Exciting.” I’m particularly intrigued by the fact that Lena Dunham exists in this show’s universe. While Emily thinks she understands how her younger dog walker sister feels having to live up to her expectations, Teddy living in the shadow of his space doctor brother who gets calls from the president is a considerably bigger deal. I love that Van thought that there was a ransom note in the toy box and that he turned to Ron to follow the instructions to put everything together. It’s great that he was assembling an invisible jet that, of course, Emily couldn’t see when she just walked right through it, and finally he let it all bottle up, resulting in quite the explosion at Van, thanks in part to the news that Dylan is actually a girl and he had to build something else entirely. I like the dynamic that Ron and Van have, even if they’re never going to really know each other.