What I’m Watching: Powerless

Powerless: Season 1, Episode 8 “Emergency Punch-Up” (B+)

While this probably wasn’t the best week to broadcast an episode about a gas attack, fortunately everything about this episode was pretty innocuous, save for Emily taking the truth to an angry level when she was breathing in way too much of the truth gas. Bringing something specific and special for everyone for the retreat, including individual catchphrase t-shirts such as “I don’t have a catchphrase” for Teddy, was just the kind of nice thing that Emily does to go above and beyond, and putting Dorothy in their group was another, one that got them delayed enough to miss the entire thing and have to contend with nearly dying in the confined space of their office. Van getting zingers from the comedy writers was a fun subplot, particularly when the funny one got trapped outside and exposed to the gas while the one on the inside was capable only of writing dramatic speeches, one of which Van delivered impressively. The desert island game went south quickly, with Ron offending Teddy because he didn’t want his best bud’s negative attitude and Wendy describing a handful of very intense reasons she would want to bring Van with her. When Emily went out and got exposed, all of her inhibitions were gone, allowing her a rare opportunity to shout down everyone who always fails to appreciate her. Doing karaoke with their shirts on was the perfect way to get her back in there, and what a triumphant return it was following their team effort to save the one among them who wouldn’t hesitate to do anything to save them.