2021 was a strange time to become a fan of a show with Joss Whedon’s name on it. The Neversa supernatural thriller series set in an alternate fantasy version of Victorian England premiered under a cloud in April 2021 Allegations of on-set abuse dating back to the days of Buffy the vampire slayer built up against Whedon, the creator and producer of the series. The Nevers struggled to find an audience amid all the negative press, and the show was paused after six episodes, ostensibly because of production delays. Two years later, the promised half of the inaugural season – the other six episodes in its 12-episode run – is now here sporadically stream free online, at least for those willing to jump through the considerable hurdles involved in seeing them. Few viewers will care. And that’s a shame, because The Nevers was always better than its reputation or the man so strongly associated with it.
The launch of the series was doomed from the start. Almost a year before the premiere justice league Actor Ray Fisher had complained awkwardly about Whedon’s behavior as the film’s backup director after Whedon succeeded director Zack Snyder. Following Fisher’s comments, other actors and creatives who worked with Whedon came forward with their own stories of abuse and humiliation. November 2020, Whedon resigned from The Nevers, with producer Philippa Goslett in charge. But the damage was done. fisherman details finally provided about his experience with Whedon in April 2021 when the series premiered and the show’s start after the news was muted and mellow.
Early reaction to the show was mostly doubtful to disgusted. The pilot episode is certainly a problem as it introduces so many characters and concepts that it doesn’t feel like a teaser for a coherent story. It contains too much of the kind of joke-oriented, self-aware whimsy that fandom despises — and too Blame Whedon for it whenever they see it in any medium. After Whedon’s career-long focus on easygoing-but-tough, troubled-but-dutiful female heroes, the show’s focus on precisely this brand of super-powered women felt not empowering, but so much as Whedon was plagiarizing himself. Season 1’s villain Maladie (Amy Manson), another in a line of crazy-talking, playful, emotionally damaged characters in Whedon’s works, feels a lot like a slightly altered version of Drusilla Buffyand she feels embarrassingly outdated at a time when creators are trying to get over portraying the mentally ill as dangerous villains.
But The Nevers has earned a low-key fandom because, despite everything, the first half of it is a single season increases significantly once you get past this unpromising start. It quickly turns into a surprising, captivating sci-fi series full of powerful, unexpected changes and ambitious storytelling. It feels like Whedon has banked on his fame and fans to get viewers over the hump of a somewhat conventional fantasy series opening. But many of them never did — and they missed out on a lot of surprises, especially after they got past the pilot that Whedon wrote and directed and moved into the deeper storyline of the series.
And most importantly, they missed a smashing performance by Laura Donnelly as series star Amalia True, a character defined equally by kick-ass action sequences and rich, intricate character work. Donnelly and Ann Skelly as Amalia’s best friend Penance Adair both feel like clichéd dudes in the opening episode and then quickly develop into endearing and admirable characters whose determination and developing relationship was a big part of the show’s appeal throughout the first half of the season . All that means for the fans The Nevers managed to accumulate, the revelation that the second half of the show actually exists is exciting news.
Now they just have to figure out how to see it.
given everything that happened around Whedon in 2020 and 2021 – and his insistence on digging deeper with a disastrous job interview In responding to the allegations, the show’s hiatus after episode 6 made it seem unlikely that the other episodes would be filmed, let alone ever aired. When HBO Max was dumped The Nevers from its platform, ostensibly as a cost-cutting measure that also sees more expensive shows (like western world And Raised by wolves) got the boot, it seemed like the end of the story.
Then Tubi announced that it had acquired the license not only for the aired episodes but also for the latter half of the season and would stream them online for free, via a WB Watchlist Channel – one of several live streams hosted at Tubi and accessible through the same apps and services that access Tubi. But “live streaming” means that the episodes are broadcast at specific times and in consecutive blocks of several hours. So if you want to watch them, you have to create a free Tubi account, tune in at a specific time, and watch them nonstop with no access to pauses or rewind – that’s really not how most people watch TV these days. “Schedule TV” is certainly one thing, but it usually means people sitting down to start a new episode of their favorite show as soon as they can watch it for the first time, rather than sitting in front of the TV for three hours from a certain time.
This limitation of finally seeing the back half The Nevers has led to fans of the show trying to find workarounds, or beg someone to record and download the episodes for them. It also means that even the biggest fans will likely be watching the episodes out of sync over time, at least until they can reliably pirate them. It’s just the final depressing blow to a series that deserved better and never really had a chance to thrive.
Tubi is available at TubiTV.comvia apps on Android and iOS mobile devices, on Roku, on smart TV apps and devices like Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV, as well as on current generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The Nevers and other shows can be found under the Live TV tab, which takes you to the service’s continuously streamed channels. The next window for episodes of The Nevers takes place from March 1st to 3rd. Tubi says he’s expecting the show “in regular rotation.”
