A Better Future Is in Your Hands

**A Better Future Is in Your Hands** is the first episode of the first season of The Power, and the first episode overall. It aired March 31, 2023.

## Synopsis

Across the world teenage girls are experiencing a strange sensation beneath their collarbones, a tingling in their hands and sudden jolts of electricity sparking from their fingertips. This new power is an agent of both liberation and destruction.

## Plot

*This section is a detailed plot of this episode. **There are major spoilers.** Click to expand.*

Jos scrolls through her mother’s social media feed. Later at school, she accidentally gives her crush a static shock through the lockers. Feeling something off about herself, she keeps rubbing her neck, until her classmate Cat notices, telling her she had the same power for two weeks now, and shows Jos how to manipulate it to her will. In the process of learning, Jos shuts down all the lights in the surrounding area.

In London, Roxy Monke attends the wedding of her brother. She asks her father Bernie Monke, a crime boss, for a job. Bernie has given jobs to her brothers, but he thinks she’s too emotional, and refuses her.

Drunk off wine from the wedding, Roxy later accidentally starts a fire with the wine bottle and her electrical powers before returing home to her mom. That night, men break into their house. As one of them grabs her mom, she feels a surge of power. Roxy rushes at one of the men and hurts him with an electric shock. Knocked out by another man, she wakes up to find the men gone and her mom dead. When she returns to the wedding reception, she’s covered in blood.

In Nigeria, Tunde tries to make it as a journalist. He initially ignores his friend Ndudi’s lead on a group of women trying to awaken their magic powers. But when he experiences a strange electrical shock from a woman he hooks up with, he shows up at the gathering to take the story from Ndudi.

He films women playing with sparks from their fingertips, but they soon catch him and turn on him. When Ndudi defends him, one of the women sends a shock to her head, and they all run.

Allie, a teen in Alabama, is unable to speak due to past trauma, and is infantilized by her foster parents. During church services, a voice speaks into Allie’s head, calling out the pastor for blaming his sin on the first woman, Eve. Allie tries to run, but the voice persists. It calls itself her guardian angel, telling Allie she doesn’t have to fear ever again. She now has the power.

The voice tells her she’ll know when the time is right, assuring her, “A better future is in your hands.” At dinner, it tells her to speak, so she does for the first time in months. She tells her foster parents she doesn’t want to eat meat anymore; she never understood the joy in taking a life. Ignoring her sudden ability to speak, the Montgomerys tell her to know her place.

When Mr. Montgomery follows her to her room, the voice in Allie’s head wonders how many other girls he has sexually abused before. His wife apparently knows what her husband is about to do, but she distracts herself by turning up the radio to drown out any noise. Allie is able to stand up to his abuse this time. With her newfound powers, she grabs his face and electrocutes him. With that, the voice tells her to run.

She doesn’t know where she’s going, but the voice in her head acts as her guide. Eventually, Allie comes across an aquarium where a presentation is being held about electric eels, who give off shocks to stun their prey. The voice tells her this power has been around in nature before her, as “it’s the most natural thing in the world“. The eels, the presenter says, can use this ability to hijack their prey’s nervous system and control them. And the most powerful of them hunt in packs. Sparks leap from Allie’s hands, the eels turn to look at her from their tank.

## Cast

### Main cast

* Toni Collette as Margot Cleary-Lopez
* Auli'i Cravalho as Jos Cleary-Lopez
* John Leguizamo as Rob Lopez
* Halle Bush as Allie Montgomery
* Ria Zmitrowicz as Roxy Monke
* Eddie Marsan as Bernie Monke
* Toheeb Jimoh as Tunde Ojo
* Heather Agyepong as Ndudi
* Zrinka Cvitesic as Tatiana Moskalev

### Guest & Recurring cast

*Click to expand list.*

* Nico Hiraga as Ryan
* Josh Charles as Governor Daniel Dandon
* Mezi Atwood as Sandra
* Edwina Findley as Helen
* Daniela Vega as Sister Maria
* Emily Kuroda as Sister Veronica
* Gerrison Machado as Matty Cleary-Lopez
* Pietra Castro as Izzy Cleary-Lopez
* Gary McDonald as Big Frank
* Chris Mulkey as Mr. Montgomery †
* Elise Robertson as Mrs. Montgomery
* Sinead Matthews as Christina †
* Little Simz as Adunola
* Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as Ricky Monke
* Avital Lvova as Liat Monke
* Sam Buchanan as Terry Monke
* Juliet Cowan as Barbara Monke
* Archie Rush as Darrell Monke
* Ashley De Guzman as Yuki
* Anisa Harris as Navika
* Anissa Matlock as Cat
* Ireti Doyle as Shola Ojo
* Alexandru Bindea as Viktor Moskalev
* Rob Delaney as Tom
* Alice Eve as Kristen
* Ana Ularu as Zoia Donici
* Risteard Cooper as Declan Blease

## Trivia

Some scenes point to gender-specific forms of powerlessness:

* Roxy is considered too emotional for a "man’s job"
* Margot receives gendered insults on her social media posts
* Ndudi is powerless to stop Tunde from stealing her story
* Allie faces sexual abuse from someone in a position of authority over her