Television seems to be an endless buffet of greatness if you know where to look for the good stuff and, crucially, if you can afford to shell out for the streaming subscriptions over which it is scattered. Aside from the expense, the downside of this glut of quality is that shows that should stand out for their originality and wit – such as Extraordinary – often get lost in the quagmire. But it is back for a second season and, hopefully, about to get all the attention it deserves because it is confident, creative, crude and, above all, irresistibly fun.
Jen (an excellent Máiréad Tyers) lives in a world where superpowers are normal, but this is no heroic Marvel-esque caper: the superpowers range from splitting yourself into multiples, which is handy for work, to “booping” people down to miniature size, to having a bum that doubles as a 3D printer. While most people come into their powers as they approach adulthood, Jen is in her early 20s and yet to find out what she can do and, therefore, what it is that makes her special. Superpowers have always been a metaphor’s best friend, but part of the cleverness of Extraordinary is that it doesn’t try to mask the mundanity of what it is really about. Jen doesn’t know who she is yet and feels left behind. That is largely it. In a strange equation, however, the sillier the powers and the dafter the events that transpire as a result of (almost) everyone being slightly magical, the more profound its emotional core turns out to be.
