(2023-2024)
Created and Written by Erin Morin
Starring Máiréad Tyers, Sofia Oxenham, Bilal Hasna, Luke Rollason, Siobhán McSweeney
IMDB Entry
I'm always searching for new things to feature in this blog and I came across a list of the best situation comedies of the 21st century. There were, of course, the usual names, but one I had never heard of. Extraordinary has a clever concept and makes the most of its premise.
It set in a world where everyone has superpowers, usually developed when you turn 18. Jen (Máiréad Tyers) is twenty-five but has no powers yet and is frustrated that they haven't shown up. She lives with her best friend Carrie (Sofia Oxenham), who works for a lawyer and can channel dead people, and Carries' boyfriend Kash (Bilil Hasna),* who can reverse time, but who doesn't have a job. Jen takes in a stray cat, naming him Jizzlord (Luke Rollason) before she discovers he's a shapeshifter and has been a cat for some time, and has little idea how to behave like a human.
Jen keeps looking for ways to unlock her power, mostly by trying to get the cash for a counseling program designed to help her. Kash tries his hand at being a vigilante, while Carrie has to deal with the dead people -- usually celebrities, of course -- who she brings back and interacts with. And Jizzlord has to learn about human things.
I was delighted to learn that Jen's mother is played by Siobhán McSweeney, who was spectacular in Derry Girls as the seen-it-all-before Sister Michael. Another surprise is Ardal O'Hanlon, who I remember from Death in Paradise; he doesn't appear, but his voice is easily identified.
It mostly a comedy of human reactions, but I do love the way things are set up. The various superpowers are not always the usual things.** And some remain in the background. I'm especially impressed by the guy walking around Cassie's office with a cloud over his head that seems to show his mood, though it's not explained. There's also Jen's boss, who is in her 50s, but who looks like a preteen girl.
Jen is a bit self-centered (a fact that is hit home in one of the stories), but still sympathetic. I especially like Luke Rollason who is just wonderful as the cat: naive without being stupid.
The show ran two seasons of eight episodes but was abruptly cancelled. You can find it on Disney+.
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*It was a couple of episodes before I caught on to the pun of Kash and Carrie. I did get the pun in the title very quickly, though.
**A couple seem to be taken from the great superhero series Misfits.
