In the wake of the sad loss of Adam West recently, DC Comics has pulled ‘Powerless‘ off the shelves in order to release one last episode of the doomed series. The episode in question, of course, is the one where Adam West himself guest-stars as a board member of Wayne Enterprises, with the last name of West. Unfortunately, I cannot say that this episode would have saved the series, as it felt like more of the same so-so comedy from a show that struggled to find its identity. In this episode, they even gave superpowers to one of the main cast members in a weird plot twist, but the real joy of the episode is Adam West himself (which really comes as no surprise), even though he plays a relatively small part in the episode.
The episode begins with the gang learning that Emily bought an apartment in Charm City, which they can see from their office. Of course, on the news they hear about aliens invading the planet by way of a black hole somewhere on Earth that the Justice League cannot find, and as they watch one of the alien ships destroys Emily’s new apartment.
As she deals with the loss, the gang comes together to help her, giving her old clothes since she lost her wardrobe, including a cat sweater that Emily wears to work the next day as a dress (which Wendy does not find amusing). We meet Adam West’s character next, as he plays the no-nonsense board member who comes to town in the wake of the aliens attacking Wayne Enterprises, with Van thinking he may get promoted because one of the board members died in the attack. West delivers an excellent one-liner to Emily (in her cat dress) calling her “cat woman” (which made me laugh), and then informs Van and Emily that they have to fire one of the team members to cut costs.
Emily cannot bring herself to do it, especially after they were so nice to her following her apartment’s destruction, so she instead sets about to change West’s mind. He does indeed change his tune when Emily shows how profitable the division can be and instead, decides to sell Emily’s department to Luthercorp. (Sidenote, another somewhat funny tangent of the episode is the fact that Lex Luthor is President of the United States, and for all intents and purposes, he is basically just a bald-Donald Trump, and it is hilarious and somewhat eery how well the joke works).
While Emily and company tour Luthercorp and discover the sinister company is responsible for the black hole which is letting the alien invaders loose onto Earth, Jackie inadvertently gets super-speed when she steps in a bucket of chemicals left out by Teddy and Ron and is struck by lightning. She uses her new powers to save her teammates and shut down the black hole, though Luther and his company do not get into any trouble because of government corruption (or something like that. The show had a lot of big comedic statements to make about government this week). Meanwhile, Adam West’s character keeps making speeches to the camera throughout the episode, and at the end of the episode the rest of the gang catches him doing it, and realize he is just talking to a plant in the office, leading them to think he might be crazy after all.
The episode had some funny moments, but it really felt like a stretch to have Jackie get super-powers, and it felt like they leaned a little too heavily on the comic book stuff this episode, which is funny considering how the problem for the series was usually that they were leaning too much on the workplace comedy aspect. Either way, it was nice to see Adam West’s comedy one last time, even on a show like ‘Powerless.’ Mr. West had no problem poking fun at himself and seemed to really relish making others laugh. For that more than anything else I know, I will miss his presence in pop culture and his appearances and cameos. He was one of the greats and deserves all of the love and respect going out to him and his family at this time.
As for ‘Powerless,’ this episode reminded me again why the show got cancelled, and I don’t think anyone is too sad to have this as the final episode, as at least now they get to go out on a high note, with Adam West giving them a proper send-off.
You can watch the full episode below for yourself!
