Me Season 1 Review - A super-powered coming of age tale

Season 1

We don’t need another hero! So sang Tina Turner at the end of the Mad Max trilogy closer. Admittedly, she didn’t know at that point that the TV landscape would be inundated with superhero shows from the mid-2000s onwards, but perhaps she had her own secret superpower – the ability to see into the future! She was “simply the best,” after all. Sorry!

‘Me,’ a new family-oriented series streaming on Apple TV+, is the latest show to feature a super-powered protagonist. Those of you who echoed the words of Tina Turner’s aforementioned song when seeing the previews for this one might be tempted to give it a miss. You might also dismiss it if you consider it a kid’s show, and not worth watching if you’re an adult.

However, ‘Me’ is actually quite a decent watch – for all ages – being more than just another origin story about a future superhero. It’s also a story about a kid with real problems, making it relatable to anybody with the same issues as the lead character. Of course, not many kids (or adults) will relate to the main character’s ability to shapeshift, but they might identify with his family situation and his daily troubles facing up to bullies.

The character in question is Ben (Lucian-River Chauha), a 12-year-old kid whose life is turned upside down when he is forced to move to a new town and school when his mom gets remarried. Ben’s insecurities are amplified when he struggles to fit into his school but he’s helped in part by his stepsister Max (Abigail Pniowsky), who is having just as much trouble as Ben is in fitting into a new family situation.

Ben’s life is upended further when he discovers he has the ability to transform into somebody else. It would appear that this power was already inside him but it’s the build-up of stress he experiences that seems to trigger it into being. There’s also the suggestion that the weather has a part to play in his powers developing – the accumulation of precipitation (or something like that) – but this explanation for his powers is underexplained and a little confusing.

It turns out Ben isn’t the only person in town with superpowers. He meets a girl named Carter (Amanda Reid) who can turn herself invisible and a wheelchair-bound woman named Morgan (Jessy Yates) who has the power to levitate and shoot lightning from her hands. These characters fall on the side of good while up against them is a mysterious and vengeful bad guy, who reveals himself midway into the series and hunts down Ben, Carter, and others, to steal their powers.

Surprisingly, despite the above description, the show is less about a battle between good versus evil and more a coming-of-age story about a young lad coming to terms with his identity and who he wants to be. Typically, it’s the super-powered aspect of his identity that he grapples with for some of the series but outside of that, we see him trying to understand the more human aspects of his character and how he should implement those facets of his being into his everyday life.

In short, Ben’s as messed up as everyone of us and trying to make sense of how he should fit into the world. Though unlike us, Ben has the power to fit into the world as other people, in a literal sense, rather than simply trying to be like them in personality and dress style.

‘Me’ is a show that is big on family domestics and the theme of coming to terms with oneself. There are episodes in the series when these things take precedence over the superhero stuff. But when the show does move into the more fantastical elements of the plot, we get some impressive special effects, especially during one particular scene when Morgan and Carter do battle with the show’s villain in the middle of a storm.

Where the show falls down is in its narrative. It uses multiple timeframes, with both flashback and flash-forward scenes that might prove confusing to younger folk trying to follow the story. Certain plot threads are also confusing, such as those surrounding the super-powered people themselves. The origin of their powers isn’t described very well, though perhaps we’re just supposed to accept the fact that they have abilities at face value, just like we did when watching the X-Men movies.

There are other elements of the plot that are also under-explored but it’s hoped that a second season of the show – if it is given the greenlight – will answer some of the questions we are left with at the end of Season 1. But overall, ‘Me’ is an enjoyable series that benefits from a talented cast, relatable characters, good visual effects, and a decent story that manages to hold the attention, despite the occasional plot hole.

As such, it turns out we do need another hero after all. So, whether you’re young or old, a comic book fan or a superhero sceptic, we recommend you give this one a go, as it’s an entertaining series that delivers a fresh spin on a well-worn genre.

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