List of Powers episodes
Powers is the first original television show from the PlayStation Network, and is based on the Powers comic book series. It premiered on March 10, 2015, as an online streaming series.
The show depicts humans, known as "Powers", who have been granted special abilities that remain hidden until adulthood. The show centres around the character Christian Walker, who was once a hero that had the ability to fly and was known as Diamond. He had his powers taken from him by his mentor Wolfe, after which he became a policeman. He is a member of the Powers Division, tasked with dealing with "Powers" who commit crimes.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | David Slade | Charlie Huston | March 10, 2015 |
| In a world in which superpowered individuals known as "Powers" are a reality, the city of Los Angeles has a special department known as the Powers Division which polices superpowered criminals. Christian Walker, formerly a Power known as "Diamond", became a detective in the Powers Division after losing his abilities. Following a routine arrest, a Power breaks free from his cell and kills Walker's partner. After the mess from the jailbreak is cleaned up, Walker is assigned a new partner, Deena Pilgrim. For their first case, they are assigned to investigate the death of the superhero Olympia, found dead in a hotel room by a young girl named Calista Secor. Walker and Pilgrim interrogate Calista, but before they can gain any real information, she is teleported out of the police station by Johnny Royalle, a criminal Power thought killed many years ago. Walker and Pilgrim go to visit Walker's old friend "Big Bad" Wolfe who had been caught and incarcerated by Walker after becoming a criminal. Wolfe was thought to have killed Johnny Royalle, but a conversation with Wolfe yields no new information, save for him cryptically telling Walker that he will give him back his powers if he will let him out of prison. Walker is able to track down Calista, but finds her about to leap from a building in a desperate attempt to activate powers that she hopes she has. When she jumps, Walker jumps after her, hoping that his powers will return and allow him to save her. The attempt fails, but before they hit the ground, the superhero RetroGirl – who Calista idolizes – saves them both. | ||||
| 2 | "Like a Power" | David Slade | Charlie Huston | March 10, 2015 |
| Walker wakes up on the roof the building he had jumped from, having spent the night there. He attempts to get into contact with RetroGirl, who has taken Calista back to her apartment. Further investigation into Olympia's death reveals that the cause of death was a drug known as "Sway", which is being produced by Johnny Royalle and his men. Royalle had used Calista to deliver the drug to Olympia, playing off of her desire to become a Power. Walker and Pilgrim go to RetroGirl's house to meet with Calista, but upon their arrival, Calista has run away. The detectives return to the Powers division to see Johnny Royalle filling out paperwork to register his powers. Royalle has decided to reveal himself out in the open and goes on television to deny any criminal aspirations, stating that he faked his death due to rumors that he had been aiding "Big Bad" Wolfe in his crime spree in the past. Royalle claims to have returned to help wayward Powers youth, and he sets up a youth center for Powers to meet. Calista arrives there, feeling that she has nowhere else to go. Royalle allows her to stay, claiming that he has no desire to harm her. Later that night, Royalle teleports into Walker's apartment and threatens him, telling him to stay out of his way. | ||||
| 3 | "Mickey Rooney Cries No More" | David Petrarca | David Paul Francis | March 10, 2015 |
| The hero TripHammer works alongside Captain Cross in an experiment designed to remove the abilities of dangerous Powers. The experiment fails, and their test subject is killed. TripHammer wants to quit, citing the toll previous failures are having on him, but Cross convinces him to continue the experiments. Across town, Walker and Pilgrim are investigating the death of "Levitation Boy" who is believed to have accidentally fallen to his death. However, Pilgrim points out that "Levitation Boy"'s powers were limited to only three feet of levitation, indicating foul play. An autopsy of "Levitation Boy" reveals that "Sway", the same drug that killed Olympia, is responsible for his death as well. Walker and Pilgrim attempt to track the drug back to its source and discover that it is a "power enhancer" which boosts a Power's abilities temporarily. "Levitation Boy" had used the drug to fly higher and had fallen to his death as a result. The detectives head to Johnny Royalle's Powers club in the hopes of catching him distributing "Sway". They spot RetroGirl arriving at the club with Calista, who had returned to RetroGirl to apologize for running away. Walker and Pilgrim witness "Sway" being passed around the club, but there is no money changing hands; the drug is being given away for free. Walker and Pilgrim apprehend Calista, but when they attempt to leave with her, Johnny Royalle stops them. Despite RetroGirl and Walker trying to convince her otherwise, Calista decides to stay with Royalle. After the others leave, Royalle teleports into "Big Bad" Wolfe's cell to witness him dismembering and eating a doctor who had been giving him regular lobotomies to counteract his powers of regeneration. Wolfe pleads with Royalle to let him go home as Royalle looks on, horrified. | ||||
| 4 | "Devil in a Garbage Bag" | David Petrarca | Allison Moore | March 17, 2015 |
| Walker and Pilgrim receive a call informing them that Wolfe has escaped from his bonds and killed several guards. As they race to Wolfe's prison, Royalle is urging Wolfe to leave the prison with him. However, Wolfe is more concerned with killing and punishing those who have tortured him. When Wolfe will not give up his vendetta, Royalle is forced to leave. Walker and Pilgrim meet with TripHammer, who shows them his experiments with the Drainer, his invention that removes the abilities from Powers. The group devises a plan to force Wolfe into the Drainer and neutralize him. Meanwhile, Royalle makes preparations to leave the city, believing that he will no longer be safe with Wolfe on the loose. He takes Calista with him and reveals to her that "Sway" is simply Wolfe's blood which he has been extracting from him on a routine basis. Wolfe's ability to absorb powers and increase them are temporarily transferred to Powers that take the "drug". The attempt to capture Wolfe does not go well and several guards are killed trying to stop him. Walker traps Pilgrim in a cell to protect her and confronts Wolfe alone. He attempts to convince Wolfe to come to his senses and stop his rampage, but he refuses. After being taken away from the city, Calista convinces Royalle that he cannot just run away. Royalle decides to return to free Wolfe, but upon teleporting into Wolfe's cell, he finds that his powers no longer work due to the effects of the Drainer, leaving him trapped inside. | ||||
| 5 | "Paint It Black" | Bill Eagles | Julie Siege | March 24, 2015 |
| The episode begins with a flashback, when Royalle and Walker were younger, hanging at a club with some powers kids. Walker notices Retro Girl checking him out; they haven't met yet. Royalle encourages Walker to go to her, but then Wolfe arrives. Wolfe begins to lecture his disciples, letting them all know how important it is that they be civilized and responsible with their abilities. A short time later, in the same club, Wolfe has lost control and killed several people, eating their bodies. Royalle is unsure of what to do, but Walker convinces him that they should capture Wolfe, which will make them heroes, something he has been fixated on after meeting Retro Girl and seeing how she markets herself as a hero. Back in the present, Wolfe eats a few imprisoned Powers and seems disoriented, but he slowly realizes that he was the one that took Walker's powers and that Walker had put him in this cell. Realizing Walker had put him in The Shaft, Wolfe gets angry. As they clash, both their eyes light up red, and Walker gets inside Wolfe's mind. Their fight is interrupted by TripHammer, who ambushes Wolfe. However, TripHammer is defeated when Wolfe rips off his bionic arm. Walker and Wolfe resume their mental fight, but Wolfe denies having any ability to return Walker's powers, claiming that he "used them all up." Before Walker can attack again, Zora, a Powers kid who has come to the Shaft to make a name for herself, pulls Walker away from Wolfe. Retro Girl also arrives, having decided to abandon her rescue efforts against the hurricane in Florida to stop Wolfe. Wolfe defeats both Zora and Retro Girl, but Walker uses the distraction to ambush Wolfe. They mentally clash again, and Walker regains his powers. He overpowers Wolfe and throws him into the drainer. However, as soon as Wolfe is put under the drainer, Walker experiences pain and collapses. Royalle exits the cell, having been trapped there due to the effects of the drainer. Royalle is able to walk out and his powers return, allowing him to escape. Zora exits The Shaft, taking credit for stopping Wolfe. Walker wakes up in the hospital, with Retro Girl by his side. Unaware of what happened after Wolfe knocked her out, Retro Girl tells Walker that Zora had saved them. Walker realizes he's lost his powers, and supports the lie, that Zora indeed stopped Wolfe. Retro Girl cries out of regret for those she couldn't save from the hurricane in Florida. Walker consoles her, and she falls asleep in his arms in the hospital bed. Sometime later, Walker opens his eyes, and they glow red as they had when he took sway and clashed with Wolfe. | ||||
| 6 | "The Raconteur of the Funeral Circuit" | Mikael Salomon | Allison Moore & David Paul Francis | March 31, 2015 |
| Wolfe is returned to a cell containing the drainer where he is visited by TripHammer. He is interested in determining Wolfe's mindset, but Wolfe is uncooperative. The Powers division begins preparations to honor the officers who died in the fight with Wolfe. Pilgrim brings her father to the proceedings which are overseen by Captain Cross. Meanwhile, Royalle decides to end his distribution of Sway after realizing that Sway had allowed Walker to recover his powers from Wolfe. He recruits Simons to test whether Sway can be safely removed from the system. He uses his teleportation abilities to remove Sway from Simons' DNA, badly injuring him. Meanwhile, another copy of Simons meets with Calista. Simons believes that Calista is the reason that Walker was able to get ahold of Sway, and he gives her the last capsule of Sway in hopes of punishing her. At the police wake, TripHammer shows Walker a second drainer, which he has been unable to perfect. Walker questions TripHammer about how the drainer works, hoping to understand the possibility of using it to get his powers back. However, TripHammer is skeptical that the drainer can be used in that way. Retro Girl arrives to pay her respects and Walker reveals that he was the one that had defeated Wolfe after temporarily recovering his powers. He tells Retro Girl that he thinks the drainer is the key to getting his powers back. Zora also arrives to give her condolences but leaves early when her publicist criticizes her behavior with the grieving families. A very drunk TripHammer cryptically tells Walker and Retro Girl about "Black Swan", a coming initiative approved by Captain Cross. Walker confronts Captain Cross about "Black Swan", but he is equally cryptic, making vague remarks about being ready for a coming change. Suddenly, a breaking news broadcast begins with Wolfe delivering a prepared statement from The Shaft. He states that having his powers temporarily removed by the drainer has made him realize the extent of his crimes, and he requests that he have his powers permanently removed. | ||||
| 7 | "You Are Not It" | Aaron Lipstadt | Remi Aubuchon & Allison Moore | April 7, 2015 |
| Walker watches a news report on the fallout from Wolfe requesting that his powers be permanently removed. The broadcast states that Johnny Royalle has been appealing to meet with Wolfe. Walker meets with Royalle, but he refuses to tell Walker why he wants to see Wolfe. Walker meets with Pilgrim who shows him that the second drainer is up and running, deployed in the Powers division's temporary lock-up. Walker tells Pilgrim that he needs to meet with Wolfe. He still cannot figure out why Royalle was visiting Wolfe without breaking him out of jail. They ask Captain Cross for permission, but he refuses and implies that he wants Royalle kept from meeting Wolfe as well, by any means necessary. Simons continues to confiscate the Sway that he had given out while being helped by Calista. He once again encourages her to take the Sway that he had given her, but she claims she is not yet ready to take that risk. Walker and Pilgrim head to Royalle's club with a search warrant to carry out Cross' orders, but they are met by Simons who attacks them. They are able to arrest him and throw him in the drainer, but as Simons enters, his copy that is working with Calista collapses, apparently dead. Calista runs away and returns to Royalle, telling him that Simons had died right in front of her. Royalle heads to the police station and meets with Simons, seeing that he is in pain from the death of his copy. Royalle's lawyer tells him that this is the loophole they needed to force the judge to allow him to meet with Wolfe, since the drainer has now been shown to harm Powers. Royalle meets with Wolfe and tells him about his experiments with his blood, making Sway. He reveals that Walker had taken Sway, which allowed him to take back his powers temporarily. Royalle also tells Wolfe that Walker doesn't know that since he took Sway, he now has the ability to absorb powers from anyone who has also taken the drug. Now with full understanding of the situation, Wolfe tells Royalle that the drainer occasionally turns itself off, and when it does, he can feel himself in the Sway that has been given to many young Powers around the city. He claims that he will escape and that Royalle's efforts have now made it easy for him to hunt down Powers and consume them. Disgusted with Wolfe, Royalle leaves his cell. Walker meets again with Captain Cross, claiming that if Royalle is going to meet with Wolfe, he needs to as well. Cross agrees, and Walker goes to Wolfe's cell. He asks why Royalle has been meeting with him without freeing him. Wolfe dodges the question and asks Walker to help him escape in exchange for helping him get his powers back. Walker leaves to meet with Royalle and finds him tending to Calista, who has finally gotten the courage to take Sway. As she writhes in pain, Walker grabs Royalle, who teleports them both away from the scene. Meanwhile, across town, a patrolling Power attempts to stop an apparent mugging. However, when she intervenes, the mugging is revealed to be a trap. A masked assailant grabs her from behind and slits her throat with a knife. As the Power bleeds out in the alleyway, the attacker graffitis "Kaotic Chic" on the side of the building. | ||||
| 8 | "Aha Shake Heartbreak" | Tim Hunter | Julie Siege | April 14, 2015 |
| Johnny Royalle teleports Walker to his secret hideout and tells him that he needs his help to kill Wolfe. He reveals the source of Sway and claims that he was distributing it to help Powers kids, but Walker is unconvinced. He claims that Royalle simply wants to replace Wolfe and replicate his influence over young Powers. Royalle retorts that Walker is the one that wants to be Wolfe and reveals that Sway only allowed him to "borrow" Wolfe's power, and that he did not truly get his powers back in his fight with Wolfe. Walker still refuses to cooperate, so Royalle reveals the real reason Wolfe needs to be killed. Wolfe has the ability to absorb Sway from anywhere. If he escapes, he can absorb the powers of anybody who has taken the drug, including Walker and Calista. Royalle gives Walker twelve hours to decide, otherwise he is going to attempt to kill Wolfe on his own. Meanwhile, Calista awakes, seemingly unaffected by Sway. She takes this as evidence that she truly does have dormant powers. As she tries different ways to activate her abilities, Pilgrim arrives and arrests her. Retro Girl visits TripHammer and questions him about his cryptic statements at the party. He reveals that "Black Swan" is simply a name for the catastrophic event that Powers will eventually unleash upon the world. His experiments with the Drainer are a solution to stopping a rogue Power from causing the destruction of earth. Walker reports to the crime scene of the Power whose throat was slashed by a member of "Kaotic Chic". As he investigates, he reunites with Pilgrim, who wants his help interrogating Calista. Evidence on her phone ties her to "Kaotic Chic" and to Krispin, the son of Walker's former partner who was killed. The GPS on Krispin reveals that he is at a benefit hosted by Retro Girl and Zora. Walker and Pilgrim head there to investigate, but before they can arrive, Krispin storms the stage and disrupts a staged fight set up for Zora. Although Krispin tries to point out that the fight is staged, the hired Power continues his attack on Zora and Krispin is knocked aside. Krispin's mother rushes to his aid, but in the confusion, the hired Power accidentally kills her. Walker and Pilgrim arrive just in time to see the aftermath and a devastated Krispin who has now lost both parents to attacks from Powers. After discovering that the hired Power has used Sway to help his performance in the staged fight, Walker is convinced that Wolfe has to be stopped. He meets with Royalle and agrees to his plan to kill Wolfe. | ||||
| 9 | "Level 13" | Bill Eagles | Brian Michael Bendis | April 21, 2015 |
| After agreeing to Royalle's plan to kill Wolfe, Walker returns to meet with Pilgrim. He tells her that Royalle has just invited him into a conspiracy to commit murder and tells her that this is their smoking gun to arrest Royalle. However, he insists that they need to catch Royalle in the act in order to make a conviction stick. He also meets with Captain Cross and TripHammer who also point out that Royalle will need to be immediately neutralized after they catch him infiltrating The Shaft to kill Wolfe. Walker suggests trapping Royalle in Wolfe's cell with the Drainer, but they are reluctant to let Royalle that close to Wolfe. However, Cross and TripHammer's worries about "Black Swan" and the arrival of a Power that will destroy the Earth forces them to agree to Walker's plan. Walker meets with Royalle and tells him that he let his partners know about their plan to kill Wolfe. He claims to Royalle that this was the only way to allow them to get close enough to Wolfe, and that he still does intend to kill their old mentor. Royalle goes to the Powers Division and forces them to release Calista. They go to the funeral of Krispin's mother where Calista attempts to comfort Krispin, but she is told to leave when Krispin sees that she has brought Royalle with her. Walker meets again with his partners to let them know that he is playing a double-cross with Royalle, claiming that this is the only way to get Royalle to trust him. The day of the infiltration comes and Walker and Royalle make their way towards Wolfe's cell. However, Royalle deviates from the plan to free Simons, imprisoned in The Shaft. He tells Simons to cause mayhem to distract the guards and returns to Walker. After entering Wolfe's cell, Walker betrays Royalle as planned and traps him with the Drainer. However, after arresting Royalle, he attempts to confront Wolfe to get his powers back. When Walker tries this, he realizes that Wolfe has been replaced with an impostor. His partners didn't trust him to not jeopardize the mission and replaced Wolfe without his knowledge. TripHammer and Captain Cross call down to Level 13, where Wolfe is being held in a portable Drainer and order him to be brought back to his cell now that they have arrested Royalle. However, Simons kills the guards and frees Wolfe after overhearing that Royalle has been captured. A freed Wolfe drains Simons after sensing that he has taken Sway. He then confronts Walker, Pilgrim, TripHammer, and Cross who are easily knocked aside by his power. Before leaving Level 13, he tells Walker to bring him Royalle, as he needs to talk to the both of them. | ||||
| 10 | "F@#K the Big Chiller" | Mikael Salomon | TBD | April 28, 2015 |
| Wolfe is on the loose in Los Angeles and looking for the people who have taken Sway. While the police watch, Zora confronts him in the street. Zora puts up a good fight, but Wolfe is too powerful and severely beats her, although he does not kill her. Zora manages a last blast of defiance, and Wolfe detects where the people who have taken Sway are congregated and leaves, going underground to avoid being followed. It turns out the people who have taken Sway are at Royalle's club. Wolfe talks to Calista, saying that she is something special. Pilgrim evacuates the kids from the club, but not quick enough or far enough: Wolfe, in the club, drains them all, killing them and becoming nearly unkillable. Royalle tries to take Wolfe's head, but can't. Instead he takes all of Wolfe to a very high altitude and drops him; Wolfe comes down through the ceiling. Retro Girl flies into Wolfe, knocking him down, but he gets back up and throws her into/through a car. Walker tries to take Wolfe's power, but cannot. Finally, grabbing the explosive Drainer and holding it between them, Walker sets it off, ensuring that Wolfe is (mostly?) drained, and that he, Walker, has no chance of getting his powers back. Wolfe seems to send the last of his power to Calista, and then Royalle pops in and successfully takes Wolfe's head. In the aftermath, Royalle is hailed as a hero and pardoned. Retro Girl is shown to have recovered, and Zora is in the hospital, but stable and recuperating. Krispin and Kaotic Chick are shown plotting, and then later Walker is called to a murder scene: Retro Girl, her throat slit, on a sheet with the words Kaotic Chic on it. Calista, on the same roof as at the start, drops off; her eyes turn red and she flies away. | ||||