Powerless – Sinking Day

• Title: Powerless – Sinking Day
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“Sinking Day” plays on the incompetence of Van Wayne (Alan Tudyk). After her boss costs Wayne Securities their oldest client, raising the ire of Van’s father (Corbin Bernsen), Emily (Vanessa Hudgens) rallies the team to land an even bigger client in Atlantis. Despite his obvious ineptitude, Van shows surprising skill in helping to schmooze the Atlantians and help close the biggest deal the company has ever seen. Directed by Broken Lizard‘s Jay Chandrasekhar, the latest episode has a goofy energy that is highlighted by Tudyk’s comic timing while showing us that Van Wayne does have some game, even if I’m not sure anyone knows what that game might be. Bernsen is unexpectedly terrific as Van’s far more successful father; here’s hoping we see more of him this season.

The episode’s B-story is also worth mentioning as Ron (Ron Funches) begins to suspect that one of his co-workers (Matthew Atkinson), who Jackie (Christina Kirk) is constantly mooning over, is secretly Charm City’s newest super-hero. The episode has a lot of fun with the Clark Kent alter-ego dynamic common to comic book heroes. It also opens the door to an intriguing idea that anyone could be a super-hero or villain in real life. I’m curious to see how the show might further explore this idea over the course of it’s First Season. The team also steal a scene early on while discussing the various ways super-villains are created, and why covering vats of dangerous and mysterious liquids is always a good idea.