This week saw the return of a top-rated Hulu comedy that I suspect many of you probably aren’t watching, which is quite a shame. Extraordinary, about an Irish woman living in a version of London where everyone has superpowers, is the kind of series that’s unfortunately all-too-common in the streaming era. That is to say, the show is absolutely fantastic, but it’s nevertheless still flying much more under-the-radar than it deserves — because journalists and bloggers just can’t sample and write about everything, and streaming viewers only have so much time they can dedicate to consuming new content.
Having said all that, there’s a reason that both seasons of this hilarious gem of a show have either a perfect or near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. The characters are ridiculously likable, and I can personally attest to the fact that the writing induces side-splitting laughter. The vibe is sort of like Guardians of the Galaxy crossed with Derry Girls, making the whole thing just so darn addictive. The show also has a killer soundtrack, with songs from bands like Modest Mouse and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to The Flaming Lips, The Clash, and Sleigh Bells.
When I discovered Extraordinary back in 2022, it was one of those hidden gems that I didn’t hear anyone talking about and was just so excited to find and quickly finish it. Once I found it, I was burning through episodes like it was some kind of race against time; but that’s the thing, it was a complete accident that I found it at all.
When you’re making a TV show like Extraordinary, not only do a million things have to go right, as The Office actor Brian Baumgartner once told me, but there’s no guarantee that your audience will ever find the darn thing on a streamer. There are far too many shows, from big platforms like Netflix to much smaller players like Apple TV+, that are really great but that nevertheless require some work on the part of the viewer to find. Often because the streamers have so much content that they can’t possibly promote everything.
That’s why I’m all too happy to talk about Extraordinary, from writer and creator Emma Moran, because I really hope more people out there give it a shot. The protagonist is an underachieving young woman named Jen (who assumed, like everyone else around her, that she’d get a superpower once she turned 18. Like, a legitimate superpower; everyone around her is flying, has super-strength, and the like. Unfortunately, though, she’s now 25 years old and still power-less. She’s adrift, confused, and desperate, and with the help of her circle of friends she goes on a hero’s journey to find her power — even if that power is just being “ok.”
Speaking of powers, the show gets super-creative in the kinds of extraordinary gifts it bestows on all the characters. They all can’t be Superman or as fast as The Flash, right? In the first episode of season one, for example, Jen is shown applying for a job. She’s seated in what looks like a conference room and hands some papers to her interviewer, who asks all the standard questions — like, how was your journey here? To which Jen immediately starts blurting out all sorts of inappropriate, stream-of-consciousness thoughts:
“It was terrible! I got the bus, because I’m poor, and it smelt like warm, raw chicken. And I’m really nervous so I thought I was going to s**t myself the whole way in — but I didn’t! And if I’m sitting weirdly, it’s because I think my tampon’s come out … but I didn’t have time to go to the bathroom downstairs, because I slept in ….” And to make matters worse?
At the end of the chat, when the interviewer (who’s wearing an eye patch) asks if there’s anything else Jen wants to ask, Jen can’t help but inquire as to whether there’s a gross, ugly hole behind that eye patch.
It’s all because, as the interviewer explains to Jen — and, by extension, to us — drawing out exceedingly truthful answers from people is this interviewer’s superpower.
The show amounts to a genuinely charming coming-of-age story, which is another thing that surprised me given how unafraid Extraordinary is to be goofy. Jen’s boyfriend, for example, is a guy that Jen and her friends have nicknamed Jizzlord who was turned into a cat then re-emerged in human form after years as a feline.
Season two, according to Hulu, “picks up where season one spectacularly left off, following Jen (Máiréad Tyers) on her powers journey as she enrolls as a client at the power clinic. Jen soon discovers that the process of finding her power isn’t as easy as she hoped, and things in the rest of her life aren’t smooth sailing either.
“Ex-cat, now-boyfriend Jizzlord (Luke Rollason) has had an unexpected revelation about his past, and Kash (Bilal Hasna) and Carrie (Sofia Oxenham) are attempting to be totally mature and dignified about their break-up, which is not easy when they’re still living under the same roof. It seems that Jen and the gang are dealing with new levels of adulting and chaos that none of them are prepared for.”
