Extraordinary’s True Superpower Is Its Relatable Depiction of Female Friendship

There’s a lot to recommend about Hulu’s superhero comedy Extraordinary. It’s a genuinely hilarious, frequently foul-mouthed, and often foul-minded coming-of-age story. It’s also a genre series that uses the familiar trappings of superhero fiction to say something fresh and interesting about its characters. And it’s the rare show whose second season takes everything that worked in its first and doubles down, expanding and deepening its world and characters in both entertaining and deeply satisfying ways. 

But given its comic book-themed trappings—the show is set in a world where everyone develops a superpower at the age of 18—you might be surprised to learn that Extraordinary also features one of the best and most realistic depictions of female friendship on television right now. And, to be clear, in this genre, that’s a whole lot rarer than it sounds. For all that superhero properties have improved when it comes to female representation in their stories, finally giving us films fronted by women and allowing more than one female character to exist in their superpowered boys’ clubs at a time, allowing those women to have simple things like friends still usually seems like a step too far. (Just imagine if Wanda Maximoff had had a girlfriend to call when Vision died, is all I’m saying.)

But in Extraordinary, it is the friendship between two women that forms the unabashed emotional heart of the show. Its story follows Jen Regan, a twenty-something underachiever who still hasn’t developed a power yet. As she struggles with her complicated emotions about this lack and prepares to begin treatment at a clinic meant to help her discover her ability, she lives with her childhood BFF Carrie Jackson, and the pair face all the standard trials and triumphs that come with young adult life. The two are largely inseparable, each other’s biggest cheerleader and most frequent sounding board. And while their relationship faces its share of challenges, there’s little doubt that they’re the most important people in each other’s lives. 

“I think Carrie would kill someone for Jen,” Extraordinary creator Emma Moran tells Paste during a conversation at this year’s Television Critics Association Winter press tour. “I genuinely think she would do it.” 

Actress Máiréad Tyers, who plays Jen, doesn’t think things would escalate quite that far. “I mean… I feel like Carrie’d go to prison for Jen. Mostly because she thinks that she’d deal with it better.”

Either way, the fact remains: the Jen and Carrie relationship is the emotional linchpin around which much of Extraordinary turns, for good and ill. But whether the girls are squabbling, gleefully enabling each other’s worst tendencies, or helping one another pick up the pieces after a traumatic event like a breakup or the passage of a loved one’s spirit into the afterlife, the show never lets us forget how much they genuinely love each other. 

In a pop culture landscape that’s still heavily male-centric, too many shows that center the stories of young women fall victim to lazy stereotypes and tired tropes. Whether that means setting them in direct competition with one another—romantically or professionally speaking—or glorifying catty, toxic bonds that are more grounded in jealousy and pettiness than loyalty, it’s still entirely too rare to see female friendships like Jen and Carrie’s, in which both halves aren’t necessarily always good influences on each other, who may not even always like each other, but whose mutual support is always unwavering. 

“Their friendship is something that feels really special,” Tyers says. “The different relationships that exist within the group are all unique, but [theirs] is… they’re just thick as thieves.” 

“They’re obsessed with each other,” Sofia Oxenham, who plays Carrie, laughs. “There’s so much love there.” 

Though Oxenham and Tyers debate whether their bond is more correctly labeled “co-dependent” or borderline “dysfunctional,” it’s clear that Jen and Carrie are Extraordinary’s true soulmates. At the end of Season 1, both Carrie and Jen make big choices—from breaking up with a boyfriend to beginning treatment at the power clinic—and their lives have changed significantly in its second as a result. But, even so, their one constant still remains each other. 

“They just support each other in such a huge way,” Oxenham says. “And they know each other so well. Both good and bad.”

When Jen discovers her former-cat-turned-roommate-now-boyfriend Jizzlord’s (Luke Rollason) ex-wife is a popular Instagram influencer with thousands of followers, one of which is Carrie? Her BFF unlikes that page without a second thought. When Carrie’s possessed by the spirit of a golden age actress who literally can’t seem to let go of her youth? It’s Jen that helps Carrie find her way back to herself. (That she does so by embracing the emotional intimacy she so often rejects and genuinely telling her BFF she loves her is just the icing on the cake.)

Yet, Extraordinary remains surprisingly honest about the fact that their relationship isn’t perfect, or without its problems, and can be damaging to both on occasion. The pair have been friends for most of their lives, a bond that boasts a comforting familiarity, but also a certain amount of emotional laziness. In Season 1, we frequently see Jen take advantage of her bestie’s kindness and loyalty, sure that Carrie would ultimately get over any anger she might feel about her rude and frequently dismissive behavior. Carrie, for her part, struggled to speak up about her own needs and desires, particularly when it comes to their friendship and is happy to let Jen emotionally bulldoze her rather than make choices for herself.

“They do enable each other sometimes,” Tyers admits. “Jen enables Carrie to not have enough boundaries, and then Carrie enables Jen to rely on her too much.” 

There’s certainly something unique about knowing someone well enough—and trusting that other person enough—to be a bad person in front of them and trust that they’ll still like you afterward. But in the series’ second season, we see the two confront many of their issues, as Jen finally faces the unprocessed grief over her father’s death that her best friend’s ability to channel the dead has allowed her to avoid for years, and Carrie, fresh off her breakup with Kash (Balil Hasna), deliberately works to find and center her own voice.

“[Carrie’s] trying to embrace being single and figuring out who she is alone outside of this relationship she had,” Oxenham says. “What kinds of things she’s into, who she is by herself, she wants to explore that side of her character as well. This is the first time that dynamic has been switched.” 

Though the “overwhelming” nature of making adult decisions—Carrie struggles at work and with the prospect of dating as Jen attempts to prove she can at least be polite to the wife and child Jizzlord doesn’t remember—takes its toll on their friendship, Extraordinary remains, well, fairly extraordinary in showing us the ways these young women work through their problems together.

“I think their relationship is very much tested in the second season,” Tyers says. “It’s tested in the first, of course, but there’s more going on between [them]. Things get complicated at times, and they both have to [learn to] speak up. But it’s, I think, always a relationship that’s worth making better.”

“They just have a few speed bumps on the way [this season],” Oxenham adds, echoing an earlier comment from Moran that the pair are ultimately “ride or die” for each other. “Ultimately, [their relationship], it’s so filled with love. They love each other so much and genuinely just want the best for each other.” 

It’s the sort of bond that Marvel and DC could take some lessons from, is all I’m saying. 

Extraordinary Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu. 

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB.

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