Eddie Marsan shatters illusion behind pivotal Bernie Monke moment in The Power

*Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Power, episode 1.

Eddie Marsan makes quite the entrance into The Power, introducing Bernie Monke – a ferocious London crime boss who doesn’t take any prisoners.

The Power is adapted from the Naomi Alderman book of the same name, featuring a stellar cast packed with exciting new talent, and following teenage girls who suddenly discover they have the power to electrocute others and subsequently start the female uprising as women gradually rule the world.

Among those teenagers with a newfound dangerous weapon flowing through their veins is Bernie’s daughter, Roxie – a formidable force to be reckoned with, powers aside.

Bernie’s opening scene is certainly memorable. If you needed any further proof that Bernie is one of the most powerful and intimidating men in the capital, look no further than how he brutalises his own wedding cake.

On the morning he’s set to marry, Bernie comes charging into the kitchen where he catches a glance at his spectacular four-tier wedding cake that could have been whipped up by one of the finest patisserie chefs in Paris.

Alas, it wasn’t good enough for Bernie and just hours before he’s due to cut the cake, he smashes it with his fists and demands another one.

While he may have looked tougher than Tyson Fury on a bad day, Eddie was actually beaten by the sponge.

‘I think we went through about three or four, cakes’ he recalled. ‘But the worst thing was they built these cakes, and they filled them with cocktail sticks to hold it together so every time I punched it, I was getting stabbed by cocktail sticks.

‘So actually, I was playing is really tough gangster knocking over a cake but every time the cake was winning, because I was coming away with the cake.’

The Power has quite literally been years and years in the making. Filming began before the pandemic and since then women’s progression has in many taken a tragic U-turn. Roe V Wade was overturned in the US and misogynistic figures on platforms like YouTube have only become more influential.

Ria Zmitrowicz, who stars as Bernie’s daughter Roxy, admitted when the pandemic struck she feared the Power could become ‘irrelevant’.

Unfortunately, this is a rare case when she wished her fears came true.

‘There’s always a risk that it’s going to become irrelevant if you have to wait. It’s been three years that we’ve been filming this. But sadly, I think it’s become definitely way more relevant now.’

‘Especially because post the overturning of Roe v. Wade,’ Eddie agreed.

‘I remember when I was driving and heard the news of that, and thinking, “wow, I mean, we’re in the middle of making a series about women having autonomy over their bodies, and in the real world, that autonomy has been taken away from them.”’

The first three episodes of Power are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now with new episodes dropping weekly.

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