Thus far, The Gifted has been a family drama, concerning both found family and blood relatives. In almost every episode, there has been some kind of narrow escape from Sentinel Services, who are hell bent on capturing every single mutant fugitive. Given that Sentinel Services has been narrowly defeated in each of these encounters, it was only a matter of time before they were able to best the Mutant Underground and get a victory. In this episode, Sentinel Services was able to “outfoX” the mutants and they now have several prisoners. The game has been changed as we near the season’s end, and I’m loving every minute of it.
Last week when Esme, the telepath with piercing blue eyes, was introduced, I sensed there was something off about her. It felt strange that she would tell the Underground about the traitor in their midst and that they would just believe her. This week, she used her telepathy to manipulate the show’s main mutants into undertaking a mission that ended up getting four of them captured. Pretty suspicious if you ask me. Overall, it still seems believable that her family is being held in that facility and she wants to get them out. That would mean that her manipulation was at the very least motivated with pure intentions, and not even unprecedented on the show (since the Dreamer/Blink memory implant incident). Either way, the result of the mission will inevitably sow seeds of doubt and mistrust among the remaining refugees in the underground, which means tensions will be at an all-time high. This show has been consistently tense and this part of the story raises the stakes significantly.
Aside from that, the mission itself was an exciting one because we had just learned that Andy and Lauren Strucker were like their great-grandparents in that they have an insane amount of power when combining it. So sending them on a mission made sense as their powers were useful to the cause, and it shows growth in Reed and Kate that they were allowed to go. I watched nervously as the mission carried on and the Strucker parents noticed that something was off, and I was devastated when Sentinel Services captured Dreamer, Blink and then the twins one by one. I was genuinely hoping that Andy and Lauren would blow the lid off the place rather than get busted, but Andy didn’t want to hurt the innocent people in the building. That stance made sense, but as a fan unabashedly rooting for the mutants, I would rather have seen the place go up in flames.
Here are a few other thoughts:
- It’s nice to see two men bonding over their mutual loss of a platonic male friend. I enjoyed viewing the relationship between Eclipse and Thunderbird through a platonic lens. I wish Pulse was still on the show, too, but I learned more about him from this conversation than the episodes he was in previously.
- I wonder if extreme stress like his children being captured could re-ignite Reed’s powers? I mean, it’s obviously still in his DNA, so…
- Reed and Kate are both phenomenal characters that to this point have been underused. I’m hoping that the capture of their children will allow them to do more.
- Based on what we’ve seen from the preview for next week, do the mutants get out of the Trask facility? If so, do they get out via negotiation with Jace Turner? Or will it be more of an all-out assault sort of deal? I’m betting that Andy and Lauren can beat those power dampening collars when they’re holding hands.
The Gifted has been a strong show out of the gate, but each week the emotional depth combined with non-stop action becomes more and more compelling. I’m not sure how long it can keep up being this compelling or what an eventual status quo will look like for the show, but I’m not too concerned and I’m just enjoying the ride. Keeping seasons shorter is a great start, so there are only a few episodes left!
What did you guys think? Did you enjoy the episode? Let us know!
The Gifted airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX
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