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The Gifted: boXed in

Review by An Honest Fangirl

I feel like this episode should have been a big deal, but it just didn't have the punch that I thought that it would have.

That's one of the reasons why this review is so late. It's hard to write about an episode that you largely feel meh about. At least if I disliked it I could go on a rant.

Three major things happened this episode: the Struckers gained acceptance from the Mutant Underground, Clarice realized that her memory was messed with, and Agent Turner forgot that his daughter died. Any one of these things should have made for an exciting episode, but something just fell flat.

I understand Reed needing to gain people's trust, but weren't Caitlin, Lauren, and Andy already accepted and trusted? I mean, the kids are mutants and Caitlin's medical skills have been invaluable. Don't get me wrong, the surgery scenes were probably my favorite part of the episode. They just felt a bit redundant. And is Reed accepted now? I understand that he was valuable knowledge, but still. You risk your life once and you're accepted? It seems like it would be pretty easy to infiltrate the Mutant Underground then.

Honestly, this part of the story has really stalled out. How many times have we seen a conversation among the Struckers saying that they want to stay and help the Mutant Underground? We get it already. Their eyes have opened to the plight of the less fortunate and now they want to stay and do the right thing. (Wow, that sounded cynical.) I just want a little forward momentum and character growth from these guys.

Turner, at least, got a lot of development this episode. (Yes, I'm going out of order. This is just how the transitions worked.) In keeping with The Gifted tradition, we opened with a flashback. I kind of wished that we had actually been able to see the protest, but I can understand why they keep the focus solely on the Turner family. The general public wasn't there to see how they started fighting or what mutant used what power. They just saw the destruction and that people died. As far as motivations go, Turner has a good one.

Watching him realize that his daughter was dead was absolutely heartbreaking. I bet that this is the thing that finally pushes him to make a deal with the very sketchy doctor that's been hanging around the edges of the show. If he didn't hate mutants before, he certainly has a reason to hate them now.

The only reason why Turner forgot about his daughter is because Dreamer had to leave before she could fix whatever mind screw she was doing. So what better time than now for Clarice to realize that her own memories had been affected? I'm not going to lie. I really hate this particular storyline. Just everything about it feels contrived and just completely unnecessary. I wish that Clarice had let Dreamer take the memories away, if only because then this would be over. But who knows? Maybe something exciting could come from it. I doubt it, but it could happen.

Random Thoughts

Lorna and Marcos are absolutely adorable together. That is all.

Lorna's powers are so strong. It's almost a weird disconnect considering she spent have the season in a place of complete weakness.

Lauren's powers are also very cool. I like how they're finding creative ways to use them.

I'm really impressed that Andy knew his blood type. I don't know my blood type. Should I know my blood type?

Not going to lie, I was kind of hoping that Fade would end up killing Reed when he was out acting as a decoy. That would have really given the series a (necessary?) jolt.

There's something about Reed, and to a lesser extent Caitlin, suddenly becoming a "good" person because he found out that his kids were mutants that doesn't sit right with me. They addressed that to some extent last episode, but I dislike how they keeping bringing that up as the main reason why we should care about Reed and sympathize with him.

Quotes:

Andy: I think that we should just get Dad and go.
Lauren: Go where?
Andy: I don't know, somewhere where invisible guys don't attack us.

Marcos: Can you get us out of here if things escalate?
Clarice: Maybe.
Marcos: Maybe?
Clarice: Dude, FYI, it's a bit more taxing tearing holes in space than it is turning your hands into flashlights.
Marcos: Point taken.

We really don't have that many episodes left, so I'm hoping that The Gifted will kick into high gear soon. We shall see.
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An Honest Fangirl loves superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, and really bad horror movies. 

5 comments:

  1. Quote: Not going to lie, I was kind of hoping that Fade would end up killing Reed when he was out acting as a decoy. That would have really given the series a (necessary?) jolt.

    Hehe, me too. Plus, the man can't act. In fact, most of the male actor are kind of bad. Marcos's actor is so bad his scene just dragged and dragged, especially last episode.
    Most of the mutant abilities get old pretty fast, at least Dreamer power is interesting.
    So, we have two love triangle already. Another teen romance drama on the way (next episode), no wonder they changed the pilot writing (Caitlin & Reed separated).
    The purpose of the surgical scene was just so Amy Acker got something to do, Reed came in and completely taken over her role in the Mutant Underground. She's being sidelined and wasted on this mediocre show.

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  2. I have to admit that The Gifted is piling up on my DVR, and not just because there are so many other shows I'm trying to catch up with. This does not make me happy.

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  3. I'm with Billie on this one. The Gifted is piling up and I think I have reached the quota of Heroes-type-shows. I like to be blown away from time to time and this show just isn't windy enough...

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  4. "I like to be blown away from time to time and this show just ins't windy enough..."

    That is my favorite quote that I've seen in a long time!

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  5. Right now, this is my "waiting for Agents of SHIELD to return" show (since Inhumans really isn't filling that space). I feel like The Gifted is doing so much chessboard setup that we still don't know what sort of show it's planning to be once that's over. So I'm reserving judgment for a bit, because a) X-Men franchise with some pretty cool powers/special effects, b) Amy Acker, and c) I liked Burn Notice, so I'll give Matt Nix a little leeway. But yeah, a 10-episode order doesn't give it much time to get better.

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