Now let me get this out of the way but, Fox’s Gifted is my favourite comic book series right now. Last season saw the mutant underground [The X-men who are not called the X-men] rescue the Von-Struckers who have the power to rival Jean Grey/Phoenix. Many colourful characters appeared including fan favourite Age of Apocalypse veteran Blink, Thunderbird, Polaris and created for the show Eclipse. Sentinels appeared, my Grant Morrison favourites the Stepford Cuckoo’s appeared etc.
At the finale of last season the team fractured, with key players like Andy Strucker and Polaris siding with the Stepfords. This season picks up about nine months after the fact.
Episode Summary
The Mutant Underground rescues a girl from a Sentinel raid, but fails to save her family; Eclipse and Caitlin get info on the Inner Circle with help from a criminal hacker; Polaris prepares for her baby’s birth [IMDB, 2018].
What I thought
Standouts from this first episode have to be Grace Gailey’s, Reeva Paige. Reeva came across as subtly powerful, ambitious, not one dimensionally evil and perhaps even, dare I say, as a female Magneto without the show of force. Her speech to the inner circle before she and the Cuckoo’s massacred their fellow mutants was telling of the lengths she will go to in fulfilling her plans. Grace Byers has this exotic, sex appeal, scintillating wit and regal core that just screams “watch me”. As a fellow Caribbean born,I would kill to interview her about both her career and this role in particular. I look forward to seeing more of Reeva Paige for at least half of this season.
The birth of Lorna’s child was also handled well enough. One has to wonder why they didn’t just slap a power suppression collar around her neck or get a power dampening mutant to uncomplicate the birth but…I guess then the episode would have lacked the tension and dramatics associated with the birth.
Development wise we have Reed’s powers being reactivated, Blink has also seen her powers mature a bit, especially if you remeber how last season began (of even how she was portrayed in the X-men film series).
I must give acting props to Emma Dumont as Polaris and especially Sean Teale as he captivated the emotions of anguish so much so that I found myself misty eyed. Emma Dumont’s reaction to seeing her daughter alive and happy in the new world order was also tear jerking. As a father I understood the emotion all too well of just what we can and can’t do to keep our children safe and happy. Maybe my empathy has gone up in my adult life but everything together made this a very enjoyable first episode.
Verdict
This is in my opinion X-men done right.
