The Gifted 1×09 – outfoX

This was a strange episode, and I’m using the term “strange” not only because a brother and sister held hands repeatedly throughout this hour and gasped as the wind blew their hair away.

For some reason, the dialogue felt uncharacteristically wooden, there was too much exposition, and what happened to Esme all of a sudden? Not only was the show intentionally showing us how creepy she’d become out of the blue with a cliched conniving look on her face as she lurked in the shadows, but the episode felt like it eventually crammed too much by the final act that it failed to reveal Esme’s true plan. She didn’t seem to tip off Sentinel Services (we’ll get to that in a minute) and she was genuinely upset she couldn’t save her sisters (Stepford Cuckoos perhaps?), but this felt horribly abrupt and half-baked. I’m fine with a multiple-episode arc, but it didn’t seem like the writers were intentionally heading down that path either.

As for the Sentinel Services, it’s beyond frustrating how Turner was able to figure out where the mutants’ next location would be simply by wondering about a guard’s sick absence. This kind of forced plot contrivance is unacceptable, but I’m willing to let it go simply because it led us to an action-packed final act.

We have been led to believe the Strucker kids are a lot more powerful than they seem, but it was all “tell, not show” until now (sort of). Seeing Andy and Lauren struggle with their newly discovered destructive abilities is a fascinating new aspect that this show hadn’t delved into yet, and there’s a huge emotional heft to that final sequence where Andy, who had been the most aggressive, Magneto-like mutant until now, was the one who refused to take down the Trask lab they were stuck in. This decision ultimately ends up getting them caught in a pulse-pounding scene made all the more stunning thanks to Amy Acker’s heartbreaking performance. It’s one thing to know your kids are taken, but to see it happen through a security camera and feel helpless about it is much more paralyzing. In addition, the fact that Blink and Dreamer might have been captured by the Sentinel Services as well ups the stakes tremendously. It’s safe to say I cannot wait for next week’s explosive hour.

Xtra Bits

– It’s unfortunate that FOX decided to skip a week because my enjoyment of this episode was also ruined by the fact that I expected more of a show that took a random, short break.

– It seems that a lot of people were thrown off by and Andy and Lauren’s hand-holding. It’s weird, but I didn’t get an incestuous vibe at all (although that might be because I’m rewatching Game of Thrones).

– Was anyone else distracted by Johnny’s God-awful new haircut?

– So did Esme plant that horrifying nightmare into Polaris’ mind about her baby being at Trask? Can telepaths even do that? I thought that’s more Dreamer’s sort of thing.

– Speaking of which, Polaris and Dreamer on their “girls night” was the highlight of this hour. What a superb subplot. More of these two, please!

– Leave it to Polaris to be able to turn a spoon into a weapon.

– I felt bad for that security guard at Trask that was left with no memories at all.

– Why couldn’t Dreamer run with Andy and Lauren and THEN shut the door? #PlotContrivances

Gifts & Quips

Polaris: Marcos, if you want information from a guy at a bar, you don’t send a girl and another guy. (stands next to Dreamer)

(after she knocks out the guard)
Dreamer: Lorna, what the hell?
Polaris: What, I’m just teaching him to respect the genetically different.

Conclusion
Not the most explosive hour, but the intense cliffhanger makes up for this week’s lackluster outing.

Chris Rating
B