REVIEW -- The Gifted - Episodes 1: "eXposed" | Episode 2: "rX"

The Gifted is an American television series created for Fox by Matt Nix, based on Marvel Comics' X-Men properties. It is connected to the X-Men film series, set in an alternate timeline where the X-Men have disappeared. The show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television in association with Marvel Television, with Nix serving as showrunner.

The series stars Stephen Moyer and Amy Acker as ordinary parents who take their family on the run after they discover their children's mutant abilities. Sean Teale, Natalie Alyn Lind, Percy Hynes White, Coby Bell, Jamie Chung, Blair Redford, and Emma Dumont also star in the show. The series received a put pilot commitment at Fox after a previous attempted X-Men television series did not move forward at the network in 2016; The Gifted was ordered to series in May 2017.

The Gifted began airing on October 2, 2017, and is set to run for 10 episodes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics, particularly for its social commentary and cast.

Premise

Two ordinary parents take their family on the run from the government when they discover that their children have mutant abilities, and join an underground community of mutants who have to fight to survive.

Cast and characters

Main

Stephen Moyer as Reed Strucker:
A father trying to balance his family responsibilities with his job as a district attorney. Moyer said of the character, "He thinks he’s doing the right thing by moving [the mutants]. He does know these camps aren’t particularly nice. He knows a few people he’s captured have disappeared. He also knows this could happen to his kids. He has no choice but to go on the run." Reed was originally "more obviously out for himself and slightly less interested in his kids, slightly less interested in the marriage", but this was changed in reshoots of the pilot to make the character more likeable.

Amy Acker as Caitlin Strucker:
A mother and nurse struggling with her split from Reed and "increasingly challenging" teenage children. Showrunner Matt Nix said that though Caitlin does not have mutant powers, she is not "just a mom" or "just the doctor" in the series, and "over the course of the show I really love the idea of showing the evolution of a suburban mom into an underground warrior." Acker added that the character "was actually quite happy with the life that she had, and that all gets flipped around, pushing her to become who she should be."

Sean Teale as Marcos Diaz / Eclipse:
A rebellious mutant who can absorb and manipulate photons. Eclipse was rejected by his human parents, and grew up smuggling drugs from Mexico to the United States. The mutant underground uses him to smuggle mutants to safety in Mexico.The character was created for the series, but takes inspiration from comic characters such as Sunspot and Wolverine.

Natalie Alyn Lind as Lauren Strucker: One of the series' central children, a "perfect" kid.

Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker: One of the series' central children, a sensitive loner who keeps to himself.

Coby Bell as Jace Turner: A man struggling with the cold-blooded requirements of his job.

Jamie Chung as Clarice Fong / Blink:
A "sarcastic, lively" mutant with teleportation powers. An "independently minded" member of the mutant underground, Blink begins the series using her abilities as "a way out of situations she doesn't want to be in", but her abilities and relationship to them evolve throughout the series. Nix wanted to use the series as a chance to develop the character further than her appearance in the film X-Men: Days of Future Past, where she was portrayed by Fan Bingbing. Chung wears heavy-duty contact lenses to portray Blink's mutant eyes.

Blair Redford as John Proudstar / Thunderbird:
A strong-willed mutant, leader of the underground community. Nix said the character is "dealing with his own issues of feeling the weight of thousands of years of Apache history and mutant history and an obligation to both families." Thunderbird is famous for being killed off shortly after his introduction in the comics, and though Nix said that this would not happen in the series, it will explore "the relationship of this guy to the Thunderbird of the comics".

Emma Dumont as Lorna Dane / Polaris:
A brave and loyal mutant whose abilities include controlling magnetism. She is introduced as being "unstable" due to bipolar disorder. In the series there is "some awareness" that Polaris is the daughter of Magneto, leading to the question "does she accept the mantle of her birthright? Is it her job to be Magneto in his absence?" The character is depicted with green hair, as she is in the comics, but "subdued shades of green". Dumont took mechanical engineering classes at Georgia State University to help understand the character's abilities. Nix did not originally intend to have the character in the show, and only added her as a love interest for Eclipse, but later noted that she "emerges as a central character" for the series.

Recurring

Garret Dillahunt as Roderick Campbell:
A mutant researcher contracted by Sentinel Services, who is on a "morally dubious" mission. Nix compared the series' adaptation of the comic character to the changes made when adapting the character William Stryker for the X-Men films.

Elena Satine as Dreamer: A mutant that can "add or subtract" others' memories.

Guest

Dinarte de Freitas as Pedro: A light-blue, leonine mutant that can "project fear".
Hayley Lovitt as Sage: A mutant with eidetic memory.
Jeff Daniel Phillips as Fade: A mutant bartender.
Jermaine Rivers as Shatter: A mutant who can turn his skin into a hard, protective crystal.
Sharon Gless as Ellen Strucker: Reed's mother.
Zach Roerig as Pulse: A mutant who can disable other mutant's abilities.
Derek James Jones as Trader: A mutant who can cloud other's vision to hide.
Jaxon Rose Moore as Grace Turner: Jace Turner's daughter.
Frances Turner as Paula Turner: Jace Turner's wife.

Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the pilot.

Episode Summaries: 

Episode 1: "eXposed" 

In Atlanta, Georgia, the mutant Clarice Fong escapes from prison with her teleporting abilities, and is rescued from police by members of a mutant underground that aims to protect persecuted mutants from the government. During this, Lorna Dane / Polaris is captured by the police, and is later asked by district attorney Reed Strucker to cooperate with him in exchange for a reduced sentence. Strucker's own children, Lauren and Andy, go to their school dance that night, where Andy is attacked by bullies. The stress causes Andy's mutant abilities to manifest, and he telekinetically causes major damage to the school. Lauren helps him escape, revealing that she is also a mutant. The pair and their parents are forced to go into hiding immediately by the arrival of the anti-mutant Sentinel Services agency. Reed convinces a member of the underground, Marcos Diaz, to help them in exchange for information on Polaris, but Turner and Sentinel Services also arrive at their meeting. Fong is able to teleport everyone to safety, except for Reed, who is captured.

Episode 2: "rX"

Fong falls unconscious from the effort of teleporting the group back to the underground's hideout, losing control of her abilities. Portals begin to open to an unknown road, causing an accident that is brought to the attention of police. Caitlin, a nurse, offers to look for some medication that may help Fong, and races to a nearby hospital that still treats mutants with Diaz, where they use an old injury to gain access to the medication. In prison, Polaris has a collar placed on her that gives her a shock whenever she tries to use her abilities. She faces discrimination and attacks from the other prisoners, and when she pushes through the pain of her collar to fight back she is confined to solitary. Reed is interrogated by Turner, who tries various techniques to get Reed's cooperation, including interrogating Reed's mother. Caitlin and Diaz return in time to help Fong before her portals cause major damage and force the underground to evacuate. Reed agrees to give Turner the location of the underground in exchange for the freedom of himself and his family.

The Verdict: 

Episode 1: "eXposed"

Call me nuts, but this show started off just like how I always wanted a X-Men TV series to begin. Teenagers attempting to live their normal lives until that fateful day occurs that lands them into a stressful situation that triggers their hidden powers. It always happens in the comics like this when young adolescents first discover their powers. It's easier for some to cope with this change to their lives and bodies, while harder for others once those powers trigger for the first time. This show did an excellent job in terms of pacing as well. Unlike the flop that was Heroes Reborn, they didn't drag out the reveal with the siblings BOTH having powers and worked it into the pacing and laid out the action at an easy to digest pace. I appreciated the dilemma that was introduced for the Strucker family right off the bat that forced the parents to make a choice based on how they would accept or reject their own children after they were revealed to be mutants. In the comics continuity, the parents are usually always quick to send their kids away to Professor Xavier's school or kick them out, so it was a breath of fresh air to see how a family would truly react in this situation in a believable, realistic manner. I've been a fan of Amy Acker since the Angel (Buffyverse) days as Fred and later Illyria, so I knew she was going to deliver in the acting department, but Stephen Moyer definitely delivered here as her husband in this role.

The X-Men shout-outs and references were galore in this episode. I appreciated that this series takes place in the established X-Men live-action film universe but it's not tied down to it. The mutant underground movement merely states that the Brotherhood and the X-Men haven't been active in an undisclosed time period, so that leaves the audience to interpret that this series either takes place before or after the continuity's current shift/fix after the events of Days of Future Past. The First Class films are still in the 70s/80s timeframe, so we don't know how those events have affected the present day future for both outcomes of this continuity. As a result, it makes for some potential fun writing here. That being said, you don't have to even see those films to appreciate this show; that's the beauty of the writing here.

This is essentially what a X-Men live-action TV series needs to be - Individuals struggling to survive and cope with their newfound powers and abilities within a world of people who hates and fear them because they don't understand what they are. That's a simple theme that seems to be forgotten about in the live-action films at times and a simple concept that's really all required to convey the message of the source material that the X-Men comics have thrived on for several decades.

I thought the mutant underground faction was introduced very well. Eclipse and Polaris were quickly established as the resident bad-asses while Thunderbird and Blink were left enough of an impact in this premiere to make me care about how their characters would develop as this show went on. I'm surprised at the mutants that they have chosen for this series, especially with Blink (Jamie Chung) who was previously featured in Days of Future Past and Thunderbird who has a reputation of being killed off hilariously in a prompt fashion in his comics introduction. Eclipse was cooked up specifically for this TV series while Polaris is the estranged daughter of Magneto, but no idea if this TV series is going to lean towards that revelation by the time this season is over. Andy and Lauren Strucker are loosely based off of the Strucker twins from Marvel Comics who were collectively known as Fenris. Marvel Studios used part of their origin for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's backstories in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The Sentinel Services government agency served as the perfect antagonist here as well. It wasn't over the top, much like the traditional Sentinels from the comics, but these new mechanical hunter drones served the same purpose - search and destroy, without passion nor emotion.

There's a lot that the rest of the superhero TV dramas could learn from this show. Great pacing, even better writing and characters, and the special effects doesn't look low budget in the least. When your superhero TV show looks worse than an episode of Power Rangers then it's back to the drawing board. Yeah I'm looking right at the DC Comics base shows on The CW when I say that too.

Episode 2: "rX" 

This was pretty much an episode to show off Amy Acker's acting chops and further paint the picture on how their society views and treats mutantkind from two perspectives - one from Polaris' own as a mutant confined in prison without the use of her powers, thanks to one of the Genosha-style mutant power inhibitors while the other perspective was from Caitlin Strucker (Amy Acker) as she aids Eclipse in getting medicine to treat Blink, whose portal opening powers are spiraling out of control due to her declining state of health.

While I wasn't too thrilled with the whole mini-adventure as Eclipse and Caitlin went to a local hospital to steal the medicine they needed to treat Blink, I thought it was an interesting display on these two worlds. Eclipse opened Caitlin's rather naive eyes about how much different the world treats mutants and those people associated with them, compared to her ordinary life before her own children were revealed to be mutants. Lauren's flashback to the ordeal where her family encounter a young mutant in the local bowling alley facing discrimination from the locals was an interesting preview for how Lauren expected her own father to treat her and her brother in a similar situation. I think the whole ordeal with Lauren leaving her blood everywhere they seem to go is going to bite them in the ass sooner more than later given how sophisticated the Sentinel Services' resources are being portrayed.

On the other side of the spectrum in this narrative for this episode, Polaris was learning to cope with her own situation in prison. This episode introduces the mutant power dampening collars that savvy X-Men fans will recognize from Genosha in the comics (and used in the 90's animated series along with the short-lived Wolverine and the X-Men animated series that oddly had similar technology developed by Forge). This technology isn't foolproof, so I'm anxious to see if Polaris and the other mutants in confinement devise a strategy to counter against it. If I were to guess, there might be a way to work around it given the electromagnetic nature of her powers.

We end this episode with Reed caving to Sentinel Services' demands to give up the location of the mutant underground headquarters to guarantee the safety of his family which is the only thing that he cares about. It's funny too as this show continues to draw comparisons to Heroes Reborn as Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman) found himself in similar situations in that mini-series. Only time will tell whether or not this trend will continue over the course of this season, but for now, this show is outclassing that show at every corner with superior writing.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself during this scene, thinking that this was Shoney's from the Season 3 premiere of Rick and Morty.

After the very satisfying premiere and follow-up with the second episode, I think this series is off to be a great series based in the X-Men universe. This is definitely going to hold my interest for the long haul, unlike Legion did earlier this year where I mentally checked out by the end of the first episode. With this series, I'm sold on seeing where this goes. I would best describe it as "Heroes Reborn Done Right" instead of half-assing it like NBC did a few years ago. If you're a fan of the X-Men universe or a newcomer, there's something for everyone to enjoy here. I'm looking forward to see how this show pans out over the course of this season.