The Gifted recap: Time to choose a side
Most of this episode is about picking up the pieces from our calamitous last episode. We still don’t have solid answers on Blink’s fate, but by the end of this episode, we certainly see where everyone else stands in the wake of the Morlock raid and before Reeva’s big move.
Lorna is able to use her secret phone to check in with Marcos and Reed. She tells them the news about Sage’s death, which again would probably hit harder if the computer-brain mutant had been a bigger presence in the show. She also says that Reeva’s big plan is coming soon, which inspires Reed to ask her to please bring Andy home. She says that Andy’s a true believer in Reeva’s revolutionary philosophy, but Reed begs her to try. After all, it’s their last chance before what’s starting to feel like the final battle.
Unfortunately, when Lorna tries approaching Andy about considering the cost of their actions, he’s not receptive. He says he was convinced to join the Inner Circle by Lorna herself — specifically, her choice to bring down the plane carrying Dr. Roderick Campbell and Senator Montez. I think we can all agree that was a perfectly rational choice that helped unknown numbers of mutants survive experimentation and annihilation! A clearly shaken Lorna tries to respond by saying that actions like that leave scars, but Andy’s ready for some scars.
Marcos finally finds John punching a wall over and over. John explains to his confused friend that Blink disappeared into her portal after being shot. His tracking power is now messed up; when he tries to use it, he just sees Blink. In fact, he still senses Blink nearby (which is why he’s punching the wall, to try to find her). It feels like Blink didn’t quite die, but nor was she teleported somewhere else. She might be lost in the time-space continuum of her portals somehow?
Unfortunately, there’s no time to decode this puzzle because there are Purifiers everywhere. Reed goes on lookout while Marcos calms down John, and immediately runs into Jace Turner’s child-murdering friend Ted Wilson. At first, Reed is able to convincingly pose as a random human incensed about all the mutant commotion, but his suddenly-glowing red arm gives the game away. Reed’s power finally comes in handy as he uses it to melt Ted’s gun. Reed tells him to shut up and not raise an alarm, and things might have ended there. But, much like the bank manager once killed by Rebecca, Ted decides this is the perfect time to declare that all he wants is for mutants to be wiped off the Earth (earlier, he literally told Jace that it’s okay how they were murdering kids, because those kids would have grown up into mutants). An emotional Reed lunges forward, grabs Ted’s face with his glowing-red hands, and disintegrates the Purifier into nothingness. As I said back when Rebecca did her thing, anyone who screams hateful rhetoric at a powerful mutant trying to spare them wholly deserves what comes next. Hope you like being a pile of dust, dude!
Reader, I screamed! The whole point of this show is to understand all sides of the debate, but the Purifiers have unleashed so much horror and gotten away with it that I can’t help but find some cathartic joy at the rare times when they get what’s coming to them.
NEXT: Strucker family reunion
Eventually, Lorna is able to break through to Andy. She tells him about Reeva working with the Purifiers, which means that all her rhetoric about mutant unity and working against xenophobic humans was a lie. To Andy, that means Rebecca died for a lie. That’s hard for him to accept. He even goes so far as to talk to Reed the next time Lorna calls him. Having finally activated his powers at the right time and saved Lauren and Caitlin from a police siege, Reed is in the car with them when Marcos gets a call from Lorna’s secure line. Finally, father and son are able to talk.
Despite Reed’s pleas, Andy isn’t sure if he wants to come home yet. He saw the way his parents looked at him when he was toying with that Purifier who tried to kill Lorna. He thinks they’re terrified of him and furthermore agrees with their assessment that he’s a monster. This is when Ted’s death comes in handy. In addition to bringing me joy, it also helps reconcile the Struckers! Reed says that he knows how Andy feels because he also just killed a man — not because it was strictly necessary, but because. That sits with Andy. He doesn’t immediately agree to come home, but that definitely does have an effect on him. Of course, later on, Caitlin makes sure to tell Reed that he was completely justified in doing what he did (which he was) because Caitlin Strucker is the most radical revolutionary figure on this show.
Andy isn’t the only one having a crisis of conscience. Jace Turner is horrified that he and his men just raided tunnels full of children — not exactly the terrorists he was expecting. But this is game time folks, no time for backpedaling. Benedict Ryan tells Jace about Ted’s death and also the coming mutant attack (info about which has been helpfully provided by Reeva), and so they gear up for their endgame.
The episode ends with some lovely reunions. Andy comes home to his family, and Lorna and Marcos recreate their aurora borealis (a touch I’ll never get tired of). Reeva, of course, is determined to kill them all. We’ll see how it goes soon enough!
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