THE GIFTED Season 1 Episode 5 Review: boXed in

This week’s episode was about acceptance and back stories. The opening scene was a bit of a cliché, as we learn what happened to Agent Turner during the mutant protests. We knew he had experienced some type of loss, which turned him into the kind of person he is now. It was a bit silly that the explosion just reached the edges of the playground, right where his daughter was. But I digress. THE GIFTED isn’t known for its subtlety. 

The biggest problem that THE GIFTED has – among its many – is that it doesn’t let its plots develop. Instead, it introduces them and solves them in the same episode. Take for example the plot that Strucker wasn’t being accepted into the group because he tried to betray them to Sentinel Services. It was natural that this decision would come back to bite him. Even his wife, Kate, seemed stunned by his decision (though it appears she’d forgotten all about it by the end). 

But it wasn’t hard to figure out that the handlebar mustache guy would leave him high and drive during their mission. In fact, I’m honestly surprised that he picked him up at all. But by the end of the episode, it seemed that all was well and good. Strucker seemed to earn his place in the group. There wasn’t anymore conflict. 

The same goes for the rest of the Strucker family, who spent the entire episode trying to save the life of Harry, the random mutant who got shot last week. It wasn’t all that interesting, in the grand scheme of things, because we all knew that they’d save him in the end and earn their place in the mutant underground – which wasn’t all that contested in the first place. 

The real meat of the episode came from Polaris and Eclipse’s storyline. Kidnapping agent Turner led to some interesting twists. The first was that they finally moved the memory story forward. Blink found out what happened to her memories. I can’t necessarily say what this will lead to. But at least one can understand why she’s so angry. I just hope this doesn’t turn into some more soapy drama. The show has enough as it is. 

It was interesting see how Dreamer’s powers were used in this episode. Not only can she implant or erase memories. But it appears that she can also read them? That’s new. But at least it shed some light on what’s going on with the mutants who are getting turned. So it’s partial progress on the overall season story? Also, if Turner’s memories are messed up, what could that mean? That’s an interesting wrinkle. Hopefully it means something though and doesn’t just cause him to be even more of a mutant hater.

Written by Peter Freeman, THE GIFTED Beat Writer

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