The Gifted: boXed in - Oct 31

‘The Gifted’ TV show has reached the S1 middle point – ‘boXed in’ – and it was a dozy. Put simply, the scriptwriters as well as the rest of ‘The Gifted’ crew, tried to make an episode showing ‘how the other half lives’ – namely Jace from the Sentinel Services. Did it work?

It all depends on how much the audience likes/hates Jace and everyone else from ‘The Gifted’. Every TV show is a product, trying to be sold to its customers, in this case – the audience. In addition, yes, it is not clear-cut how it works, but having good ideas and an appropriately good execution of those ideas helps: just look at ‘Arrowverse’ TV series (DC) as examples. If this does not happen, well… ‘The Catch’ got cancelled after 2 seasons, APB, (aired in winter 2017) – after just one. AC, of course, also got cancelled after 2 seasons, but it is also a possibility that that happened because of Hayley Atwell – some things just went wrong for Marvel at that moment in time, and it showed in S2/S3 of AoS as well…

Actually, it is not quite certain if AoS got over that problem back then: at the end of S3, the titular team was already in space and primed to have some space adventures – but they did not. Instead, AoS S4 was a mixed bag of various discarded ideas of the first three seasons, including the Ghost Rider, but even that does not appear to have stuck: so far, there is no mention of Gabriel Luna returning to AoS, so no Ghost Rider for S5, it seems.

Back to ‘The Gifted’? Well, so far it is going strong, it features a solid plot and it knows exactly what it supposed to be, unlike ‘InHumans’, for comparison. Unlike AoS, ‘InHumans’ greatest flaw isn’t revisions of the script; rather it is indecisiveness – where do they want to go as a show? As it was written regarding them the last time, ‘InHumans’ try to be action/adventure, a space soap opera, some sort of a romantic comedy, etc. – all at the same time, while trying to do so with a small cast as well. AC also had a small cast, but it knew precisely where it wanted to go, so it’s anyone’s guess where it had went wrong instead, while ‘InHumans’ are going all over the place, and it is hurting them. Pity.

On the other hand, ‘The Gifted’ also knows where it is going – in the X-Men direction, complete with direct references to the X-Men, so no problems here. The script might have been revised, but so far, there is no overt indication of that, so it is just guesswork. And the viewers love them, because of novelty, good acting, other reasons, etc. – so no problems in this area either. What next?

Well, next week Johnny/Thunderbird is going to spearhead a mission to learn if Sentinel Services are brainwashing mutants into fighting other mutants, Lauren/Dreamer makes a new friend with useful new powers and Clarice/Blink needs to make a choice.

…Oh wait, you mean in the in review? There is nothing much left – ‘The Gifted’ have delivered as they have done from the beginning, so let us wish them good luck and wait until the next episode!