This week’s episode has news that are both good and bad,
depending on whether you’re in ‘The Gifted’ universe or outside of it – the Sentinels
are back, bringing forth more brainwashed mutants. Sadly for the Sentinels, so
far they are not doing very well with their a-game either: the Strucker
grandfather has killed Augustus, (the mutant whose powers are to turn off the
powers of the other mutants) and Johnny and Marcos have caught another
brainwashed mutant as well – and a telepath has gleaned that the Sentinels are
brainwashing mutants for real, so now the mutants are beginning to deliver
their own a-game too.
Let us elaborate. Last time around Lorna was angry with
Marcos because he went to Carmen, (his ex-girlfriend, who is a normal human –
so far – and a head of a drug cartel) and not told her anything at all. So she
became angry and huffy and then they all met a brainwashed mutant who had lost
her baby on top of everything else, so naturally now Lorna is a lot more
wonderful and has forgiven Marcos completely because she has realized that she
herself isn’t invincible and that the stakes in the mutant-Sentinel battle are
even higher than what she has thought, so now she and Marcos are back together…
Yes, when it is put like this, cut and dry, it does sound clichéd,
but on screen, thanks to the actors’ acting, it really works. In addition, the
return of the Sentinels here also helps, because so far, ‘The Gifted’ was all
about the mutants’ conflicts with the Sentinels, and by extent – with the
American government, though as last week’s episode has shown – remember – this may
not be the case forever…
However, this episode’s main plotline is Reed Strucker’s
visit to his father, who revealed that he was a mutant, Reed’s father and aunt
were mutants, and that Reed himself was a mutant until his father gave him some
sort of a ‘cure’ for mutations that turned Reed into an ordinary human – but because
sci-fi, his children, of course, are mutants once more, and very powerful ones
too, hence why the Sentinels want them… What, mainly, is interesting here,
(aside from the drama, generated by the script and the acting), is that in the world
of ‘The Gifted’ the mutants have existed for a long time; yes, in Marvel
universe proper one of the greatest mutants ever – Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur –
was born in the time of ancient Egypt, but here, in ‘The Gifted’, this is the
first indication that mutants aren’t
a recent phenomenon after all, this is a true alternate universe from RL, and
should be treated as such – keep it in mind. Otherwise…
Otherwise, ‘eXtinction’ – this week’s episode – was not
exactly a filler episode, just a Strucker-focused one. So far, it is unknown as
to what relationship these Struckers have to baron von Strucker, a Hydra
villain from the MCU ‘Age of Ultron’ movie and his son Werner, who appeared in
the first half of AoS’ S3…and vanished into nothingness by the second half –
but AoS was doing this even back in S2, so let us not judge it too harshly…at
least until its’ fifth season airs in December 2017.
What can be said about that?
Before S4 was aired, AoS and MCU did
an advertising campaign, clearly telling that this season will feature the
Ghost Rider, (Robbie Reyes). This time, they kept their cards closer to their
chest and there is no hint of just who will be the heavy hitter of this season –
there is footage of the Kree, but most of the videos so far featured some sort
of an alien predator, with ‘alien’ being the key word here: it looks like a
variant xenomorph from the AVP franchise, and this just isn’t encouraging: AoS
S4 finished on its’ lowest note yet, AoS still has plenty of fans, but will
they be as excited to watch S5 in the long run? Who knows…
Getting back to ‘The Gifted’… there isn’t much to speculate –
just that maybe the mutants’ new telepath is herself a more advanced brainwashed
minion of the Sentinels, (here the brainwashing seems to be less clockwork
orange and more drug addiction than it was in AoS), so some twists in the
narrative are still possible, because otherwise? The mutants are coming for the
Sentinels and their brainwashed mutants, period. This will be in two weeks –
the next week is a timeout for ‘The Gifted’, but there are new Marvel series on
Netflix and Hulu to fill-in the gap.
Until next time, people!
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