‘The Gifted’ continues to try its’ hardest to impress the
viewers; ‘coMplications, this week’s episode, is a good example of that.
What is going on in ‘coMplications’? The better question
would be – what isn’t? This episode
deals with the following storylines: John and Clarice are trying to communicate
with the Morlocks’, who are giving them some
info on the Inner Circle, but in exchange, their leader wants Blink to spy on
the Mutant Underground, such as it is. Secondly, the Struckers, ‘minus Andy’,
are getting their act together as Reed confesses that his powers have
manifested at last to his wife and daughter. Thirdly, Marcos met his daughter
and helped the Inner Circle cure her jaundice, (a real life disease, incidentally).
And, finally – Jace is trying to get into the mutant-fighting action again, but
it is not easy as he may think.
Where to elaborate? ‘The Gifted’ are setting the Morlocks up
to be the anti-Inner Circle: the Inner Circle are the patricians, (yes, the
Ancient Rome symbolism is deliberate), while the Morlocks are the lowest of the
plebeians, with the Inner Circle being immaculate, prestigious and
orderly/lawful, (evil, but still), and the Morlocks are the other way around.
Now, nothing may come out of it, but the general opposite symbolism is still there.
Are the Morlocks enemies of the Inner
Circle/the Hellfire Club? Right now, they are doing their own thing instead, so
go them? The Mutant Underground is still in shambles, and though the Struckers are
getting their act together, (at least in the short term), none of them have
anything real to offer the Morlocks right now; maybe later, but with
Marcos/Eclipse on the warpath, and John and Clarice developing relationship
issues, because ‘The Gifted’ needs drama!
On a more serious note, Jace’s new problems of fitting in
into the ‘normal human society’ of ‘The Gifted’ aren’t unlike what Reed had
faced back in S1, when he went against the main mass of the machine: people
were sympathetic, but the bureaucratic machine just wasn’t budging, and while
it was potentially possible to work the system somehow, he was unable to: he
and his family got arrested all the same, regardless of whatever achievements
Reed did in the past. Same for Jace here and now, in S2, save that it is not as
extreme: he is not arrested, just – rejected. He needs to get back into
Sentinel Services, (or into the federal system, period), whether into his old
place or start from scratch, (and he is an impatient man, it seems), or else
start his own thing; according to the next week’s spoilers, he might try his
luck with the Purifiers (basically, a fictional take on KKK) next.
Now, again, Jace was never particularly sympathetic to mutants, but in S1 he was depicted as a
sympathetic character to the viewers
instead, a more morally ambiguous character than an outright evil one. Ergo, if
he starts to flat-out gun down mutants in the following episodes of S2, it will
go against his built-up back in S1 and even now, so that isn’t too likely. This
does place Jace into something of a limbo – he cannot be good, (not yet,
anyhow), but he cannot be overtly evil either, because otherwise he becomes
kind of generic and not as interesting as he was before. Since the numbers for ‘The
Gifted’ currently are not as high as they were in S1 yet, the show hopefully will not rock the boat yet either – but again,
we will have to see.
Anything else? Yes, the Morlocks’ leader in this universe is
a gender-bent Callisto, who usually leads the Morlocks in the Marvel comics.
Again, this might be some sort of an opposition, (even in symbolism) against
Reeva who leads the Inner Circle so far, but we’ll have and see the future
episodes to learn if the Morlocks ever take-up arms against the Inner Circle.
Speaking of the Inner Circle? Right now, it is mostly Reeva
and the Frost girls, with Andy and Sage only occasionally appearing, (of all ‘The
Gifted’ characters who had left the Mutant Underground for the Inner Circle at
the S1 finale) to flesh it out. Anyone else is more of a cameo than a
character, and Lorna, of course, is out of circulation, being busy with Dawn.
As such, so far the Inner Circle may be competent, but it is also
underwhelming; of course, so’s the Mutant Underground, but it is supposed to be
the underdog, and right now they actually appear to have equal, (if not slightly
superior) numbers to the Inner Circle. Yes, Reeva so far seems to have the
strongest mutant powers on the show, but if Lorna and Marcos ever get over
their tiff and became a couple once more, Reeva may find herself on the ropes
instead. And moreover, the point is that the Inner Circle is supposed to be so
much more formidable than the Mutant Underground is, and right now, it just
seems to have more money, that is it. And money, while important, is not always
critically (and exclusively) so…
The other point of criticism are the not-so-special effects
of the Morlocks’ sewer lair. The rats that John and Clarice encountered were
certainly adorable, but the lighting… it appeared to be more in the fashion of
a Halloween funhouse than anything else. Budgetary restrictions or just bad
choice? Either way, it did not really work, and just subtracted from the
atmosphere of the Morlocks’ lair, and if it is a budget issue, we are stuck with
it. Ouch.
…Well, this is it for this time; see you all soon!
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