And so, we have finally made it to 2019. It was tough, those
last few weeks/days/months etc., but we have reached a new year. Yay! No,
really – yay. Let us see now what greets us.
Well, many new movies/TV series/online series and etc. ‘Runaways’
S2 has premiered on Hulu, but we’ll have to see if we’ll be able to see them on
TV because of real life reasons. Talk about ‘the Gifted’ in its place?
Well, we can always talk about the upcoming S2 of ‘the
Punisher’ instead – on Netflix. With ‘the Defenders’ being down, (save for JJ),
it is up to Frank Castle to carry the Marvel for Netflix. It also further
complicates the Disney-Netflix Marvel relationship, and as it was said back in
2018, until it is resolved, it is unlikely that Daredevil or any of his
immediate cohorts will appear in MCU because otherwise? There might be real
life conflicts and even lawsuits. Disney already got issues with SW, it does
not really need problems with MCU, especially now that it finally got its’ act
together with FOX – and yes, this brings us to ‘the Gifted’.
In this week’s episode – ‘eneMy’ – the Mutant Underground
has technically teamed-up with the Inner Circle to rescue John/Thunderbird. In
reality it were just Andy and Lorna returning to their old families and friends
to, well, rescue John, even though Lauren is still upset in regards to Andy’s
initial defection, and Lorna & Marcos’ relationship is still a mess. Of
course, in ‘eneMy’ they actually work together to take down the Purifiers, but
so do the Strucker siblings, alongside Clarice/Blink…who appears to be more
skillful with her powers than how she initially looked. Go her, though odds are
that this hidden knowledge will somehow cause trouble for the Mutant
Underground in the future.
That is actually a worthwhile point to mention – ‘the Gifted’
really doesn’t do internal conflicts all that well; the new/old/renewed
conflict between Andy and Lauren Strucker feels decisively contrived and
forced; the script just doesn’t come naturally here; neither it does when the
Strucker parents calm Lauren down in their car: the acting feels just thin
here; the actors are being just actors, not their characters, as they usually
are on the show.
As the script, so the visual effects – a large chunk of ‘eneMy’
was executed in sepia tones of some sort. Were they supposed to add to the atmosphere,
to make it more dramatic and intense? It did not really work, it looked strange
rather than oppressive, so yes, when they vanished, the viewers did feel
relived, just for the wrong reasons than the show’s crew and cast were going
for.
Back to the plot? Jace has gone full Sith here, torturing
John with psychological warfare and eventually trying to kill him by shooting
him full of lead. Hopefully, John will survive, as there is no indication that ‘the
Gifted’ are bringing in a replacement character for him. Again, however, the
show will set new conflicts for him and Clarice, because this is how ‘the
Gifted’ appear to run in S2. It is doubtful that it is a good strategy, as the
numbers of the show went up and down and all over the place, and the December
hiatus did more harm than good for them, as such hiatuses often are. Ah well, it
is still a good reason to enjoy the ride until it is over and the lady sings.
Yes, AoS is coming back for S6 in summer 2019, but so far,
the information is sparse, and the shots of Daisy being a blonde-haired woman
now are not encouraging either. AoS has driven itself into a tangled knot and
while it had tried to untangle itself, true, it did not really work: the show
got stuck with the character of Deke Shaw, who is even less popular than Kasius
and Sinara had been, and they were villains, plus the titular agents have
established themselves as a bunch unsympathetic gits…but that is another story.
‘The Gifted’ is doing something different: it took an original narrative and is
now trying to diversify it with a bunch of contrived conflicts that make the
show less derived and more drawn-out instead; plus…
Plus ‘the Gifted’ is more like AC than AoS; it still has a tightly
knit, relatively small main cast with which it works: ‘eneMy’ brought them all
together, albeit on different sides; Jace is still the odd man out, as he
usually is. No Inner Circle, no new kids, no nothing. (Also, Andy did not go
over to the Inner Circle because of their money and power as Lauren claimed on
this episode – he left because he felt that he could do better over there
instead, as did Lorna – now we will just have to see if he and Lorna made the
right choice). Sadly, for ‘the Gifted’ this sometimes borders on ridiculous,
again, and the show tries to do something about it – in 2018, for example, we’ve
seen Marcos trying to contact other Mutant Underground members, but all in
vain: everyone else became afraid of what the Inner Circle had Lorna and Andy set
in motion to do something about it. That said, it would be nice to see more new
mutant faces; instead, ‘eneMy’ barely acknowledged the chaos unleashed by the
Inner Circle, Andy and Lorna and was all about John’s rescue instead. That is
justifiable, but the way that John had rammed the Purifiers’ track back in 2018…not
the smartest move either, not even by him; (the fact that it felt almost like DW the combat simulation part hadn't helped the episode either - it was that contrived). Anything else?
Ted of the Purifiers’ isn’t dead, Andy and Lorna are back
with the Inner Circle, (if Reeva and the others even realized that they were
gone – hopefully this issue will be addressed in the next episodes), Jace
continues his holy/unholy war and descent into the dark side, and the Strucker
siblings are setting forth to have a confrontation of their own. Sigh. ‘The
Gifted’ tried to give them character development back in 2018, but instead they
keep coming back to being full Lannister. Let us just hope that they will
resolve their issues before S2 of ‘the Gifted’ is finished and we all can move
on…somewhere. New, that is.
Well, so far, this is it. See you all soon!
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