Whoa! They say all good things come in threes. Hopefully that’s true on The Gifted.
For the last two weeks, Esme has been manipulating everyone to attack Trask Industries so she can save her family. She didn’t tell anyone that she was a triplet. Talk about creepy! Andy and Lauren were also at Trask and have been freed by the triplets. Campbell got what he needed from them to make the ultimate mutant weapon. What is the ultimate mutant weapon? And how will Dreamer’s death affect the Mutant Underground? Will the Struckers continue to fight back? Or will Reed and Caitlin continue to stifle their children’s power?
Lots of Easter Eggs in “3 X1.” See if you can point them out.
Read the Latest Recap of The Gifted, “eXploited”
Flashback
2 years ago, Clarice (Jamie Chung) was a regular…mutant. As she and her date are coming out of a movie, they are confronted by a human terror group called The Purifiers. They tell Clarice that she has no business being in their town. The Purifiers trash and burn her car. Clarice has to run and blink to get away from them.
Present Day
Esme and her sisters (Skylar Samuel) are part of a mutant group tasked with restarting the Hellfire Club. You may remember it. Otto Strucker mentioned that Andreas and Andrea von Strucker were once members of this club. The sisters meet with a mystery man (Ray Campbell) and report to him what happened after they freed the mutants from Trask. Apparently the Mutant Underground wasn’t too happy with the Esmes. They took their people and left. The Mystery Man tells them that their other associates don’t feel like they can taken down the Sentinel Services Hound program. Esme says they can get the Mutant Underground to help. The Mystery Man gives them a diamond for their expenses.
Agent Jace Turner (Coby Bell) eulogizes Agent Weems. Weems was one of the victims of Esme and her sisters. Turner vows to stop evil and get those who are responsible for his death.
At the same time, Lorna (Emma Dumont) eulogizes Sonia/Dreamer. Dr. Roderick Campbell (Garret Dillahunt) murdered Dreamer to make Andy (Percy Haynes White) and Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) use their power. Marcos (Sean Teale) reminds everyone that like humans, mutants live and die the same. And they grieve the same. He promises to get justice for Dreamer. All of the Mutant Underground say goodbye. John (Blair Redford) is especially upset. Clarice checks on him, asking what they do next. John says they take down the Hound program. He tells Clarice that he can’t lose any more friends.
Reed (Stephen Moyer) and Caitlin (Amy Acker) know that Andy and Lauren feel responsible for Dreamer’s death. They tell the kids that they want to take the family to Mexico, as originally planned. Andy is angry about the decision. Lauren doesn’t like running either. Reed tells them that there are other mutants that need help. Lauren and Andy want to stay and fight. Reed and Caitlin have made up their minds.
Shatter (Jermaine Rivers) tells everyone that the triplets have arrived. Everyone is uneasy about the triplets. They tell everyone to calm down. They have come to ask for help. It’s in all of their best interest to team up and take down the Hound program. Esme says she only manipulated them all to get them to do what needed to be done. Otherwise, they would have been the corpses. They need the MU because all of Sentinel Services knows their face. They have the intel and the MU has the muscle.
Chime in the Struckers. Caitlin asks if they are going to seriously consider helping them. John says they will discuss it, but the triplets have to leave.
Turner visits his daughter’s grave. Dr. Campbell joins him to discuss their next moves. He says he admires Turner for saving the mutants from the Hound program. He tells Turner that he’s not a monster. The Hound program was started to end the mutant problem. They are at a crucial moment. The Trask research has entered a new phase. Campbell wants Turners support to move forward.
Lauren and Andy discuss leaving the Mutant Underground. Lauren says it may be best that they leave. People are looking at them funny. Their power may be too powerful for them to control. Andy is drawing a wolf. He gets up and says it may be the best time.
Sage (Hayley Lovitt) finds intel on the triplets. Their names are Esme, Sophie, and Phoebe Frost. They have a hive mind but have to be close to their target to use their full power. Sage says they are politically connected. She shows John and Clarice a picture of Esme with Senator Montez. Clarice says Montez is a Purifier. John says they have the right enemies, but if they join the Frost Triplets, it will tear the underground apart. Mutants are fighting all over the place. Clarice says half of the mutants think the triplets are trouble. The other half believe their the only ones who can save the mutants. Clarice says she’s not going to run and hide anymore.
Lorna and Marcos are having a heated discussion about the triplets as well. Lorna gets a strange feeling in her stomach. She plays it off as she was thinking. She tells Marcos that the triplets got the job done. Lorna walks out of the room to end the discussion.
Marcos goes after her, but then overhears Andy say that Reed is making decisions for him. He asks them what they are doing. Caitlin explains that they are leaving. Marcos says they need the Struckers there. Caitlin says it’s because Esme is back. She turns some of the mutants against Reed and Caitlin because they talked to Turner. Marcos says he wants them there.
The Struckers pack up a car to leave. Marcos gives the Struckers some supplies for the road and says goodbye. They are headed to the Fairburn Station. They have to wait on Lauren who is taking her time saying goodbye.
Clarice stops Lauren and tells her that running won’t solve anything. They are needed at the Mutant Underground. Lauren says she doesn’t have much of a choice. She says she tried to take a stand and Dreamer was killed. Clarice says Dreamer’s death wasn’t her fault. Hate feeds on fear. If she runs, hate wins.
Campbell tells Turner that they were able to combine the mutant abilities. He says they need to take bold steps to end the war with the mutants. Campbell’s programs can do that. The data they got from the Struckers and the Frosts will help. He wants to demonstrate the program in the field. He says he can help Turner take down the Mutant Underground. And Turner can help him expand his program. Turner agrees.
The Struckers get to the Fairburn station. Wes (Danny Ramirez) is there waiting for them. He provides the security for the station. Lauren tells him that they are leaving for Mexico. He tells them they are arranging a ride and invites them to eat. Andy takes off to explore the place. Reed and Caitlin are happy to see Lauren smiling.
A Frost sister shows up later to talk to Andy. She asks Andy why they are running. He tells her to talk to his parents. She says he isn’t someone who needs protecting. She suggests that he talk to them as Andrew von Strucker if he wants to be taken seriously. Andy gets uncomfortable. The Frost sister says she knows everything about his family. They need his family…maybe Andy most of all. Andy runs away from her.
Lorna wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night. She goes outside to confront one of the triplets. The Frost sister says time is running out. She knows Lorna likes the idea of teaming up with them. Lorna says they don’t like being puppets. Lorna asks about the Hellfire Club. The Frost sister asks Lorna if she knows about her father…her real father. He was a member of the Hellfire Club…more than a member, a King. She says Lorna is royalty. Lorna says he has nothing to do with her. The Frost sister asks about Lorna’s pregnancy. She says it’s changing Lorna. If Lorna wants to protect her baby, she has to join them. Lorna reminds her that the MU hates them. The Frost sister says she needs to think about what matters most.
Lauren confides in Wes about what happened to Dreamer. He tells her she can’t take back what happened. She has to let it make her stronger. He says a lot of bad stuff happened to him and it had to. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been there when she showed up. She reminds him that they are leaving for Mexico. He says whether it’s a day or five minutes, he had to see her. Wes kisses Lauren.
Lorna uses her power to shut the vault door. She tells Marcos that her powers are growing stronger because of the baby. Marcos thinks she might be having a bipolar episode. She says it’s not. She’s changing. He tells her that John wants to see them.
John asks Marcos, Clarice and Lorna what they want to do. Marcos doesn’t want to team up with the Frosts. Lorna and Clarice see the benefits of joining the Frosts. John says Congress could declare Marshall Law on mutants. Clarice says they didn’t need Marshall Law to kill her foster parents. Lorna says they need all the allies they can get. Marcos says the X-men chose them for a reason and not because they can kill. He says they have to better than that. Sage interrupts to tell them at the police scanner reports something big is about to happen at Fairburn.
Reed says they might have a ride to Mexico. Andy wants to go back to Atlanta to help the MU. They are interrupted when a wall is blasted. Sentinel Services is there and they have their new mutant weapon.
Lauren and Wes use their power to shield everyone. Andy wants to fight. He is hit with a blast and knocked out.The Hounds continue to attack the station. John calls Reed and assess the situation. Mutants are trying to escape, but several have surrendered. John tells them to hang tight, they are on their way.
Turner and Campbell watch the destruction from a truck. Turner says they got a tip from a truck driver about the location. Campbell explains how his devices mingles the mutant’s blood stream, conjoining their powers. Turner radios to his men to surround the building.
Mutant Underground arrives at the station. Clarice is able to blink everyone inside the station. The Struckers are able to wake up Andy. Wes is having a hard time holding his mirage. The MU arrives as Wes collapses. Sentinel Services moves in and begins shooting at them.
The Mutant Underground gets everyone outside, but Sentinel Services finds their truck. They are hiding in the woods with nowhere to go. Andy hears a voice in his head. He leads everyone to a road. The Frost sisters are there waiting for them. John says more agents are headed their way. Everyone gets in a car and they escape.
Turner and Campbell shows their work to the Sentinel Services Director Wolcott (Elliott Gray). Turner says it’s the most effective tactic they’ve come across, even better than the sentinels. Campbell says the program is built from Otto Strucker’s research and the data they got from the Strucker children. Wolcott is worried about how politically correct the program is. Turner says they have lost too many people. They need support in Washington to give the people the results they want to see. Wolcott tells them to put a demonstration together. He asks if they can make this national. Campbell says it can be an international effort.
The mutants get back to the MU. Wes and Andy are being cared for by Caitlin. Andy wakes up. Reed tells him to rest. Andy says the Frosts saved them. They can’t leave now. The Hounds are too dangerous. Reed says he’s right for now, but he wants him to rest.
Marcos asks how the Frosts found them. John asks if they were talking about the hounds at the station. The Frosts say it will get much worse. Lorna asks if they can get to Campbell. The Frost are confident they can.
The Frost sisters report back to the mystery man. He tells them the inner circle is upset with their latest shenanigans. Turns out the Frosts called in the tip about Fairburn. They say if they want to win, they have to sacrifice some pawns. He asks about the Mutant Underground. The Frosts say they are in.
Catch Up with The Gifted Season One Recaps Here
Thoughts
Easter Eggs! I’m excited for the season finale. The Hellfire Club! The Purifiers! The Frost triplets! Not really sure where it’s going. They have altered the canon a little already, but it’s so fun to watch it unfold!
The Gifted has been fun. It’s action packed, fast paced, with great character development for all mutant characters (I’m still annoyed by Reed and Caitlin), and it’s a show that meshes what we already know about the X-Men world. I really hope we get a season two.
For now, The Gifted season one finale is on Monday January 15.
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