It was nice to see the Mutant Underground fighting together again on Marvel’s The Gifted. Even if it was just for a day. Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White) teamed up to save John Proudstar (Blair Redford), leaving Lauren confused about how she feels about her brother and the Inner Circle. Caitlin Strucker (Amy Acker) also has a change of heart and wants to take down the Inner Circle to get Andy back.
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When the Struckers were in North Carolina, Dr. Madeline Risman (Kate Burton) gave them a music box that belonged to Andrea Von Strucker (Julia Farino). In 1985, Andreas Von Strucker (Carsten Norgaard) had the box restored with some modifications. Now Lauren is obsessed with the box.
She listens to the box as she researches the Von Strucker family. She has been training a lot as well. Reed (Stephen Moyer) is concerned. He thinks fighting next to Andy has changed her. Caitlin thinks Lauren is fine, in fact, she encourages Lauren’s stronger stance. They are planning on taking down the Inner Circle and she wants Lauren to be ready for anything.
The Struckers tells Marcos (Sean Teale) and Clarice (Jamie Chung) about wanting to take down the Inner Circle. They just got John back and he’s still recovering. They’re not sure they can handle another fight so soon. Marcos says the Underground is quiet. A lot of mutants have fled in fear of the Purifiers. He says there may be some people still around and volunteers to check the nearby stations to see who’s left.
Disturbance
Polaris (Emma Dumont) is also a little distracted after last week’s big rescue. She kissed Marcos before saying goodbye again and that’s all she can think about. Andy informs her that Reeva (Grace Byers) has recruited new members of their team. They go to the training room to check them out.
Reeva tries to initiate the new recruits, but they don’t feel like they need training. They demonstrate how the three of them work together to create devastating explosions. Reeva asserts her authority by using her mega-voice. She tells them to do things her way, or they can put a collar back on them. Andy thinks the new recruits are super cool, but Polaris isn’t as excited. She recognizes the recruits as terrorists.
Polaris voices her concern with Reeva, but Reeva is fully aware of who they are and what they’ve done. She says the Purifier membership has risen by 70%. Any human without the x-gene is a threat to their livelihood. She needs people who will scare off anyone who wants to hurt mutants. Polaris asks if she’s out of the plan now. Reeva reminds her that she’s royalty. Her job is to rebuild the world that they have to destroy first.
Dreamscape
Lauren puts her computer away to go to sleep but leaves the music box on. She starts tossing and turning, throwing blades across the room. Her dream is about the Von Struckers. They are trapped outside of a stone wall. People are shooting at them. They grab hands to become Fenris. Someone shoots Andrea and she dies.
Caitlin and Reed hear a crash and run in to check on Lauren. Caitlin tries to wake up Lauren, but she keeps swinging her arms. Reed shuts the music box and Lauren wakes up. They ask if she was dreaming about Andy, but she wasn’t. Lauren says she doesn’t remember the dream. The building supervisor knocks on their door. Reed tries to cover, saying his daughter had a seizure. The supervisor is worried about mutants, but Reed assures him that they are not mutants.
Purifiers’ Next Phase
Benedict Ryan (Peter Gallagher) informs Jace Turner (Coby Bell) about the next phase in the Purifier plan. Jace is more concerned with exposing the Atlanta mutants. He thinks he will be vindicated if people knew the mutants had survived. Ryan says the people are more worried about the thousands of mutants that broke out of prisons and hospitals. He needs Jace to lead the Purifiers in finding these criminals and bringing them to justice. If he does that, America will love him and the Purifiers. Then they can worry about the Atlanta mutants.
Jace returns to the Purifiers headquarters to prepare everyone for their search. Officer Ted Wilson (Tom O’Keefe) returns after the compound attack, feeling like he’s been replaced as the leader. Jace assures Wilson that he’s not taking anything from him. In fact, he needs Wilson by his side. Wilson calms down and prepares to leave.
Jace got news of escaped mutants posing as homeless to get into shelters. The Purifiers go to a boys’ shelter to look for mutants. The shelter manager tries to turn them away, saying they don’t have a warrant to search the place. Wilson steps forward and says he’s an off duty cop. Jace spots two boys looking at him nervously. They run upstairs and Jace chases after them. He catches them in a room and pulls a gun on the boys. Wilson catches up and says they just want to ask them some questions.
Dangerous Lifestyles
Caitlin checks in on John. He’s still asleep and that concerns Caitlin. John has the ability to heal quickly but he’s been down for days. She assures Clarice that he will be back up soon. Clarice is more concerned about John getting shot again. Caitlin tells her a story about a time when Reed found a bomb in his car. She was scared for him to go back to his prosecutor job, but he says he was needed there. John is the same way. It’s who the world needs him to be. Even after his injuries, he won’t change.
Marcos calls Caitlin to let her know that he wasn’t able to find many combat-ready mutants. He has a few more place to check and hangs up. His car starts acting funny. The steering wheel starts moving in a different direction. Marcos immediately knows it’s Polaris. When he sees her, he starts yelling about how she has basically ruined his life. Polaris says she’s sorry, but she needs his help. She tells him about Reeva’s new strike team and she wants to stop their mission. She can’t do it alone. Despite how Polaris treated Marcos, she tells him to help her because he’s a good man.
The Earl King
Reed and Caitlin continue their talk about Lauren. Reed says Lauren is more powerful and is becoming violent. Caitlin thinks it’s good that she’s building up her strength and training to control her powers. Reed says Andy went through the same thing, but Caitlin says Andy has been brainwashed. Reed tells her the name of the song on the music box is The Earl King. It’s a song about a powerful force that steals children and the parents who ignore it.
Caitlin checks in on Lauren as she is practicing controlling her powers. She tells Lauren about Reed’s concerns. Lauren understands because it’s overwhelming for her as well. Caitlin says if they are going to win, they can’t hold Lauren back. They hear the police outside and realize they are coming into the apartment building. The cops go straight to the Strucker’s door. Reed tries to reason with them, but they have their guns drawn on him and ask for his ID.
Lauren and Caitlin come up with a plan to get rid of them. Caitlin walks out to confront the cops about harassing her family when there are mutants in the street below. Lauren starts causing chaos from her apartment window. The cops leave, chasing a phantom mutant down the street. Reed hates that Lauren used her powers, but Caitlin says she told Lauren to do it. They are clearly not on the same page. Caitlin says there’s too much at stake for them to hold Lauren back any longer. Lauren promises her dad that she can handle it.
Top Secret
Polaris approaches the new recruits and talks to a guy named Max (James Carpinello). She asks what his mission is, but he doesn’t want to tell her. Polaris admits that she knows who he is and what he’s done. So clearly his mission has to be dangerous. Max knows who Polaris is as well and who her father is. He says as long as he gets paid, he doesn’t ask questions about his mission.
Marcos returns to the apartment and tells Clarice about his run-in with Polaris. He’s scared about what Reeva may be planning if it has caused Polaris to turn against the Inner Circle. Clarice is shocked too, but they are in no fighting condition. Marcos asks to go to the Morlocks for help. Clarice takes him to Erg (Michael Luwoye) and nags him the entire way about how Marcos is a hypocrite. She says he hurt her by telling John about her friendship with Erg. He sincerely apologizes and Clarice easily forgives him.
Erg meets the duo and takes Clarice to talk. Marcos talks to Glow (Laysla De Oliveira). Marcos apologizes for leaving her there, but she’s okay with it. He looks at the ‘M’ on her face and lights it up. He almost kisses Glow, but pulls away. Glow knows that he’s still attached to his ex. He apologizes and gives her the short version of their issues. He wonders why he can’t be stronger when it comes to Polaris. Glow says he can only get that angry at someone he really loves. And it doesn’t take strength to hate someone, it takes strength to forgive them.
Clarice asks Erg for any information on the Inner Circle. He doesn’t want to get involved in a conflict with the circle. He says he made a commitment to protect the Morlocks, so he can’t join in her fight. Erg asks her to join the Morlocks, but she refuses. Clarice says the people above need her. Erg accepts that and gives her some information that she can use.
Trigger Happy
Wilson takes one boy to another room while Jace questions the other. The boy’s name is Rahul (Christian Gabriel Anderson). He is an African American boy and tells Jace that he ran because he’s a Purifier. Rahul says his granddaddy didn’t need a reason to run from the Klan and points out that neither did Jace’s. Jace is taken back by the comment. He starts to say that this is not about hate. He says he doesn’t hate mutants that follow the law.
They hear a gunshot and Jace runs to the next room. Wilson says the kid raised his hands like he was going to attack. So Wilson shot him. Jace yells for someone to call an ambulance, but the young man dies before anyone can respond. Jace investigates the scene and realizes the kid was sitting in a chair when he was shot. He asks Wilson how the kid was going to attack him if he was sitting down. Wilson claims that he was defending himself. They hear sirens and Wilson starts to freak out.
Jace talks to a detective, starting by telling her why they were there. She wants to know more about why Officer Wilson shot the kid. Jace backs Wilson’s story, saying he heard a commotion. When he got to the room, the kid was starting to attack Wilson. He says Wilson shot the kid in self-defense.
Regroup
Polaris shows up at Marcos’ apartment. He tells her about the information that the Morlocks gave to him. They told him that the security was swept in a secluded area by the train yard. He is going to check it out. Polaris wants to go with him, but he says no. She apologizes again for the way she treated him. She says she wanted to create a world where they could be safe. Marcos says he was hurt because he felt like she gave up on them. Polaris assures him that she didn’t. They make up and kiss, creating another Borealis in the air.
Jace watches the latest episode of the Benedict Ryan show when his wife Paula (Frances Turner) calls. Jace just recently signed their divorce papers. She saw the news and thought what he did was heroic. She says their daughter would be proud of him. Paula asks to meet up with Jace, but he feels guilty for lying and hangs up the phone.
John finally wakes up and eats something. He tells Clarice that he’s been afraid to get close to people because of those friends he’s already lost. But he doesn’t want to lose her. Clarice admits to being afraid to lose him too. They are interrupted by John’s phone. It’s Evangeline (Erinn Ruth). She tells him that they need to meet. He was right about the Underground collapsing. She tells him to get his people ready to fight.
The Light
Lauren opens the music box and finds a note in a secret compartment. There is also a lock of hair in the compartment. The note is from Andreas Von Strucker. He says they didn’t live long enough to see the future that they wanted. So he put a lock of Andrea’s hair with his. He tells the reader that it’s up to them to carry on the light.
Lauren goes to the building supervisor to confront him about calling the police. He tries to say he didn’t call, but she knows better. He did it because he wanted to make sure there were no mutants in the building. Lauren confirms that there are mutants and she’s one of them. She warns him to stay away from her family and keep his mouth shut. Anyone could be a mutant so he’s never safe.
Polaris and Marcos go to the location provided by the Morlocks. They see two cars pull up. Reeva gets out of one car. Benedict Ryan gets out of the other car. They are yelling at each other, but the mutants can’t hear them. Reeva and Ryan exchange folders and leave.
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Thoughts
It was only a matter of time before someone crossed the line back to the Mutant Underground. Just in time too. A lot of trust has been lost with the revelation that Reeva is working with Ryan. But it will take a lot of convincing to dismantle the Inner Circle. The MU has the firepower, but they need the numbers.
Unless…Lauren and Andy pull it together and figure out what they can do together. The scary thing about that is, whose side are they on? The Purifiers are making it hard for the mutants to believe in the good of humanity. Lauren could easily turn dark if something bad happened to someone she loves.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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