The Gifted – Episode One: ‘eXposed’ Review
Being a fan of the X-men, it seems that many of us have been looking forward to the latest foray into the mutant world. It comes in the form of the new television series, The Gifted which had its premiere last night.
The show is meant to happen in an alternate timeline to the X-men film franchise, in a world where the popular mutant superhero team has disappeared, but mutants are still fighting for survival in a world that both fears and hates them.
**Spoilers ahead**
The show dives straight into the action, not holding back as a group of mutants on the run that include Lorna Dane/Polaris (Emma Dumont), John Proudstar/Thunderbird (Blair Redford), Marcos Diaz/Eclipse (Sean Teale) are trying to locate fellow mutant, Clarice Fong a.k.a. Blink (Jamie Chung), while she is being hunted by Sentinel Services.
While the group manages to locate and save Blink, one of their own is caught and is soon being questioned by Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer), who is a district attorney working with Sentinel Services as it pertains to the ‘mutant problem’.
But while Reed is busy with his career his son, Andy (Percy Hynes) is battling problems of his own. Andy is being bullied at school and although his parents have met with the principal in regards to the abuse, it continues.
In an attempt to get her brother to open up out of his shell, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind), brings him along to the school dance to have a good time. However, the dance only serves to make Andy’s life more miserable when he’s confronted by his tormenters and they drag him into the locker room and lock the door.
This serves moment of terror serves as the catalyst for Andy’s mutant abilities. While he being burned by scalding water in the locker room showers, he snaps. Crying out in pain and frustration, the high school student loses control and the room begins to quake, gymnasium walls begin to crumble and the lights overhead begin to shatter.
It’s not long before Sentinel Services catches up to the Strucker family and now the tables have turned. The same people that Reed hunted have become his own family and now they are the ones on the run.
The way the series dove right into the action from the get-go was refreshing. Many of us have seen a lot of X-men in our lifetime, so there was no need to beat around the bush. Another enjoyable aspect of the shows that it tackled more than just the mutant problem – it also focused on issues within the family unit and bullying.
One complaint would be the special effects in the show are not of the same quality throughout, but hopefully that will change as we get a few more episodes into the series. Other than that, there isn’t much to complain about.
Following up the FX hit, Legion, The Gifted was definitely another strong effort to bringing mutants onto our TV screens and it will be interesting to see what the second episode will bring.
