TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Gifted Season 02 Episode 02: unMoored

We’re now into the second episode of season 02 of The Gifted, and ironically, “unMoored” decided to focus even more on the characters in the show, and with some very positive results. We got to see the return of Evangeline, who noted only recruited Polaris, but also apparently, Thunderbird. In an opening sequence that was no doubt a reference to the original X-Men movie, we got to see Johnny as he fought to get money after his life spiraled following the events of 7/15.

It’s good to see that Evangeline wasn’t a one-0ff appearance, even going so far as to show more of her dragon-like Mutant abilities. But what might be the most important thing about her return wasn’t her appearance, nor how she helped the Underground learn more about the Inner Circle, but it was that the Underground is in disarray after what happened in Atlanta. We knew via the first episode that the Underground split up to help conceal themselves. But apparently, the “good Mutants” are few in rank and number, and according to Evangeline, few have the power to take on Reeva, Polaris, Andy, and the Cuckoos.

Why does this matter? Well, it paints a picture that the X-Men knew all too well, being outmanned and outgunned. But here, it’s actually worse, for their heaviest hitters you can count on one hand, whereas the X-Men literally had dozens at their disposal. So you know something has to give if the good guys are going to win in the end.

Which doesn’t look possible given the state of the Struckers. Andy and Lauren’s dreams aren’t just connected, they’re rooted in their family bond. Which is not only why both are having the dreams, but feeling the effects of having them. For Andy, it’s causing his powers to short circuit because he can’t focus. This in turn led Reeva to almost kill him because he might not have been trusted, but Andy’s revelation saved his life. Reeva is an interesting character, and one that will have to be monitored in the future.

Meanwhile, Reed, Kate, and Lauren are still suffering from their own scars. Kate is still in denial about Andy, Reed is suffering from his powers manifesting (which now looks to be some kind of instant disintegration powers) and Lauren is suffering from PTSD from her and Andy’s power burst in the season finale last year. The family bond was so strong in Season 01 it’s actually tragically poetic to see it be on the fringes now. Shakespeare would be proud.

Speaking of romantic tragedies, Eclipse and Polaris were clearly both on each others minds in “unMoored”, and that ending was a tragically beautiful moment as we saw a callback to their date, which led to them “seeing” each other even though they were far away. The baby being sick is a nice twist, and I look forward to seeing where that goes.

That being said, we need more progress on what’s going to be the main plot of story this season. We know that Genosha is the “mutant homeland” project, and that Reeva is ready for war. But we need more on that front. What’s more, the return of Agent Turner is welcome, but then at the end he claims he gave up his desire to hunt mutants…so why bring him back? Finally, Reeva and the other Cuckoos claimed that Esme was “soft” because of her time in the Mutant Underground…but that doesn’t make sense. After all, she manipulated all of them to get her sisters back, and she did pretty gruesome things with her sisters at the end of last season, so where is this coming from?

In the end, “unMoored” benefitted greatly from the focus on characters. But once again, this was done in a way that didn’t move the plot forward that much. This needs to change if the season wants to keep their momentum.