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Marvel’s Inhumans season 1, episode 3 review: Divide and Conquer

By Rob Wolkenbrod

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Follow along with our review of Friday night’s episode of Marvel’s Inhumans.

Inhumans begins in Hawaii. Dr. Evan Declan is shown making a phone call to a prisoner at the same building Black Bolt is in. A flashback follows this of Black Bolt and Maximus, who look like kids, as they talk to their father. He says Black Bolt will become king.

Medusa tries to access an ATM by speaking to it, but it obviously doesn’t work. Gorgon is in the Hawaii forest, with the men he was with from the previous episode. He’s confronted on if he can kill his own people, who are with Maximus on the moon.

Maximus asks Crystal if she’s considered his offer, which she says no to. Countering this, Maximus asks Crystal to make a speech in front of the Genetic Council, to provide support for Maximus and ensure their family returns alive. Crystal agrees but threatens Maximus to not go back on his word. She can’t be that naive, right?

Karnak travels through the wilderness and is found by marijuana farmers living there. One of them puts a knife to his throat.

At a stranger’s house on the water, Medusa breaks in and uses everything in the house, including putting on modern clothing. She picks up a newspaper and sees Black Bolt’s arrest as the headline.

The Marijuana farmers contemplate letting Karnak go. They question if Karnak is part of a cartel, while he says he needs the members of the Royal Family. How would they understand who Black Bolt, Medusa and the others are?

Black Bolt is placed in a cell with the prisoner that communicated with Dr. Declan. He questions how Black Bolt got his powers and warns him to get out of prison, before something happens to his family. It’s still amazing this is the same Anson Mount from Hell on Wheels, who’s character was outspoken, to say the least.

Auran, Mordis and other disciples of Maximus are traveling through Hawaii. Gorgon and his friends catch them and start fighting. It was the most lively action scene of the first two weeks by far.

Karnak and the woman from the marijuana farm begin talking. She asks him about his tattoos, which he got as a kid. Karnak says it’s a sign of what he used to be. He says he’s of no use to anyone right now (his powers didn’t work earlier in the episode) but asks to stay on the marijuana farm.

Black Bolt is escorted out of his jail cell.

Maximus wants to eliminate the placement system for the Inhumans and gets questioned for his decision. Crystal asks for Lockjaw, who Maximus says is “heavily sedated.” She starts to read the letter but stops and uses her powers to run away.

There’s a flashback of Maximus and his father. Maximus finds out he’s not an inhuman, but just a human. In the present, as he speaks to the other, Crystal finds Lockjaw and ices the door shit. She wakes him and transports them to the others.

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The marijuana farmers decide to keep Karnak alive, as long as he’s useful.

Black Bolt is brought outside to mingle with the other prisoners. Everyone watches him and likes that he fought with cops. After one officer tries instigating Black Bolt, a prisoner throws a ball at the officer and starts a riot.

Black Bolt and the prisoner try to leave the prison. The prisoner reveals he has powers, as he works on opening a seemingly locked door.

A flashback is shown of Black Bolt’s voice being discovered. Some want him locked up, but his father desires him to be free.

Black Bolt and the prisoner escape with Dr. Declan in a helicopter. Medusa, who broke into the prison, barely misses out on them.

Crystal and Lockjaw arrive in Hawaii. As she tries to wake him up, a guy on an ATV drives into him. The episode ends.

Rob Wolkenbrod’s take

This episode of Inhumans was better than the series premiere. Storylines developed for the Royal Family, whose dispersion around Hawaii made for multiple events to play out over the hour-long show.

Medusa’s adjustment to Earth felt the most genuine. She looked out of place, with putting on modern-day clothes and trying to figure out her surroundings.

There was some character development for Karnak, who spoke of his past and how his tattoos represent who he used to be. Flashbacks were shown for Black Bolt, too, even if the mysterious inmate from prison was more interesting than him.

Inhumans still has problems, however, that outshine all of the positives. It’s difficult to get invested in any of the storylines, with the lack of connection to the characters. Sure, Black Bolt received some depth, but were the flashbacks needed? It only told us what we knew from the premiere: Black Bolt’s voice is dangerous and Maximus is jealous. Great. Karnak briefly spoke about his tattoos of his past, which will hopefully be covered more in the following episodes.

I don’t feel sympathetic for anything the characters are going through, either, with the exception of the defenseless Lockjaw, who was hit by a random guy on an ATV. Though, it was a bizarre and head-scratching way to end the episode, rather than using the cliffhanger on Black Bolt and the inmate’s escape.

Inhumans had a chance to deliver after the critically panned episodes that sat for one month and failed. There are five episodes left, which seem like the last five episodes before cancellation.

Kevin Smith’s take:

The second episode of Marvel’s Inhumans committed the cardinal sin of all television: it’s just kind of boring. While the first two hours of the show managed to spice things up with a coup, the third hour asks an audience to concern itself with Karnak getting involved in… I think a drug farm? I honestly couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were up to. And to make matters worse, Medusa, a proud, powerful character from the comic books, who has already had her powers stripped from her by the plot, basically because they were too expensive to render effectively, is further reduced to hanging out with B- Felicity Smoak. Some positives? While the actual storyline Black Bolt is stuck in is pretty lame, the prison fight was pretty sweet.

In conclusion: cmon, Inhumans, I’m pulling for you here, but you’re making this tough.

Mike McNulty’s take

Let’s see…we get yet another alumnus from Lost, this one being a mysterious billionaire who knows about Inhumans. Also, like Lost, we get flashbacks, in this case involving the days before Black Bolt and Maximus underwent their imitation. It’s filmed in Hawaii, just like Lost was.

At this point, we just need an Inhuman who can turn into a smoke monster, which certainly would spice this show up a bit. No such luck, I’m afraid. Guess we’ll have to make do with Gorgon teamed with ex-military grunts-turned-surfers fighting Auran and her goons, including a guy who’s basically Cyclops in the Iron Mask. That and a powers-on-the-fritz Karnak captured by and befriending…marijuana growers?! At least that subplot isn’t as silly as Medusa demanding cash from an ATM because she’s “the Queen of Attilan and [she] needs money.” Wait? How do Inhumans even know what money is? Moreover, how can they read English? Why am I giving more thought to this show than the creators apparently did?

Must Read: Top 50 super heroes in comic book history

Inhumans returns on Friday, Oct. 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

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