The Gifted: Ranking season 2 episodes so far

Wesley Coburn

The Gifted is currently on its winter break, which makes it convenient to rank the episodes of season 2 so far.

Fox ensemble, action drama The Gifted, is nine episodes into its second season, but is currently on its winter break for the holidays, which is a little bit of a bummer.

But, that makes this a good time to look at the season so far. Some episodes, of course, are better than others, and you may not agree with where I rank certain episodes – that’s part of how this whole fandom thing works.

The second season takes place in Washington, D.C., and the story follows around a dozen characters, who are basically split into three groups: the remnants of the Atlanta chapter of the Mutant Underground (they want to make things better for mutants and achieve peace with humanity), the Inner Circle (they want to create a homeland for mutants only, and aren’t above terrorism to achieve it), and the Purifiers (an extremist group of humans bent on eradicating all mutant-kind).

The show stars Amy Acker, Coby Bell, Grace Byers, Jamie Chung, Emma Dumont, Natalie Alyn Lind, Stephen Moyer, Blair Redford, Skyler Samuels, Sean Teale and Percy Hynes White, while Anjelica Bette Fellini, Hayley Lovitt, Michael Luwoye and Jeff Daniel Phillips have recurring roles.

9 – “coMplications” (2.03)

While “coMplications” wasn’t a bad episode, it mainly consisted of characters standing around and explicating information to each other so the audience would know where the story is headed. Outside of classic Greek tragedies, that’s a little boring.

Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) finally told his wife, Caitlin (Amy Acker), and daughter, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind), about his reactivated X-gene, while Marcos Diaz/Eclipse was briefly let into the Inner Circle headquarters to cure his and Lorna Dane/Polaris’ (Emma Dumont) daughter, Dawn, of severe jaundice. Additionally, John Proudstar/Thunderbird (Blair Redford) and his girlfriend Clarice Fong/Blink (Jamie Chung) wander around lost in the DC sewers.

You can only watch people walk in circles for so long. Though it does help if at least one of the characters has snarky dialogue, and Blink is very gifted in this area.

8 – “outMatched” (2.04)

The first major action scene of the season took place in “outMatched,” as the Inner Circle initiated a jailbreak of a mental hospital holding dangerous mutants captive, in order to obtain one specific mutant. Meanwhile, Caitlin tortures a drug addict in an attempt to get information on her son Andy’s (Percy Hynes White) whereabouts. Jace Turner (Coby Bell) is contacted by a member of the Purifiers.

The pacing of this episode was a little odd, as the latter two-thirds was essentially one scene, just shuffling between two locations.

Scary Caitlin torturing someone was unsettling and is the main reason this is ranked so low, in addition to the glimpses of further torture the mutants endured in Bethesda. The mutant the Inner Circle was looking for was a young girl named Rebecca Hoover, also known as Twist (Anjelica Bette Fellini).

7 – “iMprint” (2.06)

Lots of dissension and bickering among the Inner Circle, although we finally learned what their big plan was: a massive bank robbery. The Mutant Underground failed to stop a Purifier attack, and Reed’s powers won’t shut off. We also learned the backstory of the Frost sisters (Skyler Samuels), which was important and necessary, as it humanized them greatly.

“iMprint” was a “let’s all catch our breath for a bit before things go crazy in the next chapter” type of episode. Those are necessary, once in a while.

Esme and Polaris forming a friendship was important to see, given Lorna’s hesitation towards accepting people into her life, but also dealing with the severe loneliness of being separated from the friends/family/coworkers in the Underground. Also, it was good to hear more of the worldbuilding, the history of why mutants hated Creed Financial.

6 – “unMoored” (2.02)

While “unMoored” had to serve as the second episode of the season, meaning that it essentially adds details to the initial conflict, they’re great details and provide strong indications of what to expect for the season ahead.

Thunderbird dealt with a lot of leftover guilt from the Atlanta airport tragedy in “X-roads” (1.13), and we learned his backstory as a drug-addicted Marine, fighting mixed martial arts in sleazy bars. Andy tried to phone home, missing his family, and Esme Frost was picked on by her sisters for being too softhearted and compassionate. Reed’s powers destroy furniture and masonry.

Lorna’s new-mom jitters were something you rarely see on television. A softhearted Frost still murders people, only through the – sort of? – gentler method of getting run over by a pickup truck instead of eviscerated by the propeller of his own airplane.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Blair Redford, Jamie Chung, Natalie Alyn Lind and Sean Teale in the “eMergence” Season Two premiere episode of THE GIFTED airing Tuesday, Sept. 25 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Eliza Morse/FOX.

5 – “eMergence” (2.01)

The second season picked up with a flashback taking place in DC immediately following the Atlanta airport mishap, as the Inner Circle permanently dispatched the Hellfire Club, with the main action taking place six months later. We’re introduced to the new dynamics of a stepsibling relationship between Andy and Lorna Dane/Polaris (Emma Dumont), the evilness of Reeva Payge (Grace Byers), and the dysfunction of what’s left of the Atlanta chapter of the Mutant Underground.

“eMergence” started the season off on a strong note, even though it did feature a lot of Strucker squabbling.

4 – “afterMath” (2.05)

The fallout from the Bethesda mental hospital breakout in “outMatched” plays out, logically enough, in “afterMath.”

Turner reluctantly joins the Purifiers, who are impressed by his former cop mindset and Sentinel Services knowledge. Thunderbird tried to be a nurse and received encouragement from a fellow Marine, who was also kicked out for being a mutant, and Eclipse received encouragement from an optimist while leading a group of refugees into the Morlocks’ hideout in the sewers. Andy and Rebecca Hoover/Twist (Anjelica Bette Fellini) go on a date, and she agrees to join the IC team on their upcoming robbery.

I couldn’t help but compare Andy and Rebecca’s date in this episode with Lauren’s short-lived relationship with Wes last season; this felt like a natural progression of his character, unlike Lauren’s side plot last year, where it seemed a little as though the writers awkwardly saddled the teenage girl with a love interest because they weren’t sure what else to do with her.

3 – “no Mercy” (2.06)

Yes, the Inner Circle is evil, but they sure can pull off an amazing-looking bank robbery – in about three minutes, given the timer of Phoebe’s video footage. Guess all of Reeva’s incessant training paid off. Esme babysitting Dawn was hilarious and added much-needed comic relief to a tense episode, and the Underground bickered amongst themselves, which got a little tiring.

Turner meeting TV personality Benedict Ryan was interesting, though it seemed a little tone-deaf in how biased it was, given that this is a show of various grays and that Stan Lee, who created the X-Men as a way to broaden perspectives, had just died when “no Mercy” aired.

2 – “the dreaM” (2.08)

“the dreaM” was maybe the most emotionally traumatic episode of this season so far, which is really saying something for this show. It used multiple flashbacks, which was another out-of-the-ordinary structural quirk of this script.

It dealt with Polaris’ backstory, growing up in a small town in northwest Missouri, as she and Eclipse came to the difficult decision that Dawn wasn’t safe with either one of them, given the state of the world around DC at the moment. Blink rightfully worried about Thunderbird’s increasing recklessness, while they failed to track down an exiled Twist. Meanwhile, the Struckers searched for a cure in Charlotte, with the help of an old family friend.

We saw Lorna receive the only birthday gift she ever got from her father Magneto – the red metal disc we’ve seen her occasionally playing with when bored. It was a gift for her 13th birthday, with a note stating it was for his “North Star” (thus explaining how she chose her code name). The flashback of Polaris wrecking the Firebird of the guy who was hitting on her in the bar was a very well-written moment.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Blair Redford, Sean Teale and guest star Jeff Daniel Phillips in the “gaMe changer” fall finale episode of THE GIFTED airing Tuesday, Dec. 4 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Annette Brown/FOX.

1 – “gaMe changer” (2.09)

As several other sites (including some within the FanSided Network) pointed out, titling the midseason finale of your TV show “gaMe changer” takes some serious guts. But, did the story ever live up to it?

Thunderbird flew off the handle despite getting chewed out by both Blink and Eclipse, to the point of kidnapping a random guy at a technology company called Regimen. It didn’t go so well.

The Struckers argue for a while over the ethics of whether to continue treatment in Charlotte, as their blood samples will likely be used to defuse all mutants permanently. This story thread provided a lot of the meat of this episode to chew over when it comes to worldviews.

Andy breaks Twist out of her imprisonment, where the couple plans to escape. But before that can happen, they get into an argument in the elevator, she tries to murder everyone else within the Inner Circle, and Andy accidentally snapped her neck in preventing this from happening. The Inner Circle – led by Polaris and Andy on this mission – then deactivates the mutant control shock collars used in prisons throughout the country, leading to mass jailbreaks in Atlanta, Austin, California and Michigan, and likely other locations as well.

Thunderbird has been kidnapped by the Purifiers, Polaris needs Eclipse’s help for something, Lauren is getting increasingly violent, and all those prison breakouts are going to create a lot of havoc in the season’s 10th episode, “eneMy of My eneMy,” airing on Fox at a new time – 9 p.m. ET – on New Year’s Day.

Wesley Coburn