The Gifted Recap: “eXodus”
The Gifted ended last week with Reed making a deal with the devil to try to ensure his family’s safety. “eXodus,” addresses this right away while also building up the world of mutant hatred that the previous episodes have only touched on.
Caitlin and the kids find themselves facing prejudice head on from average people, not just the government this week, and the mutant underground is in disarray while trying to figure out how to rescue Lorna.
Clarice is not only recovering from her injuries in the previous episode but she’s also unable to get her powers to work. This poses a bit of a problem for Marco who is trying to devise a plan to get Lorna out of jail. Luckily John agrees to train her but “eXodus,” makes it clear that it isn’t going to be easy for Blink to finally gain control. Without anyone to ground her emotionally, it seems like she could be a lost cause. However, when John gets into his trouble his partner/former girlfriend Dreamer, gives Clarice one of her memories which triggers her power. Unfortunately, it also leaves Blink with the false memory that she’s in love with John and that’s going to make for an uncomfortable dynamic between the team.
How does John find himself in danger this week? He is forced to track down Caitlin in the kids when they make a bad decision to run to her brother’s house. Uncle Danny isn’t as welcoming as they expect, and he lets them know that they can spend the night before the family needs to leave. While Danny is apprehensive of mutants, his son is more than happy to hang out with his mutant cousins. After a round of video games and social media stalking, the teens look like they’re adjusting back to normal life. However, when Lauren finds a picture of their house trashed, Andy loses control and destroys one of his cousin’s trophies. While it’s such a minor loss of control for the younger Strucker, it’s enough to send some anti-mutant neighbors to the house in search of the kids.
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Luckily, John and Marco show up in the nick of time to warn the family. However, Andy’s growing desire to fight back against humans and freely use his powers looks like it’s going to be a series-long arc for the teenager. “eXodus,” displays Lauren’s desire to reign herself in contrast to her brother’s urge to lose control if it makes life easier. It looks like the siblings will eventually separate to form the new X-Men and Brotherhood with each of them beginning to represent the basic ideas of both organizations. Nevertheless, the group escapes without anyone getting seriously harmed with the help of one of Blink’s portals.
Things aren’t going as well for Reed in “eXodus,” with Sentinel Services still expecting to arrest the mutant underground. Reed is clearly unhappy to betray these people, but he does his part to get back into the bar he originally met Marco in. He gets to hole up with a mutant mother, whose power is to take away pain, and a little girl who only carries the X-Gene. Honestly, the fact that Sentinel Services wanted to lock up a young child who isn’t even a mutant yet should have been enough to make Reed walk out the door. However, he waits until he’s in the van before throwing himself onto the side of the road to save the two women but leading to his deal being tossed out the window.
“eXodus,” goes a long way to establish just how hard it is for mutants in this world. Caitlin got a glimpse of it last week and Marco attempted to explain it to her but she really got to experience it first hand. While it was nice to see her brother have a change of heart by offering her family a cabin in the woods to hide along with a little bit of information about Reed and Lorna, it was more satisfying to see her alliance with the mutant underground be solidified.
Amy Acker looks like a fighter in that final scene and it will be interesting to see how her new friends will affect her marriage. Considering how strong both of the Strucker kids are, it seems more than likely that one of the parents carry the X-gene and with that final scene, Caitlin is one step closer to being a mutant as well.