The Gifted season 2, episode 3 recap: ‘coMplications’

The Gifted gives us a heartwrenching reunion in “coMplications”.

It seems like each new episode of this season will delve a bit into the main character’s backstories. Last season was focused so much on Clarice and the Struckers, that it’s a welcome exploration. In this week’s episode of The Gifted, we finally get to see a bit of Marcos’ history with his father.  Now we understand what pushed him to join the cartel and why being a father is so important to him.

In the past, Marcos’ father accuses him of trying to buy his love with his blood money. It’s easy to see the tension between the two, but Marcos still attempts to offer some medical assistance. Nevertheless, his father refuses and claims he abuses his “demon powers”. They definitely don’t get a happy reunion before his father dies, but at least Marcos gets to air out some of his dirty laundry. He blames him for forcing his mother to hide her powers ultimately leading her to an early grave and the abuse he suffered at his hands.

While it’s easy to sympathize with Marcos as a viewer, but John and Clarice are tired of his antics. They quickly sideline him early into this episode of The Gifted as a consequence for getting drunk and signaling Lorna. As Clarice points out, he shouldn’t drunk dial his ex for the entire world to see. It kind of worked though, because the baby needs Marcos in order to survive. While the Frost sisters are against bringing him in, Reeva ultimately decides that it’s what’s best for the baby.

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They track him down to a diner where he’s silently suffering. He’s drowning his sorrows in coffee while playing with the rattle he made for Dawn. It’s a rough life, but things are slowly starting to turn around. The Frost Sisters show up, and narrowly avoid losing a triplet, but convince him to come back with them. Meanwhile, Andy tries to talk Lorna out of being there when he arrives, but she’s adamant about sticking with her daughter.

Things aren’t going all that well for John and Clarice though, with the former hiding things from his girlfriend. She notices right away, especially because his knuckles are bruised following his late night rage session. He dodges the question before leaving but it’s clear she’s not planning to let this go anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Caitlin finally notices that her family has been falling apart underneath her nose. She apologizes to Reed for their fight in last week’s episode before bringing up the weird tension between him and Lauren. He tries to leave to Baltimore before having to talk to his daughter or wife but Caitlin begs him to take Lauren along. Reed agrees, and the two make an effort to bond in the car.

Andy is getting his buttons pushed in The Gifted this week, with Reeva back to manipulating him. His plan for the day is to hide in his room playing video games and drinking Gatorade. Unfortunately, Reeva requests he stand by her side when Marcos arrives. While he doesn’t want to hurt his friend, it’s very obviously not a request. He agrees and says he can be relied on one hundred percent but it’s clear he feels a bit conflicted.

The Frost Sisters aren’t having the best time in the car with Marcos. He’s more than happy to insult them in his head because he knows they’re listening in. Ultimately, Marcos agrees to comply with their security measures but these four aren’t going to be friends anytime soon.

Speaking of terrible car rides, Reed’s powers finally manifest in front of Lauren. He’s stressed out about Caitlin asking about the filing cabinet and he uses his powers. Melting the steering wheel and break, the car crashes right into a van. The two manage to escape but Reed is terrified about what happened. Lauren tells him that he can’t hide this forever, and she seems betrayed her father had been hiding such a monumental secret from everyone.

Clarice and John aren’t having much luck in the sewers looking for the Morlocks. He’s on edge, and his tracking is leading the two on a while goose chase. After some bickering, Clarice finally uses her portals to bring them straight into the heart of the Morlocks’ den. They’re not exactly welcoming when it comes to newcomers and the two are met with plenty of guns.

The Inner Circle isn’t exactly welcoming to Marcos either. The Gifted makes the reunion between Lorna and Marcos as heartbreaking as you’d expect. This is the first time he even gets to hear his kid’s name and that she’s even alive. It makes it that much crueler that Lorna had been keeping Dawn away from him. If their daughter hadn’t been sick, would she have kept Dawn from him forever? It certainly tells you about Lorna’s conviction but really makes you empathize with Marcos.

Erg, the leader, agrees to chat but only with Clarice. John is noticeably upset, but it’s nice to see her get a more prominent role in this episode. He seems to look down on the Underground, but at least his willingness to talk with her means there’s a chance he’ll help. However, he does show her what “the real Underground” looks like. The Morlocks are people who choose to live in the sewers where they can be free from the humans. Mutants who can pass as human scar their faces just to reject any notion of being an average human.

In the end, Erg agrees to supply some information to Blink in exchange for her joining them as a spy. Now, it makes so much more sense as to why Erg wanted to speak with her instead of John. Her eyes, ears, and hair make her look more like a Morlock instead of a human, unlike John.

Reed and Lauren run into quite a bit of trouble getting away because none other than Jace Turner witnesses them fleeing the scene. That’s right, Jace has teamed up with the Washington DC police department to hunt down these mutants. Looks like that resolve last week is finished, but it’s interesting that he’s so focused on the Mutant Underground rather than trying to find the mutants actually responsible for 7/15. Nevertheless, things are certainly going to be harder on The Gifted now that they’ve been discovered.

The two Struckers do actually bond in the car, even though Lauren is furious her dad has been keeping this secret. She’s even angrier when she learns that he wants to keep it from Caitlin even longer. She talks about when she shattered some windows at a party when a boy grabbed her. It’s sadly a realistic scenario most viewers will relate to. Lauren hid her powers because Reed told her that night not to be worried because he prosecutes mutants for a living. She feels as if she was honest back then, Andy might’ve stuck around.

Family drama is the theme on this season of The Gifted. Marcos finally gives Dawn the rattle and begs Lorna to come with him. She says no, but he ends up begging to stay and work with the Inner Circle. In a last-ditch attempt to get his family together, Marcos attacks the sisters before screaming that they’re manipulating Lorna. Nevertheless, he’s struck down by Reeva, who easily prevents him from hurting her.

Even though Jace noticed the Struckers, the police department has no interest in working with him. They discover he was tossed out of Sentinel Services due to his obsession with this group of mutants. The front-desk office watches him go, and it’s only a matter a time until he joins the Purifiers.

John finally relents and tells Clarice what’s wrong. Evangeline’s words about John having to kill Lorna and Andy has stayed with him. He’s unsure if he can do it, but before he can dive deeper into it, Marcos showed up. He’s badly beaten, but he’s already planning some vengeance.

By the end of this episode, Reed tells Caitlin about his powers. She’s shocked and looks devastated he’d been hiding this for so long. Nevertheless, the Strucker family looks a little bit closer to getting back to normal. Lauren tearfully watches on as her parents hug, and it’s clear she misses her brother still.

The sisters are told they can’t kill Marcos by Reeva who says they have bigger plans than him. What are those plans exactly? Looks like we’ll be finding out next week!