The Gifted season 2, episode 4 recap: outMatched

The Inner Circle finally makes their move in this week’s episode of The Gifted.

The Gifted races through another strong episode with “outMatched”. It feels like the series has truly hit its stride with each character playing their own part. Now that the Underground realizes how strong Reeva is, it’s a race against the clock to get Andy and Lorna out. Unfortunately, it might be harder than they expect to drag two people out of a cause they actually believe in.

“outMatched” picks up with a flashback to sixteen years ago with a much younger Reed and Caitlin Strucker. It’s the first time we get to see them before they had kids, and it explains a bit why the latter is so attached to Andy. Apparently, when she was pregnant with him, the doctor encouraged her to terminate. Her liver is failing, and the likelihood of both of them dying is extremely high. But Caitlin refuses, and we come back to the present where the Struckers are getting back to some semblance of a life.

Lauren, Caitlin, and Reed are finishing up a dinner where they feel like a family again. They agree to tell John about Reed’s powers to try and understand them a bit more. It definitely sets Lauren at ease, and she admits that her dreams feel different than usual. She believes they mean Lauren needs to be the one to bring her brother home.

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Except that might not be so easy. In a Mutant Underground meeting, Marcos debriefs the group about his run-in with the Inner Circle. The Struckers still think their loved ones can be saved, but Marcos isn’t so sure anymore. He said Andy is a true believer, not some naive teenager, while Lorna admitted that she loved him but still won’t give up. Nevertheless, the group agrees to go to Wire for a chance at some help.

Speaking of Wire, things understandably go south quickly on The Gifted. Blink hates the plan, but Marcos needs to try anything for a chance at saving his daughter. However, she ends up being right when John gets shot trying to get inside. The three are able to disable their attacker, who ends up being Wire’s brother. He blames them for the death of his brother, but the group drags their only hope at hacker back to base.

John and Blink end back to the hospital so the former can get some medical attention. She’s annoyed that he got injured following a terrible plan by Marcos. We understand why Clarice would be upset but at the same time, Lorna isn’t just important to Marcos. The three of them were best friends, and it’s hard for him to imagine a scenario where he would have to kill her.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Jamie Chung, Blair Redford, Natalie Alyn Lind and Sean Teale in the “outMatched” episode of THE GIFTED airing Tuesday, Oct. 16 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Guy D’Alema/FOX.

Jace Turner also finds himself in a tough relationship spot. Paula is no longer answering his texts, understandably since she wanted him to quit hunting mutants. Luckily, the cop from last week gives him a call and offers him a new avenue to catch the mutants. Turns out he’s in a league with the Purifiers, and they could make do with a former Sentinel Service agent. While Jace is immediately inclined to join a hate group, he does agree to consider it.

Caitlin and Marcos are willing to go to extreme lengths to save their loved ones. When violence doesn’t get him to cooperate, she threatens to drug him. He’s high on kick (a nice X-Men reference) and so she shoots him up with something that puts him in an immediate withdrawal. It’s pretty tough to watch Caitlin become so hardened, and even Lauren looks concerned about the lengths her mother will go.

Nevertheless, the drugs work and he gets their information about the Inner Circle. Turns out they are going to a hospital where mutants are declared insane and locked up. The new hacker finds out that the Inner Circle disabled connections twelve minutes before he got into the system. Reed wants Lauren to stay since they don’t know who is there, but Caitlin encourages her to go bring Andy home.

With the group gone, Caitlin offers to get the hacker high in exchange for access to the hospital’s security camera. However, Reed points out that he doesn’t even recognize his wife anymore. She’s a nurse who just cleaned a junkie out only to offer him drugs in exchange for obedience. It’s a tough transition to watch on The Gifted but as the flashback pointed out in the beginning, she will do anything to fight for him.

The Struckers update the Underground about who’s at the hospital while Clarice and John portal in. However, the hospital seems abandoned, with blood smears staining the walls with all the lights off. It’s a scene right out of a horror film as the two make their way through the halls. Especially knowing that an angry and traumatized Lorna is making her way through the hospital.

Lauren and Marcos stay outside to keep watch, where he confides in her. Right now, she feels like Andy would never hurt her even when they stand on opposite sides. He didn’t have the heart to tell her parents but knows that he needs to let Lauren know how changed Andy is. She’s adamant about saving him though, even when learning that he stood by during Reeva’s attack on Marcos.

Meanwhile, Clarice decides to bring up what they’ll have to deal with Lorna and Andy. She refers to them as the bad guys, but John isn’t ready to talk about killing yet. Unfortunately, Sage hacks into the system just as Andy starts destroying things in the basement. Caitlin offers the hacker more drugs in exchange for him to try harder, which he agrees to. Will she kill this guy to get Andy back on The Gifted? It seems like it, but at least she gets one glimpse of her son beforehand.

John makes one last attempt to get to Lorna when he sees her running away. Unfortunately, she doesn’t want to talk and instead releases the criminally insane mutants. Blink wants to help the mutants, which she does by portaling them out of the hospital. That should be proof enough that Lorna isn’t interested in rejoining the cause. Marcos and Lauren rush to stop Lorna and Andy as the others try to help the mutants.

Marcos wants to fry the car, but Lauren chooses to stop it with her shields. She doesn’t want her brother to get hurt and ultimately it does stop the car. Andy demands she move, or be moved. Lauren refuses, but she hasn’t put into consideration that the Inner Circle would be training her brother. Andy wins that battle, which sends both Marcos and Lauren flying. It seems unlikely that either one of them will be going easy on Andy again throughout The Gifted.

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At least “outMatched” is a wake-up call for Caitlin. She manages to revive the hacker, but Reed justly points out that they are no worse than the Inner Circle. Andy isn’t being forced to do anything, and they need to live with that. Worse than that is when the parents get the call that Lauren has been knocked out. The Struckers are devastated, but poor Reed can’t even offer Caitlin any comfort before his own emotions cause his powers to manifest.

The Inner Circle is able to make their hospital attack appear like a mutant rights issues. It invigorates mutants around the world and ultimately pushes Jace into calling the Purifiers. If things certainly weren’t divisive before, they are now.

What did you think of this episode of The Gifted? Be sure to tell us in the comments below!

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