The Gifted season 2 midseason finale recap: gaMe changer

The Gifted sees the cracks begin to form throughout the Inner Circle.

We haven’t seen that much of Rebecca’s backstory before her time at the hospital. After her murderous act earlier in this season, many fans wrote her off as an unsympathetic psychopath. While the jury is still out on the psychopath part, that doesn’t mean we can’t sympathize with how she gained this penchant for violence. The Gifted brings us back to the day when she was officially apprehended by Sentinel Services. Her parents called them, fearing for their lives after an accident with Rebecca’s teacher.

While she definitely likes using her powers, there’s nothing glaringly evil about her during the interaction with her parents. She loves them and is happy to be eating pancakes as a family. However, when she realizes what they’ve done it’s clear vengeance is the only thing on her mind. Flashing forward, she’s imprisoned by the Inner Circle in a rotating windowless orb. Her screams for help have everyone within the organization constantly on edge, but especially Andy. He doesn’t think she deserves this punishment, because he’s clearly forgotten she murdered a roomful of people not too long ago.

Andy is beginning to doubt his mission with the Inner Circle due to the treatment of his girlfriend. Both Sage and the Frost Sisters bring up the situation with Andy to Reeva but she doesn’t want to hear it. While she’s not going to get rid of a weapon like Rebecca, it doesn’t mean she can’t let her suffer for a bit.

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Meanwhile, the remaining Struckers have their own mission on this week’s episode of The Gifted. Lauren brings her suspicions to her parents regarding Madeline’s true goal. They’re initially skeptical, but Lauren is insistent on destroying the samples. Caitlin doesn’t want to since it could mean Reed dies but he knows this is bigger than himself. He begins to learn as much as he can from Madeline about his powers alongside Caitlin. However, Madeline doesn’t seem to be hiding her plan at all. In fact, she seems pretty upfront about the fact she wants to eradicate the X-gene entirely.

Lauren is on the offensive in The Gifted, by flirting with the research assistant, Noah, from last week. He’s completely charmed by her, which leads him to cave and take her down to cold storage.  Of course, his only request is the two go on a date, and Lauren seems a little shocked her flirting tactic worked so well. She’s definitely going to feel guilty screwing him over, but saving mutant kind comes first.

The Mutant Underground gets a big step closer to discovering what the Inner Circle is up. John tells Marcos to pull himself together following the loss of his daughter because it’s time to kidnap someone. Clarice is full heartedly against it, but ultimately they all band together to grab him. He’s a member of Regimen, a business who did business at the bank. Turns out, they are in charge of all of the power dampening collars.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Guest star, Ken Kirby and Natalie Alyn Lind 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.

John is acting extremely out of character in “gaMe changer,” now he’s angry at the world. He’s making rash decisions and pushing everyone away from him. Clarice calls him out immediately, about disregarding Marcos grief and putting her in danger. He doesn’t seem to care because he’s so focused on stopping the Inner Circle. However, Clarice points out their actions have led every mutant within a six-block radius of the kidnapping to be arrested. When John once again ignores this and accuses her of cheating, she reaches a breaking point. Clarice has been criminally underused this season, so hopefully The Gifted sees her take charge.

Back at the Inner Circle, Andy finds himself finally beginning to stand up for himself. He doesn’t want Reeva to patronize him by saying he doesn’t understand due to his inexperience. Reeva points out they can’t just let Rebecca go. Andy doesn’t think it’s that easy, because she’s been a victim of anger and hatred her whole life. It’s the Inner Circle’s fault for letting her out on a mission when she wasn’t ready.

With that in mind, Andy decides it’s time to jailbreak his girlfriend. The two gleefully reunite and he’s planned out their escape route. However, Rebecca has different plans. She wants to kill the Inner Circle before they can find her again. When Andy doesn’t immediately hop onboard with her plan, she threatens to force him back. Just as she begins to twist the entirety of the Inner Circle, Andy uses his powers to send her flying across the room. Her neck collides with a corner and breaks, killing her instantly. He’s both shocked and heartbroken, desperately begging someone to call a doctor. Surprisingly, Reeva is the one who comes over to comfort him instead of Lorna who can only stare at the gruesome scene.

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.

Speaking of Andy, Madeline finally brings him up to Caitlin and Reed. She reveals both Andy and Lauren have two different X-genes which only get stronger when they’re together. Also, it explains why they’ve been having dreams pulling them together. Meanwhile, Lauren doesn’t immediately destroy the blood samples when Noah takes her to the storage. She begins to empathize with his desire to be normal because she wanted the same thing not too long ago.

At the Underground, the Regimen employee discovers some anomalies in the system logins. Before he can specify what, he’s shot down by Fade. John and Marcos aren’t in a mood to catch up with their old friend so a fight breaks out. The two quickly incapacitate him and take their leave before the Purifiers catch him. Jace Turner has formed a militia with the Purifiers, and he finally has the brute force he’s always wanted.

The Inner Circle really uses Rebecca’s death to manipulate Andy in this episode of The Gifted. Lorna tells him their mission is to destroy the source of the power dampening collars and how this could be vengeance against the people who created Rebecca. When the Inner Circle roll up to the facility, even Reeva tells him “this is for her”. Andy releases all of his rage and sadness on the building before bringing the door crashing down.

Reeva is ecstatic about Rebecca’s attempt to kill them because it forced Andy to make a choice. He easily takes out the guards alongside Lorna, who’s sporting her new comic accurate headgear. All of the collars shut off, and we get to see one of the mutants who used to be imprisoned with Lorna in season one. It’s a free-for-all at the jails, with the world descending into chaos.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Grace Byers and Percy Hynes White 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.

Meanwhile, Lauren and the Underground don’t get their happy ending in this midseason finale of The Gifted. Madeline tells Reed his daughter should never have been born, something which infuriates his family. She also insults Noah, who can no longer stand by and watch. He releases his powers, thus destroying Madeline, her research, and presumably himself. At least the Struckers get away, but Lauren looks devastated by the loss of her new friend.

The Purifiers arrive as John, Marcos, and Fade are escaping the clinic. John tells his two friends to run, while he makes a stand to hold them off. Unfortunately, this means he gets caught by the Purifiers, and specifically Jace Turner. Things are definitely about to take a dark turn for John and Clarice isn’t there to bail him out.

From the short promo for the next episode, it looks like Lorna is officially switching sides. However, Lauren is struggling with her dark side so it looks like each team could be swapping members. Speaking of Lauren, a lot of fans have negatively commented on her desire to destroy the mutant cure. On the surface, the cure isn’t a bad thing because it does give mutants the choice about keeping their powers. However, on this show mutants are forced into restraints all of the time. Who’s to say Sentinel Services wouldn’t force the cure on anyone with the X-gene?

With all of the mutants released, could some more comic book characters arrive? One of the inmates lit a guard on fire with the snap of his fingers and we’re already holding out hope for a Pyro appearance.

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