The Gifted season 2, episode 12 recap: hoMe brings back an Underground leader

The Inner Circle is desperate to recruit a new member while one of their longest allies has a change of heart in this week’s episode of The Gifted.

The Gifted has made it a tradition to focus on a specific character in the intro for every episode. “hoMe” treats us to a bit of Blink’s past which shows us her time in the foster care system. Looking back at the first season, this is actually the first time we’ve seen young Clarice. We’ve heard a lot about her childhood at a small house in Atlanta. It looks like her first home was full of an alcoholic foster dad who would beat the kids. Blink is fed up with it and manages to escape with her beloved sister.

Back to the mystery of this episode, Polaris and Marcos are still reeling from their latest revelation. He doesn’t think Lorna should return to the Inner Circle since Reeva has met with Benedict Ryan. We think the two have become mutually beneficial. Benedict needs mutant attacks to help the ratings of his fear mongering network. In the meantime, Reeva will get the new recruits of helpless mutants who need a place to go. Nevertheless, Polaris decides she needs to return to continue spying on the Inner Circle. Although, we did find it amusing to hear her worries about Evangeline turning into a dragon and melting her face.

It seems like Marcos is correct, Evangeline cares more about helping mutants than taking down the Inner Circle. She instructs the remaining Underground members to protect Lorna’s status as a double agent. This also means Caitlin cannot inform Andy about Lorna’s latest change of heart. Evangeline also tells Marcos, Clarice, and John to go chat with Erg since she once saved his life.

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Thankfully, Caitlin decides to put Andy on the backburner to come up with a new plan. She does twenty-five pull-ups before deciding they should investigate Benedict Ryan. Her brother, Danny, has ties to the Justice Department and might be able to shed some light on Ryan and the Purifiers. Reed doesn’t think they should do something so reckless, but Lauren agrees with her mother. They all agree to visit him in the morning before Lauren retires to translate the letter she found from the Von Struckers.

With the newfound knowledge regarding Fenris, Lauren confronts Andy in their dreams. The Gifted puts Lauren in white and Andy in black, in case viewers weren’t clear who was on which side. However, it does give us a strong look at how the two represent opposite sides. Lauren easily lays a beatdown on Andy to prove she’s stronger. He wakes up screaming and suffering from a nosebleed. Unfortunately, his outburst wakes up the Frost Sisters who realize there’s some real trouble.

Andy tells them everything about the dreams and his fears about Lauren’s growing strength. He loses one fight and all of a sudden Andy’s willing to turn on his sister? It does feel like he owes her this one considering his attack in the mental hospital. Esme calms him down and offers to dive into Andy’s mind to convince Lauren to join them. The other sisters are frustrated because they would rather do it without permission. However, she points out they can’t chance the possibility of pushing Andy away. They do acknowledge with Lauren’s growing power she will either have to join them or die.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Amy Acker, Natalie Alyn Lind and Stephen Moyer in the “hoMe” episode of THE GIFTED airing Tuesday, Jan. 15 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Annette Brown/FOX.

Speaking of new power, Reed realizes the music box has an effect on the Struckers’ powers. He’s inexplicably drawn to it and flashes back to the memory of finding it. When he begins to listen to the music, his powers begin to manifest. Naturally, he smashes it but discovers the letter and Lauren’s translation. He continues reading more and learns that the music helps strengthen their powers and they should continue their pursuit of becoming powerful.

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Lauren are at their old church looking for Danny. It’s a nice throwback to season one to see him again, and see more of Caitlin’s family. She’s dyed her hair brown to go incognito and is staking out the car with her daughter. The two are actually smiling and laughing about Caitlin’s rebellious teenage years. It’s a nice moment, and a reminder we haven’t seen the two relax in a long time. Even Danny is shocked to see Caitlin, which is another callback that everyone believes the Struckers are dead.

Danny takes the two to the graveyard where they’re buried and he walks them through what happened at the funeral. They take the opportunity to request his help with finding out what potential terrorist attack could be happening. With Andy on the other side, it seems like the two successfully guilt-tripped Danny into helping.

THE GIFTED: L-R: Guest star James Carpinello, Emma Dumont, guest star Tyshon Freeman and guest star Michelle Ramos in the “hoMe” episode of THE GIFTED airing Tuesday, Jan. 15 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Annette Brown/FOX.

In the meantime, Lorna has bigger issues to deal with. The new Inner Circle recruits haven’t revealed anything about their “top secret mission”. She’s been laying on the flirting pretty thick to get the leader to crack. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work and she’s almost left in the dark. However, he makes a crack on his way out the door about having to slay a dragon. Immediately, she realizes the group is being sent to murder the Mutant Underground leaders. Despite the “no phone call rule”, Lorna calls Marcos to warn him about the incoming onslaught.

He’s still on the road with Blink, John, and Erg to get back to the meeting. Erg claims he’s only meeting with Evangeline because she’s threatening to reveal the locations of his tunnel. By the time they get back to the building, it’s completely destroyed. John is desperate to help but even Clarice points out they’re just pulling bodies out. He can’t hear anything and he’s absolutely gutted. When Erg refuses to help out, the two begin to fight. The Gifted finally lets us see Erg’s powers in actions, as he absorbs the energy from John’s blow and channels it through his eye. Looks like the Underground and the Morlocks won’t be teaming up anytime soon.

On a lighter note, Lauren and Caitlin spend their time bonding on the bleachers. Caitlin reveals the spot she chose is because it was the “make-out spot” where it was easy to check for cops. We have to wonder how exactly they could see cops if they were making out. Nonetheless, Lauren gets a good laugh after discovering her mother had such a wild side in high school. Danny goes to meet up with them but ends up caving. He’s wearing a wire because the DOJ had him cuffs almost immediately. Just bringing up Ryan’s name raised a flag, because Ryan runs the Purifiers. However, when he mentioned Reeva’s name was what did him in.

Lauren and Caitlin are able to get away thanks to the former’s new powers. However, the Frosts see an opening to get under Andy’s skin. Earlier in this episode of The Gifted, he spoke to Lorna regarding the Frosts’ offer. She encourages him to decline because brainwashing to force his sister to join the Inner Circle isn’t right. On some level, he knows because he does tell the Frosts that Lauren should come on her own. However, the attack from Sentinel Services manages to convince Andy that recruiting Lauren is for her own safety. Not to mention, Reed’s sickness means he needs new doctors which they could supply.

At least the two Struckers escape but not without a price. Lauren is afraid to go to sleep and give into her dark side. Her cool new discs were effective but destructive. Caitlin promises she’s proud of her daughter’s actions even if she seems them in a negative way. The two also agree to keep their run-in with the law a secret from Reed due to his difficulty dealing with stress. Poor Lauren looks upset when her mom ends up lying to her dad. It’s reminiscent of the beginning of this season when she grew frustrated with their behavior. Could the Struckers be imploding again?

Speaking of imploding, Blink and John officially end things. She doesn’t want to fight a war she sees as a guaranteed loss. In the flashbacks, The Gifted shows us the devastating ending to her foster care story. Lily refused to abandon their other siblings and marches back into the house to stand up to their foster dad. Unfortunately, this act of bravery costs her life. Blink can only watch from outside before running into the darkness. From the beginning of the show, we’ve seen that she would rather run than face things heads on. We’d be surprised if she doesn’t learn to stand up and fight by the end of this season though.

By the end of “hoMe”, Lorna is devastated to learn about Evangeline’s demise. While she hated her and dragons, she was still thankful for her help. Evangeline saved her when no one else would take the chance. Now, Lorna feels guilty for joining the people who ended up killing her. Marcos consoles her with the knowledge that Evangeline died believing Lorna could save them all. However, she does warn him that Reeva, the Frosts, and Andy are all planning to get Lauren. If the Inner Circle gets Fenris, then the world could literally be set on fire.

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This episode of The Gifted is a solid outing for the show. We’re heading towards a major confrontation and it’ll be interesting to see where everyone falls. While we still aren’t convinced Lauren will be sticking with the Inner Circle if she does wind up joining them, we think it’s possible she goes off on her own. Right now her mom is so blinded by her desire to save Andy and her brother is allowing people to mess with her mind. Maybe she needs some time on her own to figure things out.

“hoMe” also gave Clarice the most screentime she’s had all season. It’s a shame she’s been nerfed as a character, and hopefully, if the show gets a season three, they will find a better way to integrate her into the plot.

What did you think of “hoMe”? Be sure to tell us in the comments below!

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