Spoilers The Gifted - Season 1

[Q2UnME]

Sunday was a rainy cold day here. I didn't have much to do so I fired up Hulu and watched the available episodes. I actually like this quite a bit, but as others have pointed out better than I, the writing is very flawed and full of tropes. I want this to succeed. I think it has great potential, but if the writing doesn't improve, I'm going to bail soon. We're on a collision course with the CW dribble...

 

[Forbin]

While the hot blonde playing Amy Acker's daughter was running toward camera to kiss her boyfriend goodbye, my wife and I said, simultaneously, "Where did she get those breasts??"

 

[The Nth Doctor]

What disturbed me the most was when Agent Turner listed "They protest the government" as one of the reasons for thinking of the mutants as terrorists. That's horrifying, the mindset of a dictatorship, and is far more evil than anything we've seen or heard from Turner to date. Someone needs to give that guy a copy of the Constitution of the United States. Protesting the government is a guaranteed right of American citizens. At least, it still is for the moment.

Yeah, that bothered the hell out of me as well, which of course is the whole reason that line was included. Turner and the rest of Sentinel Services view all mutants the same under a cloud of fear and hate. And now under the thumb of Dr. Campbell, that fear and hate is going to be weaponized in the worse possible way.

It's those particular drama points that the show interests me. Unfortunately, the show is still caught up in absurd relational garbage on the level of a teen drama (and it's not just the teens here). Any moment now, I expect Clarice and John to develop real feelings for each other, thus complicating his non-relationship with Sonya...and I just vomited from my rolling eyes. Couple that garbage with the continuously awful dialogue and the show makes it really hard to stick with it. The show has the potential to be a great moral drama about Mutants in today's society, but it's not going to get there if it doesn't fix this shit.

 

[Christopher]

Unfortunately, the show is still caught up in absurd relational garbage on the level of a teen drama (and it's not just the teens here).

It's a show derived from X-Men! Of course it has a ton of relationship soap opera! Heck, Marvel invented the superhero soap opera, since Lee, Kirby, Romita, etc. spent years doing romance comics (and other genres like horror, sci-fi, war, etc.) before superheroes became big again.

 

[Turtletrekker]

For whatever reason, I can't get the latest episode to run on Hulu.

While the hot blonde playing Amy Acker's daughter was running toward camera to kiss her boyfriend goodbye, my wife and I said, simultaneously, "Where did she get those breasts??"

She's had them from the start. During the first episode a friend of mine stated, "Her boobs look like they were drawn by John Byrne, I approve!", and now I can't not notice them. Much like Ariel Winter on Modern Family they try to downplay her figure, sometimes not very successfully.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It's a show derived from X-Men! Of course it has a ton of relationship soap opera! Heck, Marvel invented the superhero soap opera, since Lee, Kirby, Romita, etc. spent years doing romance comics (and other genres like horror, sci-fi, war, etc.) before superheroes became big again.

Then this show's writing is complete garbage because it's something I've never been bothered before. But on the other hand, I mostly didn't read the comics at all and most of my X-Men knowledge comes from the films and live action shows (never watched the 90s Fox show).

 

[Christopher]

I've seen a review or two complaining about the writing on this show, but I don't get it. It seems okay to me.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

You mean aside from my constant head-to-wall banging?

The only reviews I've read are at A.V. Club and they agree with everything I've said, except stated more eloquently.

 

[Forbin]

For whatever reason, I can't get the latest episode to run on Hulu.

While the hot blonde playing Amy Acker's daughter was running toward camera to kiss her boyfriend goodbye, my wife and I said, simultaneously, "Where did she get those breasts??"

She's had them from the start. During the first episode a friend of mine stated, "Her boobs look like they were drawn by John Byrne, I approve!", and now I can't not notice them. Much like Ariel Winter on Modern Family they try to downplay her figure, sometimes not very successfully.

Yabbut my point was that she's supposed to be Amy Acker's daughter. Amy is a beautiful woman and I adore her, but one would not expect - given her extremely slight build - her daughter to be that voluptuous.

 

[Brennyren]

Yabbut my point was that she's supposed to be Amy Acker's daughter. Amy is a beautiful woman and I adore her, but one would not expect - given her extremely slight build - her daughter to be that voluptuous.

As my sister would unhappily testify, daughters don't necessarily inherit Mom's exact build. Our mom was voluptuous; while I inherited that trait, my sister did not. Maybe someone further back in "Lauren"'s family tree was well-endowed?

 

[JD]

I'm still really enjoying the show, and haven't had any problems with the writing.
I liked getting to learn a bit more about Blink's history this week.
Was this episode the first time they actually referred to Dreamer by her real name?
I didn't mind the relationship between Lauren and the guy with the illusion powers, but I'm not sad it's over. I just hope we didn't get a bunch of episodes of her moping around now that he's gone. I don't mind if they have her sad for a an episode or two, I just don't want them to drag it out forever.
We definitely saw a darker side of Macos there when he was working with the cartel. That whole storyline is pretty good so far, but I really hope they don't have him cheat on Lorna with his ex.

 

[Christopher]

As my sister would unhappily testify, daughters don't necessarily inherit Mom's exact build. Our mom was voluptuous; while I inherited that trait, my sister did not. Maybe someone further back in "Lauren"'s family tree was well-endowed?

Couldn't that have come from her father's side of the family? It's not like men only pass on guy genes and women only pass on girl genes. For instance, I think that men inherit their hair-loss patterns from their mother's side of the family, which is why I still have a full head of hair at an age when my father had a substantial bald spot.

Then again, I looked up photos of Caitlin Mehner, who's going to be playing Andrea von Strucker, apparently an ancestor or relative of Reed's. Though she has a similar facial type and coloring to Lauren, she doesn't appear to be quite as curvaceous.

 

[Brennyren]

Couldn't that have come from her father's side of the family? It's not like men only pass on guy genes and women only pass on girl genes.

And Reed's mom, Grandma Strucker, is Sharon Gless, who isn't stacked either. (I also looked up photos!)

We definitely saw a darker side of Macos there when he was working with the cartel. That whole storyline is pretty good so far, but I really hope they don't have him cheat on Lorna with his ex.

I don't think he will cheat on her, though I wouldn't be surprised if Lorna thinks he may. But we might see more of his darker side. That tight little grin when he was walking away from the explosions -- that was really disturbing.

 

[Christopher]

But we might see more of his darker side. That tight little grin when he was walking away from the explosions -- that was really disturbing.

Well, he was destroying illegal drugs, and nobody was hurt, so I don't think it was all that shocking for him to take a little pleasure in the act. Although he could now be tempted to go farther and do worse things.

 

[Greg Cox]

It's a show derived from X-Men! Of course it has a ton of relationship soap opera! Heck, Marvel invented the superhero soap opera, since Lee, Kirby, Romita, etc. spent years doing romance comics (and other genres like horror, sci-fi, war, etc.) before superheroes became big again.

Exactly. As far back as the sixties, no issue of X-MEN was complete without Scott pining over Jean and vice versa. "If only I could tell her how I truly feel . . . ."

Then you got the whole Scott/Jean/Logan triangle, followed by the Jean/Scott/Emma triangle. (Let's just skip over all the Madeleine Pryor drama.) Rogue and Gambit, Storm and Forge, Kitty and Peter, Etc. THE X-MEN comics have always been a never-ending soap opera . . . written primarily for a teenage audience.

So this isn't really a CW thing. It's an X-MEN thing.

 

[Christopher]

Exactly. As far back as the sixties, no issue of X-MEN was complete without Scott pining over Jean and vice versa. "If only I could tell her how I truly feel . . . ."

There was even an early issue where Professor X had an internal thought-balloon monologue about his unrequited love for his teenaged student Jean Grey. Mercifully, that was never followed up on.

 

[Christopher]

Wow, this was a big episode with a lot of revelations. Reed is the grandson of Andreas von Strucker, half of the mutant duo Fenris whose father was Baron von Strucker. I think we can safely assume that "the Organization" the von Strucker twins mentioned in the teaser flashback was Hydra, although of course a Fox show can't mention it or the Baron by name.

More than that, Reed has actually been a mutant this whole time, just with his X-gene suppressed. That's a big reveal. I wonder if he can get the gene reactivated.

It's kind of a huge coincidence that the girl Blink happened to connect with during the refugee pickup turned out to be a child of the same foster parents. I mean, sure, the fact that her runaway portals led Sentinel Services to the foster home provides a cause and effect for one of the recent spate of refugees being from that place, but it's still improbable that Clarice would happen to form a connection with the girl before learning that. So that plot point seemed a bit forced.

 

[Forbin]

I was kinda ready to give up on the show due to its plodding dullness, but this ep actually held my interest. Plus my wife actually seems to like it, so i guess we'll see where it goes.

 

[kitik]

I really really liked this week's episode. The Fenris stuff was cool, and a great ending with the holding hands and all that, but the big shocker: ESME! Will she have any identical sisters who have the exact same power set? And will their telepathic powers also be stronger when they use them in unison?

 

[Christopher]

I wondered if the name "Esme" was a reference to someone from the comics, but I wasn't familiar enough with the Cuckoos to recognize their individual names.