CREATOR: Matt Nix
STARRING: Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Sean Teale, Natalie Alyn Lind, Percy Hynes White, Coby Bell, Jamie Chung, Blair Redford and Emma Dumont
SYNOPSIS
In a world where mutated humans are treated with distrust and fear, an institute for mutants battles to achieve peaceful co-existence with humanity.
Two ordinary parents take their children on the run from the government when they discover that they have mutant abilities, and join an underground community of mutants who have to fight to survive.
The Gifted is a series based within the X-Men universe, set in a post-X-Men world, with them and the Brotherhood gone, all that remains is the Mutant Underground, a band of mutants that help other mutants escape the mutant-hunting Sentinel Services agents by getting them across the border to Mexico. The series focuses on the Strucker family, where father Reed works to prosecute mutants as a district attorney for the government’s Sentinel Services. he and his wife Caitlin soon learn however that their children are both mutants, so in order to protect them, Reed reaches out to the Mutant Underground before Sentinel Services get them. The series, created by Matt Nix (Burn Notice and The Comedians creator), is influenced by Peter David’s comic X-Factor, where the X-Men formed an agency to investigate mutant-related incidents.
While the Strucker family are somewhat the focal point of the season, I do enjoy the main mutant characters that are part of the underground network, such as Thunderbird, Blink, Polaris, Eclipse, even Shatter (sorely underused, give me more Shatter powers damnit!). While the characters are good in their own right, it’s the on-screen chemistry between Emma Dumont and Sean Teale as Polaris and Eclipse that shines on screen as their relationship feels genuine. Emma Dumont in particular is a standout performer in this season and it helps that her character has the best arc, as she has a worldview that at times conflicts with what the mutant underground stands for when it comes to what are you willing to do to protect the ones you love. Sean Teale comes across as the most impressive when it comes to conveying emotion to the audience. The young leads Natalie Alyn Lind and Percy Hynes White are good as brother/sister duo Any and Lauren Strucker, with the former having hidden her powers for a few years while the latter is only starting to come to terms with his. It’s interesting seeing their arc unfold in trying to figure out where they stand in this war between humankind and mutantkind as they bond, learn and grow closer together with their abilities. Out of the humans, Cody Bell is really good as Sentinel Services agent Jace Turner, who is arguably the most interesting human character as a father that is still hurting over the death of his daughter and understandably holds the mutants responsible and even though he feels sympathy for tearing mutants from their families, he feels it’s a necessity to protect the populous. Skyler Samuels provides a welcome breath of fresh air in the later half of the season as The Frost/Cuckoo triplets, identical sisters that are telepathic mutants that share a hive mind-like connection. Samuels chews the scenery up everytime she appears either as one of the sisters or all of them, as we see just how bad and manipulative they can be, providing a certain unpredictably when they’re on screen. The series of course, using the mutant metaphor, finds way to reflect real-life issues of discrimination in how humans treat those that are different, from local verbal and physical abuse, to a United States Senator acting as an anti-mutant activist that happens to have a slogan that says “Human Choices for a Human Future”. The mutants debate amongst themselves on the morality of doing what’s right vs what’s easy, even putting into question when do they decide that they’ve lost enough of their own kind before they can retaliate against the humans. Considering the budget on the small, most of the action is done in fields, roadways and closed spaces, but unlike some superhero shows, its action mostly takes place either in the daylight or brightly lit areas and have to say some of the visual effects on show are handled very well.
With bringing the X-Men universe into the small screen, The Gifted does suffer from having a repetitive episode structure, especially in the first seven to eight episodes of this season. You can almost feel that the creative team were particularly waiting for the series to be renewed for a second season before beginning to dive deeper into the X-Men mythology, such as the Strucker’s discovering their family history and also the introduced of The Frost/Cuckoo Sisters. Even at that though the formula per episode remains the same: there’s an issue, characters debate at the mutant underground base about how to tackle the issue, cue mission (i.e. break-in/ambush), debate some more. Whilst parents Reed and Caitlin provide emotional support to their children and the mutants around them, bar a few missions early on and providing a human voice amongst the mutant debates, they don’t have anything meaningful arc-wise during the course of this first season and unfortunately they end up feeling dull because of it. Sentinel Services Agent Jace Turner has a justified resentment of mutants due to losing his daughter during the events of 7/15, where a peaceful protest for mutant rights clashed with humans, turning into a bloody riot. Unfortunately, despite being a multilayered antagonist and earning audiences sympathy, his character takes a backseat once we’re introduced to a new villain in Dr. Roderick Campbell of Trask Industries and as the series tries to juggle the two together as a cohesive unit, they went up feeling wasted because of it, with Turner’s arc feeling wasted and unresolved by the end, and Campbell less interesting as a villain with his evil scientist guy bravado making him one-note (which is a shame as Garret Dillahunt is a great character actor), but he’s put to the forefront as the main antagonist and Turner becomes the stooge. There’s a particular love triangle in the early goings of the season between Thunderbird, Blink and Dreamer, caused by the side effect of Dreamer’s powers, and it just feels awkward and the creative team must’ve thought that two as it’s dropped pretty quickly, yet you question why did they even put it in there at all? The dialogue, at times can be clumsy and falls into the pit of despair that the first season of Gotham went through, as in everyone must say what they’re feeling. For instance there’s a particular sub-plot that involves Mutants being devoid of their powers…once they get them back, rather than just convey emotion, be expressive in giving the impression that an mutant has regained their powers (you know, act), instead they actually have to say such lines like, “I can feel my powers… they’re back.” One more thing I had a major issue with, especially in the last few episodes of the season…..the automated dialogue replacement is so terribly noticle.
VERDICT
For making a television series set in the world of the X-Men, without having any of the so-called A-list X-Men characters, the first season of The Gifted is decent enough. Granted the episode structure is repetitive and some of the dialogue is ropy, the season does end strong and leaves the series in a more interesting direction than where it started. The Strucker family come as a package at the start, but it’s the young actors Lind and White that get better material to work with compared to veterans Moyer and Acker. The rest of the ensemble is solid, with particular standouts in Emma Dumont, Sean Teale, Coby Bell and Skyler Samuels. 6/10
Irish Cinephile 