The Gifted season 2, episode 1 recap: eMergence
By John Dotson
The Gifted season 2 has finally premiered and we have the recap of what went down in the ongoing war between humans and mutants!
The wait is over and The Gifted has finally returned to Fox this week. In the latest episode, we discover how much time has passed between both seasons, as well as the consequences that resulted from the last season. Also, the episode fires off one of the best conclusions to the show we have seen since its creation.
There’s a lot to cover so let’s dive right into all the madness that ensued in the season premiere. Here is everything that went down in The Gifted Season 2, Episode 1!
Hellfire Club
The episode kicks off with a whizz-bang of an opening. The Hellfire Club meets at the beginning with faces of old and new. With the new dynamic of the group internal conflicts immediately show themselves, especially involving leadership among the club itself.
The two that struggle the most right out the gate are Reeva Payge and William. She made a decision to bring Lorna into the group and did not consult the circle. William and a few in the club express she did not know her place. Long story short, Reeva goes full gangster with her mutant power of screaming and takes over the club–she also kills William.
Escalation and reintroduction
The episode reintroduced us to everyone and it becomes clear that a long period of months has passed since the timing of the season 1 finale. Clarice Fong and John have settled in more as a couple–which seems very awkward considering his love Sonya died not too long ago. But hey, maybe that’s what she would have wanted?
Marcos and the team are still trying to help others that are being attacked by the Sentinel Service. It’s also quite clear that the raids by this group have escalated majorly as a consequence for Lorna killing the politician.
The Strucker parents appear to be more comfortable in their roles in the Mutant Underground. Kate has her own mini-hospital now to help injured mutants and Reed is hard at work solving the issues with Sentinel officers. Also throughout the episode, Marcos and Kate are working together to find Lorna and Andy who disappeared with The Hellfire Club.
Sibling rivalry
Lauren Strucker is still struggling over the fact Andy chose to leave their family. Her mom wants to find him and says that he was taken by The Hellfire Club, Lauren claps back to her that he was not taken–He chose to leave.
Once we are reintroduced to Andy he looks drastically different from the last time we saw him. He now rocks a leather jacket with blonde hair and basically looks like the offspring of Machine Gun Kelly and Fonzie. It’s clear that since the time-lapse he and Lorna have gained a bond with the absence of their families.
Before the huge climactic finale of the episode, Lauren has a dream about Andy that shakes her. In the dream, she finds him on a rooftop and she is so excited to see him she’s emotional. The weird part though is he looks exactly like he does in the present day– but she has no awareness of this because she has not seen him months. In the dream though, he does not acknowledge anything she says but instead and grabs her hand and won’t let go.
As the power between them rages in their hand she fights to free herself. His response, “Why are you fighting? This is who we are.” Before the power can explode from them both she wakes up terrified.
Preggo Polaris
A clear giveaway of the gap in time between season 1 and 2 is that Lorna’s belly has grown a lot. On top of this, she is basically due to give birth any day now. In the middle of the episode, Reeva is preparing for the worse case scenario and trying to find the safest building for a female Magneto to give birth. Her solution is a munitions building.
More from FOX
- Only 3 of FOX’s live-action scripted shows are coming back in March 2024 the rest are being held for Fall 2024
- Is El Cantito from Kitchen Nightmares still open?
- Bob’s Burgers: The (Raccoon) King and I was a busy episode for all
- Bob’s Burgers skipping Thanksgiving this year: Here are 4 can’t-miss holiday episodes to rewatch
- Is Love Bites from Kitchen Nightmares still open?
Wired
As the episode nears its conclusion Kate and Marcos continue their search for The Hellfire Club, in hopes to find Lorna and Andy. This brings them to a mutant hacker named Wire who actually has a refreshing cool power. His abilities seem to involve the skill of connecting to tech and sucking all the information data from any device he touches. Essentially he is like a human USB port but on steroids.
When they go to have their meeting with this guy, nothing pans out as they hoped. The information he finds makes him paranoid so he demands more profit for his discovery. After pulling his gun, a fight ensues and Kate gets grazed by a bullet near her ribcage. She threatens to blow his brains out if Wire does not give her the info, he of course eventually complies.
Watch your favorite shows on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!
Reed Strucker’s gift
One of the more interesting moments in the show is the event going on with Reed. Last season we discovered his father suppressed the X gene, which allowed Reed to have a normal life. Now, it seems like whatever gift he had is slowly coming back.
It’s unclear what exactly this power involves but we get a brief glimpse of some weird activity going on in his right arm plus the additional headaches. I have a feeling this will be a major topic in the coming weeks with fan speculation and theories.
A mutant birth
The episode wrapped with a beautifully intense close with Lorna having her baby. The entire sequence is a stunning reminder of how powerful of a mutant she can be. Even with her confined to an isolated building with a plexiglass cage surrounding her, the contractions cause her powers to send intense magnetic waves throughout the city.
Marcos notices the chaos being caused and realizes that somewhere Lorna is making this happen. He gets other members of the mutant underground to confirm what he believes, and Kate insists that she is having the baby.
As the episode draws to a close, Marcos, John, Kate, and others are trying to follow the magnetic pulses to find her. Meanwhile, Lorna is having problems dilating to have the baby.
In the final moments, Reeva instructs Esme Frost, Sophie Frost, and Phoebe Frost to give her incentive to have the child and they plant an image of the child’s future in her head. Reeva says, “Do you see that? That’s for her. Do you want that?”
Lorna emotionally responds with “More than anything.” Which builds to an emotional crescendo of her pushing with all her spirit and the world outside getting sucked by the force. Then it goes quiet. The baby is born and she survives. However, there’s no more chaos or magnetic waves. Leaving Marcos no way to find Lorna or his newborn child. He then becomes enraged believing the silence means the birth killed her.
Next. The Gifted Season 1 DVD has arrived: Here's what to expect. dark
Overall thoughts
This one of the better episodes we’ve seen from The Gifted since the show kicked off. The ending was quite emotional and extremely well done. The entire birth sequence alone is one of the best moments we have seen from the show thus far. I’m also curious to see what exactly is happening to Reed and where they take that storyline.
My biggest nitpick however is the romance between John and Clarice, which just feels awkward and wrong. We are supposed to believe he moved on that fast after his girlfriend was shot? This being said, outside of this one glaring issue, this was a solid premiere for season 2.
The Gifted Season 2 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on FOX.