An x-cellent start.
This is an advanced, spoiler-free review of the pilot for Fox’s The Gifted. I’ll only be going into general plot details that have already been revealed, but if you’re spoiler sensitive, best bookmark this and come back after the show debuts on October 2.
The Gifted exists in the world of the X-Men, but don’t expect to see Wolverine or Jean Grey pop up. The X-Men have disappeared, along with the villainous Brotherhood, leaving the show to focus on an Underground Railroad-esque mutant resistance, the mutant-hunting agents of Sentinel Services, and a family caught in between. The pilot doesn’t try to do anything markedly new with the mutant metaphor, but it hits every beat of that formula so well that it’s a great time regardless.
The Strucker family of father Reed (Stephen Moyer), mother Caitlin (Amy Acker), teenage daughter Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and younger teen son Andy (Percy Hynes White) live in a middle-class neighborhood in a cushy house. Dad has a job as a mutant prosecutor and the kids go to a nice school. Everything seems ideal for this well-off family until, you guessed it, they find out both kids are mutants. This puts them on the radar of Sentinel Services Agent Jace Turner (Coby Bell), forcing them to run for their lives and seek help from the mutant rebellion, which includes Marcos/Eclipse (Sean Teale), Lorna/Polaris (Emma Dumont), John/Thunderbird (Blair Redford), and newcomer Clarice/Blink (Jamie Chung).
For as by-the-numbers as the plot may be, engaging performances elevate the material and excellent pacing keeps the tension going strong from start to finish.
Moyer in particular is a delight to watch as he turns from a caring patriarch to an intense, desperate man grasping at ways to save his family from the horrors he himself has put others through. The teen actors are predictably written the most melodramatic material -- which is understandable given that they both have their lives flipped upside down over the course of one episode -- and even they manage to turn it out, transforming from high school archetypes you roll your eyes at to troubled young people you root for.
On the mutant side of things, Dumont’s Lorna steals the show with her vibrancy and determinedness, to the point where it’s hard not to feel disappointed her character doesn’t get that much screen time. Teale’s Marcos delivers as the brash, de facto leader of the mutants, and his dialogue often proves to be dual-purpose: showing the desperation and cruelness that mutants face, and explaining the state of this post-X-Men world. Redford does a fine job as John Proudstar, but his black leather outfit makes it feel like his character didn’t get the memo that superheroes shouldn’t dress like that anymore.
Bryan Singer, director of most of the X-Men movies, is at the helm of this pilot (which may explain the continued use of black leather) and smartly embraces what worked best about his most beloved entry in the franchise, X2: X-Men United, by focusing on the elements of intolerance and fear of the unknown. There’s even a “coming out” scene, which, yes, we have seen before, but nevertheless pulls on your heartstrings.
The show’s greatest move is how it sets up a “normal” family where the father makes a living off of sending mutants to jail and the son casually tosses out a mutant slur at the dinner table, and then forces those same people to rely on mutants to survive, going from a life of privilege to one of persecution in a day’s time. It’s that sweet, sweet irony that fuels the best scenes towards the end of the episode.
It’s impossible to ignore how timely this show feels, whether it’s intending to be or not. It plays up how scary the government is when they not only have the power to restrict freedoms but the right to imprison or shoot at people just for being different. There are a few scenes that seem ripped from the headlines, if you just sub in the word “mutant.”
Whereas Singer enjoyed making a spectacle of each mutant power in the movies, he’s not afforded that kind of budget this time around. One mutant shines a bright light and can burn things by turning up the intensity. Another can summon what can only be described as heavy duty bubble wrap strong enough to catch falling debris and stop bullets. These special effects and others look fine for television, but it is perhaps a blessing in disguise that they aren’t big, flashy abilities. The Gifted’s best moments don’t come from mutants powering up but from the drama between characters as the stakes rise ever higher.
If The Gifted has any flaws, it’s that it’s not as ambitious as the high-concept Legion or as expansive Heroes. Then again, it’s hard to argue with a new X-Men universe show that’s simply a good time. Crisp dialogue and fun action beats keep things moving, all the characters are effectively likable/detestable in their own way, and as it comes to a close you’re left with a bit of adrenaline pumping through your veins wanting to know what happens next.
The Verdict
The Gifted delivers everything you’d expect from a show based in the world of the X-Men and nothing more. It tackles the troubles and tragedies of being a mutant from every angle. Mutants are aplenty and use a variety of different powers. And there’s even a new spin on the Sentinels to keep things interesting (and stay within a TV budget). Just the right amount of drama and tension make it all come together as a solid, enjoyable show. It may not be as thought-provoking as Legion, but it doesn’t try to be. The Gifted just wants to be an entertaining show in the world of the X-Men, and that it manages to do that without any actual A-list X-Men is a win all by itself.
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