Written by: Kevin Berge
Hey, it's Amy Acker and her family whose names... I may eventually remember. (Image Courtesy of: fox.com)
Quick Take: The Gifted Season 1 takes its melodrama to the extreme but does a great job of establishing the mutant vs. human divide in a war for survival. With solid characters stretched a bit too thin, it is just good enough to be excited for what it could be in the future.
***This review will focus on the basic set-up and overall themes of The Gifted's first season, serving as an introduction to the show. There will no be spoilers beyond the first episode.***
X-Men was one of the first comic-book brands to truly take over cinema with the original in 2000. You could argue that the first movie jump-started the superhero movie craze. However, it has been almost eighteen years since the movie was released, and the franchise has fallen a bit flat with time.
Perhaps for that reason, X-Men stories have begun to invade the small screen. Legion was a hit for FX, but The Gifted is more a mixed bag for Fox. There are many reasons the show doesn't entirely click but also many that explain why it still had tons of potential.
The Gifted is set after the Westchester Incident when Charles Xavier had a violent seizure that killed humans and mutants alike, leaving the world with no X-Men and a whole host of human groups seeking to exterminate mutantkind. In this bleak future, the focus is on the battle between the Mutant Underground and Sentinel Services.
The primary players in this story are the Strucker family, siblings Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White) and their parents Reed (Stephen Moyer) and Caitlin (Amy Acker). The kids' powers manifest, and the family are forced to flee to the Mutant Underground.
The group is led by the light manipulator Eclipse (Sean Teale), the magnetic Polaris (Emma Dumont), and super-humanly athletic Thunderbird (Blair Redford) who take in all mutants who need protection including the teleporter Blink (Jamie Chung).
The family must find a way to survive with this group in the midst of a guerilla war for survival. The forces against them are overwhelming including the driven Sentinel Services agent Jace Turner (Coby Bell) and the inhumane doctor Roderick Campbell (Garret Dillahunt).
X-Men was one of the first comic-book brands to truly take over cinema with the original in 2000. You could argue that the first movie jump-started the superhero movie craze. However, it has been almost eighteen years since the movie was released, and the franchise has fallen a bit flat with time.
Perhaps for that reason, X-Men stories have begun to invade the small screen. Legion was a hit for FX, but The Gifted is more a mixed bag for Fox. There are many reasons the show doesn't entirely click but also many that explain why it still had tons of potential.
The Gifted is set after the Westchester Incident when Charles Xavier had a violent seizure that killed humans and mutants alike, leaving the world with no X-Men and a whole host of human groups seeking to exterminate mutantkind. In this bleak future, the focus is on the battle between the Mutant Underground and Sentinel Services.
The primary players in this story are the Strucker family, siblings Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White) and their parents Reed (Stephen Moyer) and Caitlin (Amy Acker). The kids' powers manifest, and the family are forced to flee to the Mutant Underground.
The group is led by the light manipulator Eclipse (Sean Teale), the magnetic Polaris (Emma Dumont), and super-humanly athletic Thunderbird (Blair Redford) who take in all mutants who need protection including the teleporter Blink (Jamie Chung).
The family must find a way to survive with this group in the midst of a guerilla war for survival. The forces against them are overwhelming including the driven Sentinel Services agent Jace Turner (Coby Bell) and the inhumane doctor Roderick Campbell (Garret Dillahunt).
These actors are in their 20s and 30s, but all I'm getting here is teenage angst. (Image Courtesy of: purefandom.com)
Where this show shines is its representation of mutant discrimination. The show is not shy about making allusions to the parallels with real-world groups with Sentinel Services verging on Nazism. The subtlety could have been stronger, but the show uses these ties to bring forward the emotional intensity.
Everyone knows they have to choose a side, and they are forced to make decisions based on the severity of those on the other side. The escalation effect is front and center throughout this first season as each main character has his or own burden to bare.
Unfortunately, the show does not always hit on its drama, verging on the melodramatic too often. In particular, the show wears itself too thin trying to make everyone matter, and some characters are too boring to give this much time. Thunderbird especially seems to be entirely defined by being the perfect heroic figure.
The acting rarely stands out too strongly from anyone. I have always been impressed by the work of Amy Acker, and Garret Dillahunt is in his element here. However, even they are rarely given much to work with. The younger actors are meant to carry the burden, and they are all passable at best.
There are some great elements here though that can be better explored. Often episodes start with a brief flashback to highlight more in particular characters, and these are far more subtle dramatic moments that show a more careful hand in the writing.
The essence of the show works, and the stories keep moving. The Gifted does not quite make every episode count, but there's no filler here. The show just needs to take the time to lean back, give the characters time to grow with longer spotlights. Take a couple episodes to just dial in on one or two characters at a time.
For now, The Gifted is fine entertainment, worth giving a shot, but it can be more. The characters have potential, and it is possible the actors more clearly grow into their roles. The conflict between humans and mutants has never felt more real in the X-Men cinematic universe, but that is not enough to carry the plot.
Everyone knows they have to choose a side, and they are forced to make decisions based on the severity of those on the other side. The escalation effect is front and center throughout this first season as each main character has his or own burden to bare.
Unfortunately, the show does not always hit on its drama, verging on the melodramatic too often. In particular, the show wears itself too thin trying to make everyone matter, and some characters are too boring to give this much time. Thunderbird especially seems to be entirely defined by being the perfect heroic figure.
The acting rarely stands out too strongly from anyone. I have always been impressed by the work of Amy Acker, and Garret Dillahunt is in his element here. However, even they are rarely given much to work with. The younger actors are meant to carry the burden, and they are all passable at best.
There are some great elements here though that can be better explored. Often episodes start with a brief flashback to highlight more in particular characters, and these are far more subtle dramatic moments that show a more careful hand in the writing.
The essence of the show works, and the stories keep moving. The Gifted does not quite make every episode count, but there's no filler here. The show just needs to take the time to lean back, give the characters time to grow with longer spotlights. Take a couple episodes to just dial in on one or two characters at a time.
For now, The Gifted is fine entertainment, worth giving a shot, but it can be more. The characters have potential, and it is possible the actors more clearly grow into their roles. The conflict between humans and mutants has never felt more real in the X-Men cinematic universe, but that is not enough to carry the plot.
