Recap: The Gifted Season 1 Episode 2 “rX”

The Gifted

Episode 2, “rX’ of The Gifted starts with a flashback one year before the events of the show. The Strucker family; Reed, Kate, Andy, Lauren, and Reed’s mother are at a bowling alley.

Andy bowls a strike and then gives Lauren some “theme music.” It’s not the best beatboxing I’ve ever heard, but it’s not the worst either. Lauren bowls and knocks down all the pins except one. Miraculously that last pin falls over as she’s walking away. A few lanes down some teenagers are harassing a mutant girl and her father is telling them to leave her alone. The mutant is vibrating and you can’t quite make out her face. The harassment builds to a crescendo and the girl uses her power. Furniture bowls over and the teens are knocked back a step. Reed steps in to de-escalate the situation, telling the dad his daughter has committed a crime and that they need to leave before they are arrested. Lauren says it’s wrong that they had to leave and Reed actually looks ashamed.

Back to the present everyone, minus Reed, is at the Underground’s HQ. Eclipse talks the Strucker family out of going back for him. Blink is injured after using her powers the way she did.

Sentinel Services is searching for everyone. They have Reed cuffed to a gurney since he can’t walk after the attack last episode. Agent Turner, head of the unit chasing Strucker’s family, tells Reed they’ll have a talk when he’s better.

In the Lakewood County Jail, Polaris is being taken to her new cell. She has on an inhibitor collar, which the inmates have dubbed a “flea collar.” She tries to use her powers and the inmates laugh as she is knocked on her butt. A human tries to make friends with her, but Polaris blows her off.

Back at the Underground, Eclipse and Thunderbird argue while Blink has gotten worse. Kate tries to help, but she isn’t trained to work on mutants.

While in shock Blink’s powers are on the fritz and portals are opening at random. Half of a pickup truck crashes through the HQ. Eclipse gears up to fight with Thunderbird trying to talk him out of it. But seeing reason, and the guy with a gun, Thunderbird backs down. Lauren rushes up and uses her powers to close the portal and save lives. Kate argues about getting Blink to a hospital, but the Underground members don’t want her to be arrested again. Kate agrees to help get the medicine, while Lauren stays to close the “space holes.” That is the new term of the week, ladies and gentlemen.

At Sentinel Services, Turner is trying to get Reed to betray his family. Reed argues and tries to get a lawyer. Kate and Eclipse are in a car headed toward a hospital for the medicine.

Back at the jail, Polaris sees another mutant as she is escorted to the showers. The black dye in her hair is washed away and we see a glimpse of her comic book counterpart.

Meanwhile, Thunderbird tells the Strucker kids about Blink and what he knows about her problems with the police. Another portal opens and Lauren closes it, but not before Thunderbird hears the cop’s radios. Close to Blink, Andy and Lauren share a bother-sister moment.

Eclipse and Kate get to the hospital but don’t really have a way to get to the medicine. Kate peels off Eclipse’s bandages and uses his gunshot wound to get them into the ER area.

The doctor uses staples, after seeing Eclipse’s blood melt glass, to close up the wound. I guess all that funding for Weapon X went to mutant medical centers. The doctor uses the cuts on Kate’s head, from the crashing half pickup to bad mouth mutants and say they’re aggressive.

Thunderbird talks to Dreamer and tells her the cops called in SWAT, while Reed is charged with terrorism. Turner shares with Reed that his daughter died in the November 13th event, and he doesn’t care if mutants are good or bad.

Polaris tries to befriend the mutant she saw earlier at lunch but is rebuffed.

Kate steals the medicine, but as she’s trying to leave she sees the cops talking to the antimutant doctor. Eclipse and Kate make a run for it with the cops chasing them. Eclipse seals the door shut as they exit.

Polaris, out in the yard, is told she now works for a woman with a scarred face. Lorna refuses and is beaten and kicked in the stomach. Polaris slams a table into the inmate despite her collar, which earns her time in solitary.

Blink is in even worse shape and Thunderbird wants to evacuate, but Dreamer won’t let him. SWAT is at the portal and Lauren can’t contain it this time. She’s knocked back and a SWAT member enters the Underground.

Thunderbird throws the first one back through the portal and Andy tosses the rest of them like a cheap salad. Blink’s powers are more out of control and a lot of portals open.

Reed is in handcuffs and is being led to an observation room. He sees that his mother is now a captive of Sentinal Services.

On the way back to the HQ, Eclipse and Kate are discussing the treatment of mutants. She thinks what she just witnessed was bad, but Eclipse tells her that was royal treatment. He then talks about how Lorna saved him from a rough life.

As soon as they arrive close enough a fear field, generated by an Underground mutant, hits Kate hard. There are portals opening all over the place. Everyone argues, but Kate rushes in to help Blink.

Thunderbird is hovering over Blink, protecting her from falling debris, as Kate comes in. Kate gives Blink the meds and the mutant quickly gets herself under control.

While laying in bed Blink asks if all the destruction was her fault. Thunderbird changes the subject and asks about the road that the portal kept opening to. Blink says she doesn’t know, but there is something there and he knows. He tells her they’ll talk later and walks off.

Kate and Andy are together and she tells him she’s proud of him. She tells him they’ll find Reed. (There is a possibility here that they’ll join the Underground, just saying.)

At Sentinel Services, Turner and Reed talk. Turner tries to bully Reed, but he calls his bluff. Reed gets a lawyer, his mother is to be released, and his family is not to go to jail. In return, all he has to do is get Turner to the Underground.

The last of the episode shows Doctor Campbell again. This time talking about an event in Rio in the 60s.

The show is still staying strong in my eyes, but I’m going to have to change my assessment of the Sentinel Services. They do have some things in common with Hitler’s SS. I’ve got big hopes for this show, here’s to an alternate reality where mutants can get a break.

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