TV review
Three out of four
When to watch: 9 p.m. Mondays FOX, available next day on Fox.com
Kaylee Brewster
Usually superhero shows star a gifted individual who fights crime and people (for the most part) are glad to have the help of the hero.
“The Gifted” expertly tells a different story.
Mutants (if you’re not familiar with the X-Men) are people born with superhero powers. In this world, mutants are feared, and hunted down to be arrested, at best, and killed at worst.
Reed (Stephen Moyer) is a mutant prosecutor. He and his wife, Kate (Amy Acker) have two kids, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hines White). They are a normal family.
Until the day they discover their kids are mutants and are forced to flee the country, helped by the Mutant Underground which Reed has been trying to stop.
“The Gifted” is the perfect show for fans of X-Men comics as characters like Thunderbird (Blair Redford), Blink (Jamie Chung) and Polaris (Emma Dumont) are featured in the show. However, it also opens the door for newcomers to the world of mutants by providing new characters and a whole new plot.
While “The Gifted” certainly highlights the cast’s super-powered abilities, the show isn’t solely about superpowers, it’s about family. The Strucker family and the Mutant Underground family are not just bonded by blood, but by survival.
Instead of a villain-of-the-week superhero crime show, episodes deal more with how the characters can work together and help each other and other mutant refugees. Tensions rise, however, when characters disagree on how to help. Some characters prefer a more violent approach, while others take a passive road.
Superpowers aside, there are some strongly written characters, all at different points along their mutant journey. The Strucker kids are still learning about their powers and need guidance on how to use them. Kate Strucker is trying to figure out her role in helping the mutants, as well as getting used to idea that her kids are different. Thunderbird and other seasoned mutants are just trying to keep their organization together to help everyone. “The Gifted” offers more than dazzling special effects to entertain viewers; it challenges how society treats people who are different. That is the true gift of what “The Gifted” has to offer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGxKbBMHa6k
