The Gifted is back on UK screens following the action packed midseason finale, with the show taking a break from the Inner Circle’s plans to bring together the original team to rescue John from the Purifiers. Even though this didn’t really progress the overall plot of the season, it was so much fun seeing Marcos and Lorna teaming up to kick Purifier’s ass – also how amazing is Lorna’s Magneto style headgear?! But the real standout of the episode was Jace; I’ll be genuinely surprised if the writers don’t give him a redemption arc by the end of the season.
The whole brief alliance between both sides for the mutant course is a pretty common trope in the X-Men comics and films, take the Inhumans vs X-Men storyline as well as Polaris teaming up with the sons of Wolverine to lead a team in X-Men: Blue #25. Even though it’s a pretty regular occurrence (especially when it comes to Michael Fassbender’s Magento!) it’s still so exciting to see it happen, even though you might want the team to stick – and this will surely be the problem when it comes to the Strucker parents now that they briefly had Andy back…
This week’s flashback opened in Atlanta three years ago with John, Lorna and Marcos playing pool and promising to look out for each other. Enter a brief alliance as Andy and Lorna join the Mutant Underground on a rescue mission, bringing the large ensemble together with one main plot thread, and I felt like this helped tie together what can sometimes be a busy episode. It’s so important to see how much the original three mean to each other and the fact that Lorna is still tied to them will probably come into effect later in the series – it’s clear that she and Marcos are still truly in love with each other. Also Marcos complementing her new headgear before they fought against the Purifiers was one of my favourite scenes!
It was also an emotional reunion for the Strucker family, especially parents Reed and Kate, as Andy finally returned to them after they spent so longer trying to get him back this whole entire season. But they quickly realise this isn’t the same son who left them, as Andy gleefully paralyses a member of the Purifiers as they leave the compound with John, breaking both of his legs in the process. Andy is so hurt and angry about Rebecca that he blames all humans for her death, believing they all need to be wiped out for mutants to live in peace – boy has Reeva really got her claws in him! Reed and Kate finally realise what Lauren’s been trying to tell them all along, leading Kate to believe that she needs to take out Reeva to truly get her son back.
Meanwhile the standout of the show truly was Coby Bell as Jace, his performance was absolutely phenomenal as a man completely on the edge, blaming mutants for everything he’s ever lost when really it was his doing the whole time. The death of his daughter was absolutely tragic, there’s no doubting that, but his anger, obsession and rage is what drove his wife away and lost him his job at the Sentinel Services. It’s shocking to see him torture and shoot John, as well as truly believing that what he’s doing is the right thing, as he says to John, “it’s lonely trying to save the world isn’t right?”. I kind of feel like Jace is too far gone now for a redemption arc, but I would so love to see this happen.
Overall, ‘eneMy of My eneMy’ wasn’t the strongest episode of the season, but it was still really enjoyable – especially seeing Clarice telling Lorna and Marcos to get a grip and put their differences aside for John. Jamie Chung is quickly becoming one of my favourite actresses on the show! It was great to see the team back together, but I would like to see the consequences of the Inner Circle freeing all of the mutants from the end of the last episode. Going forward I believe that John and the Mutant Underground need to decide what they truly want to stand for and what they should do when it comes to the Inner Circle. Hopefully there’ll be a Lorna and Marcos reunion soon too!
