Well it seems as if somebody from The Gifted team read my review from last week as we get much more action and mutant powers in ‘outMatched’ with Lauren and Eclipse finally going face to face with Andy and Polaris in a pretty shocking and tense showdown! The Inner Circle continues to move forward with their plans as they break out a mysterious figure from a Mutant prison facility, leaving a violent and destructive path in their wake…
With little options left to find Andy and Polaris, the Mutant Underground go in search of hacker Wire to see if they can get anymore information on the location of the Hellfire Club. But as Eclipse and Thunderblink break into his hideout, they’re met by his brother Graph who opens fire and is quickly captured and abducted. In a desperate plea to gain any information on the Inner Circle, Caitlin uses Graph’s addiction against him in exchange for hacking into their systems. He finds out about their plan to visit a former mental hospital/mutant prison in Bethesda, for some unspecified (but probably) shady reason…That’s until the drugs Caitlin used on him kick in and his heart temporarily stops – anyone else a bit afraid at how far she’ll go to get her son back?! The flashback at the start of the episode explained how Caitlin risked her own life throughout her pregnancy to give birth to Andy, but at some point she’s got to realise it was his decision right? Intentionally causing somebody to overdose for your own gain isn’t any better than the actions of the Inner Circle, which is pretty worrying…
Meanwhile, Thunderblink, Eclipse and Lauren race to the facility to try and track down Andy, Polaris and the Frost sisters. The team catch up with Polaris and stops in her tracks, and for a split second I believed she was going to re-join them, but quickly flings open the cell doors, unleashing the prisoners and causing an impressively action packed riot. In the chaos, team Inner Circle manage to hide the mysterious person in their getaway car, but not before Lauren and Eclipse stand in their way. Andy finally comes face to face with his sister after six months apart and when Lauren refuses to move, he surprisingly blasts her and Eclipse with the full force of his powers, and knocks Lauren out as she hits her head pretty hard. Did anyone else spot one of the Frost sister’s hands in the car door though? Maybe Eclipse was right that they’re in Andy and Polaris’ head? It’s hard to tell! Whatever the reason, it was a pretty brutal move and definitely hit me in the feels!
The incident hits the rest of the Mutant Underground pretty hard too, as Reed and Caitlin break down when they learn it was Andy who hurt Lauren so badly. Reed’s powers once again manifest with the stress of the incident, melting the case of his pills, leaving him to scrabble around the floor trying to retrieve them. Is he relying too heavily on the pills to manage his volatile powers…? Back to a desperate Jace Bell and an officer from the DC precinct invites him to join the Purifiers, an extremist anti-mutant group. I really don’t see this ending very well for Jace.
Overall, ‘outMatched’ was another strong episode in the second season of The Gifted with a great mix of action, mutant powers and emotional gut punches. Just how are the Mutant Underground going to go up against the Inner Circle now?! I can’t wait to see just who’s under the blanket too, and what part they have to play in their plans…?
