The Gifted: My TV Review

The Gifted  is an American TV series produced by 20th Century Fox Television with the association of Marvel Television where Matt Nix serves as the show-runner. This series is created for Fox Broadcasting Company (often shortened to Fox and stylized as FOX), an American commercial broadcast TV network that is a flagship property of Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. The show is connected to the X-Men film series, where it is set in an alternate timeline where the X-Men have all disappeared.

The series is cast by 4-time award-winning British actor Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton of True Blood/ Brutus of The Double/ Owen Pace of Priest/ Milus Corbett of The Bastard Executioner) who played the role of Reed Strucker, a father who is trying to balance his family responsibilities with his job as a district attorney. Four-time award-winning actress from Texas Amy Acker (Illyria of Angel/ Lin of The Cabin in the Woods/ Kelly Peyton of Alias/ Samantha Groves of Person of Interest/ Nova of Once Upon a Time) played the role of Caitlin “Kate” Strucker, a non-mutant mother and nurse struggling with her “increasingly challenging” teenage children. She, together with her husband Reed are ordinary parents who take their family on the run after they discover the mutant abilities of their children.

Among the mutants introduced here in the series are the following: (1) Eclipse, an alter ego of Marcos Diaz, a rebellious mutant who can absorb and manipulate photons. He was rejected by his human parents, and grew up smuggling drugs from Mexico to the United States. The mutant underground uses him to smuggle mutants to safety in Mexico. The character was created for the series, but takes inspiration from comic characters such as Sunspot and Wolverine. He is played by an English actor Sean Teale (Alvin Murdock of Survivor/ Ben Larson of Incorporated/Prince Louis Conde of Reign/ Franco of Mr. Selfridge); (2) Blink, an alter ego  of Clarice Fong, played by Korean descent 5-time award-winning actress from California Jaime Chung (Go Go of Big Hero 6/ Valerie Vale of Gotham/ Katherine of Flock of Dudes/ Mulan of Once Upon a Time/ Jamie of Bad Johnson/ Janice Channing of Believe/ Miho of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For/ Lauren of The Hangover Part II & III/ Amber of The Sucker Punch/ Claire of Sorority Row/ Chi Chi of Dragonball: Evolution). Blink is a “sarcastic, lively” mutant with teleportation powers. An “independently minded” member of the mutant underground, she begins the series using her abilities as “a way out of situations she doesn’t want to be in”, but her abilities and relationship to them evolve throughout the series; (3) Thunderbird, an alter ego of John Proudstar, a strong-willed mutant, leader of the underground community. Nix said the character is “dealing with his own issues of feeling the weight of thousands of years of Apache history and mutant history and an obligation to both families.” Thunderbird is famous for being killed off shortly after his introduction in the comics, and though Nix said that this would not happen in the series, it will explore “the relationship of this guy to the Thunderbird of the comics”. He is played by American actor Blair Redford (Zach of Beauty and the Beast/ Miguel-Lopez Fitzgerald of Passions/ Jack of SiREN/ Simon of Satisfaction); (4) Polaris, an alter ego of Lorna Dane, a brave and loyal mutant whose abilities include controlling magnetism. She is introduced as being “unstable” due to bipolar disorder. Nix explained that, within the series, there is “some awareness” that Polaris is the daughter of Magneto. The character is depicted with green hair, as she is in the comics, but “subdued shades of green”. She is played by American actress Emma Dumont (Katherine Daly of Pretty Little Liars/ Zoe Desaul of T@gged/ The White Lady of The Magicians/ Emma Karn of Aquarius/ Sandra of The Body Tree/ Melanie Segal of The Bunheads).

American actress Natalie Alyn Lind (Silver St. Cloud of Gotham/ Kayla Bennet of Criminal Minds/ Dana Caldwell of The Goldbergs/ Winslow Sutcliffe of iZombie) played the role of Lauren Strucker, one of the series’ central children, a “perfect” kid whose mutant power is creating force fields.  Three -time award-winning Canadian actor Percy Hynes White (Jude of Cast No Shadow/ Harrison of Between/ Caleb Baker of Edge of Winter/ Matthew Tucker of First Round Down/ Duncan of A Christmas Horror Story/ Monguno Ksaruko of Defiance/ Simon Brooks of Murdoch Mysteries/ CJ Fredericks of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb) played the role of Andy Strucker, also one of the series’ central children, a sensitive loner who keeps to himself whose mutant power is a form of telekinesis, being able to pull things apart. They are both the children of Reed and Kate Strucker who has a very destructive immnese power when they both hold hands whist channeling, able to destroy an entire building. They are the descendants of Fenris, an alter ego of Andrea and Andreas von Strucker), German twin children of supervillain Baron Strucker of HYDRA and the half-siblings of Werner von Strucker.

The series received a pilot commitment at Fox after a previous attempted X-Men TV series did not move forward at the network in 2016 and was ordered to series in May 2017. Its first season was aired from October 2, 2017 to January 15, 2018. It received positive reviews from critics, more particularly to its cast and social commentary. Fortunately, this series was renewed for a second season.

Based on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, they reported a 73% approval rating, with an average rating of 6.91/10 based on 44 reviews. The website’s consensus states, “The Gifted‘s first season lays a solid foundation for an involving superhero drama that powers past the origin-story doldrums by focusing on grounded, topical stories over mindless action and special effects.” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.

For me, this newest series that is based from X-Men has also the potential to be liked and be more watched by avid fans of Marvel, since mutants are the main protagonists of this series. This series has more surprising twists to be anticipated on its second season. We may meet some of the X-Men mutants from flashbacks maybe, but surely this will make X-Men fans more excited to see what will happen next after the birth of Hellfire Club (spoiler). This is another one of Stan Lee’s best ever produced TV series at the moment, and I’m sure this won’t fail us in the upcoming season. Two-thumbs up and another 5-star rating for this remarkable series about mutants’ chronicles. You better watch this guys coz this one has lots of twists that will surely make you a choice when to choose your group when the other team succumbs to their hatred and vengeance. Can’t wait for season 2!

If you haven’t watched this series yet, check out the official trailer below:

Disclaimer: Some information are copyright sources from Wikipedia.