Ah, to quote Robert Frost in a TV review is to get deep, but I couldn’t help but think of this line as I tried to find a common thread, not just to this season of The Gifted, but to a possible Season 2. There’s gotta be a plan here, after all, one we’re still not privy to because the pieces are not yet in place.
The best way out is always through doesn’t mean endure, not necessarily. It means that, sometimes, facing your problems head on can be the only way to not just survive them, but to learn from them, to outlive them, to become better. And in this case, maybe, even, to change the world.
And that’s why in “got your siX,” The Gifted makes a conscious decision to show that this fight, the ones the mutants are fighting, is not just an adult fight, it’s not one that allows people to remain in the sidelines. Sometimes, in life, you gotta pick a side, and make a stand.
These people have all chosen their side – and you could say they’ve chosen it because they had no choice, but in truth, there’s always a choice, even if that choice is just to give up. Especially because, as Thunderbird says when he drops the most amount of information we’ve gotten so far about what happened to the X-Men, no one promised this was a war they were going to win.
So, let’s go into choices, writing-wise and otherwise, as we discuss “got your siX”:
THUNDERBLINK?
No one has been more against this than me. I raged about the fake memory, and I cheered very loudly when the show didn’t let it drag on and allowed Blink to actually call out Dreamer on what she’d done. This episode, the show goes a step farther and has Blink actually call out Thunderbird on it too, and what a joy it was to see.
To be fair, Thunderbird is not as guilty as Dreamer, who made a unilateral decision and deserved Blink’s rage and more – but Thunderbird is also guilty because he didn’t say anything and he took advantage of Blink’s feelings to get her to help. War or not, that’s wrong, and the supposedly stand-out leader of the mutants clearly knows it.
More importantly, the show clearly knows it, which is honestly, more than I expected when they first introduced this stupid idea. So kudos, The Gifted. This was actually about the moral implications and not about a love triangle.
But, if the show did anything with this development, it was actually give life to the Thunderblink shippers. Before, this ship was a no go, now …well, I’m not saying I’m there yet, but I see the chemistry, so perhaps there’s a chance. And I wouldn’t have said that even a week ago.
And yes, that is despite Dreamer and whatever it is that’s going on with her and Thunderbird that I just don’t like because I basically don’t like that. That’s tied to the fact that the writing allowed John to understand that what they both did to Blink was wrong. That’s mainly because the show isn’t trying to hand wave this away.
Oh, accountability. You’re one of my favorite things.
Though John, dude, “It’s complicated” is basically not the right answer for anything in life. I can’t believe I have to tell you, of all people, this.
PARENTS AND KIDS
The other big thread in this episode had to do with parenting, and especially, with contrasting Reed and Caitlin with parents-to-be Lorna and Marcos. On the outside, this is the obvious comparison, but when you dig deep it’s easy to see that, in reality, despite the fact that Lorna would probably deny it until her last breath, these people can all learn a lot from each other.
Parenting is not a straight line, and no one is perfect at it. Reed Strucker certainly isn’t, but he does have more experience than Marcos Diaz, and he can offer the only advice that matters: in the end the most important thing isn’t what you do as much as that you love your kid and you never, ever give up on them.
And that’s an especially important lesson for two men who clearly didn’t have good parental figures. They both have a choice, now, in this moment, to be better than their examples, to be the fathers they always wanted to have. And just the fact that they want to is already important.
Just as they came to a middle ground, I suspect at some point it’ll be time for Lorna and Caitlin to see eye to eye and to realize that being a mother is both being protective and pushing for a better world for your kid. One doesn’t make you better than the other.
THAT X-MEN MENTION
Wait, what? Thunderbird knew the X-Men? Which X-Men? How is he so sure they’re gone? Why did they choose him? WHO IS HIS FATHER? Why did you drop these hints in episode 6, The Gifted? How much is the back-end of the season going to hurt us?
A lot, right? I should have known.
Other things to note:
- It’s always good when someone interrupts brooding time.
- Again, I ask, am I supposed to feel sympathy for Agent Turner? Because my sympathy meter is still firmly at -2.
- Creepy doctor is creepy.
- Lauren knowing geography gives me life.
- Fine Wes, FINE. You can stay. That shit you pulled at the end of the episode kinda saved you.
- Yuckity yuck to that Thunderbird/Dreamer pairing. Yuckity yuck.
The Gifted airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.