Fox’s The Gifted: Who will the Inner Circle target next?

This season of The Gifted has seen the Inner Circle come out on top in almost every aspect. But their latest target may be their most audacious yet. How will the Mutant Underground stop them?

Episode twelve of Fox’s The Gifted season two, currently streaming on Hulu, saw the Inner Circle win a massive victory over the Mutant Underground. The Underground had gathered for a Summit which Reeva Payge (Grace Byers) sent her new recruits to attack. All the national leaders of the Mutant Underground, alongside founder Evangeline Whedon, were killed in the attack, leaving the remaining members to scramble for cover.

In the promo trailer for episode thirteen, “teMpted”, Lorna Dane (Emma Dumont), who is now acting as a double agent for the Underground, tells her fellow Underground members that the Inner Circle have a new target. Buoyed by their recent victories, it seems that the Inner Circle is now planning to launch a large-scale attack on the White House!

And the Inner Circle could, indeed, pull it off. As we have learned over the past two episodes, the Inner Circle are working with the Purifiers’ leader, Benedict Ryan, and have managed to place people in important government institutions, from Homeland Security right up to Congress. Although, this won’t be the first time in the X-Verse that the White House has been infiltrated by mutants.

In X2: X-Men United, a mind-controlled Nightcrawler was sent by William Stryker to attack the President. Following Magneto’s hijacking of Stryker’s pseudo-Cerebro and the consequent destruction of Stryker’s base under Alkali Lake, Professor Xavier froze everyone at the White House to stop the President from announcing his wide-scale condemnation of mutants.

In X-Men: Days of Future Past, a young Magneto managed to attack the White House by dropping an entire stadium on it. It took the combined effort of the X-Men and Mystique’s bravery to stop Magneto from succeeding. The Inner Circle are much more powerful now—their attack against the White House could change the course of history for humanity.

Conversely, the Mutant Underground have never been weaker. Not only have they lost their national leaders, but a key member of their remaining team, Clarice Fong, aka Blink (Jamie Chung), has now left the Underground for the elusive Morlocks. Her departure is a massive blow in terms of firepower, but also because her partner, John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird (Blair Redford), heavily relied on Clarice for emotional support. John lost his best friend and his girlfriend in season one of The Gifted; this third loss might be too much for him.

Meanwhile, another heavy-hitter in the Underground is in serious danger. Lauren Strucker (Natalie Alyn Lind) has been growing in strength over this season of The Gifted, and has recently caught the eye of the Stepford Cuckoos (Skyler Samuels). They are now hell-bent on bringing Lauren into the Inner Circle, and will stop at nothing to do so. However, Lauren refuses to join them, and in the promo trailer, takes a firm stand against her brother, Andy (Percy Hynes White), and the Inner Circle.

Unfortunately for Lauren, the Inner Circle don’t take refusals well. According to the trailer, Lauren ends up on the run with not even her parents aware of her location. Whether or not Lauren is able to avoid a confrontation with the Cuckoos, her absence is yet another blow to the Underground. Can they put a stop to the Inner Circle’s machinations? We can’t wait to find out next week on The Gifted.

The Gifted: Dawn Of The Mutant Age airs Tuesdays on Fox. Episodes are uploaded to Hulu the following day. For more on The Gifted and everything Hulu related, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Page @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.