Fox’s The Gifted recap: No one is safe in the Mutant war

On the latest episode of Fox’s The Gifted, the Inner Circle hunt for a spy, and the Morlocks face their greatest fear—infiltration. Mutants and humans will fall tonight, but who will emerge victorious?

Four years ago. Benedict Ryan (Peter Gallagher) is in a messy, leaking radio studio. He is ‘rescued’ from his dismal life by Reeva Payge (Grace Byers). She wants to discuss a possible a partnership and even though Ryan wants nothing to do with a mutant, Reeva is persuasive. “You are a failed, two-bit opportunist!” Reeva says, but she can make him the “most important man in America”. We will see just how influential this pair can be in this episode of Fox’s The Gifted, currently streaming on Hulu.

Present day. Ryan and Reeva meet in front of the iconic Washington Monument. Reeva has a job for his Purifiers, one that is far too crazy, even for Ryan. But it is also an essential part of their plan, and thus Ryan has no choice.

At the Strucker household, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) is not reacting well to the serum her father, Reed (Stephen Moyer), gave her in the previous episode of The Gifted. She is even spouting German, a language she does not know. Kate (Amy Acker) is furious because the Mutant Underground needs Lauren’s powers now—Reed should never have kept the music box secret from her, nor his plan to give Lauren the serum.

Despite these concerns, Lauren decides to forego the serum and face whatever is happening to her head-on. She needs her powers so she can help her people. Her decision inspires Reed to do the same. Though going off the serum could kill Reed, he realizes he needs to embrace the X-gene like his children have. The Strucker family will become stronger for coming to these realizations.

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Back at the Inner Circle HQ, Reeva sets the Stepford Cuckoos (Skyler Samuels) the task of finding out what happened to her new recruit Max (James Carpinello). She is displeased by their inability to recruit Lauren, and even more frustrated by how little information they have about Max’s death.

But the closer they get to the truth, the more edgy Lorna Dane, aka Polaris (Emma Dumont), becomes. She had given her partner, Marcos Diaz, aka Eclipse (Sean Teale), Max’s location in the previous episode of The Gifted. Though Marcos was badly hurt in the encounter, Max ended up getting killed. Now with Sage (Hayley Lovitt) being put in charge of a security lockdown at HQ, how soon will it be before Reeva discovers the truth about Lorna’s betrayal?

The Cuckoos are able to find the spy and join Reeva to face… Sage! Lorna had used Sage’s computer terminal, and the breadcrumbs led directly to her. The Cuckoos can’t read Sage’s mind, because of her technical mutation, to confirm Sage’s innocence. Sage pleads for her life but Reeva is unforgiving—she unleashes her powers and ends Sage’s life. When Andy (Percy Hynes White) informs Lorna about Sage’s death, Lorna is heartbroken and guilt-ridden—she caused her friend’s death.

At the Morlocks’ home, Clarice Fong, aka Blink (Jamie Chung), is trying to convince Erg (Michael Luwoye) that the mutants on the surface need the Morlocks’ help, maybe even take refuge in the Morlock tunnels. But Erg and his fellow Morlocks are against this idea—they don’t want to open up their world to surface-dwellers. Blink finds this reasoning infuriating—how are they going to protect their fellow mutants if they refuse to open their doors to anybody?

To execute Reeva’s plan, Ryan brings in Jace Turner (Coby Bell) to lead the strike team against the Morlocks. Jace is not comfortable with the plan—he is being asked to organise a hit squad to kill Morlocks. That’s still illegal. But Ryan reminds Jace about the loss of his daughter, and dangles the hope of running the Sentinel Services one day soon. Jace is, as always, easily swayed.

When the Purifiers enter the Morlock tunnels, Blink is tasked with evacuating the sick and elderly while Morlock fighters create illusions to divert the Purifiers. Unfortunately, Jace is far too astute to be fooled, as we have seen on this season of The Gifted, and manages to find the holographic walls to go through.

Blink contacts Marcos so he and John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird (Blair Redford), can coordinate the surface evacuation of the Morlocks. They don’t hesitate to help.

The Morlocks aren’t as defenseless as first believed—they pick the Purifiers off one at a time, forcing the Purifiers to think about retreating. Though Jace refuses to go back empty-handed, they need consensus on such a decision.

The Purifiers look like they’re retreating but it turns out to be a trap. When the Morlock attack team check on the dead bodies left behind, they inadvertently unleash gas grenades. The last Morlock left standing tries to get to the controls that will flood the tunnels but he is killed before he can execute his plan.

On the surface, John tracks the police while the Struckers and Marcos take the refugees to a safe house. John insists on staying behind, desperate to save Clarice. But the Underground are caught by the police. With Lauren’s power still subdued, Kate takes matters into her own hands. She shoots at the police and then rams her car right through the blockade. You do not mess with Kate Strucker, not in this season of The Gifted!

Erg and a handful of Morlocks stay behind to fight the Purifiers while Clarice takes the remaining Morlocks to the surface. The Purifiers arrive with guns and grenades—the Morlocks are outnumbered and out-gunned but use their powers to defend themselves. Erg is practically bullet-proof and takes a number of hits to convert into energy blasts.

Jace figures out Erg’s power and redirects the Purifiers to shoot at the other Morlocks. They fall like nine pins and Erg and Clarice are soon the only ones left. But no, there is a child who remained behind! Erg and Clarice grab the little girl and Clarice portals them out. John is waiting for them on the other side. Just as Clarice is about to leave, the Purifiers target her and shoot her in the back. Clarice falls in a hail of bullets, her purple portal closing around her.

John and Erg are devastated by the event. They don’t talk much but Erg and John are bound to have a beef to sort out. Clarice was the last one out because of Erg so he inadvertently caused her death. Keep in mind that any confrontation between John and Erg will end with the energy being redirected at John like it did the previous time.

The Gifted: Dawn Of The Mutant Age airs Tuesdays on Fox. For more on Fox’s The Gifted and everything Hulu related, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Page @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.