Fox’s The Gifted: Will the Inner Circle lose its key members?

The Gifted season two’s penultimate episode is bringing the plot to a head, and there may be clues about a change of guard in the villainous Inner Circle. We look at what to expect from the upcoming episode.

We have very few clues as to what to expect in episode fifteen of Fox’s The Gifted season two, currently streaming on Hulu, ‘Monsters’, with only a 15-second promo trailer released for the episode. But what little we have learned is enough to get viewers very excited for the story, and very concerned for the fate of the characters.

The previous episode, ‘calaMity’, saw one of the mainstays of The Gifted, Blink (Jamie Chung) fall at the hands of the Purifiers—right in front of her partner—John Proudstar (Blair Redford). Clarice was one of the last mutants to leave the Morlock tunnels, having ensured that all the other Morlocks had been rescued. But she and Erg (Michael Luwoye) found a Morlock child still in the tunnels. In an effort to save her, Clarice was gunned down by Jace Turner (Coby Bell) himself.

Now it seems that John is going to take out his sorrow and anger on the other Morlock survivor—Erg.

According to the promo trailer, John confronts Erg about his influence on Clarice that caused her to join the Morlocks, and led to her eventual demise. Throughout season two of The Gifted, John and Erg have been at loggerheads—partly because of their differing ideologies—but mainly because of their dual interest in Clarice.

Now is not the time for fighting, however, especially with the Inner Circle getting closer to their end goal, and the Purifiers having achieved this massive victory against mutant-kind. The question is, will Clarice’s apparent death give John and Erg the impetus they need to set aside their differences so they can come together in their fight against the Inner Circle and the Purifiers?

Meanwhile, at the Inner Circle, Reeva Payge (Grace Byers) and the Stepford Cuckoos (Skyler Samuels) are close to their goal of complete domination of mutant and human-kind. In the previous episode of The Gifted, the Cuckoos had handed the ‘traitor’ to Reeva—Sage (Hayley Lovitt). Little do they know that the unfortunate Sage was not the spy—it has always been Lorna Dane, aka Polaris (Emma Dumont).

Sage’s death at Reeva’s hands is set to provoke Lorna into action. She has been a lone wolf in her fight against the Inner Circle from the inside, but if the promo trailer is anything to go by, Lorna is going to be turning to another Inner Circle member to join her—Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White).

Andy has been an extremely loyal member of the Inner Circle, unquestioningly following Reeva’s commands, and even betraying his own sister in order to keep the Inner Circle happy. But his faith in the Inner Circle might just come crashing down if Lorna tells him the truth about Reeva—that Reeva has been working with Purifier leader Benedict Ryan (Peter Gallagher) all along, and that she has no interest in keeping the Inner Circle members safe.

However, there are two ways that this can play out. Andy could either take Lorna at her word and join forces with her to fight Reeva. Or, he could betray Lorna to join Reeva, as has been his want throughout the current season of The Gifted.

As much as viewers would like to see Andy come back to the Mutant Underground, he has shown no intention to do so this season, despite having ample opportunity. His parents and sister have tried to convince him to leave the Inner Circle, but he cannot seem to see beyond the utopian mutant dream that Reeva purportedly plans to create. Can Lorna convince him otherwise? Only time, and the next episode of The Gifted, will tell.

The Gifted: Dawn Of The Mutant Age airs Tuesdays on Fox. 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.