Fox’s The Gifted recap: A finale filled with sacrifices and resurrections

On the latest season finale of Fox’s The Gifted, the Mutant Underground make their final play against the Inner Circle. Meanwhile, the Purifiers prepare to exact revenge for the loss of one of their own. But in this fight against giants, will it take one underdog to bring peace to mutant-kind?

Atlanta, GA. Five years ago—the day of 7/15. The Strucker family watch the devastation on the news. Kate (Amy Acker) is shaken by the event—she wants to promise her children that she will keep them safe but she isn’t even sure she can. Reed (Stephen Moyer) thinks 7/15 has shown him his calling—he is connected to mutants somehow. The Struckers have learned just how connected they are to mutant-kind in Fox’s The Gifted, currently streaming on Hulu.

Present day. The Mutant Underground plan to fight Reeva Payge (Grace Byers) and the Inner Circle with their strongest players, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White), who can single-handedly take down the Inner Circle fortress. Lauren and Andy may be young, but they are ready to fight.

John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird (Blair Redford), Lorna Dane, aka Polaris (Emma Dumont), and Marcos Diaz, aka Eclipse (Sean Teale), destroy all the Mutant Underground’s files. Lorna blames herself for everything—if she hadn’t believed in Reeva’s dream, they wouldn’t have lost the Underground, Shatter, the Morlocks, and Blink. John has no time for this—he needs Lorna to promise she’ll fight by them. Because the fight is coming.

Jace Turner (Coby Bell) has brought a massive contingent of Purifiers with him, on the orders of Benedict Ryan (Peter Gallagher), who Jace still doesn’t know is in Reeva’s employ. According to Ryan, the local law enforcement will be turning a blind eye to the Purifiers’ attack against the Mutant Underground—they want revenge for the death of Officer Ted Wilson, who was killed in the previous episode of The Gifted.

Andy suggests that he and Lauren use Fenris against the Purifiers but Lauren isn’t comfortable with hurting people. Andy believes it’s the right thing to do but they don’t get a chance to debate this. Something is behind them—it’s Fade (Jeff Daniel Phillips), with the Stepford Cuckoos (Skyler Samuels). Lauren and Andy don’t stand a chance.

Once Reed and Kate discover their children are missing, John tries to use his powers to track them. But he keeps seeing Clarice Fong aka Blink (Jamie Chung) and has to concentrate hard to find out how and when Lauren and Andy were taken. With the Purifiers outside, it will be difficult for the Underground to find the Strucker teens. John makes a plan to face Jace and the Purifiers by himself while the rest of the team go after Lauren and Andy. This is a suicide mission—one nigh-invincible mutant against all those Purifiers. But John needs vengeance for Clarice.

John applies ceremonial war-paint on his face and charges outside against the Purifiers—he absorbs their bullets, breaks their chains, dodges their fists, and he keeps standing. But he’s taken too many hits, and he has to escape. Fortunately, John is found by Erg, who puts their enmity aside to join the fight against the Purifiers. He asks John to hit him so he can absorb energy. When Jace and his Purifiers find John and Erg, Erg is already powered up. He disables the Purifiers with ease, and John finishes off the attackers, proudly declaring that he is Thunderbird. Surprisingly, he spares Jace’s life.

The Underground finally reach Lauren and Andy, but they are too late. The Sentinel Services building has been destroyed and Lauren and Andy are feeling the effects of the Cuckoos’ manipulation. Lorna intervenes, reminding Esme about their friendship, how she knows Esme never wanted to hurt people. Esme turns against her sisters, breaking their telepathic connection, so Marcos can knock them out.

Lauren and Andy were the keys to fighting Reeva, but they are too hurt to continue. It is up to Reed, Kate, Marcos and Lorna to take down the Inner Circle now. Lorna can get them into the Inner Circle HQ and then they only need to take down Reeva. “Without her, the whole thing falls apart,” explains Lorna. But Reeva is the hard part!

There is a secret elevator from the parking lot that will take them to Reeva. But to get to the elevator, the Underground have to go through Reeva’s elite mutant security team. Lorna and Marcos are a good defensive unit, and while they hold off the ground assault, Reed and Kate make their way to the elevator.

Reed has a plan—he will face Reeva alone while Kate joins Marcos and Lorna to fight the security team. Kate, of course, thinks this is a terrible idea but Reed has actually thought this through. His powers are unstable and are tearing him apart. He will die soon anyway, and if he unleashes his full potential, he can take Reeva with him. Unfortunately, he will also destroy everyone and everything within reach—that’s why he needs Kate, Marcos and Lorna to stay in the parking lot. They share a tearful goodbye before Kate covers Reed so he can get to the elevator.

Reeva isn’t afraid of Reed or his powers. She is bold, condescending, calling Reed the ‘most disappointing of the von Struckers’. Before Reed can even activate his powers, he is felled by Reeva’s scream but he keeps pushing himself forward, towards her. To Reeva’s surprise, Reed withstands her powers. “You wanted the power of the von Struckers?” Reed asks, before letting his power flow through every part of him and then out of him. Reed explodes, taking Reeva with him, and most of the Inner Circle building.

The Struckers mourn Reed, while Jace recovers in hospital. Marcos and Lorna are reunited with Dawn, and make plans to bring their family together again. Esme uses her powers to compel Benedict Ryan to confess his crimes on camera.

Erg calls a meeting with the Underground. The Mutant Uprising that Reeva incited is still happening but they need leadership, and they’re turning to this group of mutants. Marcos says the Underground is gone but Kate is certain they can build a new one.

John interrupts the meeting because he can feel something outside. Flashes of purple appear and then… a portal and out comes Clarice—she looks different though—more seasoned. Could this be a Clarice from the future? The portal daggers are an ability she masters later on in the comics so perhaps Clarice has visited an apocalyptic future.

In any case, something has happened and Clarice needs them all to come with her. With that, Clarice opens up a portal and jumps in. The rest of the team is hesitant to follow but we know John will at least make the jump—he has been searching for Clarice this whole time.

If Clarice did venture into the future, that would mean her portals extend much farther than we thought. Of course, a glimpse at the future all but guarantees an apocalyptic fate for all mutantkind. Then again, Clarice may have come from a future where mutants reign supreme. It would be a strange change of pace but seems like a unique direction that could be taken.

Fox’s The Gifted is currently streaming on Hulu. 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.