The Gifted 1×1 Review: eXposed

The Gifted is a good spin-off for 20th Century Fox’s live-action X-Men franchise, but it didn’t bring anything new to the table with ‘eXposed’, and I don’t think it ever will.

I enjoyed watching The Gifted season one premiere, directed by Bryan Singer. There was a familiar X-Men tone to ‘eXposed’ that brought me back to the live-action world of mutants. However, this familiarity is also what made me realize that this new show isn’t one that’ll be pushing any envelopes as it continues.

The season premiere told two stories. One was about the mutant underground that helps mutants on the run, and the second story was about the Strucker family. Both storylines ended up coming together when the Strucker kids are revealed to be mutants.

I enjoyed the Strucker family dynamics. There’s a strong bond between all of them, and I think it’ll only continue to grow stronger in upcoming episodes.

We also got introduced to Lorna, Eclipse, Thunderbird, and Blink. I’m looking forward to knowing more about these characters and their backstories. I wonder how the show will deal with Lorna’s parentage.

Having said that, overall the show isn’t doing anything spectacular. For someone who grew up reading and watching X-Men, the premise of The Gifted felt like something I’ve seen numerous times before. ‘Kid-discovers-new-powers-and-runs-from-the-government’ isn’t the most original of ideas.

I might be sounding a bit harsh but that’s not my intent. It’s just that we already have an awesome X-Men spin-off show, Legion.

Now, Legion has a unique take on mutant powers and character development. It also helped that we had never seen a live-action version of David Haller before. Legion is a very trippy series and that’s why even though it’s an X-Men show it is still very different.

The Gifted, on the other hand, does nothing to push the envelope with its premise or characters. It’s something we’ve already seen before to some extent.

Fox did a great job with Gotham. It offered versions of Bruce, Selina, etc. that hadn’t been deeply explored before in comics and other media. It continued to keep things interesting through Penguin and Barbara.

With The Gifted, there is nothing fresh. It’s like a dish you keep ordering because you know exactly how it’ll taste and you aren’t in the mood to experiment.

Some thoughts and questions:

1. Casting POC in main roles is a very good step The Gifted took.
2. I wonder how Lauren’s powers will work with water. What else can she push together to form shields?
3. The X-Men: The Animated Series ringtone was a nice surprise.
4. With Lorna being pregnant, I wonder if they’ll give the child Luna’s powers.
5. Nice Stan Lee cameo.
6. I liked how Reed Strucker mentioned being an American and having rights. Turns out, unless you’re what America deems ‘normal,’ you have no rights. The X-Men has always been about discrimination. So, I’m glad the show is following suit.
7. I wonder if Andy has telekinesis and if he can also pull things towards him or if it’s similar to Shinra Tensei (from Naruto) and is all about destruction.
8. The Spider-Sentinels look cool.

Quote of the week: “Things change when it’s your own kid.” – Agent Turner

For me, ‘eXposed’ was an enjoyable hour of television. But as a reviewer, The Gifted doesn’t bring anything new to the live-action superhero genre.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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