The Gifted #2 rX Discussion (Spoilers)

[Heroine Addict]

Well, overall, pretty darn good. Not groundbreaking or anything, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

[Vegan Daddy]

That was pretty fun. I'm hooked.

[ZNOP]

Well, overall, pretty darn good. Not groundbreaking or anything, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Remember the 1996 TV movie, "Generation X"?

[donpricetag]

If all Blink needed was some potassium, they couldn't give the sista a banana?! C'mon man.

[salarta]

Another good episode like last week.

Polaris-wise, in addition to what I said before, I love the show's setup of framing her collar as something that normally does mutants in but which Lorna will overcome with intense strength of will. It's doing an excellent job of prepping the mythologizing of her among mutants and humans alike as the show goes on. Lorna's been a leader of Mutant Underground, but we also get an impression in these early episodes that most people don't know who she is or that she even exists.

So, basically, Lorna as written in this episode is (to me) a perfect distillation of her character: she's forced into obstacles and she overcomes them with perseverance/will power, typically without the sort of direct support network other characters tend to get. Everything I've seen in this episode gets her right.

Other areas.

The mention of Mutant Liberation Front is excellent, and the way the Brotherhood is talked about? Makes me think they still exist and are out there doing things that the public never knows about. This could be excellent setup for a future episode or arc where the show brings up how public perception of mutants is directed by falsehoods and omissions in the media.

The ending talking about a brother-sister pair in Rio de Janeiro in reference to the Struckers is interesting. I have so, so many possibilities swirling in my head right now, which makes is an excellent cliffhanger. Are they clones? Are they inhabited by something brand new that's like the Phoenix Force?

This episode also did a terrific job of showing how the general populace discriminates against mutants and how absolutely wrong it is. The metaphors abound in the father and daughter at the bowling alley having to leave, mutants assumed to be domestic abusers just for being mutants, Caitlin Strucker slowly realizing the lies she's used to give herself a sense of righteous indignation when she's called out.

Plus, the parallels between Blink and Eclipse's powers affecting their bodies is a side of mutants and the X-Men franchise never really previously addressed. Show's doing an excellent job of touching on that, taking it to a whole new level. This is stuff Marvel doesn't really try all that often in their popular works.

[Soulsword323]

This episode really keeps the momentum going from the pilot. Really loved the Mutant Underground facing off against Blink's portals essentially, and it was great to see Thunderbird get a cool action scene. This show has some really strong VFX, because to me at least, no ones powers looks cheap. Lorna was completely awesome in this episode. She was both vulnerable and tough, and it is great seeing her push past that collar to use her powers, even if only briefly. If Polaris didn't take that scar lady out, here's to hoping that when she escapes, Polaris takes her and her little punching friend with her. Also, what could have happened on July 15th?

[Vegan Daddy]

If all Blink needed was some potassium, they couldn't give the sista a banana?! C'mon man.

Right? Why didn't they just inject her with mashed up bananas? Idiots

[SomeCBFanboy]

Good lord the amount of people trying to tie this into Logan's events on twitter is something else. They really need to just come out and say that this show does not take place in the same universe as the movies. I mean they have said that, but they don't do it unanimously. Every other person involved says something different which is confusing the GA.

[Heroine Addict]

The Polaris scenes were my fave, obviously, and this ep was better for me in that regard. But everybody gotta a chance to shine here, I thought. From the commanding "Johnny", to the callous Dreamer. From a together Lauren, to an adjusting Andy, to a desperate & resourceful CaitLipse!! From the maneuvering Reed, to the motivated Agent Turner, to the cool as hell... Grandma Strucker! Even Blink, who was mostly unconscious & spazzin'. Wonder what's up with that road she kept opening portals to? Missed:

... tho.

[Heroine Addict]

Remember the 1996 TV movie, "Generation X"?

Yes, and it is a painful memory, that I'd like to keep buried. The Gifted is the X-act opposite of that, it is rapturous, and I want to bask in it.

[jmc247]

This episode really keeps the momentum going from the pilot. Really loved the Mutant Underground facing off against Blink's portals essentially, and it was great to see Thunderbird get a cool action scene. This show has some really strong VFX, because to me at least, no ones powers looks cheap. Lorna was completely awesome in this episode. She was both vulnerable and tough, and it is great seeing her push past that collar to use her powers, even if only briefly. If Polaris didn't take that scar lady out, here's to hoping that when she escapes, Polaris takes her and her little punching friend with her. Also, what could have happened on July 15th?

This was a really very strong episode all around and did better with the metaphor for real life issues then I imagined.

[Heroine Addict]

Good lord the amount of people trying to tie this into Logan's events on twitter is something else. ...

It's been poppin' up a lot in online articles lately, too. Like in the last week or so, since the premiere. Due to the "Mutant Incident" connection, wherein both the X-men & Brotherhood were seemingly wiped out.

[Psyknight]

The Polaris scenes were my fave, obviously, and this ep was better for me in that regard. But everybody gotta a chance to shine here, I thought. From the commanding "Johnny", to the callous Dreamer. From a together Lauren, to an adjusting Andy, to a desperate & resourceful CaitLipse!! From the maneuvering Reed, to the motivated Agent Turner, to the cool as hell... Grandma Strucker! Even Blink, who was mostly unconscious & spazzin'. Wonder what's up with that road she kept opening portals to? Missed:

... tho.

I missed him too. He’s so cute!

This and the first episode are both great. This series is off to a strong start.

[mace11]

Good lord the amount of people trying to tie this into Logan's events on twitter is something else. They really need to just come out and say that this show does not take place in the same universe as the movies. I mean they have said that, but they don't do it unanimously. Every other person involved says something different which is confusing the GA.

The Gifted (TV series)
Shared universe connections

Donner explained in January 2017 that, unlike the previous X-Men television series Legion, this series "is much more a part of just the world in terms of there are mutants, mutants are hated ... you feel like you're here in the X-Men world". Despite this, the "cinematic universe will not worry about ... these TV worlds at all. [The films] will just continue in the way that they have been continuing". Nix added that the X-Men films "don't all line up perfectly. So it's not like I'm slavishly fitting myself into a particular slot [but] if you like that world and the world of the movies, there are definite nods to it, it definitely exists in the same general universe".

Nix wanted the connection to be more general than that between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying "I think [that] is cool but [S.H.I.E.L.D.] already did that." He noted that the premise of the series is something that "established mutants are going to have something to say about", but "it's sort of designed to side-step questions like 'Where is Wolverine?' ... I didn't want to do anything like 'Wolverine is just offscreen!' ... those questions are answered without needing to name a lot of names or spend time dwelling on that issue". Also, "there are a certain amount of those [existing] characters I can use, and I'm using some of those, but others I'm inventing". One group of existing characters that do feature in the series are Sentinels, mutant-hunting robots that have appeared in several of the films, though Donner noted their appearance in the series is "very different from what we've seen before."

Moyer stated in June 2017 that The Gifted would be set between Legion, in which mutants "are still largely not understood", and Logan, which sees the title character as one of the last mutants. He added, "we definitely slot into a timeline, but as of yet, we're not allied. I think they have given themselves a lot of leeway in order to be able to go places, but we've enough story within our universe to propel us forward without having to do that." The next month, Nix noted that the film X-Men: Days of Future Past established multiple, different timelines or "streams" in the X-Men universe, and that the series would take advantage of those to avoid the films and comics and instead do "our own thing". He explained that in the series' "stream", the X-Men have disappeared, soon adding that the series would not be "driving" the movies or vice versa". Loeb compared the series' relationship to the films to the way multiple Marvel comics can tell separate X-Men stories at once, with a "main" storyline co-existing with several others.

Legion (TV series)
Shared universe connections

Landgraf stated, in January 2016, that the series would be set in a universe parallel to the X-Men films where "the US government is in the early days of being aware that something called mutants exist but the public is not". He felt it was unlikely that characters would cross over between the show and films, but noted that this could change between then and the premiere of the series. That July, an article on Marvel.com referred to Legion as one of several characters joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), suggesting that Legion would be set in that shared universe like Marvel Television's other series. The next month, Singer said that Legion had actually been designed to fit into the X-Men universe, but also to stand alone, so "you wouldn't have to label" the relationship between the series and the films. He teased plans to have the series "relate to future X-Men movies".

At New York Comic-Con 2016, Donner said that the series is "far from the X-Men movies, but still lives in that universe. The only way for X-Men to keep moving forward is to be original and to surprise. And this is a surprise. It is very, very different." Hawley explained that because the series is depicting the title character's "subjective reality", it would not have to address any connections to the films straight away, noting that Fargo, which is connected to the 1996 film of the same name, at first "had to stand on its own feet" before exploring those connections more; "We have to earn the right to be part of this universe. My hope is we create something so strong that the people in the movie studio call and say they would be foolish enough not to connect these things." He did state that "you can't tell this story without" acknowledging that Legion is the son of Charles Xavier, who appears in the films. In regards to the MCU, Loeb stated that his involvement in the series was a sign that "bridges are being made" between Marvel and Fox, "but I don't want to make any promises ... Marvel heroes at their core are people who are damaged and are trying to figure out who they are in life. It doesn't matter whether or not they're X-Men, Tony Stark, Matt Murdock or Peter Parker ... If you start at a place as strong as David's character is and you have a storyteller like Noah, then it's Marvel. In that way, it is all connected."


Loeb and Donner stated in January 2017 that there were no plans to have Legion be the first in a series of connected shows on FX, like Marvel Television's group of interconnected Defenders series on Netflix, and that Legion and the X-Men series being developed for Fox are "not going to get in each other's way." Donner stated that the series was just a chance to bring an X-Men character to the screen who was not going to be used by the films. The producers hoped that audiences would watch the show because of its character-focus and the talents of Hawley and the cast, rather than to "see a Marvel franchise show." Donner also noted that having Hawley focus on Haller's perspective of reality rather than connections to the X-Men films allowed the series to avoid the convoluted continuity of the films, "because we play with so many different timelines, and we rebooted and not really rebooted and all that" throughout the films. Therefore, "the cinematic universe will not worry about Legion. They will not worry about these TV worlds at all. They will just continue in the way that they have been continuing." For the onscreen confirmation that Xavier is Haller's father in "Chapter 7", with Xavier's signature wheelchair shown in a brief flashback, the series' production was able to choose from any of the variant wheelchairs used throughout the film series. They settled on the version from X-Men: Apocalypse, with the prop used in that film being brought out of storage for the show.

[Heroine Addict]

... The ending talking about a brother-sister pair in Rio de Janeiro in reference to the Struckers is interesting. I have so, so many possibilities swirling in my head right now, which makes is an excellent cliffhanger. Are they clones? Are they inhabited by something brand new that's like the Phoenix Force?...

Could have somethin' to do with the big, mid-season shift, and the 2 new characters (villains!) comin' with it, that the cast apparently spoke of yesterday @ NYCC.