The Gifted Episode 8: 'Threat of eXtinction' Review

And the Stakes Just Got Higher...!

It's a very emotional episode typical of The Gifted, but this time, we get to see exactly what Dr. Campbell and his team are capable of up close, and it's all downright horrifying. And Reed makes an important discovery, which might just be the key to everything about his family and Dr. Campbell's relentless efforts to find them.

After Reed discovers Trask Industries' involvement in Sentinel Services use of mutants last week, he decides to go see his father, who as it turns out, worked at Trask before it had been shut down temporarily. Except their relationship had been anything but ideal --father an son have neither seen nor spoken in over 20 years, and the children Lauren and Andy were raised to believe he had run out of his family when in truth, he lived only a few miles away. However, since it's their only move, John/Thunderbird agrees and they prepare to move out together.

First though, John, Clarice and Marcos, who is still haviving squabbles with Lorna about working for Carmen again, must go out to get some refugees hiding out in a sympathetic church. It goes well, until one of the mutants, a limited telepath called Esme, reveals to John that she's been getting wierd thoughts from one of the others. John quickly discovers that the mutant in question is one of Sentinel Services' 'assets' planted to lead them to the Mutant Underground headquarters. Working with Marcos and Clarice, he takes her down and disables her beacon. They take her back to headquarters, and leave Lorna and Marcos to get information from her while John goes with Reed to find Granddad Arthur Strucker.

Getting the information though, proves difficult. The spy-mutant is a speedster and seems to be in quite a mental state, continuously running against the bars of her cage, not willing to cooperate, and not staying still long enough for Dreamer's mist to work. As harsh as ever, Lorna almost resorts to using torture, but Marcos stops her and calls on Caitlin's help instead. Using her medical expertise, Caitlin quickly determines that the mutant has been put on a sort of addictive drug, but a pretty high dosage that's already killing her. They set at once to helping her, Lauren and Andy using their abilities to restrain her long enough to be dosed with a laxative, and then 'convincing' the other mutants of the underground to stay away and let them help --something Andy does with an impressive display of his abilities. Caitlin quickly gives her something to briefly counter the effects of the drug, but the mutant can't talk at all --Trask industries had not only put them on addictive drugs, but had also done other horrific experiments and procedures on them. The telepath, Esme arrives on time to getvthe information the girl can't say, but before they can do anything further to help, she passes away, leaving Marcos and Lorna, and the Struckers in deep shock.

Meanwhile, Reed and John arrive at Arthur Strucker's antique shop/apartment and in a shocking twist, the man reveals that he had actually gone to work for Trask Industries for his son's sake --because both he an the boy were born mutants. The Struckers are the descendants of one of two famous siblings, the Von-Strucker fugitives, who committed various criminal and terrorist acts back in the 50s, and were known for how powerful they were whenever they held hands and combined their powers. Arthur had tried to create a serum that could remove the X-gene from mutants, but that hadn't workes. Instead he had creates one that worked on one particular mutant: his son, Reed. The process put Reed in a lot of pain, after which, out of guilt, Arthur had distanced himself from his son. And then, because of his many secrets, his relationship with his wife, Reed's mother, crumbled.

Reed is shocked by the revelation, but before he can process it, Dr. Campbell shows up with Sentinel Services and John's old friend Pulse in tow, having anticipated Reed's next move. Pulse 'locks down' the area with his ability to block other mutants' abilities, but Arthur, proving what he said about the Struckers being different from and much stronger than other mutants, uses his ability to create small explosions to disable Pulse and send the officers rushing away, hurt. However, in the process, both he and Pulse are killed, putting Reed and John in anguish.

The episode ends with Marcos and Lorna reconciled after the horror they just witnessed, Clarice and Dreamer coming back on speaking terms to help a young mutant forget his nightmares, and Andy and Lauren, at the news of their grandfather's death, holding for the first time since everything began...

What happens next? Will Andy and Lauren's hand-holding result in anything? What do you think?

The Gifted returns next Monday with 'outfoX' on Fox Follow me @petermarie for more reviews on Superhero/Comicbook shows!

All images from Fox