Welcome, Gifted fans! I’m back with your recap of season 2’s penultimate episode, “Monsters.” There’s a lot to cover and, as usual, plenty of spoilers. Let’s dive right in.
1. More ambivalence from Jace Turner
After leading the massacre on the Morlocks (if Marcos can call it that, I can too,) Jace has yet another crisis of conscience. Honestly, someone needs to tell the guy that if he doesn’t knock it off, he’s going to go blind. His repeated self-examinations were already getting tedious, but the latest turn is more than a little contrived. He charged into a place where he was told the mutants were living, and he’s surprised they have children? There weren’t any kids when he took hostages at a church? I feel like the show is trying very hard to keep him a POV character, but he’s just another villain to me.
If Jace wasn’t already beyond redemption when he attacked that church, torturing and deciding to kill John was the last straw. Maybe he’ll turn on the Purifiers at the last moment. But will it matter? Seems like Reeva has plans for them already. At the same time, when he heard what happened to Ted, it looks like he decided killing mutants is the thing to do again. We need an app to track Jace Turner’s conscience.
2. Overly intense Caitlin and her hand cannon
Cait took charge of the evacuation of the Morlocks and ended up driving John’s SUV full of refugees. She gets them out of trouble and far enough ahead of the police that can get out of the truck and split up. Then she completes her transformation into Sarah Connor by raiding an empty factory. Well, if Sarah Connor was dumb enough to give away her position to a dozen police officers with a gun the size of her forearm with only four rounds in it.
Caitlin’s intensity level has made a steady rise throughout the second season. Her reactions are understandable, given what happened to her children. But at the same time, her actions aren’t. She tortured someone (just like Jace did!) She convinced her daughter to attack the police twice and was ready to do it again in “Monsters.” She deliberately dumped a bunch of defenseless Morlocks on the street so she could save herself and her daughter. But she couldn’t save herself. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s morally compromised and dangerous. We’re almost at the end of the season, and Caitlin’s been heading in a bad direction. I hope we deal with it soon.
3. Reed’s redemption
Reed, on the other hand, stepped up. It’s just too bad he had to melt someone in order to do it. He’s embraced what he is, seems to have gotten his abilities under control, and saved Caitlin and Lauren from Caitlin’s stupidity. Then he used his newly discovered sense of self to convince Andy to come home.
The transition felt a little rushed, but Reed’s turnaround was well-staged. The Morlock Massacre put Caitlin and Lauren in jeopardy, and it was a good opportunity to force him to come to grips (heh) with his powers. His encounter with Ted seemed gratuitous until he had to talk Andy off the ledge and used it to connect to his son. Well done.
4. Lorna’s redemption
Lorna backed herself into a corner with the Inner Circle. I’m still not sure how she got out of there alive. (More on that below.) It would have been easy to just walk out of the building, but she refused to leave without Andy. I was relieved to see her finally vice his concerns to him after moping for much of the episode. Lorna has been good at working behind Reeva’s back. It was time for her to finally take direct action.
But what really made me happy was what she said to Andy. “I want a mutant homeland too, but not like this.” She’s back with the Underground, but she didn’t go running back with her tail between her legs. She’s her father’s daughter. She’s still the Lorna we saw in “The dreaM.”
5. Reeva asks the same question I did
“Why do I have telepaths if they can’t tell if my people are gonna betray me?” Reeva asks the Frosts. It’s a good question. I waited for Reeva to burst into the room the entire time Andy and Lorna spoke about leaving. The Frosts spent entire nights in Andy’s head trying to lure Lauren. They didn’t pick up the conflict in his mind when Lorna told him what was going on?
Earlier, I waited for someone to say something during Reeva’s presentation to the group. You didn’t need to be a Frost clone to pick up the look on Lorna’s face. She was obviously horrified with Reeva’s plans. Lorna wears her heart on her sleeve. How did they all miss that? Do any of them play poker? Let’s set up a game.
That’s it for “Monsters.” Let us know what you think in the commments, and see you next week for the season finale!
