The Gifted Season 2 is less then a week away. It marks the first returning series for Marvel Television’s fall season of 2018. The series focuses on a group of mutants in the wake of the dissolution of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Bringing a real world sensibility to the world of mutants, The Gifted brought superheroes out into the public and down to the audience’s level. While Xavier’s mutant dream might seem like a distant reality for casual viewers and X-Men fans alike, The Gifted’s Mutant Underground and Hellfire Club bring the X-men legacy to the forefront.
The premiere of Season 2 builds on that foundation and adds some elements that might be more familiar to superhero fans. The finale of season one saw the mutant underground split into two different factions, The Hellfire Club and the Mutant Underground. From Emma Dumont’s Polaris and Sean Teale’s Marcos (#Eclaris forever), to Lauren and Andy Von Strucker, the show’s protagonists have split along two lines.
Thanks to a solid first season of world building, the second season builds on the first and opens the world of the X-Men wider. The first episode is an explosive opener for the season that could have ended on a cliffhanger that’d break a lot of hearts. Thankfully it didn’t but the entire episode was full of heart-pounding action that’ll leave you on the edge of your seat. The second season provides a few more superpowers as well as some very interesting new characters.
Grace Byers’s Reeva Payge is the newest addition to the cast. She draws the eye as the leader of the Inner Circle, also known as the Hellfire Club. She lends a Magneto-like gravitas to the show. A powerful figure with a far reaching influence, she’s poised to be a new force in the world of The Gifted, one more wrinkle for mutants to handle. Payge’s plan for mutant liberation involves the creation of a homeland for mutants by any means necessary.
Payge might be the “villain” of the second season, but the show has continued its trend of creating morally gray antagonists. As far as villains that might be a little easier for fans to dislike, The Gifted showrunners have promised that the purifiers will return in the second season. The first episode of the new season is far more concerned with the continuation of the most important characters, the mutants and their interactions with human beings.
The Gifted Season 2 debuts next week on Tuesday. For fans of the series, it’s a worthy continuation but it’s also an excellent jumping in point. Showrunner Matt Nix has promised that the series will explore character’s backstories and delve deeply into who they are. Original fans to new fans should prepare themselves for a fantastic appetizer in Marvel Television and a great start to Fall 2018’s TV line-up.
Stay tuned for our episode review next week!
The Gifted Season 2 premieres on Tuesday Sept. 25th on FOX.