(WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 EPISODE 15 OF THE GIFTED!)
Reeva is setting the wheels in motion for her own little Endgame. The Purifiers try to finish what they started. Most important, we get not one but TWO reunions that we have been waiting for. We are now hours away from the Season 2 finale of The Gifted, and the stage appears to bet set for one final showdown. Time to find out who the real Monsters are.
I want to start by talking about the fallout of what happened last week with the Morlocks. We are left thinking that Blink was dead, but there may be some hope yet. First off, John is a wreck. All of the loss has finally gotten to him, and he is inconsolable. He pretty much goes through all of the stages of grief in one episode, except for one factor. He is seeing and hearing Clarice. Not only does this leave him confused, it's leaving him without the ability to track. That plays a huge role later in the episode, but it also forces the team to use good old fashioned investigative work. It feels like this moment has been coming all season for John, and what happened with Clarice was the last straw. He will definitely have to snap out of it soon, because now we know what's coming.
Reeva has revealed that her master plan is basically an all out assault on Sentinel Services. Everyone starts receiving their marching orders, and Lorna knows that time is running out. We know she has been playing both sides for a while, but now, Andy seems to be having second thoughts as well. Even though he seemed pretty far gone, when Reeva reveals that innocent people could get hurt, that changes things for Andy. Not only that, but he finds out what really happened with the tunnels that they are now going to use to execute their plan. It even gets to the point where Lorna actually tells Andy what she has been doing and tries to convince him to come along with her. She even has him talk to his father, where Andy finally reveals the real reason why he doesn't want to leave. He believes that his family thinks he's a monster. That is a hard thing to come back from mentally, especially after what he has gone through this season. He may have been on the wrong side of things, but he is still young, impressionable and thought he was doing the right thing. He also lost a girl that he cared about, even if she was a bit crazy. Now he finds out that the thing he has been believing in this whole time was a lie. Yep, Lorna tells him about the connection between Ryan and Reeva. Was this enough to get him to leave with Lorna? I'll get to that in a few minutes.
The other Struckers are having plenty of problems of their own. Lauren and Kate are on the run from both the Purifiers and the cops. Not only that, Reed is having trouble of his own with the Purifiers. When Reed is out in the alley, he runs in to one of the top Purifiers. Nope, not Jace Turner, because now even HE is finally having second thoughts. Back to Reed, he tries to throw this guy off but it doesn't work. He ends up killing him with his powers, and this changes things for him dramatically. Remember that conversation I mentioned with Andy? In an odd way, this moment helped him be able to understand his son and vice versa. This all happens after Reed helped successfully save Lauren and Kate with the help of Marcos. See, Lauren and Kate split up from the Morlocks they were trying to save and tried to ditch the cops. They get pretty far, but end up surrounded in an abandoned building. Keep in mind, Lauren doesn't have her powers. It seems like all hope is lost, and Kate is actually ready to turn herself in to help Lauren escape. Lauren's powers return in this high stress moment, and it does buy them some time. Turns out it was just the time that they needed for Reed, who they didn't know what there, to create a new exit and help them escape. Kate has really come a long way this season, hasn't she? She went from the occasional wound patch up to literally shooting her way through a blockade to save her daughter. She could have cracked when they lost Andy to the Inner Circle. No one would have blamed her if she lost it when she found out about her husband's powers and that they were killing him. Nope, she held it together and really became that strong glue that the family needed to stay together and fight. Who would have thought last season, or even at the start of this season, that she may be a huge factor in the success of the Mutant Underground?
Ok so time's up. Reeva knows that she now has even more missing members of her team. Her confidence in the Frost Triplets is shaken as well, but she decides to move forward. It's also time for the Mutant Underground to regroup for what's to come, but they get some major help. First, we see Andy return and reunite with his family. Mom and dad are happy to see him, of course, but it was Lauren's reaction that I was worried about. Lauren gets up and hugs Andy like a huge weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. It really has, in so many ways. We also get to see the reunion between Lorna and Marcos. This wasn't as much of a wow moment, only because we have seen them make peace already before now. This is the moment where everyone finds out what the plan is. Question is, will the actually be able to do anything about it?
On a quick note, I still don't see how Jace Turner redeems himself. He knows something is up after the assault on the Morlocks, but still seems like Ryan can talk him into anything. Now the death of his "friend" may put him right back on mission. I just don't see how he can do anything to set things right. He seems so far gone from his original purpose of fighting for his little girl that his identity seems completely different now. I did feel a little bit sorry for him in the past, but that is long gone now.
There is really only one simple question left isn't there? Can the Mutant Underground, now at full strength, stop the Inner Circle from executing their destructive plans? We have one more episode to go until we find out! I will have a full recap and review of The Gifted Season 2 finale on Episode 254 of our podcast!
(Photo credit: ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Annette Brown/FOX)