The Gifted – outMatched

By: Darryl Ley

16 YEARS AGO – Reed (Stephen Moyer) and Caitlin Strucker (Amy Acker) are at the OBGYN (Margo Moorer). Caitlin is very ill and five months pregnant and the doctor is concerned about the risk to Caitlin’s life if she goes to term. The doctor admits that there is a chance of a healthy birth, but in her view the risk to Caitlin outweighs that greatly. After the meeting Caitlin surprises Reed by stating that she categorically will not give the baby up and eventually he agrees.

Reed, Caitlin and Lauren Strucker (Natalie Alyn Lind) are having a meal together. Caitlin and Reed tell Lauren that he will talk about his powers with John and they both apologize for not talking with her about what effect Andy’s return might have on her. Lauren surprises them by saying that she now believes her dreams about Andy mean that she is the only one who can get him back from the Inner Circle.

Marcos Diaz/Eclipse (Sean Teale), Clarice Fong/Blink (Jamie Chung), John Proudstar/Thunderbird (Blair Redford), Lauren and Caitlin are having a meeting at an abandoned car yard. Marcos tells everyone about how Lorna and Andy have changed and about the powerful Reeva Payge (Grace Byers). They eventually decide to go back to Wire and his hacker team to see what else they can find out. After the meeting John is stopped by Reed who wants shortcuts to controlling or stopping his powers. John tries to tell him that it won’t work, but Reed isn’t listening.

Marcos, Clarice and John head to the hackers’ base but find it locked. When they try to get in John gets shot several times with a shotgun we find out that Graph (Adam David Thompson) is the one wielding the gun angry because he believes the Mutant Underground got his brother Wire killed. They subdue him and take him back.

Jace Turner (Coby Bell) is in a hotel room sending texts to his wife and we see she hasn’t answered him in quite some time. He gets a call from Officer Ted Wilson (Tom O’Keefe) who invites him to a meeting about the mutant problem which Jace agrees to.

At the Community of Mercy Clinic John is having the shotgun pellets removed from his chest while Clarice looks on and wonders if the mission was worth it. She also wonders how they will get Graph to cooperate and whether this is all worth it.

In the hidden room of the clinic we see a restrained Graph coming to and the first thing he reveals is that the Frost Sisters paid them a visit and used their telepathy to make Wire to kill himself. He also reveals what happened to the previous members of the Inner Circle, their bodies having been dumped around the city. Graph refuses to help despite Caitlin imploring him for help. Desperate, Caitlin heads to the drug locker and retrieves something before returning. Caitlin has a drug that will force Graph into immediate withdrawal which she injects into him.

Clarice checks in with Marcos to see how it is going with Graph and he replies that Caitlin has been very persuasive. Graph has revealed that the Inner Circle are researching Lynwood and mental health facility which also functions as a prison for mutants. Lorna Dane/Polaris (Emma Dumont) was sent to a place like that as a child and it scared her emotionally.

Graph is really suffering from withdrawals now, but the Struckers are still insistent that he find out what is happening at Lynwood while he is accessing the network though he notices a backdoor in the system and says that the attack is going on now. Marcos, John and Clarice immediately prepare to head out and they are joined by Lauren who believes she can bring Andy back.

Jace calls his wife and the two argue about whether or not he is really in the marriage. She says that his job will never be done, and she needs to be move on. Graph is puking into a bucket while Caitlin insists that he break into the hospital system now so that they can help the team. She offers to give him a shot of the medical equivalent of the drug “Kick” horrifying Reed she argues that she’ll do anything for her family and injects Graph after he agrees.

With his hit Graph breaks into the system and accesses the cameras showing that staff are on the run and eventually seeing one of the Frost Sisters and Lorna in the footage. At Lynwood the team arrives and they coordinate with the Struckers. John and Clarice teleport into the building while Marcos and Lauren guard the front. Marcos and Lauren realize that all the alarms, landlines and cell phones have been jammed to delay any police response. Marcos reminds Lauren that it could lead to a fight and when Lauren disagrees he reveals the rest of what happened at the Inner Circle – Reeva’s attack made him think he was dying, and all the while Andy looked on and did nothing to help him. Lauren says that she can get through to him and the two continue.

Jace goes to meet Officer Ted Wilson who reveals himself to be a member of the extremist group the Purifiers. Jace is reluctant to work with them so eventually Wilson gives him a contact number should he change his mind and takes his leave. John and Clarice track the patients and the inner circle and Clarice suggests that Andy and Lorna are now their enemies, which John refuses to accept. While they are talking an explosion rocks the building and the area nearby with even Marcos and Lauren feeling the shockwave.

Lauren realizes it is Andy and Marcos contacts the Strucker to get an update, Reed reveals that in institutions like Lynwood the most powerful mutants are kept separate in secure basement facilities. Graph is then locked out by Sage so now the team knows that they have been discovered. Caitlin is frantic and offers Graph more drugs in order to overcome Sage, Reed tries to stop her, but she does it anyway. With the boost Graph manages to restore the cameras and they see Andy there smiling.

Graph opens the security door for John and Clarice while Reed leads them. They catch up to Lorna and she delays them by opening all the doors on the level releasing the prisoners. Initially they chase her, but stop to help the prisoners once they start attacking each other. Caitlin tells Marcos and Lauren that they have to stop Andy and Lorna from escaping and we see that Graph is bleeding from the nose before he collapses breaking the connection to the CCTV system at Lynwood.

Lauren and Marcos block the road preventing Lorna and Andy from escaping with whoever they broke out. Lauren takes the lead fearing that Marcos might blow up the hummer with his power she instead stops it with her barrier power. Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White) exits the vehicle and Lauren attempts to appeal to him. She mentions that his hair matches what she saw in her dreams and the realization that they are sharing dreams momentarily shakes him up.

Andy refuses to listen and tells them to get out of the way they then attack each other with their powers and Andy manages to blast Marcos and Lauren backwards the fall knocking her out. Back at the clinic the Struckers manage to revive Graph, but Reed is horrified by what they have done and reminds Caitlin that she saw what he saw – that Andy is not being forced to do anything.

When she leaves for supplies there is a TV news report on, which shows the staff of Lynwood “confessing” to illegally imprisoning innocent mutants. The story has apparently already gone viral with the hashtag #MutantUprising. As the mutants escape from the institution John tells the Struckers what happened, including that Lauren is unconscious. Reed tries to comfort Caitlin but his powers activate as a very shaken up Caitlin looks on. As Jace is watching the news coverage he decides to call the Purifiers.

The Frost Sisters (Skyler Samuel) with Lorna and Andy are driving away with the mysterious person they broke out.