TV Review: The Gifted (Season 2)

*This review contains minor spoilers*

Watch my SPOILER review on YouTube

“The Gifted” season 2 starts off with a lot of potential, but mostly ends up spinning its wheels and just barely sticks the landing in the end.

The story is just not well-defined. There’s plenty of plotting and planning, but it takes too long before we see what the endgame is, and even then it’s mostly anti-climactic. We see Reeva training Lorna and Andy for some big mission the first half of the season, and it leads up to a dramatic cliffhanger, but when the show returns the repercussions are almost completely ignored, and it’s a fairly convoluted way to advance phase two of the Inner Circle’s plan. And even that is entirely too vague. Weeks of secretive maneuvering result in a master plan that doesn’t seem plausible or practical, and none of this stuff seems like it could possibly lead to a “mutant homeland.”

The returning characters have some good story arcs that follow nicely from the end of last season. There are some weaker moments early on, especially with Andy, but his story finishes up nicely in the end…even though he gets there a bit faster than he should. And after joining the show late in season one, Skyler Samuels does a great job as the Frost sisters, especially as Esme slowly drifts away from the group and becomes noticeably different than her clones. Overall, I was impressed with Jace Turner’s character development as it took him in some interesting directions.

Unfortunately, the new characters are much less interesting. Reeva plays things too close to the vest to get a feel for her, and her power is so poorly defined (and silly looking), that you never feel she’s as powerful as they claim she is. While we finally get to see the Morlocks, they’re never that compelling, as they rarely feel like the characters from the comics that are just too ugly too pass for human. The Purifiers also grab a lot of the spotlight this season, and they get watered down from the religious zealots with high-tech weapons to becoming a bunch of gung-ho rednecks.

As far as the rest of the X-Men lore goes, very little new shows up this season. One or two minor mutant characters, and the origin of the Frost sisters are the highlights. But even then, we get no mention of Emma Frost. And on top of that, Magneto is referenced repeatedly, but not once does anybody say his name.

“The Gifted” season 2 is fairly disappointing, with a plodding plot that never pays off in the end. Thankfully, strong characters keep you invested.

** out of *****

Movie Review: Alita: Battle Angel (3D)

An entertaining CGI-heavy film that starts strong, but falls flat in the end. This film is packed with CG. The environments, the vehicles, and the cybernetically-enhanced people all have a touch or more visual effects. While most of it looks great, there’s usually something just a bit off at times, and it starts to feel more like a cartoon than live action. However, the work they did for the lead character is awesome. The textures on Alita’s ornate robotic frame look incredibly real, even in close-ups. Although her face isn’t perfect, it’s easy to ignore the flaws and be drawn in by the range of emotions that she displays. The voice acting by Rosa Salazar is excellent, as she quickly endears herself to the audience despite being a blank slate. The rest of the cast does an okay job, but few of the other performances stand out. The action is a lot of fun, but it’s mostly a bunch of CGI characters going at it, so you occasionally get sucked out of the moment, especially when they effects aren’t as good as they need to be. The overall story is good, but the overall lack of a backstory hurts, especially when what we do get feels too much like they’re saving it for a sequel. This is also true of the ending. Too much time is spent on mediocre villains, while the big bad looks to be saved for a later day. I was a bit disappointed by the 3D presentation. It felt like there were a lot of opportunities with the action sequences to take advantage of it, but they rarely did.

*** out of *****