Between TV series, Netflix series, and MCU films their live action creations are dominating the entertainment industry right now. Figured we should have a place to talk about everything from Punisher to Inhumans... mostly so I can rant about how Fox is screwing up The Gifted. Rant in the spoiler for anyone not interested, not caught up, or not wanting comic book knowledge to potentially ruin future "plot twists".
P.S. I'm kidding, no one is going to want to talk about the tire fire that is Inhumans.
Let's get that possible "plot twist" out of the way first. Lorna, aka Polaris, is Magneto's daughter and a large portion of the people watching The Gifted are likely big enough fans of The X-Men to already know that. This means it will have absolutely no impact if revealed later in the series, and probably should have been thrown into the dialogue while she was being held prisoner by Sentinel Services for the past 3 weeks. They might also leave out that detail entirely to distance the series from the actual comics, but that has 3 huge flaws itself. First, they've already advertised the series as being based on The X-Men and include Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the opening credits. They've also repeatedly mention both The X-Men and the Brotherhood making the association very clear. Second, they've hyped up this unseen battle between good and evil mutants so much that trying to distance the characters from it makes no sense. Third, whiny teen #1 has started displaying villainous behavior completely out of nowhere. It makes far more sense for Lorna to turn evil given who her father is and who her boyfriend is in the show. Why abandon a perfectly good villain just to make some annoying kid an antagonist?
Speaking of whiny teen #1, welcome to the primary motivator of the series. In the first episode he insists on going to a school dance despite the fact that he knows he's being targeted by a group of bullies. The resulting use of his power sends everything else in this series into motion, and he's practically set up as the chosen one in the first episode. I'm almost surprised there wasn't some prophecy mentioned about him liberating mutants. Then in episode 3, he starts ignoring both his established character and the multiple family members warning him not to do the very thing he winds up doing anyways. The show doesn't seem to have any clue as to whether they're going to make him the hero or the main antagonist, and either way it's going to suck.
Lastly, why was this huge battle not the opening scene? Or at least its aftermath? This battle created the public distrust of mutants needed for the government to implement anti-mutant laws and establish Sentinel Services. It also is directly connected to the disappearance of every well know mutant character that keeps this X-Men based series just far enough away from The X-Men to make me wonder why they bothered making the connection. You can't keep hinting at some epic war the audience never has and never will see. It just reminds people there's a better story not being told by the series. They could have at least shown the aftermath, maybe as part of a news broadcast for narration, to set things up so that characters aren't constantly mentioning a battle that people watching the show know nothing about. It'd be a decent way to establish tone, and maybe make Sentinel Services a little relateable by showing people the devastation caused.
Speaking of whiny teen #1, welcome to the primary motivator of the series. In the first episode he insists on going to a school dance despite the fact that he knows he's being targeted by a group of bullies. The resulting use of his power sends everything else in this series into motion, and he's practically set up as the chosen one in the first episode. I'm almost surprised there wasn't some prophecy mentioned about him liberating mutants. Then in episode 3, he starts ignoring both his established character and the multiple family members warning him not to do the very thing he winds up doing anyways. The show doesn't seem to have any clue as to whether they're going to make him the hero or the main antagonist, and either way it's going to suck.
Lastly, why was this huge battle not the opening scene? Or at least its aftermath? This battle created the public distrust of mutants needed for the government to implement anti-mutant laws and establish Sentinel Services. It also is directly connected to the disappearance of every well know mutant character that keeps this X-Men based series just far enough away from The X-Men to make me wonder why they bothered making the connection. You can't keep hinting at some epic war the audience never has and never will see. It just reminds people there's a better story not being told by the series. They could have at least shown the aftermath, maybe as part of a news broadcast for narration, to set things up so that characters aren't constantly mentioning a battle that people watching the show know nothing about. It'd be a decent way to establish tone, and maybe make Sentinel Services a little relateable by showing people the devastation caused.
P.S. I'm kidding, no one is going to want to talk about the tire fire that is Inhumans.