TV Talk Tuesday: There's A New Comic Book Adaption in Town!

The Gifted; Fox, Mondays @9pm

Last Monday, a new Comic Book Adaption came to our television screens, which seems to be a trend lately. This time, based on the X-Men origin series, and is titled The Gifted. Now, I am not too familiar with the X-Men Origin Comic Book series, only having watched two X-Men movies in the past. So, I have no idea whether or not The Gifted, is an accurate adaption of the much loved comic books. However, I can tell you that it does involve X-Men characters, and that I did enjoy the premiere immensely.

Premise:

The Premise of this show, tells the story of a suburban couple, whose somewhat ordinary lives are suddenly changed, when they find out that their children possess mutant powers. The father; Reed (Stephen Moyer), just so happens to work for an agency that puts mutant individuals in captivity. But, when he finds out that his two children, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White), have mutant abilities. He is forced to go against what he does for a living, and work with the very mutants that he puts in jail. In order to keep his two children safe and away from the agency that he works for.

Cast of Characters:

Here is the Cast of Characters, the show will be following.

• Stephen Moyer as Reed Strucker, father of mutant children and District Attorney.

• Amy Acker as Caitlin Strucker, mother of mutant children, who might become a bigger role, as more than just a mother to her children.

• Natalie Alyn Lind as Lauren Strucker, daughter of Reed and Caitlin, "The perfect child." Who can produce a protective shield, using particles of air.

• Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker, son of Reed and Caitlin, "the sensitive loner." Can control metal objects with his mind.

• Sean Teale as Marco Diaz/ Eclipse. A rebellious mutant who can absorb and manipulate photons. He seems to be one of the mutants in charge of the Underground, and is very helpful to the Struckers after they go on the run. He is an original character for the show, but takes inspiration from comic characters such as Sunspot and Wolverine.

• Jamie Chung as Clarice Fong/Blink. A mutant who has teleportation powers, she uses her powers to run away from her situations. She can only use her abilities if she has seen the place she is running to, beforehand. If she transports to another unseen place, usually something terrible happens. The members of The Underground, help her escape from the police.

• Blair Redford as John Proudstar/Thunderbird. A strong willed mutant, leader of the underground community aka my favorite character, so far… you can probably tell why from the image below. Thunderbird can see people he is looking for, or are looking from them, when they are miles away. He deals with struggles of his Apache and mutant history, and obligations of both families. Apparently, his character is famous for being killed off shortly after being introduced in the comics, but he will be a major player in this series.

• Emma Dumont as Lorna Dane/Polaris. A mutant whose abilities include magnetism, there is awareness that she is the daughter of Magneto. She is introduced as being "unstable" due to her bipolar disorder. She is a love interest for Eclipse, and it was revealed in the premiere that she is pregnant.

My Thoughts:

As I said earlier, I am not too familiar with the X-Men Comic series, only having watched the most recent X-Men Movie series. So, I would not be a reliable source, if you want to know how accurate this television show is to the Comic Book series. What I have to say is based on what I saw on the premiere, and what I liked or didn't like about the episode. But, knowing that this is a television show in association with Marvel Television, The Gifted has to be somewhat accurate, right? With that being said, let's get into the review!

• So, one thing I really enjoyed was the brother and sister relationship between Lauren and Andy. Whenever we have a brother and sister relationship portrayed on TV, they almost always hate each other. Especially, if the brother and sister are not the same age. Lauren is the older sister in this sibling relationship, and while she does have rebellious tendencies. She really seems to care about her younger brother, who we find out in the beginning of the episode, is being bullied at school. Even though Andy is younger, it seems like he really wants to have a strong bond with his sister. One of my favorite scenes in the premiere, was when Lauren was helping Andy to control his mutant ability. We find out that Lauren can produce a protective shield using particles of air, and Andy can control metal telepathically. Lauren has already controlled her power, so she tries to teach Andy how to use his.

• I also really appreciated the fact, that Reed chose his family over his work as a District Attorney. He works with an Agency, that puts people like his children in a mutant jail of sorts. Sometimes in shows that have "normal" parents and special children, they usually pit the parents against the children. But, in this show Reed goes against his job, to protect his children. So, I really enjoyed that aspect of the show, he's the type of father that will do anything for his children. Even if it's against everything that he works for.

• The Gifted really reminded me of The CW's, The Tomorrow People, a show I really enjoyed when it was on, but unfortunately was canceled after the first season. It reminded me of The Tomorrow People, because of the underground meet-up place the mutants have to hide from the police. In The Tomorrow People, the Time Travelers had the same sort of hiding place. Since, The Gifted really reminded me of The Tomorrow People, I think that's why I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I just hope it doesn’t get canceled after the first season, like The Tomorrow People did.

• Lastly, what really impressed me in the premiere were the special effects. Sometimes when I watch Superhero shows like these, the special effects can be very corny or not realistic looking. Especially, when it's on a cable network television series, but I think since The Gifted is in association with Marvel Productions. We won't have any issues with the special effects, being lack luster by any means.

• One thing I will add, is that the acting is not all that great. But that honestly happens with a lot of shows like these, because we tend to watch Superhero/Comic Book Adaption's for the action, and not necessarily the acting. However, I do think great or terrible acting, can definitely be a benefactor of whether I will watch the show or not. But, since I enjoyed everything else other than the acting, on this premiere, it didn’t affect my watching experience all that much.

Final Thoughts:

All in all, I surprisingly enjoyed The Gifted, and it definitely takes a lot for me to like a Superhero/Comic Book TV Adaption. I am very picky with my Superhero/Comic Book Adaption shows. Because in the past I just haven't had too much luck with Superhero shows, especially when it comes to the Cable Network Adaptions. I feel if it doesn't live up to Smallville, which is one of my all-time favorite shows ever, it's not worth my time. As of right now, the only cable network Superhero show I am watching besides The Gifted, is The Flash. I am also currently watching all of The Marvel, Defender shows on Netflix. For some reason, I think Netflix has done a lot better with Superhero/Comic Book Adaption shows, rather than the Cable Networks. Another exception to that, is Riverdale, a CW hit TV show based on The Archie Comics. But, The Gifted has certainly surpassed that belief for me, and definitely lives up to my expectations. I am really looking forward to this season of The Gifted, and not just because it brought us back Bill Compton from True Blood. Here is a little sneak preview of the upcoming season, if you are interested in watching The Gifted! Also, if you want to check out the trailer for the first episode, because this sneak preview will give spoilers for the premiere, check out my What to Watch; Fall 2017 blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_WY_v186H0

Thanks for reading!

TTFN,

Chynna Williams @The CW Torch