Before we get into the meat of the episode, it’s interesting that the if viewers stayed on FOX following coverage of the Trump address/interruption they’d begin viewing a TV series centered on prejudice. Will that cause anyone to come to the realization that they’ve been closed-minded about people crossing the border? Probably not, but it makes you think.
The episode begins with the descendant of the Struckers picking up his “custom order,” a pistol modified to work with the family powers, kept inside a music box. The same music box given to Lauren by the doctor who wants to eradicate mutantkind.
Post-flashback we see the Reed sharing his concern of Lauren with Caitlin about how isolated she’s been lately and her fixation on the music box. Caitlin just attributes it to her recent battle with Andy, which is why she brings up attacking the Inner Circle with Marcos Diaz / Eclipse and Clarice Fong / Blink. They protest, especially since John Proudstar / Thunderbird is still healing, but agree to visit some of the Mutant Underground’s other bases, which have conspicuously gone dark.
Some of the mutant prisoners recently freed by the Inner Circle arrive at their headquarters but aren’t the type to follow rules. After a show of force from Reeva, they agree to begin training. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Polaris confronts Reeva, telling her she knows that the former prisoners/new recruits took down a cruise ship, killing thousands. Reeva turns up the volume of the mutant-hating FOX News to defend working with them. But she promises Polaris, daughter of the unnamed Magneto, is royalty and will be above what they’re doing on the ground level.
Jace meets with Benedict Ryan, the host of the mutant-hating news channel, and tells him he needs to tell the world that the Mutant Underground from Atlanta (our main characters) are still alive. His steadfast belief they were is why his wife divorced him, after all. But Ryan manipulates Jace into continuing to focus the Purifier’s citizen militias.
Lauren screams as she dreams about the death of another descendant, the sister of the Von Strucker seen in the flashback. Her powers erupt in her sleep before she’s woken up by her parents. The landlord knocks on the door, telling Reed that the government is cracking down on homes of mutants, indicating he knows Laurens a mutant from her night terrors. Reed says she’s having seizures and the landlord lets it go for the time being.
While driving, Marcos has his car taken over by Lorna, bringing him into a back alley. Eclipse is angry, screaming at her for giving their daughter away, kiss him out of nowhere, and leave again. She pleads with him, saying she needs his help because Reeva is planning something terrible. Lorna says she was willing to kill or die, but can’t work with the new recruits who killed innocent families, children. She says he doesn’t have to forgive her but he’s too good of a man to let people get hurt.
Marcos convenes with Clarice, saying he’s deathly scared of anything Lorna thinks is dangerous. He says they should work with the Morlocks, despite previously telling Clarice they can’t be trusted, because they’re the only ones with eyes on the Inner Circle. They meet the Morlocks in the tunnels,
Reed continues to stress to Caitlin that Lauren is going down a dangerous path, the same one Andy went on, sharing that the song on the music box she’s fixated on is about an evil force that steals children and the parents that ignore it. I understand why they’d ignore that force in the case of Andy, but they should probably try to protect Lauren.
Jace and his Purifier buddy storm a frat house holding mutants. Two kids prepare to run but Jace says they only want to talk. One kid, also an African-American, compares the Purifiers to the Klan. Jace says what they’re doing isn’t about hate right before his buddy shoots the other kid in the next room for looking like he was going to use his powers. Maybe a tragic event like this will propel Jace to turn around and redeem himself?
Jace shouts at Ted, who was “afraid for his life,” a pretty clear reference to police who’ve killed black children. In the next scene Jace gives his report to the police while Ted is handcuffed in the backseat of a police car. Jace lies and says Ted was just protecting himself, “standing his ground.” Didn’t take long to answer that question in the previous paragraph.
Lorna talks with one of the escaped convicts, who really admired her father for what little that’s worth. He says that as long as he’s paid for his work, he doesn’t ask any questions. Which makes sense considering he was willing to destroy a cruise ship holding thousands of people.
Caitlin goes to Lauren’s room to talk with her. She talks about how her father is concerned with her, but Caitlin thinks that to win they “can’t take anything off the table.” At that moment, the police, probably tipped off by the landlord or another tenant at the apartment complex, arrive to arrest the Struckers. They trick the police into thinking the mutants are outside, preventing them from searching the apartment and finding clear proof a mutant lives there. After, Caitlin tells Reed that they’re not going to hold Lauren back, despite pretty damn obvious signs that she’s going down a dark path.
Marcos comes close to getting intimate with a Morlock he’s connected with but is held back by his feelings for Lorna. That same Morlock tells him it takes strength to forgive someone, not to hate them. Meanwhile, Erg, head of the Morlocks, pushes Clarice to join them but she says the people “up there” need her more.
Marcos colludes with Lorna to prevent whatever the convicts do next. Marcos says the Morlocks gave him an idea of a place to investigate. Lorna admits that everything’s been her fault and that she got them into this predicament. They kiss, causing the cool light effects seen in prior episodes, and it seems like here on out they’re sticking together, which is nice to see.
Jace receives a call from his ex-wife, impressed with what he did “saving those kids.” He gets emotional and hangs up, clearly feeling guilt over protecting his murderer friend.
Lauren looks at old family heirlooms, digging further into the Struckers’ dark past. In a letter is a strand of a brother and sister Struckers’ hair tied together. After touching is Lauren visits the landlord, knowing he was behind the call to the police. She threatens him if he reports her family again, sounding super evil.
As John and Clarice reconnect Evangeline Whedon, a lawyer friend, calls to tell them that the wider Mutant Underground is collapsing and they need to get ready to fight. Meanwhile, Marcos and Lorna spy on Reeva as she meets with Benedict Ryan, confusing the hell out of them and me. Reeva and Ryan exchange documents and part ways.
This episode was pretty good! The Strucker stuff isn’t particularly engaging, but there was almost no Andy which is always a plus. The stuff with the Core 3 (Marcos, Clarice, John), however, was very strong, particularly the reuniting of Marcos with Lorna. I’m pretty excited for next week’s episode and hope you are, too.
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