The Gifted S01E08 Review: Fenris Wolf

The Gifted, Season 1, Episode 8: threat of eXtinction

So the X-Men is a corner of the Marvel universe I'm at least somewhat familiar with, and I know that Wolfgang von Strucker -- a character you might recognize from the MCU movies -- have a pair of mutant twin kids, collectively known as 'Fenris'. When I saw that the Struckers were the main characters in the Gifted, I thought that it was a coincidence that they're named Struckers considering that they have nothing in common with Hydra or Wolfgang von Strucker.

Of course, here, we get the revelation that Reed is actually estranged with his father, Otto von Strucker, who worked for Trask Industries. And very, very much so. There's a crapton of daddy issues that Reed suffers, and here he's forced to confront his father, who reveals to him that the reason Otto is so distant is because... he was trying to protect Reed. Trying to cure Reed of being a mutant and be ostracized like he was, and nearly killing a young Reed in the process. It's perhaps a little too convenient that the very same 'my dad didn't visit me when I was hospitalized' story that Reed says this episode was the exact same incident that Otto cured Reed of the mutant gene, but eh.

Otto reveals that he was born to from mutant parents. And Otto's father, Andreas von Strucker, and his twin sister Andrea, are the same mutant twins that wrecked a fuck-ton of cities with their combined powers. And, well, they're both basically the worst of the bunch, a pair of mutant terrorists known as Fenris Wolf. And Otto warns, very much so, that Andy and Lauren must never touch hands when they use their powers, lest they unleash the same scale of destruction that Fenris did.

Reed discovering all this is handled pretty well, although I could've done without Otto's sudden heroic sacrifice at the end of the episode to drive away Sentinel Services' forces. Pulse also dies during Otto's blow-up, coincidentally taking out one of the recognizable faces from the antagonists' table. At least Thunderbird got to say goodbye. 

I did like how Otto was initially presented to be a regular aloof dad, or even an evil one (when he mocks Thunderbird's name) but I do like the gradual reveal of his true motivations. I'm not sure if I really buy into how the Strucker family is oh-so-special, how both the twins in their families have identical mutant powers or something like that, and Otto is powerful enough to out-power Pulse... but I'll buy it. 

The rest of the cast deals with one of Sentinel Services' mutant sleeper agents, one Chloe, although this bit was particularly clumsily-handled with the sudden appearance of Esme, a mutant telepath no one mentioned before. Why they couldn't have used a pre-existing mutant (surely Dreamer could've fit this role better?) instead of conjuring a plot device to do this is beyond me. But they basically discover that Sentinel has been drugging up mutants to use them as their cannon fodder is definitely well done, and Chloe's brutal drug-withdrawal death was gruesomely acted. 

Overall, a relatively solid entry in the Gifted, even if it's a bit too much laden with exposition for my tastes.