S02.E04: outMatched

[Bort]

Quote

The Struckers, minus Andy, begin to rebuild their broken trust, while Thunderbird, Blink and Eclipse visit Wire, hoping to convince him to help again. But when they get there, they learn that something terrible has happened from Wire's brother, Graph. The team discovers that the Inner Circle is on the way to raid a mutant detention facility, so they make moves to try to intercept them. Meanwhile, Jace is contacted by a member of the Purifiers.

Airdate: Tuesday, October 16, 2018

[slf]

I can't stand Caitlin, honestly. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by slf

[SimoneS]

Yeh, Andy lost me by attacking Lauren. I had been understanding about why he felt conflicted until that moment.

Hate to say it. I am rooting for Marcos to take Dawn away from Lorna. 

Caitlin is okay, but I prefer Reed because I am more interested in his struggle to cope with his emerging powers than her angst over Andy.

The show is determined to keep the actor who plays Jace employed and since he is the only African American actor, I am okay with that. But does he have to be so damn annoying? I am surprised it took his wife this long to dump his ass.

[Gwen-Stacys]

56 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

Hate to say it. I am rooting for Marcos to take Dawn away from Lorna. 

How's he gonna feed her though? I mean...Lorna's been breast feeding her. Sometimes it's hard enough getting babies to take a bottle of breast milk when they're used to straight boob. Not to mention, shadiness aside, she's safer with the inner circle. Unlike the MU, the Inner Circle isn't in danger of being raided by Sentinal Services or the purifers any time soon.

Spoiler

Those poor Morlocks though, if they get their comic ending.

Their situation sucks. They're in a catch-22. Can't have Marcos just dropping by TIC headquarters for daddy daughter time when he's already shown that he's going to thwart TIC no matter what they're doing. (And freeing mutants forced into a mental torture hospital, not matter how selfish their motives, isn't a bad thing in the slightest.)

I feel for Lauren, but....what was their end game here? If Andy, Lorna, Cuckoos (x2) hadn't called their bluff and actually stopped...then what? Clarice was right, they were beyond dumb for going in there blind and being all "We must stop them just cuz!!" Yes, Lauren was hoping to sway her brother back to their side but...it wasn't realistic and I think she knew that deep down. 

And what the hell at Marco planning on blowing up a car with his baby momma in it and a mutant they didn't even know! One that had just been kidnapped/saved from a mental institution. He Caitlin need to simmer the hell down. What was gonna happen to his baby then? TIC sure as hell weren't gonna send her back to him when Lorna died out of the goodness of their own heart. T

I knew I was going to be team Inner Circle once they introduced them (I've always been more of a Scott Summers, in that #MagnetoIsSometimesRight), but this is....beyond. TMU almost come off as morally shaky as TIC without the benefit of an end game to explain themselves. "Because family" is not an excuse when there are people like you literally being imprisoned for no reason.

Caitlin tho...baby what is you doin?

This episode needed more Inner Circle. I wanted to see what happened in the hospital! And in 1 move, they were able to accomplish multiple things ---let the MU know that they're not playing around, gained support (via the Cuckoos forcing the doctors confession on film and releasing it on twitter? I think?), and got themselves another powerful mutant to join their ranks.

Inner Circle: 1,000,000,000 

Mutant Underground: -1,000

 

Also....Thunderbird brought a knife and an ax to fight against someone that controls metal. I mean...they asking to lose.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Gwen-Stacys

[ursula]

I think this show would be vastly more interesting if they gave nuance to TIC. But they keep trying to depict them as cartoon villains when the storyline doesn't support it.

[blackwing]

DIE ANDY DIE!  Seriously, please die already.

Jace can die too.  The character is useless and extraneous at this point.

And Caitlin was even more uber irritating this episode than usual.  The actress spent the entire episode dialed up to “hysterical”.  

I’m  curious to see who the patient in the white sheet is.

[Chris24601]

Add me to the "Andy needs to go" camp. Well, let him be a villain for a while until Caitlyn gets it through her head that her little boy chose to be a monster. Then let Jace serve a purpose by blowing Andy's brains out before he dies too.

If Caitlyn and Marcos wanted to head for Offscreenville as Team Crazy-Ex-Girlfriend... I'd be okay with that too at this point. Their going overboard to save their family from situations they knowingly walked into and basically becoming as bad as the people they want to save them from in the process is dragging the rest of the protagonists down. To review, Caitlyn forced a guy into withdrawal, then gave him so much drugs afterwards to further entice him that she gave him a heart attack and nearly killed him. Give her a mutant power and she'd fit right in with The Inner Circle (hey, then she could be with her beloved baby boy again so I say just pull the trigger and stop pretending she hasn't become a villain in her mad quest).

I wouldn't feel bad if Reed and Lauren just wrote off both Caitlyn and Andy at this point.

When the only characters you have any sympathy for are Reed, Lauren and Thunderbird (Blink is just... there) you have problems. Frankly, Team Mutant Underground needs some fresh blood since its clear Andy and Lorna aren't coming back until the end of the season, if ever. Hell, the Morlocks were more interesting in their brief appearance than most of our crew this season. Maybe some of the rescued inmates can prove interesting enough to join up?

[ursula]

I think if I felt the show was deliberately blurring the lines and trying to depict "there are some very not-fine people on both sides" ?, then this would actually be brilliant writing.

However, I feel that we're supposed to see TIC = unmitigated evil with Andy and Lauren as their misguided recruits and TMU = completely good, but Caitlin and Marcos being "provoked" into extremes which is where the story fails.

Edited October 17, 2018 by ursula

[CooperTV]

A lot of running around with not much of going on. Can I have more Reed struggling with his abilities and horrified at his wife's choices, please? Caitlin somehow turned into The Actual Worst. I don't think even Andy is that bad, compared to her this episode. And Andy at least is a misguided teenager with powers, unlike Caitlin, who is an adult and the nurse.

The ex-sentinel guy is just... useless.

[Lady Calypso]

I have much more sympathy for Andy than I do for Caitlin, in all honesty. Andy may be doing some really bad stuff right now and I wasn't fond of him this episode, but at least there's reasons for it. He's a fifteen year old kid who is still immature and naive. He's definitely misguided and I think he's shown moments of doubt, especially this episode when he glanced by at the Hummer to the Frost sisters and/or Lorna inside before he attacked. I think he's definitely being manipulated by Reeva and he might have chosen to leave, but I think a lot of his recent actions are dictated by Reeva. Who knows what else Reeva tells him and honestly, who knows if the Frost sisters are using their powers to nudge him in the right direction as needed. I wouldn't put it past them to use their powers on Andy. Again, he's made a lot of his own choices but at the end of it all, he's still a kid. He can come back from this, I think. 

Caitlin, on the other hand, is a full functioning adult and she is making choices on her own, no manipulation necessary, and is definitely worse than Andy. What she did to Wire's brother is pretty horrific and very, very low. Even Reed knew she went too far at several points. After her speech to Lauren at the beginning of the episode, she seemed to throw that all away and risked lives for Andy. I hope that what we saw at the end, with Reed telling her that Andy was smiling and chose to be there (and she got to see it for herself) combined with finding out Lauren got hurt by Andy combined with Reed losing control of his powers gives her a revelation that she needs to stop making her entire life about Andy right now. It's ok to want to have him back, but she's gone through extremes and now her family is hurting. 

I fast forwarded through Jace's scenes because I don't care about him at all. 

Lorna got a haircut. Her and Andy were both acting somewhat detached. I did think for a moment that they could be brainwashed and controlled, but it probably is more about them detaching themselves from the situation that they were dealing with. 

I also hope Marcos has a revelation after seeing Lauren get hurt under his watch. He's not acting that rational, but he's more rational than Caitlin, at least. 

I'd love to see more John. 

[roctavia]

Why is ex-sentinel guy still around? His parts of the story are sooooo boring... please give us more interesting mutants and mutant stuff, we can have the purifiers without a familiar face joining their rank if they must have that piece of the conflict... but the stuff with his wife etc is just so boring. 

I don't like the inner circles methods, but I can definitely see why Lorna and Andy are going along with them... hell, they should have had Marcos join them... wanting that better world for his daughter the way Lorna does... 

I agree with others that Caitlyn went way too far, she is so off the rails about Andy. I get it, it's her son and she's fighting for him/ to find him, but he wasn't kidnapped, we knew before the season started that he chose to go with the inner circle peeps... so it's not like he was being forced. He's a rebellious teen, but a dangerous one... smothering him the way parents do was never going to go well.  I do like the relationship beats we are seeing between Reed and Lauren as he struggles with his powers and with how Caitlyn is being so crazy. They all want the same things, but are going about it in much different ways. 

[Lantern7]

It's hard for Caitlin to give up on Andy. I mean, the little bastard almost cost her life. She gambled, they both won . . . so it's so much easier to believe Reva and the Cuckoos made some awesome Kool-Aid than admit he's a failure.

Man, there's no one really worth rooting for. I mean, I get Clarice's overall reluctance, but most of you know I have a blind spot for Jamie Chung. Caitlin almost kills a guy through overdose . . . though that wouldn't have been a huge loss. And Jace is ready to throw in with supremacists, which . . . really?  Just weird to have a hate group take in people of all creeds and colors, even in a world where mutants look poised to take over the planet a few thousand years ahead of schedule.

Seriously, next time you see Andy, run his ass over. Maybe it'll knock the white out of his hair.

[AngelKitty]

9 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Man, there's no one really worth rooting for.

I think this is my problem with this show. With just the little they showed us of the Morlocks, I'm more interested in learning how that society works. It kind of reminded me of the underground world of the original Beauty and the Beast show.

[Chris24601]

3 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

I think this is my problem with this show. With just the little they showed us of the Morlocks, I'm more interested in learning how that society works. It kind of reminded me of the underground world of the original Beauty and the Beast show.

I wouldn't mind if they moved Team Mutant Underground in with the Morlocks. There's definitely some story fuel in the fact that James, Marcos, Reed and Lauren can all 'present' as ordinary humans vs. the more inhuman looking ones (even Blink can 'present as human' with effort so long as she can keep her ears covered).

From a storytelling point of view, I'm kinda thinking they're working to move Andy into the irredeemable category simply because it solves a lot of the issues they created for themselves with the Fenris Effect being made so strong (in the comics it was just a strong energy blast, not something that could warp and break adamantium). If Andy's a villain then the good guys can't turn to Lauren and Andy to wipe the floor when someone like the Juggernaut shows up.

Likewise, by showing Andy's destructive force as stronger than Lauren's shields they've set up the narrative need for a rematch in which Lauren as the underdog actually overcomes Andy.

Finally, my hunch is that, whoever the mutant the Inner Circle rescued is, they're probably one of the more well-known (to general audiences) mutants... an actual X-Man or better known X-Men villain and one strong enough that you'd need to resort to using the Fenris Effect to take them down (possibly giving Andy a path to redemption... possibly in the "redemption equals death" category).

[ursula]

One good thing about this episode: it's clear that Lauren loves her brother, believes in him and wants to save/protect him. If anything, Andy is the one pushing her away not the other way around. I mean, this was always obvious to me, but it's good, in the light of all the ? incest rape speculations, to get concrete affirmation.

[slf]

All I'm interested in (and barely, at that) is Blink and the Morlocks. 

I think they don't know what to do with Thunderbird.

[AAEBoiler]

Count me among others who wonder what Jace is doing on this show. It just brings everything to a screeching halt when he appears.

Also, I can't be the only who who's waiting for the following exchange.

      Caitlin: "It's Andy!"

      Reed: (mumbling under his breath) " Yeah, Andy Warhol."

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, AAEBoiler said:

Also, I can't be the only who who's waiting for the following exchange.

      Caitlin: "It's Andy!"

      Reed: (mumbling under his breath) " Yeah, Andy Warhol."

Ooooooooooooooooohhhhh! Fenris/Art History slam!!! Also? Sad, but true. How does anyone over in the Inner Circle keep a straight face around Andy?

[ramble]

I want to like this show so much yet it seems determined to challenge me in that regard. I think I dislike more people than I like. I’m hanging on because I think there’s potential but I feel like it’s being squandered. C’mon show!

[blackwing]

21 hours ago, ramble said:

I want to like this show so much yet it seems determined to challenge me in that regard. I think I dislike more people than I like. I’m hanging on because I think there’s potential but I feel like it’s being squandered. C’mon show!

Agreed, I'll keep watching because it's comics based.  But there are very few people to root for.  The only person I really like on this show is Jace's wife.  So glad she told him off.  Unfortunately, the show seems intent on continuing to inflict the actor's awfulness upon us so I think that as long as we have him, we will see less and less of her.  Lauren and Reed are OK but both can be a little annoying.

I think Marcos is a decent person too and I like his powers, but he's a little too one-track.  Is he supposed to be the Havok stand in?  Powers are very similar.  Polaris is one of my favourite comic book characters, so I kind of hate that they gave her this bipolar backstory and are making her out to be the villain, but I love seeing how this show visualises her powers.

Reeva Payne is badass but I know I'm not supposed to like her.

On my "please die a thousand horrible deaths list":  Andy, Caitlin, all three Frosts, Jamie Chung, sleep-inducing Thunderbird.

[ribboninthesky1]

I didn't watch the 1st season in real time, so I caught up by binge-watching.  I think live-action comic adaptations are always tough, especially if you don't have the special effects/location budget.  For me, the biggest mistake was centering the Struckers.  I really don't care about any of them, Lauren included.

If I ran the show, the siblings would have been killed off at the end of last season instead of Sonia, and Reed/Caitlyn would be written off. And some of the other non-white bit players could have been made more prominent.      

[bow]

I was on vacation, so I’m catching up now.

 

Another useless flashback...except maybe Caitlin is a mutant who alters probabilities (without realizing it). Clearly Andy lives and we’ve seen her in many tight situations. That’s probably not true, but just a thought.

I guess I didn’t realize (or maybe forgot) that John can take gunshot blasts.

Uh, dude, maybe just go home to your wife and stop texting her. To say he’s a little obsessed would be an understatement.

So are the people we’re supposed to be behind good guys or bad guys? Messing with addicts doesn’t seem very nice.

Caitlin has gone crazy again.

I like the abandoned hospital scene. It adds a little bit of Halloween element to the episode. Good timing. 

More drugs? Not good. Caitlin’s going to kill this guy.

Andy’s such a dick. Who did they rescue? That’s the main takeaway from this episode (other than Andy is officially a dick).

[AngelKitty]

7 hours ago, bow said:

So are the people we’re supposed to be behind good guys or bad guys?

This is a problem I've had with this show from the beginning. Plus, it's just not fun. Remember that show Inhumans? I know it was bad, but admit it, it was kind of fun, with the silly costumes, ooh, and that big dog. I miss that show. Le sigh.

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

This is a problem I've had with this show from the beginning. Plus, it's just not fun. Remember that show Inhumans? I know it was bad, but admit it, it was kind of fun, with the silly costumes, ooh, and that big dog. I miss that show. Le sigh.

I liked the Inhumans as well.  Wish there was a way they could insert Medusa and Crystal into this show.  Get rid of the Struckers.  Inhumans seemed restricted by budget because it was embarrassing the way they reduced Crystal's elemental powers to a brief puff of wind and some other minor cantrips.  With this show's budget they could make her shine. 

[ramble]

This show could use a Lockjaw. Something like a giant, teleporting dog would add some much needed fun to this show! 

[oompa]

This episode needed more of Andy running into walls.