Looking back at “The Gifted,” it’s clear the series presented a tale of mutants navigating a hostile world, but the execution varied significantly across its two seasons. Season one, despite its flaws, delivered a compelling narrative, while season two struggled to maintain the same level of quality. A key issue that emerged in the second season was a significant shift in the show’s underlying metaphor, which ultimately impacted character development and plot coherence.
Season one adeptly utilized an analogy reminiscent of 1930s Germany. The government was portrayed as teetering on the brink of open mutant genocide, with factions within the system actively plotting such an outcome. This created a palpable sense of danger and urgency, setting a strong foundation for the mutant struggle. This approach differed distinctly from the more common “1960s civil rights” metaphor, where the government is generally seen as well-intentioned but slow to act against bigotry.
However, season two introduced a jarring change. The show abruptly switched its core metaphor to align more closely with the 1960s civil rights era. This shift fundamentally altered the context of the mutant struggle and the motivations of the characters.
In the first season, mutant separatism was a mainstream ideology within the Mutant Underground. Characters largely agreed on the need to help mutants escape persecution and were willing to take action, including attacks to liberate mutants from government facilities. Differences arose primarily on the timing and intensity of these actions, not on the core principle of separatism itself.
With the metaphor shift in season two, mutant separatism was suddenly rebranded as a villainous ideology, embraced by characters like the Morlocks, Esme, and, initially, Lorna (Polaris). The Mutant Underground, in contrast, adopted a more self-righteous stance, seemingly abandoning their earlier separatist convictions. Even freeing captured mutants, once a shared goal, became associated with antagonists like Lorna and Esme, at least until Lorna’s character arc took an abrupt and arguably unearned emotional turn.
This dramatic change in the overarching metaphor did a disservice to “The Gifted.” The writers should have committed to a consistent analogy throughout the series. Whether it was the “one step from DoFP” scenario of season one or a “1960s America” parallel, sticking to a single, coherent framework would have strengthened the narrative. The unexplained and jarring transition between these two metaphors in season two undermined the show’s thematic depth and character consistency, ultimately contributing to its decline in quality.
