‘The Gifted’: a fresh start for new mutants

they’re not coming back from wherever they’ve gone – at least not initially.

But the series doesn’t suffer from that lack of movie connectivity. Instead, is allowed to breathe on its own, creating the feeling of a different type of comic-book inspired show, not something easily accomplished in the now-crowded field of live-action network and streaming superhero options.

Slick suits and supervillains are replaced with a more intense focus on the fear, angst, racism and lawenforcement brutality that comes with being a mutant. Mutants in this world are either out, proud and on the run, or just trying to blend in and not cause a scene. Humans refuse to forget whatever happened when the X-Men were around, and the government wants total control of mutant happenings, hunting down with authority those who have powers.

That authority could be the first eye-rolling moment for fans. Sentinels, the giant mutant-hunting robots from comic book lore, are now the Sentinel Services. Think the Secret Service, but with a focus on mutants. (It’s a fancy way of saying, hey, we’re on a television budget, so just be happy we got the word “sentinel” in there.) The Sentinel Services are enabled by current laws to arrest anyone who they feel is a threat.

Those threats are the mutants. Faced with government prodding or freedom, the mutants who want to be free hide in a network that exists just below the government’s radar. That includes the family at the centre of show, the Struckers. Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) is a lawyer who spe- DIFFERENT: The Strucker family is their children are mutants in Fox’s