Within the canon of Marvel Comics, there’s many kinds of enhanced individuals but those born with innate abilities tend to fall into two distinct but similar categories: Inhumans and Mutants. Both gain their powers from traumatic experiences, both are maligned by baseline humans and both have television shows currently airing so I figured I should compare the two for funsies. Don’t worry, no spoilers here!

I’ll be judging both Marvel’s Inhumans and Fox’s The Gifted based on three categories: Story, Characters, and Production Quality. Fairly simple, right? We’ll see!

Inhumans – Story

After the Royal Family of Inhumans is splintered by a military coup, they barely escape to Hawaii where their surprising interactions with the lush world and humanity around them may prove to not only save them, but Earth itself.

It’s Space Game of Space Thrones, essentially, except with shoddy acting and sterile sets. While this shouldn’t be too bad as a concept, we’re thrust into the lives of these extraterrestrial beings with only a fleeting mention of a connection to the Terrigen contaminant we’ve seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so unfortunately the audience can be kind of lost on initial viewing without prior knowledge of the characters.

The Inhuman Royal Family will be spending the majority of this 8 episode run on the stunning island of Hawaii and the unique cityscape and surrounding nature makes for a nice change of pace to the usual stock sets used in other Marvel productions.

With the cast splintered, we’ll be seeing lots of unique experiences for the relative aliens and maybe some good character development, all culminating in one final show with the main antagonist, Maximus.

The Gifted – Story

Two ordinary parents take their family on the run from the government when they discover that their children have mutant abilities, and join an underground community of mutants who have to fight to survive.

It’s your basic X-Men plot but not one that the Fox X-Men movies have tackled at all and with such a tight focus on two distinct groups of characters, this series aims to put a spotlight on all of the social commentary and allegorical story-telling ideas that X-Men stories are lauded for and in the current social climate, that’s a great thing.

With a Government-backed black-ops group intent on hunting them, the strife that the Struckers and the members of the Mutant Underground find themselves in definitely has echoes of The Underground Railroad or The French Resistance and this will lead to some fascinating character dynamics and some great set-pieces over it’s 10 episode run.

Inhumans – Characters

Let me give it to you straight, there’s only a couple of decent actors and, sadly, one of them isn’t Iwan “Barry Bolton” Rheon. Maximus’s actor struggles to act and put on his ropey American accent and his performance sadly suffers for it. Isabelle Cornish as Crystal is vacuous, uninteresting and your visual bathroom break cue. Eme Ikwuakor and Ken Leung provide decent performances as powerhouse Gorgon and calculating Karnak, respectively.

Rounding out the main cast are Anson Mount and Serinda Swan as Black Bolt and Medusa, the king and queen of Attilan. Serinda Swan is a little stiff in the first episode (much like her hair!) but as we see her adapt to her new situation and act proactively to reunite with her peers, we see that she’s got a little more depth than we first see. Interestingly, she appeared twice in Smallville as Zatanna Zatarra, which is neat. Anson Mount’s stoic Black Bolt portrayal is bang on and I have to admire his dedication to the role, creating a unique set of Inhuman signs to communicate (he hopes to create a functioning fictional language like Klingon or Dothraki). Between that and his quite comical expressions in the second episode, I think he was a brilliant choice for the role.

Of course, the actual best character is the 2,000 pound CGI teleporting doggo, Lockjaw! He’s adorable and he’s the only reason I wanted to see the show in the first place so I’m thankful that VFX company Double Negative did a fantastic job of rendering him, even if he doesn’t exactly fit into most scenes well.

The Gifted – Characters

The characters of this show can generally fall into three categories: the Strucker family, the Mutant Underground, and the jobbers du jour, the Sentinel Services officers.

The Struckers (no relation) are your typical family unit but with the added twist of the father being a prosecutor that specialises in putting mutants in jail but this doesn’t go the way you expect. The Mutant Underground are a motley bunch of B-List X-Men, Morlocks and new creations with a nice diverse cast and unique array of powers. Special mention goes to the adorable Jamie Chung (Blink) who is best known as Chi-Chi in the awful Dragonball Evolution and as the voice of GoGo Tomago in Big Hero 6.

From the pilot episode, I feel much more connected to most of these characters than any of the Inhumans cast and I think that’s down to the more grounded storytelling of The Gifted.

Inhumans – Production Quality

As I’ve said before, all the scenes shot in Hawaii are utterly gorgeous and very foreign from what we usually expect whereas Attilan, the Inhuman City on the moon, splits between barren royal accommodation to barren peasant-caste mine areas. Attilan feels sparce, sterile and lifeless. Even the Inhuman haven in AoS had more character to it!

Not only that but the use of Inhuman abilities is very limited. Every one of the Royal Family gets their moment to exhibit them but that’s about it and they’re all mostly underwhelming, lacking the punch I was expecting. The costume designs are a little weird too but I can chalk that up to space fashion.

The Gifted – Production Quality

The Gifted has a more subdued colour palette but more variety in it’s atmosphere than Inhumans does. The night-time opening has harsh neon glows while the suburban family life has a muted sepia feel and the cold blues of the industrial complex and prison facilities all add to the atmosphere in the show and giving it a more film-like quality overall. In terms of powers, The Gifted does not hold back; with each character using their powers offensively, defensively and even in fun/mundane ways!

The show oozes quality on par with it’s kooky cousin Legion and can easily stand up to any Marvel show on visuals alone.

Verdict:

This is purely down to my personal taste and I’ll give my best reasoning for which show I recommend but know that while I enjoyed both shows to an extent, one was clearly superior and that show was The Gifted.

The Gifted feels very much in line with it’s universe and it’s predecessors while Inhumans feels the most disconnected of the Marvel shows so far, mostly due to it’s bizarre subject matter. Not only that but while The Gifted has a lot going for it, Inhumans necked itself out of the gate by being a mediocre TV pilot that was shown on IMAX screens; further highlighting its flaws and thus gaining the infamous criticism that it’s garnered.

I highly recommend The Gifted if you’re a fan of the X-Men, the movie franchise, Legion or all of the above and I cannot do the same with Marvel’s Inhumans.

Man, it feels like an ice age since I last covered this show… So much so that I actually needed that recap to remind me where we were with the current arc. Hell, I even forgot who Vijay Nadeer was until I looked it up after the show finished.

But yeah! It’s a brand new world where HYDRA rules and Inhumans are persona non gratis and all the character we know and love are assholes! Yaaaaay! The episode title What If… comes from a series of Marvel books that explore alternate Earths where the stories you know didn’t turn out like the should, hence we have this alternate Earth where HYDRA revealed itself early and became the world’s security task force. Should make for some interesting scenarios!

Did I say interesting? I meant awkward as fuck! Brett Dalton returns as Grant Ward and I hate his stupid, handsome face already because in a total reverse of the real world, this Ward is the GOOD GUY! Still, at least Daisy’s awkward love life isn’t as bad as Jemma being buried alive! Tough break, Simmons.

Hell, Simmons probably gets it the worst this episode. She has to dig herself out of her own grave, is on the run from HYDRA, fails at persuading Coulson he’s in a simulation and, while not currently aware of it, lost Fitz to Madame Hydra aka AIDA! The girl just can’t catch a break.

While we don’t see everyone, we do get the majority and some interesting lore about this world, like the Cambridge Incident, where the Inhuman girl May saved killed a bunch of people and lead to the rise of HYDRA. I wonder what this Alt-Earth’s version of the Avengers is like…

We end the episode with Daisy confronting Coulson and breaking through the programming enough that Coulson knows her name. That’s a good start to a really interesting plot line and we’ll be seeing more next time when we analyze Identity and Change.

(Quick note to Flash Facts readers; the review for Abra Kadabra will be up later this week, don’t worry!)

Oh! Hello! Didn’t see you there and apparently I didn’t see that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. came back 3 days ago either! This is probably due a combination of my general indifference to life, anxiety of trying (and failing) to get money together to go to Toy Fair and looking after a family member who went through major surgery. So what’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. midseason premiere got to distract me from that?

Ooooooooh, robot uprising! It’s about damn time! I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords and that snazzy new title card for the LMD arc. Real nice, that.

AIDA’s descent into sapience and murder is so rote that most of this plot point is dedicated to Mack and Yo-Yo taking the piss and mentioning movies this kind of thing happened in. Which is actually my favourite part of the episode because those two being snarky fucks is hilarious.

What else have we got… We’ve got Daisy and Mace (feat. Simmons) going on a mission to find Senator Nadeer and it’s nice to see Jeff trying with Daisy. Naturally she’s suspicious of him but running a few missions should build some trust so that they can triumph. God, he’s got me doing it now…

Speaking of trust and the titular Broken Promises, we get a look at the family dynamic of the Nadeers and holy fuck is Ellen an evil bitch! Seriously, Parminder Nagra’s come a long way from the earnestness of Bend It Like Beckham and become Cruella De Vil! Her poor brother, seemingly unaffected by terrigenesis, is ambushed and almost ganked by the Watchdog hired goons Nadeer has on the payroll but surprise!

After revealing some super-speed and getting a shot in his gut for his troubles, his body crusts over as it sinks into the ocean. Now, this secondary terrigenesis isn’t without precedent. Many of the more famous Inhuman characters (ie, the ones we’ll be seeing in ABC’s upcoming Inhumans series) have undergone this and, much like secondary mutation, it can be a crapshoot so who knows what poor Vijay will look like when he emerges again.

Oh and Radcliffe turned heel and built a SECOND AIDA off-screen between season halves. And seems to be trying to get the Philinda ship sailing for nefarious purposes. I didn’t care much for this reveal but then, in retrospect, they jumped to AIDA’s evil reveal pretty damn quickly and we need to pad out this half of the season somehow sooooo…

Not a bad kick-off but I was expecting a little more oomph since we’re dealing with the loss of a major Marvel hero but hopefully Mace will be showing his true colours in four days time with the patriotically titled The Patriot.

Okay, more of a subtitle for an arc but still… Plus it sounds super-generic. And that’s probably the best way I can describe the episode. Generic.

Not that Uprising is bad, per se, but it’s plot is weak sauce. Oh, an Inhuman attack leaves a half-dozen cities without power because of the registration act, but it’s not an Inhuman attack but a scheme by the Watchdogs to frame Inhumans. So why are their demands to stop the registration of Inhumans when the Watchdogs are using a leaked version of that list to hunt Inhumans down?

Say the world governments complied; what then? Inhumans go back to being anonymous and thus harder to find? How does that help the Watchdogs?

Why is Anti-Inhuman senator Rota Nadeer declaring Inhumans to be a menace on TV, leaking the list to the Watchdogs while having her seemingly Inhuman brother remains chrysalised in her living room? As Val Kilmer said in Batman Forever; it just raises too many questions.

Still it’s always nice to have an excuse to have Natalia Cordova-Buckley to reprise her role as Yo-Yo and be a cheeky sprite onscreen, even if it means arguing with Mack over her involvement with Daisy.

Speaking of, over in her neck of the woods, we get to spend some time with Robbie’s brother, Gabe. Unlike his comic counterpart, this Gabe doesn’t suffer with developmental disabilities and is only in a wheelchair because of some random gangbangers. That kinda sucks because Gabe’s severe handicaps were what made Robbie’s dedication to do right even more compelling but hey, it is what it is.

We also learn how to cure someone of the Darkhold infection thanks to Simmons and Radcliffe; kill the patient! Okay, so a hard reboot often is the best solution to problems but that’s usually for technology, not biology! Good thing Radcliffe used AIDA’s power battery to revive May but that may tip off Simmons to her existence also.

Jeffrey Mace continues to be way too nice… I can feel the heel turn coming. Still SHIELD is now back in the light and they can operate openly once more.

Really struggled with a review for this one because it’s pretty middle of the road. Hopefully I’ll have more to say next week when SHIELD finally come face to skull with Ghost Rider in Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire.

Granted, that’s pretty much how it goes in the source material with the Superhero Registration Act and a team of Secret Avengers being established and with SHIELD acting in concert with the government, they are being forced to put all their cards on the table but it’s obvious that Coulson is Team Cap and will be skirting the line as much as possible.

Hive continues his nefarious plans of turning humans into Inhumans by targeting the Watchdogs. Shout-out to Axle Whitehead being an awesome Hellfire and being a great henchman. When this is all over, I hope he sticks around – both because I like the character and because I’m a fan of the actor.

One sequence I do love is Lincoln fully becoming an Agent of SHIELD by executing an amazing feint. He knew Daisy was setting him up and instead of Lincoln being met by Hive; Hive is met by Lash. Fuck yes, this is a great way to get Lash involved in the plot again aaaaaand he’s gone. Yeah, we couldn’t have a credible threat to Hive stick around when it’s the team that needs to solve the problem! Still, Andrew’s last act is to free Daisy and return her home and that’s a heroic sacrifice.

The end-scene keeps the Mack/Yo-Yo ship sailing strong until she hands off her crucifix to him. This is such a red herring. It’s so obvious and telegraphed that the show wants to think Mack is going to be on the Quinjet in space that it can’t possibly be him. I’d actually be surprised (and very disappointed) if it actually was him.

This week was an interesting episode and now that Hive has some semblance of an army (hurray for generic Inhuman goons!) we’ll see how the team deals with that in the two-part season finale next week in Absolution and Ascension.

Oh boy, did you know that Captain America: Civil War is out/coming out? Did you? Because if not this episode of full of cringe-worthy references and it’s not cute anymore. This show is supposed to be set in this expansive world but they only bother to mention it when a movie is coming out. Hell, all of this Inhuman build-up is basically pointless now because the Inhumans movie isn’t even coming out now.

The heart to heart between Daisy and Mack was pretty awful. It should have been a really powerful scene but it felt limp and lacked any real punch.

I’ll be honest, I’ve not got a lot to say about this episode. It was just kind of there and nothing left an impact on me. It felt a lot like padding, to be honest. Nothing was really accomplished, every plan was forced to fail to set-up some jeopardy in a later episode for Daisy.

With three episodes left (one solo episode and the double-bill finale) I feel like this should have been ramping up the tension but it really didn’t. I can only hope that next week’s Emancipation delivers where this episode didn’t.

With Daisy’s betrayal still fresh in everyone’s mind, The Singularity sees SHIELD rallying up, splitting into two teams. One (Fitz, Simmons and Mack) on the heels of transhumanist Holden Radcliffe while Phil and May go to retrieve Alisha Whitley (the Inhuman duplicator) and later James, the potential Inhuman from Paradise Lost.

Suffice to say that nothing goes right in this episode and it all starts with Daisy and Hive “reuniting”. Hurrrrgggh, this is awful. It’s all manner of unsettling, almost to Kilgrave levels of rape-y, Stockholm-y mind fuckery. Awful, just awful. Hive is also a rancid sack of rotten dick for using Will’s memories against Simmons. What an asshole!

On the plus side, Daisy’s defection leads to the birth of another Secret Warrior, Hellfire. Axle Whitehead returns as James and spends most of the episode being Australian, blowing shit up and thinking up codenames. I really dig him and I hope he sticks around.

Coulson was all set to be a massive dick this episode after throwing a murder vest on Lincoln but after May kicking the man while he’s down and then the HUGE mark-out moment for me: his photonic shield! That’s rad as all dads!

And finally — after 3 seasons of waiting, Fitz and Simmons finally consummate their relationship, after many funny instances of Simmons mentioning sex and Fitz staring blankly as it dawns on him that he’s finally going to get the girl. Go on, FitzSimmons! Now for the inevitable death/suffering because these kids can’t have nice things.

The episode ends with the revelation of Hive having bought an entire town for his ever-growing Inhuman collective using Malick’s money. I’m interested to see what other Inhumans will show up or what they’ll name the town. Attilan, maybe? This is a pretty cool episode and I guess we’ll find out more about the town that Hive built next week in Failed Experiments.

Three episodes in and I’m already looking forward to reviewing The Flash more than SHIELD. It’s not that the product is bad or gets on my nipples (Looking at you, Doctor Who) it’s kinda just… There. Plodding along the same path that we kinda had last season.

The B Plot of Hunter and May gunning for Ward was a fun distraction from the A Plot, both for subtitling two drunk British guys, because you silly colonials just don’t get English and May looking like the hottest Alt Girl ever despite being 50 years old. DANG.

Lola’s new boyfriend makes an appearance! If that’s not a sign that Rosalind and Coulson will be teaming up/knocking boots than I don’t know what is. For real though, SHIELD acting as an advisor to the ATCU makes me think that we will see SWORD eventually and if Rosalind reveals her real name to be Abigail Brand, I’ll be a happy man.

Lincoln’s had a rough time recently and it just gets worse. Losing his job, being hunted not only by the ATCU, SHIELD and Lash and now accidentally giving his only friend a heart attack… Shit’s rough. There’s indication of a darker past to Lincoln and I’m not sure I like that. I like Luke Mitchell as an actor and I especially like him when he’s light and fluffy. His super-serious storylines in Home & Away and Tomorrow People were fun to watch, sure, but he’s just got the face of a lovable scamp not a dark, brooding victim of circumstance.

FitzSimmons begin to deal with the fallout of Simmons’ return and while their scenes are short and few, they straddle the line between adorably cute and just tragic. Their constant hand-holding, Fitz keeping the reservation from their date months ago and Jemma’s readjustment to Earth taking it’s toll on her are all fantastic little scenes. These kids might just get their happy en–

“I have to go back.”

…Oh no. No, no, no. That’s not good. That’s not good at all… Is this a result of her PTSD and a sign that she’s really not coping or did something happen or did she discover something GAH! What a kick in the quad…

A solid episode but nothing outstanding so we’ll see if it picks up next week with Devils You Know.

The second episode  kicks off in a big way as the team rush to Fitz’s side as he keeps screaming at the monolith. His desperation is at it’s zenith but just as he begins to lose hope, he finds what he needs and when he calls, the team answers. It’s great to see the team so focused.

While Andrew returns to assess the new Inhuman, we get a look at what May has been doing and she’s been playing golf with her dad! It’s cute to see a Mulan reunion on-screen but, seriously, it’s nice to see more of May’s past. Her childhood love of ice-skating, her dad calling her Millie (or Mellie, James Hong’s accent is thick) and how protective she is of her family.

Peter MacNicol makes a return as the affable Asgardian, Elliot Randolph, who busts out of jail to help the team. After a little coercion from Phil, naturally. He’s a welcome addition to the team for the episode.

There’s also some adventure with the delightful dickbag that is Grant Ward and Brett Dalton is killing it as usual. A bit weird to see him recruiting Baron Von Strucker’s son into his new Hydra but will that lead to more children of villains? Will we see Victor Mancha, the son of Ultron?

Obviously, the biggest plot point for this episode is Fitz and Simmons. Two of my favourite moments result from this and I’ll share them with you.

Fitz didn’t even flinch! I love that.

The actual mission to rescue Simmons is a bally shambles, between using rickety old tech and Fitz going full Big Damn Hero and leaping into the portal himself and I have to admit that I was sceptical that we’d see Simmons, let alone that she’d actually be saved but with the help of Daisy pushing herself to breaking point, we get a happy reunion.

That’s the face of a man who spit in the face of common sense, science and the whole goddamn universe to save the woman he loves. Pure joy. Now we await the fallout because Simmons will no doubt be suffering PTSD. Maybe the worst is yet to come but for now, I’ll leave Hunter to channel the audience’s feelings.

Purpose in the Machine is a great follow-up to the season premiere, re-establishing the status quo for the team and giving plenty of hints to what we can expect soon.

So here we are, ladies and gents! The Season 2 Finale for Agents of SHIELD, or S.O.S parts 1&2. I was honestly wondering if they could keep me entertained for the full runtime but god damn if the creative team didn’t craft an intense and engaging 80 minute feature.

Jiaying’s plan is to cause war between the Inhumans and SHIELD and she succeeds, using the staged attack as a catalyst to take the SHIELD carrier and lure every other SHIELD agent there to kill or convert them to Inhumans. It really says something for this show that the roles between Jiaying and Cal have been swapped. Both in terms of their standing as good guy/bad guy in the show but also in terms of the typical gender roles that this story would represent. Jiaying has been broken for a long time, the scars on her face a superficial crack in the porcelin to show that she’s more damaged than she appears. Her actions are also well in line with the new Marvel mandate of Inhumans being the new Mutants, with Jiaying playing the Magneto perfectly. Plus she’s basically got the powers of Morbius The Living Vampire so that makes her SUPER evil!

Speaking of Cal, we finally get his Hyde transformation and while it’s subdued (he’s nowhere near the Hulk-ing monstrosity I’m used to seeing) he’s definitely a more twisted, hunched monster form than his regular self. Kyle MacLachlan brings his bestest A-Game in this two-parter and firmly cements himself as both a cool character and a fantastic actor in my mind. I’d already liked his performance for most of the season but he just delivers an immensely fun performance here, even when trying to be a monster.

HAHAHAHAAAAAA! Fuck you, Grant Ward! Fuck you and any redemption/happiness the Tumblr fan girls think you’re worth. The grooming sumbitch finally gets his comeuppance, both in the form of an ass beating from Bobbi and killing his new girlfriend because she looked like May. Whoopsie! Still Brett Dalton continues to be super charismatic, despite being a total psychopath. We’ll see what the future holds for him as a new head of HYDRA.

Skye faces off against her mother (after having a VERY impressive fight with Alisha, a super hot redheaded Inhuman who can clone herself) and Cal comes in to save them both, in a way. To save Skye from having to kill (or be killed by) her mother and to save the woman he loves from her own path to vengeance. Coulson, Mack and Fitz stop Gordon from releasing Terrigen mist all over the ship, only for Coulson to lose a hand in the process. Who’d have thought SHIELD would mutilate it’s lead better than The Walking Dead could. Some serious balls shown here!

In the aftermath, lots of things happen including but not limited to; Cal going through the Tahiti procedure and given a new life as a vet, Bobbi considering quitting the team, May actually leaving and Skye being given the opportunity to build her own team of metas under the codename “Caterpillars”. Fun fact: Caterpillars is the codename for the Secret Warriors, a team that Nick Fury created in secret which included Daisy Johnson/Skye. Should be interesting to see what Coulson’s efforts and her leadership will build.

In the stinger, we even get a little FitzSimmons resolution and even the promise of a blossoming relationship, something that fans have been wanting since the beginn–

WELL THAT WAS PANTS-SHITTINGLY TERRIFYING

Season 2 comes to a close in a genuine shocking manner and establishes a lot of threads that Season 3 can run with. It’s been a pretty damn good season and it’s been a pleasure to watch and thank you all for coming back, week-to-week, to see me ramble on about this show. I hope to see you again soon for more S.H.I.E.L.D. Exposed!