The Gifted Season 2 Midseason Finale Ending Explained

The Gifted has promised a Mutant Uprising and "gaMe changer," the fall finale of season 2, delivered. FOX's X-Men series has compellingly escalated the tension between mutants and the humans who hate and fear them, thanks to the focus of the series shifting from the heroic Mutant Underground to the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. The villainous mutants, led by Reeva Payge (Grace Byers) and the Frost Triplets (Skyler Samuels), have a master plan to give mutants their own homeland. The Mutant Uprising they ignited in "gaMe changer" marks the next phase of their scheme and signals a war to come between humans and mutants.

When season 2 began, the action relocated to Washington, D.C., where the Mutant Underground - led by John "Thunderbird" Proudstar (Blair Redford) - set up shop after faking their deaths in Atlanta. Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White) and Lorna "Polaris" Dane (Emma Dumont) left the Underground and joined the Inner Circle, where Lorna gave birth to Dawn, her daughter with Marcos "Eclipse" Diaz. Meanwhile, Jace Turner (Coby Bell) refused to believe the mutants in Atlanta were dead, and his hunt for his adversaries cost him his marriage and his job at Sentinel Services, making him a prime recruit to become the public face of the anti-mutant hate group called the Purifiers. Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) began to manifest dangerous mutant powers, which he kept a secret at first from his wife Caitlin (Amy Acker) and his daughter Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind).

As the season progressed, the Mutant Underground was torn by inner strife. Clarice "Blink" Fong (Jamie Chung) openly questioned the effectiveness of Thunderbird's group as she fell under the sway of the Morlocks, a mutant separatist faction. As the MU faltered, the Inner Circle successfully implemented the next stages of their plan: they attacked a hospital to liberate Rebecca "Twist" Hoover (Anjelica Bette Fellini), a psychotic teenage mutant whose powers were vital for their next move, a bank heist at the Creed Financial building. While the heist was a success, Rebecca murdered over 30 human hostages and went on the run, making her a liability to the Inner Circle's plan. Reeva's group captured Rebecca, but her massacre of humans set off nationwide anti-mutant riots. This set the stage for the next part of the Inner Circle's plan: the Mutant Uprising.

This Page: The Inner Circle Started The Mutant Uprising
Page 2: The Purifiers Beat The Mutant Underground As A Mutant Cure Is Found

The Inner Circle Has Started The Mutant Uprising

So far, all of Reeva's plans have succeeded, placing her dream of a mutant homeland within reach. The bank heist at Creed Financial enabled the Inner Circle to steal over a hundred million dollars to fill their coffers, and the info in the vault Rebecca's powers opened led them to their next target: Regimen Technologies, the company that controls all of the mutant restraint collars in the United States. There are thousands of mutants all over the United States incarcerated by Sentinel Services and forced to wear restraint collars that inhibit their powers.

In "gaMe changer," the Inner Circle struck again by attacking Regimen Technologies. Andy Strucker and Polaris destroyed the Regimen servers, deactivating every restraint collar nationwide in one fell swoop. This immediately sparked a wave of prison breaks as mutants quickly realized they could use their powers again and immediately broke loose, massacring the prison guards. Reeva needs these mutants to join her Mutant Uprising and to serve as the Inner Circle's army; their reward will be their own homeland where they will be free from persecution. However, it almost all fell apart thanks to Rebecca and Andy.

Andy and Rebecca, who are both teenagers, quickly became a romantic couple. When Rebecca was captured and imprisoned by the Inner Circle, Andy questioned whether Reeva was any better than the humans who previously imprisoned and tortured his girlfriend. Andy finally decided to free Rebecca and run away together, but as soon as she was loose, Rebecca's first thought was to murder Reeva and the rest of the Inner Circle. Andy used his kinetic powers to stop her but the shockwave hurled Rebecca into a wall, breaking her neck. With Rebecca dead, Polaris urged Andy to get revenge on the humans who made Rebecca a murderer by joining the mission to destroy the Regimen servers. Andy complied and Reeva, who was stunned by the close call that almost got her killed, justified Rebecca's death since not only eliminated a threat, but also rededicated Andy to her cause.

The Inner Circle has now won multiple victories virtually unopposed and the Mutant Uprising ensures an immensely powerful horde of mutants ready to fight for the dream of a mutant homeland. However, there are other potential traitors in the Inner Circle: unlike her psychic sisters, Esme has also questioned Reeva's methods, but the one to watch is Polaris. After sending her daughter Dawn away, Polaris has begun to emulate her father, Magneto. While Polaris also believes in the mutant homeland, she has no love for Reeva and may be plotting to take over the Inner Circle, just as Magneto was once a King of the Hellfire Club.

Page 2: The Purifiers Beat The Mutant Underground As A Mutant "Cure" Is Found

The Purifiers Beat The Mutant Underground

Jace Turner has been hunting the Underground since season 1 and he finally caught his biggest prize: Thunderbird himself. The Mutant Underground found themselves outclassed by the Inner Circle and haven't been as concerned with the human threat. Not only has Thunderbird's leadership been questionable, he was unable to see the most immediate threat to them wasn't the Hellfire Club, but the Purifiers led by Jace, the ex-Sentinel Services agent obsessed with stopping the mutants.

In "gaMe changer," the Mutant Underground's numbers have been reduced to Thunderbird, Blink, and Eclipse. The latter two were forced by Thunderbird to follow along as he kidnapped a security adviser for Regimen in a desperate bid to understand what the Inner Circle's plans are. As Blink balked at what was happening and left, Thunderbird was so careless that the Inner Circle was able to learn about the kidnapping and sent Fade (Jeff Daniel Phillips) to kill the security adviser. The resulting battle between Fade, Eclipse, and Thunderbird then tipped off the Purifiers to their location. The Purifiers were able to pounce on the mutants and wound Fade, forcing Thunderbird to sacrifice himself to let Eclipse and Fade escape. As the Purifiers pinned Thunderbird with their car, Jace triumphantly boasted, "Gotcha!"

Turner never believed the ruse that the Mutant Underground all died in Atlanta in the season 1 finale, so this was a long-awaited win and sweet vindication for Jace. While Jace has his doubts about the hate group he now belongs to, he thinks he can lead the Purifiers in a better direction and at the very least, they share a common belief that the Mutant Uprising is a terrorist threat. This win also cements Turner's hero status with the Purifiers. Now, Jace has the leader of the Mutant Underground as a prisoner, which doesn't bode well for Thunderbird.

The Strucker Family Could Lead To A Mutant "Cure"

The Strucker family may inadvertently be the key to the end of the mutant race. The Struckers spent much of season 2 dealing with the revelation that Reed's mutant power to create volcanic lava has begun to manifest. As a child, Reed's scientist father Otto Strucker (Raymond J. Barry) suppressed Reed's mutant abilities, but now that they're reemerging, the Struckers sought the help of Otto's partner, Dr. Madeline Garber (Kate Burton). At first kindly and sympathetic, Garber charmed Lauren and Reed to submit to blood and DNA tests under the auspices of Garber finding a way to allow Reed to permanently suppress his powers. But Lauren soon learned the darker truth about Garber: not only is her brother the founder of the Purifiers, but Garber also plans to use the Struckers' DNA to manufacture a cure that could wipe out all mutants.

After a failed attempt to destroy their DNA samples, Garber confronted the Struckers and revealed her true beliefs that mutants are a mistake, even going so far as to say Lauren "should never have been born". Hearing Garber's true feelings, Noah (Ken Kirby), Garber's assistant who is also a mutant, used his powers and seemingly destroyed their DNA samples. However, it's not clear how much of the Struckers' DNA was destroyed and Garber may not have been killed in the melee. So even though the Struckers escaped, they may have delivered the means for the humans to create a way to stop the Mutant Uprising and eradicate the mutant race once and for all. Thus, The Gifted has introduced their own version of the famous mutant cure plot from X-Men: The Last Stand.

With the further revelation that Lauren and Andy both possess two X-Genes, potentially making them the most powerful mutants alive, and all-out war imminent as the Inner Circle plots to topple the United States Government, the most exciting moments of The Gifted season 2 are still to come when the series returns in 2019.