DVD/TV Series Review: The Gifted Season 2

 

++++Warning, this contains season 1 spoilers, but no major season 2 giveaways++++

The 16-episode second season of The Gifted aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. It ended up being the series' final season, as it was canceled without getting a full season run. It is a bittersweet end because the season was very good, and the writers were clearly setting up a third season that would have taken the show in a different direction, but the show was canceled after the season aired. However, it provided a decent ending to the initial storyline that was the focus of season one.

This season can best be summed up by mutants vs. mutants vs. humans. One team of mutants consisted of the inner circle, formed after Lorna and Andy decided to go with the triplets and split from the mutant underground. Both groups faced a threat from a group of anti-mutant humans, eventually led by Jace after his dismissal from sentinel services, who are basically a group of vigilantes who hunt down mutants. Peter Gallagher (of The OC and Covert Affairs) comes in part-way through the season to play an anti-mutant television personality who stirs up trouble. In large part, the entire season is a metaphor for today's political climate.

Every episode provides a back story for each main character told through flashbacks. It is the main vehicle for character development this season. I will not give too much of the story away, but the crux of the season is about stopping an all-out war between mutants and humans.

The DVD set is a four-disc set. It is a basic MOD set with no extras of any kind and no subtitles. The set has 16 episodes, which can be played individually or in a play-all mode. So, the only reason to get this is if you bought season one on DVD and want it to have both seasons. Otherwise, there is no benefit that you will get with the DVDs versus streaming the show.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Legion: Season 1

 

Legion is a crazy, mind-bending show created by Noah Hawley, the creator of the Fargo TV series on FX. It is a story about mutants set in the X-Men universe centered around David/Legion (played by Dan Stevens), who is one of, if not the most powerful mutant in the X-Men universe, having very strong psychic powers (among others). The cast is rounded out by Fargo season two alums Rachel Keller and Jean Smart, Parks and Rec alum Aubrey Plaza, Katie Aselton (from The League), Bill Irwin, and Amber Midthunder. There are also a bunch of great character actors that round out the cast. The 8-episode first season aired during the winter and spring of 2017.

If you follow the comics, you know who Legion's father is and why he is so powerful. His parentage is hinted at in the first season but never outright given away. The season is mostly centered around fixing what David has always assumed to be a mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia, to be exact). Still, as we find out throughout the season, it is a combination of his powers manifesting and something else. It is a trippy show that is hard to follow (especially on the first viewing), jumps around a lot in the story, and just gets weird at times. That said, it is very well written and acted, and it makes sense after a while. Plaza steals every scene, and she takes advantage of the opportunity to ham it up when called for (which seems to suit her personality). Stevens and Keller are great in their roles as lovers who cannot touch each other (because she switches bodies with whomever she touches). Jean Smart is great in a Professor-X-like role as the mentor for the group. There is also the requisite shadowy government organization trying to hunt the mutants down, playing one of the antagonist roles.

The Blu-Ray set is a two-disc set, and the show (which has a lot of special effects) looks and sounds great in HD. It is a very visual show, so the high-definition format really pops. The extras include deleted scenes (about a half-hour's worth) and several behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes. Good for what is there, but not too extensive. The show packs a lot into the 8-episode first season and sets up the recently aired second season well. If you are a fan of the X-Men comics or movies, it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Gifted Season 1

 

The Gifted is a series that is set in the X-Men universe, but in a timeline (or just at a time) in which the X-Men have disappeared and those with mutant powers are shunned by society and are required to be registered (much like the plot of the original X-Men movies), and those who are not being hunted by an anti-mutant Sentinal Services agency (which is obviously based on the concept of the Nazi SS). The first season consisted of 13 episodes that aired during the 2017-2018 TV season and was set around the Strucker family, played by Stephen Moyer (from True Blood) who plays Reed Strucker, Angel alumn Amy Acker who plays Caitlin Strucker, and their children Lauren (played by Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (played by Percy Hynes White). Reed is a district attorney who prosecutes mutant cases and is forced to go on the run when Lauren and Andy both manifest mutant abilities. They are eventually helped (reluctantly) by a group of mutants who avoid Sentinal Services, and the lead agent Jace Turner (played by Burn Notice's Colby Bell) and Garrett Dallahunt's character Roderick Campbell, who wants to weaponize the Strucker Children's powers. The rest of the main cast includes Jamie Chung, Blair Redford, Emma Dumont, and Sean Teale. 

The DVD set is just a standard MOD set that just has the 13 episodes spread across three discs. There are no extras or bonus features. So, unless you really prefer physical media over streaming, you don't get anything extra by getting the DVDs.

Overall, the show is very good. It definitely has ties to the X-Men movies, some subtle and some not. Of course, Bryan Singer who directed many of the movies is a producer on the show and directed the pilot, so that is not surprising. It is not entirely clear, however, if this is set in a different universe from the movies where events played out differently, or is set after the bulk of the movies but before the events of the movie Logan. In a way that is good because it means that it can tell its own story while still having some tie-ins with the overall franchise. 

The acting and writing are both very good and the cast has a good mix of recognizable, established actors and relative newcomers. The show has a serial arc that plays out throughout the season, so you cannot really just jump in partway and get everything that is going on. The season ends on a pretty major cliffhanger that leaves the fate of several characters up in the air going into season two. So, if you are a fan of the X-Men movies, then this is definitely worth checking out.

 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Deadpool

 

Deadpool is a movie that you will know where you stand about it within the first few minutes. It is a superhero movie that breaks all the superhero movie norms in that it is R-rated, is over-the-top violent, has sex in it, and the main character breaks the fourth wall constantly (because he knows that he is a comic book character). Backed by Ryan Reynolds' wit and smart Alek comments all the way through the movie (including making snarky comments about himself), the movie tells the origin story of Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, a mercenary who's part of the X-Men universe (although it is not exactly clear which timeline he is in, which is a joke in the movie). Wilson is seeking revenge on a guy named Francis, who essentially turned him into what he is. He is joined by X-Men Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic), and sullen teen girl Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who are trying to recruit Deadpool to join the X-Men. Francis is joined by Angel Dust (played by Gina Carano) who is a super-strong evil mutant.

There are essentially two storylines that run in parallel with each other during the movie. The first is Wade's origin story includes his sex-worker girlfriend Vanessa (played by Firefly and Gotham alum Morena Baccarin), and TJ Miller, as Deadpool's buddy Weasel. Miller steals many a scene he is in, which is no small feat with Deadpool throwing out zingers every couple of seconds. The second is the revenge story, which is where all of the action in the movie takes place. Of course, the storylines do intersect at the end.

For those who get the blu-ray, the movie looks and sounds wonderful in HD. The extras include two separate commentary tracks, deleted scenes, a gag reel, an image gallery, videos that were a part of the movie's promotional campaign, and the most extensive extra, an hour and twenty-minute long making-of documentary (that is split into five parts).

Overall, the movie is awesome. The jokes are great, and make fun of everything from Reynold's acting ability vs. his looks, the horrible incarnation of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (also played by Reynolds), as well as the Green Lantern movie (also starring Reynolds). It seems that everyone in the cast was having a blast and not taking themselves too seriously. It is most definitely not a family-friendly movie as there is a lot of swearing and sexual jokes. The action is great, especially the battle at the end, and the movie has no problem lampooning the superhero genre. It is definitely worth checking out.