The Gifted Review: MeMento (Season 2 Episode 11)
Welcome to the actual midseason premiere of The Gifted. I’m kidding — well mostly. The Gifted Season 2 Episode 11, “MeMento” picks up with the consequences of the midseason finale.
As much as I liked the last episode it didn’t really feel like a midseason premiere. It felt like the show paused the narrative to save John and now has restarted it up again. That’s fine, it was just a strange decision for a midseason premiere.
Either way, this episode definitely delivered.
Guess Who’s back… Back again.
I’m going to gloat for a little bit if you all don’t mind. I predicted that Lorna was going to come back to the Underground ever since The Gifted Season 2, Episode 1, “eMergence”. Not to mention I have been constantly referring to it throughout my reviews of The Gifted.
Now it is happening. Lorna is coming back to the Underground, kind of. She wants to defeat Reeva which is basically the same thing. Emma Dumont and Sean Teale give an incredible performance on this episode and they actually TALK to each other.
This is what I’ve wanted from the whole season, the members of the Underground actually talking to each other. The only way to move forward is for everyone to air their grievances and talk. We get that between Lorna and Marcos, we get that between Marcos and Clarice, and between Clarice and John. It is truly wonderful.
Except for you, Caitlin, you’re kind of on my shitlist right now. I love you but girl this is not the way to do things.
Bad Mother of the Year Award
Oh, Caitlin, in the age-old words of Tyra Banks “I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you”. Stop doing what you are doing. You are leading your daughter down a dark path. You are hurting your daughter.
I know all you care about is Andy and we saw why in The Gifted Season 2 Episode 4, “outMatched”. But he doesn’t care about you. He’s fine with innocent people dying.
He’s gone from idiotic teenager to idiotic extremist teenager. You’re never getting the Andy you knew back, he’s gone. Stop before you lose your daughter too.
Reed: The song that was playing on the music box? It’s called The Earl King it’s about an evil force that steals children and the parents who ignore it.
Listen to Reed, you don’t want Lauren going down the same path as Andy. If you continue like this it’s not going to end well.
Making Amends
The best scenes of the episode are between Marcos and Lorna, and Clarice and Marcos. In a wonderful season full of great moments these are the ones where you see the humanity in these characters. Especially in Dumont’s Lorna.
Lorna explains to Marcos why she can’t continue following the inner circle, Reeva’s, plans. Dumont is phenomenal and almost breaks down while talking about it. She doesn’t want innocents getting hurt. At that moment you see all the pain she’s been carrying.
Lorna: I was willing to kill or die for that dream, but there are lines there have to be.
The moment in which she screams at Marcos is so powerful. She has no illusions, she knows she messed up. But she also knows that he’s the best person she knows. He’s not going to let innocents get hurt because of her mistakes.
Lorna: I’m sorry okay I’m sorry. How I treated you was wrong. And if you don’t want to forgive me fine, don’t. But you help me — You help me, Marcos Diaz. You help me because you’re too good to let people die just cause I suck at love.
We see Marcos struggle with this throughout the episode. But it isn’t until he talks to Glow that things become clear that she’s just there to drop truth bombs at us and Marcos. The reason he is so angry at Lorna is because of how deep their love is.
Glow: You can only be that angry at someone you love, It doesn’t take strength to hate someone, it takes strength to forgive them.
We get another apology from Lorna and Marcos’s talk about his feelings. They finally clear the air and you can’t help but admire Dumont and Teale at this moment. It’s the most open they’ve been all season.
Just like in The Gifted Season 2 Episode 8, “the dreaM,” we see another aurora borealis as they kiss. But there’s no one freaking out this time. Just two people in love finally coming together again.
Blink’s Choices
I love the dynamic between Clarice and Marcos. I mentioned in The Gifted Season 2, Episode 10, “eneMy of my eneMy” that I think they’re like siblings. Well, this episode just adds to that.
They’re both very strong individuals with very similar goals but different ideas of how to go about them. So yes they clash from time to time.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about each other. They might snark at each other but they’ll still defend each other from others. Just like siblings do. It’s a bit of an “I can nag them but you can’t” kind of thing.
From their scenes we see Clarice’s feelings come out as she admits that he hurt her. Marcos might have thought he was doing the right thing but he did hurt her. Jamie Chung is wonderful at portraying the hurt.
Clarice: You love pointing out everyone else’s flaws when you went behind my back to John to talk about me and this place. You hurt me, and him.
It’s beautiful because not only does she admit that he did hurt her, but also calls him out. Marcos admits he hasn’t been his best self as of late either. And actually apologizes to Clarice. Which is highly important because so many shows sweep apologies under the rug.
Clarice has been wondering about her place in this world. She understandably doesn’t trust many people. It’s no wonder that she has been considering the Morlocks offer.
Clarice: I won’t let people die because I did nothing.
But Marcos and John are her family. And she knows that she is needed in the Underground. This is why Clarice is one of the strongest characters in the show.
Stray Thoughts:
- I also love John apologizing to Clarice and their little moment.
- Acting MVPs for this episode are Emma Dumont, Jamie Chung, and Sean Teale.
- Finally, someone in show compares the Purifiers to the KKK.
- Jace should not get to win at anything when he is the reason an innocent kid is dead and then he goes and frames him.
- Of course, the two sides of the extremist factions are working together.
- Evangeline is reuniting the Underground factions, yes the plot is finally moving forward.
What did you think of this episode of The Gifted? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
The Gifted airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Fox.
Follow @telltaletv_https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Maii Trueba de Buen
Maii is a 28-year-old writer who can be slightly invested in characters and their stories. She tries to give credit where credit is due but isn’t afraid to be honest in her writing. It's probably best not to ask about Lucifer or A Song of Ice and Fire, because you'll never hear the end of it. She graduated in film and has a certificate/minor in Art History. She brings that into her writing because, well, she’s a nerd. The only thing that beats her love of writing is her love of Pandas.