‘The Gifted’ Recap: Do Polaris And Eclipse Get Back Together?

"The Gifted" Season 2 delivered a powerful and emotional episode. What are parents willing to do to keep their children safe? That’s something Polaris and Eclipse must answer in “the dreaM.” Meanwhile, the Mutant Underground finally gets a step closer to finding the Inner Circle. It’s only taken eight episodes.

Thunderbird and Blink Find Rebecca

It takes a bank heist for Thunderbird to finally get some sort of track on where the Inner Circle could be. He and Blink head out looking for anything that could give them a trace and come across the tracks Rebecca is leaving.

As they follow her, they find some of the mess she’s left behind, including a disfigured body with arms where legs should be and vice versa. During this, Blink’s powers start to feel off. The vibe Rebecca gives off is powerful, although Thunderbird doesn’t seem to feel it. Could Blink and Rebecca’s powers be somehow connected?

We’re not going to find out this episode. When the two do eventually catch up to Rebecca and she threatens to turn them inside out, Rebecca tells them that the Inner Circle wanted something called Regimen from the vault.

Thunderbird finally figures out that Regimen is a company with headquarters in the local area. They’re one step closer to finding the Inner Circle, but that’s not going to help Thunderbird and Blink’s relationship. They’re growing apart with everything that’s happening right now.

The Struckers Look for Help

Meanwhile, the Struckers look to get Reed some help to control his powers. There’s only one place to turn: the woman who helped him contain his abilities before he even knew he had them. They head to Dr. Risman, who shares that she’s helping to control the abilities on a medical level. Those who want to gain more control can and those who want to suppress have that option too.

For Reed, it’s about getting his abilities under control before they kill him. Right now, they can use the same serum from before, but it’s only a dam. While it works for now, stress will lead to the dam breaking.

Fortunately, Lauren’s powers are similar and her X-gene is probably similar. Dr. Risman may be able to develop some sort of cure from her gene that will help suppress Reed’s abilities.

While it all looks good at first, Lauren realizes that there’s more to this. By the end, she learns that the aim is to create something that will help all mutants suppress their abilities. Why live with a special gene if they don’t need to?

Dr. Risman has an ulterior motive, though. He brother founded the Pacifiers, something she hates. She doesn’t agree hating on a race of people who have no ability to control their genes. But they will have the choice when her research is complete.

There’s also a little Von Strucker family history. While they may have been terrorists, the two twins shared the same mind. It’s clear that their abilities were connected in a way Lauren and Andy are. Sure enough, when Lauren is stabbed with the needle to draw blood, Andy feels it elsewhere.

Polaris and Eclipse Say Goodbye to Dawn

Finally, it’s time for the most heartbreaking part of "The Gifted." Emma Dumont deserves recognition for her actions throughout the episode. We get glimpses of her origin story throughout the episode, seeing her as a young girl at 13, trying to come to terms with her father leaving her a metal disk for her birthday—yeah, just what every 13-year-old wants.

We then get to see her a little older at a bar when a guy comes up to find out if she’s Lorna. They know she has abilities and want her to show off. Well, she certainly does by destroying the guy’s car. It’s no surprise that she gets herself arrested with that. Her aunt bails her out but struggles to help her niece and refuses to even admit that Magneto is her father.

And then there are some beautiful moments of Polaris and Eclipse when they were still together. It’s the early stages of pregnancy, where Eclipse shares his hopes that he’ll have a daughter because of the memory of a young girl looking up at her dad in awe and admiration at her first communion.

It’s beautiful and sweet, all to lead us to the heartbreaking storyline for the night. Polaris know that Dawn can’t stay with the Inner Circle. Dawn needs to be as far away from the mess as possible and one of the Frost sisters (I get them all mixed up, but I think it might be Esme) suggests a school in Switzerland.

Initially unable to part with her daughter, Polaris realizes that she needs to keep Dawn safe. There’s one thing she needs to do first: see Eclipse. He deserves a chance to say goodbye. As he does and the family connects, an aurora borealis appears around them, showing their abilities bonding together. It’s not enough to get Polaris to stick around and she takes the baby away.

However, it isn’t to Switzerland. She takes Dawn to her aunt’s, who is more than willing to keep Dawn safe from the world. The aunt even sends Eclipse a text message to make a point that Dawn is safe and loved.

As she mourns the loss of her daughter alone, Polaris sees the disk that Magneto had given her. It’s time to fashion her own headband from it and now the game is one ready for next week’s fall finale.

What did you think of Polaris’ heartbreaking sacrifice? What choice will Lauren make when it comes to the research? Can Thunderbird and Blink get on the same page? 

The Gifted airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on FOX.