In “meMento” of The Gifted, Lauren is obsessed with the music box of Andreas Von Strucker. Also, Lauren snaps on the landlord, Mr. Rail. Further, a Purifier, Ted, kills an innocent mutant kid in a homeless shelter. Plus, Reeva and Benedict Ryan have a secret meeting. This airing has lots of drama.
With the intro of “meMento,” Lauren is obsessed with the Von Strucker music box. Reed discusses her with Caitlyn: “It’s not just that. She’s obsessed with that music box.”
Meanwhile, on the mutant underground front, the mutants want to go to war. Blink looks at the mutants and tells them in a meeting: “John is still sedated with taking a pound of buckshot to the chest. And you want to start a war? Like with the four of us?”
With that the Struckers are reluctant to charge into war. Reed expresses this concern to the group, saying: “The Inner Circle just freed thousands of violent mutant criminals. People are scared.”
Additionally, Marcos has some questions before going off to war. Marcos says to the underground: “A lot of the stations have went dark. We haven’t had contact in days.”
Meantime, Lorna has some questions about the Inner Circle’s new recruits. Lorna lets Reeva know what’s on her mind: “I need to talk to you about these new recruits. Did you think I would never recognize them? This is the crew that took down the Ignenas cruise ship. Thousands of people died. They’re mass murderers.”
In turn Reeva gives a history lesson. Reeva tells Lorna: “How do you think nations are founded? You took down that Trask plane. You should understand.”
In defense of her past actions, Lorna doesn’t consider herself as a terrorist. Lorna lets Reeva know, saying: “No. I understand collateral damage. But the thousands of people on that ship were…”
However, Reeva questions Lorna’s logic. Reeva smiles and finishes Lorna’s sentence for her: “They were innocent?”
All the while, Benedict Ryan continues to use his television program, the Ryan Hour, for a bully palpit. Benedict reports to the public, saying: “These animals. And lets be honest folks. That’s exactly what they are. Animals. They’re stalking our neighborhoods. Our streets.” Incidentally, Benedict Ryan, sounding much like President Trump when discribing undocumented immigrants, calls the mutants animals and criminals.
In terms of Reeva’s revolution, Reeva counts every mutant as a soldier. Reeva explains some statistices to Lorna: “Membership in the Purifiers is up over 70 percent. Every single person without an X gene is a potential soldier in their army. That is why these new recruits are here. To hit the humans with such force, so hard, that they will be too scared to fight.”
As the Ryan Hour ends it’s broadcast, Benedict signs off with some final words. Benedict tells his audience: “I would never advocate violence. But I will stand for the rights of anyone who feels the need to defend their lifes or their families lives from a mutant attack. Until next time friends, stay vigilant, stay safe.”
In “meMento,” Jace Turner has some new information for the Ryan Hour. Jace tells Benedict: “The mutants that supposedly died in Atlanta are alive. They are the ones that attacked the Purifier compound. We need to get it out there.”
However, Benedict isn’t interested in Jace’s new information. He tells Jace: “Americans are worried about the 6000 mutant criminals loose in their backyard… We need to keep the citizen militias out there. Showing the people that the Purifiers are part of the solution. Showing people that they can stand up to the mutant menace. Once we win over America’s hearts then we can talk about Atlanta.” Benedict has a different agenda.
Back at the Strucker residence, there are problems. Art, the landlord, tells Reed, a tenant: “Can I get a word privately. This isn’t the first time we had issues. I see the new and the are cracking down on landlords renting to …”
As a result of Benedict Ryan not being interested in any new information about the mutant underground, Jace has time on his hands. Jace tells the Purifers: “Check the churches and shelters. Keep your eyes open.”
At this point in this episode, Lorna realizes Reeva is extremely dangerous. Lorna tells Marcos:
“It’s Reeva ok. She’s planning something terrible. Marcos, she has the team from the Ignaus cruise ship massacre. They murdered thousands. I knew that a mutant homeland would mean sacrifice. But I was willing to kill or die for that dream. But there are lines. There have to be. Marcos, these new recruits. They killed families. Children. Reeva looked me in the eye and told me that’s why she needed them. Because she wants to do something so monsterous that it changes the world forever. I need to stop her. I can’t do that by myself. I am sorry. Ok, I am 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. You help me because you are too good to let people die just cause I suck at love.”
As the story of the show moves along, Blink learns about Lorna’s distrust of the Inner Circle. Blink says: “Wow. My mind is completely blown. Lorna is actually turning on the Inner Circle.”
Additionally, at this point, Marcos presses Blink for Morlock help. Marcos stresses the need for their help: “We need to go to the Morlocks to figure out what’s happening in the Inner Circle and they have eyes all over the city and they are the only ones.”
Afterward, at the Struckers, the family’s home is raided by the cops. Reed tells the police: “You can’t just come in my home without a search warrant.”
However, the cops lack a search warrant and barge into the Strucker home. One cop says: “I can if I have probable cause. I just heard a crash.” Consequently, it’s an lawful search; therefore, any evidence would be excluded from trial, which would be an easy 4th amendment case.
On what looks like left field in this story, Marcos almost has an affair. Marcos explains to a Morlock, who he has feelings for, about Lorna when about to kiss her: “It’s just a lot more complicating then that. She treated me like garbage. And she tore the world all to pieces. And now she’s asking me to put it all back together. And when I think about her, I feel sad and angry.”
This segment gives the rundown on the latest Purifiers raid. It’s a shelter and some kid tells Jace: “Cause you’re Purifiers. You are all like the Klan. My grand daddy didn’t need a reason to run from the Klan. Neither did yours.”
The Purifiers continue to be vigilantees and take the law into their own hands. Benefict Ryan reports the lastest Purifier killing: “We’re talking about an incident today where our citizen militia had to stop a dangerous mutant by force. Folks, this wasn’t even one of the escaped prisoners. This animal was in a homeless shelter for children.” A mutant child of a homeless shelter was killed by Ted, a leader of the Purifiers.
During the ending of meMento, the national leaders of the mutant underground are poised to make a stand. Evangeline Whedon, a mutant with the power to turn into a red dragon and an attorney, tells John: “John, it’s Evangaline. I am gathering the regional leaders of the underground for a meeting. John, I should of listened to you in Philadelphia. The underground is collapsing. We can’t let that happen. I calling to tell you gather your people. Be ready.”
At the end of this show, Lauren snaps after finding a letter of Andreas Von Strucker hidden in the music box. And in her anger, she tells the landlord: “Well there are mutants, Mr. Rail, like me, and if you ever come after my family again, there will be consequences. And if you talk to anyone, I know you won’t, cause in this world anyone can be a mutant. You don’t know who they are. You are never safe.”
Right at the end of the episode, Lorna and Marcos stumble on a secret meeting between Reeva and Benedict Ryan. Lorna tells Marcos: “That’s Benedict Ryan from news. The anti-mutant crusader.” Marcos replies: “What is Reeve doing with Benedict Ryan?”
Overall, I liked the drama in this episode. That is, the Purifiers are seen for what they are: a vigilantee group. Also, Lauren lost it, which was nice. And Reeva and Benedict are sneaking around, which everyone kind of knew would happen. It was a pretty good one.
