eXit strategy
"Is your hate for me worth more than giving your child a real life?"
Written by Meredith Lavender & Marcie Ulin
Directed by Karen Gaviola
Directed by Karen Gaviola
"Daniel said the place they're taking them is far away. To put them on a plane, they'd have to move them. Let's get them while they're moving."
— Caitlin Strucker
The Mutant Underground hatches a plan to rescue Polaris and Reed before they're sent to an inescapable prison.
Tropes:
- All of Them: When Polaris, Reed, and the rest of the Mutant Underground escape, Jace demands that he wants all of them captured. Not just the ones that escaped today, but every single asset the Underground has ever used or relied on.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: Carmen, Marcos ex', used to be afraid of her father hurting people and also tried to make him stop. But now, as the leader of the Cartel, she isn't doing it any different.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Pulse was once an ally of the Mutant Underground and Thunderbird's friend. Now Sentinel Services uses him as a mutant jammer and he doesn't even speak, let alone seem to recognize Thunderbird.
- Brought Down to Badass: Both Marcos and John can still hold their own against the Sentinel Services agents after being deprived of their powers by Pulse.
- Chekhov's Gun: In the pilot, Polaris used the metal screws in Reed's knee to demonstrate that she could kill him if she wanted. Deprived of metal inside the bus, Reed offers the screws so they can escape.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Pulse is introduced in the opening, in which he's shot during an attack on a Sentinel Services Relocation Camp while buying time for his friends and the escaping prisoners to flee. Guess who shows up later in the episode as a brainwashed collaborator of Sentinel Services?
- Child Soldiers: Caitlin protests her children aiding in the breakout on these grounds, and only relents when Thunderbird promises they won't be part of the fighting, just used to disable the bus.
- Cruel to Be Kind: When Andy is unable to stop the bus at first, Lauren pushes his buttons by telling him that he really is as weak as his bullies made him out to be in order for him to snap out of it and use his powers. It works.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: After Lorna gets her powers back, all Jace Turner and his men can do is to run.
- Damsel out of Distress: Once Pulse is knocked out, Polaris is able to escape the bus using her powers.
- Dare to Be Badass: When Andy is having trouble focusing his powers on the bus, Lauren gets him angry by saying the bullies were right about him unless he proves otherwise right now. It works.
- Deal with the Devil: Marcos makes a deal with his ex-girlfriend Carmen, who is the current leader of The Cartel in order to get information on the prison transport. In exchange, he's at her beck-and-call for whatever shady work she wants.
- Distressed Dude: Trader gets shot by Sentinel Service agents when his invisibility powers stop working due to the presence of Pulse, and he gets barely rescued by Dreamer.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted, Lorna is still pretty pissed at Reed.
- Eye Scream: Marcos tortures Carmen's prisoner by threatening to use his mutant powers to blind him.
- Heel Realization: Reed has one in front of Lorna, it gets even called out by her.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Dreamer is still adamant on having done the right thing by giving Blink the false memory in order to save everyone, confident it will fade on its own with no harm done. Later, Marcos also justifies working together with Carmen in order to get the needed information to save Lorna.
- Insistent Terminology: Lorna insists on being called Polaris.
- Mythology Gag: The security code mentioned by a Sentinel Services guard includes the word "Lang". In the X-Men comics, Steven Lang is one of the leading anti-mutant figures, having taken over the production of Sentinels following the death of Bolivar Trask.
- No Sympathy: Lorna isn't very moved by Reed's Heel Realization, bringing up all the innocent mutants whose lives got destroyed because of people like him.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Carmen insists that what Marcos is doing now isn't that different to her line of work, smuggling illegal people around. Of course, helping mutants in distress and doing human trafficking actually is quite different.
- Perception Filter: Trader has the power to make living beings perceive him as invisible, but he can't affect electronic surveillance like cameras.
- Power Nullifier: Pulse has the ability to knock out both electronics and mutant abilities within a two-block radius of himself.
- Psychic Nosebleed: When Pulse focuses his powers on Thunderbird, Thunderbird gets a small nosebleed from the strain. Thunderbird manages to power through it and punch Pulse out before it gets worse.
- Real Men Love Jesus: Marcos is seen praying Hail Mary for forgiveness after torturing somebody for Carmen.
- Teeth Clenched Team Work: Lorna is not happy to see Reed again at first, but they eventually work together in order to escape.
- Villainous Breakdown: Jace Turner has a big one after Reed, Lorna and the rest escape, ordering his men to go after everyone who had even the slightest contacts with the Mutant Underground.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Lauren is able to use her barriers like a nozzle to focus Andy's destructive waves at specific targets.
"Shut down every safe house, every sympathizer, anyone who's ever helped 'em. I want them all."
