gaMe changer
"You have to understand, this place means a lot to me."
Written by Melinda Hsu Taylor
Directed by Allison Liddi-Brown
Directed by Allison Liddi-Brown
"Everything that's happening now is necessary for the world to be what it could be."
— Lorna Dane / Polaris
The Struckers try to destroy Madeline's research, the Underground takes drastic steps to get ahead of the Inner Circle, and Andy questions his loyalties.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: When Rebecca tries to kill the Inner Circle, Andy uses his powers to stop her. Unfortunately, he shoves her neck-first right into a corner, snapping her neck and killing her instantly.
- All for Nothing: The Underground's actions throughout the entire season end up leading nowhere, with them always staying a few steps behind the Inner Circle, who in turn end up executing their plan with only minor setbacks, none of which were even the Underground's doing.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Lorna attributes Rebecca's psychotic behavior to her mistreatment in the mental hospital. While this may have amplified her issues, the audience knows from the flashback and revelations in previous episodes that Rebecca was always violent.
- Blatant Lies: Turner tries to portray the Purifiers on TV as a non-racist, patriotic organization that would even welcome mutants who are willing to fight "terrorism".
- Distressed Dude: John gets captured by Turner.
- Flashback: This time it focuses on Rebecca, more specifically the day her own parents had Sentinel Services arrest her due to almost killing her teacher.
- Freudian Slip: Rather than the usual phrasing of "grandfather and his sister", Madeline Garber comes out and calls them "Reed's grandparents."Madeline Garber: Reed's grandparents were monsters. They murdered thousands.
- He Knows Too Much: Fade is sent to kill Laurence Hayes so the Underground won't learn what the Inner Circle is planning until it's too late. Fade spares his former teammates, though they still catch him before he can escape.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- John stays behind to hold back the Purifiers so Marcos and Fade can escape.
- Similarly, Noah stays behind to help the Struckers escape Madeline while he uses his powers to destroy the lab and the entire building with it.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: How Noah justifies helping Madeline.
- Internal Reveal: Lauren tells Caitlin and Reed about Madeline's research and her brother having founded the Purifiers.
- Jerkass Ball: John is extremely on the edge throughout the episode, to the point where he is willing to kidnap somebody in broad daylight, threatening to use torture and even lashes out at Clarice, suggesting she might have cheated on him with Erg.
- Keystone Army: The mutant shock collars are controlled from a central location. When Andy and Lorna destroy the server farm, every mutant prison suffers a mass breakout because the guards are suddenly very outgunned.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Noah turns on Madeline when she calls him a curse on his family and says Lauren should never have been born, removing his Power Limiter so his vibrations will destroy the lab.
- Neck Snap: How Rebecca dies, due to a very poorly aimed force push from Andy.
- No Sympathy: Played With. Reeva is initially cold when Sage tells her about Rebecca being in terrible agony in her prison. When she dies, she seems a little more sympathetic. However, a later comment implies she might have been feigning it to further motivate Andy.
- Nothing Personal: When Fade is cornered after killing Laurence, he insists he's not there to kill Marcos or John. They catch him anyway.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Noah turns out to be one, his shockwaves being strong enough to almost level the entire building.
- Punk in the Trunk: John and Clarice kidnap Laurence Hayes by portaling him directly into the trunk of their car, though they have to get Marcos to open it first so there's enough room for the portal.
- Rabble Rouser: Turner makes a villainous Rousing Speech to the Purifiers in light of the massacre at the bank.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Andy tries to abandon the Inner Circle and take Rebecca with him, but she insists on killing them first so they won't be followed, forcing Andy to stop her, killing her by accident. This makes him more dedicated to the cause when her psychotic behavior is blamed on the people who imprisoned her and he's given a chance to lash out at them.
- Tailor-Made Prison: Reeva has Rebecca confined in a small box that is completely dark save for vertical green lights that spin constantly. The intent seems to be to disorient her so she can't focus her powers.
- Too Dumb to Live: Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to connect all the mutant collars in the entire country to a single centralized location? Naturally, all hell breaks lose when the Inner Circle destroys it, with mutants rising up everywhere.
- Uncertain Doom: It's not clear whether Noah, Madeline or anybody else at the compound died.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Somewhat subverted with Rebecca, who at first seems like a normal girl in the flashback, but is then revealed to have almost killed her teacher with her powers, revealing that she was always unstable and violent.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Blink calls out John for caring more about stopping the Inner Circle than all the innocent mutants their actions are hurting and for his methods in general, like kidnapping somebody in broad daylight.
"It's like you said, brother, we're doing this for the people we love."
