How 'The Gifted' Can Improve in Season 2

Fox's X-Men movie spinoff series The Gifted just wrapped a pivotal Season One run, after securing a Season Two renewal very late in the game. Since The Gifted has been such a "bubble show," Season Two will need to improve things in several important ways to help build the audience of Marvel and X-Men fans that are invested in the show.

Taking our own analysis and combining it with what the fan community is already saying, here's how The Gifted can improve in Season Two.

Hit the Ground Running

One of the biggest criticisms of The Gifted's first season is that it (literally) goes nowhere. After the pilot introduced a "family on the run" premise to audiences, The Gifted slowed way down, confining most of the season to The Mutant Underground headquarters, Sentinel Services detention / transportation locales, or Trask Industries labs.

The Gifted Season Two needs to hit the ground running. Instead of constantly hanging out around the same locations like the cast of a sitcom, The Mutant Underground team and their rivals should have missions that take them to new settings for new arcs every few episodes or so. Nothing makes a sophomore slump worse than falling into a rut.

New Mutants

Nobody enjoys when superhero shows fall into arbitrary "freak of the week" formats, but The Gifted is uniquely suited to making something worthwhile from the concept.

Given where Season One left things, there's room for The Mutant Underground and/or the new Brotherhood to go on a recruitment drive -- especially if they're recruiting with purpose. If there is a larger mission (or series of missions) to be completed in Season Two, then there's just as much reason to acquire mutants who can help complete those tasks. So whether it's The Underground, The Brotherhood, or The Hounds who come seeking them, The Gifted Season Two has the opportunity to introduce and develop a lot of new mutant characters.

Costumes

Now that The Gifted has split its mutant characters into three factions, it's time to make them actually look like proper superheroes and supervillains.

This isn't just an arbitrary request, either: with the Underground, Brotherhood, and Hounds on a collision course, the various fighters of each faction need to start actually suiting up for battle; going at it in hoodies, T-shirts, and ripped jeans just isn't going to cut it anymore.

With the resources of the Hellfire Club and Charles Xavier's estate both out there, the characters of The Gifted just need to access them, which would be all the explanation needed for some armored costume upgrades.

A Big Bad

The Gifted Season One introduced many antagonists for the Mutant Underground, from the government and Sentinel Services to Trask Industries and Dr. Campbell's Hounds to the Hellfire Club, its Stepford Cuckoos agents, and the legacy of warring ideologies between Charles Xavier and Magneto.

However, in that swirling mass of threats and opposition, there is no real nefarious "big bad" for the series to center around. Larger villains have been hinted at (the Stepfords' mysterious handler; Dr. Campbell's comic book villain connection), but there is no "love to hate" bad guy to pull things together. Given the expansive X-Men comic book lore out there, a villain shouldn't be hard to pull. The Gifted Season Two would do well to find the sort of antagonist that could pull all these branches of character and story together in a thrilling way.

The Gifted Season Two should be back on FOX this fall.