Inhumans “Make Way for … Medusa” was written by Wendy West and directed by David Straiton, whose other credit include
Hell on Wheels and
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. West has also written for
Taken,
Dexter and
The Closer. I have to admit that I’m still struggling to really engage with this show. Presumably, with her name in the title, this was Medusa’s episode to shine, but frankly, I’m still underwhelmed by Serinda Swan’s performance, and Medusa is, frankly, a bitch. I think Iwan Rheon settled into his part a little more in this episode and it was nice to get a bit more of his backstory.
Dr Evan Declan (Henry Ian Cusick) turns out to be a privately funded geneticist who is “protecting” a number of Inhumans at his “secret-ish” facility. We soon learn that he is actually working for Maximus who is hoping to use Declan’s findings to undergo terragenesis again and reverse his DNA being made human the first time.
We see that Maximus was essentially turned on by his own “friends” after his transformation. In fact, the Inhumans, including Maximus’ friend Tibor (Ptolemy Slocum) and the Genetic Council are all extremely racist and elitist – they just aren’t sympathetic protagonists at all! When the Genetic Council won’t sanction Maximus’ plan, he simply has them all killed.
Louise (Ellen Woglom) continues to help Medusa – and recognizes her ring from the one Louise saw on Black Bolt (Anson Mount). Medusa apparently has not social graces at all and tells Louise that Louise’s father wasted his life. We do see that Medusa had a difficult childhood too, but that’s not an excuse for intentionally ignoring other people’s feelings or hurting them on purpose. Louise flees from the police twice and steals a car and locates Black Bolt. This finally drags a begrudging ‘I like you’ out of Medusa.
Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor) finally realizes that he’s endangering the surfers and leaves them to go and find Karnak (Ken Leung) on his own. Karnak meanwhile is settling in with Jen (Jaime Gray Hyder). He shows her how to irrigate the crops, and in turn, she takes him swimming. In fact, she is clearly interested in doing a lot more with Karnak. Meanwhile, Reno (Michael Trotter) is ridiculously jealous. As Karnak and Jen make love in her tent, we see Reno digging a grave for Ted (Jeff Juett), who he appears to have beaten to death!
Sammy (Faleolo Alailima) and Black Bolt decide – finally – that despite Declan’s claims that their perfect DNA could be a cure for cancer and all kinds of other diseases, they have simply traded one prison for anther. The two escape just as Auran (Sonya Balmores) and her merry band of Inhumans arrive. Luckily, Medusa and Louise arrive shortly after this with Medusa taking out Mordis (Bridger Zadina) with her car door. We get a bit of an over the top slow motion reunion as Black Bolt and Medusa are reunited and kiss. They take the tracker Inhuman with them.
Finally, I don’t thinks it’s possible for Isabelle Cornish to impress me less as Crystal. In fact, I think that Chad James Buchanan playing Dave is actually a better actor than he seems because while he struggles in his scenes with Cornish I found him ok with his ex-girlfriend Audrey (Liv Hewson)– and she was delightful! Could we have more of her, please? She looks at Lockjaw – presumably if they could get him to the barn, they could have gotten him to the vet clinic but needed to keep him hidden. It’s clear that the two young, blond, pretty things are destined for a romance – Romeo and Juliet style – as it has to be frowned on for an Inhuman to fraternize with a Human.
What did you think of the episode? I haven’t given up on the show, but I’ve also been watching
The Gifted, and it’s just SO much better! Have you seen the other super-powered show? Which do you prefer? Let me know all your thoughts – including those on the Inhuman/Human romances – in the comments below!
