[TV] The Inhumans Episode 3

Inhumans Epsiode 1.3 – Divide and Conquer

Original Air date: October 6th 2017 on ABC

Episode 3 of the Inhumans felt like it took a step back. Considering the previous episodes were average at best that’s not a good sign. The first two episodes set up a royal coup d’état with Maximus manipulating events to force Black Bolts hand. The princess, Crystal, managed to save the royal family with her magical teleporting dog Lockjaw but is captured in the process. In this episode Maximus continues to influence Crystal into publicly supporting him as the new King of Attilan. She agrees to do it but of course it’s a ruse and she defies him instead. She then escapes and reaches Lockjaw who teleports them both to Earth. Sadly Lockjaw is hit by an ATV and might be out of commission for a while. Who can say for sure but considering both Karnak and Medusa already lost their powers it would seem fitting.

I really don’t understand why you’d make a show about super powered people only to strip them of those powers right at the beginning. It would make sense in a season 2 or 3 story arc to add some adversity to the show but as an introduction it seems miscalculated. Especially with Karnak. In the premiere his ability to do the Limitless thing and calculate all the possible outcomes of different decisions was one of my favorite scenes even though it was a small one. Taking that away and having him act like a lost puppy is annoying. Even more so now that he’s basically just given up and said fine I’ll stay here and work on your pot farm because I’m useless. It’s not a way to get me interested in his character.

Medusa doesn’t have her powers either and is more annoying. I think we are supposed to feel pity for her but I don’t feel bad for her at all. First off we never really got to know her before she lost her powers but also she’s just so uppity. I understand the fish out of water shtick but it’s more than just the Inhuman on Earth thing it’s her snobby I’m Queen attitude that pisses me off. She really doesn’t do much in this episode and just happens to show up at the prison when Black Bolt escapes and just happens to bump into the scientist from last week who’s looking for the Inhumans.

Gorgon also has a scene that is just cringe worthy. He prepares for battle with Auron after having broadcast his position on Earth to Maximus as a challenge. But he enlists the help of some surfing Hawaiians who just happen to turn out to be Special Forces guys. Then of course the Inhuman bad guys show up and kick everyone’s ass. To seal the deal on just how stupid the plan was, one of the humans dies. Now I’m supposed to believe Gorgon is this master combat tactician after that yeah not likely. We’re also introduced to some new bad guy Mortis who looks like he could have been stolen right out of Captain Power or some shit. He’s awful and even the voice work is atrocious. But that costume oh wow. Worst I’ve seen in a long time.

Finally that leaves us with Black Bolt in prison. He makes a friend with some Hawaiian who ends up being an Inhuman. They make the guards into the typical meat heads that are just there to torment people for no reason. To the point they put him out in the yard with a whole bunch of what appears to be gang members hoping he’s going to get piped out. But because he beat up on some police officers earlier he’s welcomed as a hero. In short he and the Hawaiian escape and are met by some mysterious rich guy in a helicopter who offers them safe passage. It’s all really contrived.

While I defended the first 2 episodes as being better than The Gifted at this point they are both pretty mediocre and it’s hard to take either seriously. After seeing all of the Netflix Marvel series recently these really come off as bad TV shows. I know that’s not really a fair assessment but when I’d rather watch shows like Bull or NCIS over a Marvel show that suggests to me something isn’t right. Let’s hope these shows pick up and start delivering sooner rather than later.

Episode Rating: Poor