Exploited

**eXploited** is the tenth episode of the first season of the *The Gifted*. It is the tenth episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

**TENSIONS RISE AS THE TEAM TRIES TO SAVE THE ONES THEY LOVE ON THE ALL - NEW FALL FINALE OF "THE GIFTED"** — At a moral crossroads, Jace is forced to hand over something valuable to Dr. Campbell. The team at Mutant HQ is divided on what they should do next, so Reed and Caitlin take matters into their own hands.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Two months ago, Senator Montez holds a re-election rally during which time he gives an anti-mutant speech. He speaks of mutant crime being at an all-time high and about how he created laws to punish mutants who use their powers to do harm. He also promises to continue fighting against mutants if he is re-elected. After his rally, Montez questions who put the event together as he feels there should've been double in attendance. He wants to reach beyond his base with a more muscular strategy. Esme, undercover as one of the Senator's assistants, informs him that his car has arrived to take him to his meeting with Trask Industries. Esme, known then as Stacy, asks if she can sit in on the meeting with him, and he agrees. Montez then receives a phone call from Sentinel Services notifying him that they have apprehended a number of mutants who have infiltrated the rally. Simultaneously, Esme receives telepathic warnings from her family to get away while she still can. Esme follows their advise and abruptly exits the rally.

Present day, the Mutant Underground is under distress following the apprehension of Dreamer, Blink, Andy and Lauren by Sentinel Services. Lorna wants to move in now to retrieve the team, but Caitlin and Reed argue that hitting Sentinel Services is far too risky. Reed asks Lorna if she's crazy as she wants to launch an attack on the heels of what they just went through, with no way in. This seemingly triggers Lorna who tells him to never call her crazy. She reminds them that it isn't just her people with Sentinel Services, they also have Andy and Lauren, though Caitlin needs no reminder. John grows tired of their senseless bickering and breaks the table in a fit of rage while demanding that they stop because there is no more "yours" or "ours". Andy, Lauren, Sonya and Clarice are all of their people. While Reed argues that going in weapons drawn will only get someone hurt, Lorna worries that the longer they wait, the greater the risk of their friends being turned into Hounds become. As Lorna, Reed and Caitlin go back and forth, Marcos reminds them that the enemy is Sentinel Services and Trask Industries. So he wants to set up scouts to possibly get eyes on their people. John agrees and decides to send out Sage and Shatter while checking in with their police contacts.

At the Sentinel Services Regional Headquarters, Andy and Lauren are placed in neighboring cells. Andy notes that the power suppressing collars itch. Hopefully, that's all it does, Lauren retorts. As Andy grows restless and anxious, Lauren attempts to calm him. But she fails as his powers begin to manifest, which triggers the collar to give Andy a high voltage shock. He wonders what is going to happen next. They have to be charged at some point. Lauren surmises that they'll be brought up on charges of terrorism. Leaving them both in a state of fear. Andy begins to regret his decisions to not combine powers in the basement to escape, but Lauren assures him that he made the right decision as a lot of innocent people would've died otherwise.

Agent Turner interrogates Sonya in the interrogation room. According to Sonya's statement, she, Clarice, Lauren and Andy wandered into the power substation because they got lost. She claims that they were looking for the aquarium. While it is a bit hazy for him given that Sonya unintentionally scrambled his brain, which he believes was done to cover their own tracks, Agent Turner is able to recall their previous encounter, where she dug through his mind for information in relation to Trask Industries and their Hound program. Agent Turner reveals to Sonya that she took the memories of the last few days that he had of his daughter, Grace, which Sonya had no prior knowledge of. After the incident in which they held him hostage in a warehouse for hours, he went home that night to read his daughter a bedtime story. However, his wife had to stop him, to remind him that their daughter had died four years prior. Because of Sonya, he has been cursed with the opportunity to lose his daughter twice. As tears of remorse runs down Sonya's face, she apologizes for her actions, claiming that it was an accident. Unfortunately, Agent Turner isn't after an apology. This matter is extremely personal for him. He wants Sonya to pay. As he is leaving the room, he informs Sonya that they are going to introduce her into the Hound program.

Agent Turner monitors Agent Weeks' interrogation of Clarice, who claims that she too got lost, but while looking for the restroom. Agent Weeks tells her that she isn't going to escape like she did last time, as she got lucky. Clarice retorts that luck had nothing to do with it. She made them look foolish, a pretty good skill, she notes. Agent Weeks offers Clarice the opportunity to make a deal because she won't like what follows. Despite his offer, Clarice refuses to talk. Agent Weeks explains that while he knows why they were in the power station, he can't quite figure out what they were looking for. Agent Turner takes this time to call Dr. Campbell with the news of Clarice, Sonya, Andy and Lauren's apprehension. While he has been discharged from the hospital, Campbell's speedy recovery did require help from one of the mutant assets, though it's a painful process and he does have permanent burns scars on the right side of his face.

At HQ, Reed and Caitlin try to take a more political route in retrieving Andy and Lauren. Just outside their door, Esme eavesdrops on their conversation while also looking through Reed's thoughts. She sees Reed's encounter with Sentinel Services. Esme then enters the room to tell them that they are right about not attacking Sentinel Services as they both have family inside and another attack will only get them killed. She explains that it is a human problem that requires a human solution, and Reed and Caitlin are the only ones who understood that. She suggests going to Agent Turner and trying to appeal to him. Reed and Caitlin are skeptical due to their past with Turner, but Esme tells them that they can try to convince Agent Turner to take the mutants out of Trask labs and to do the right thing. Better them sitting in jail then being inject with drugs and turned into Hounds. Andy and Lauren's powers in the wrong hands can change everything.

Marcos asks Lorna how she's doing. Not well considering that Sonya, her best friend, has been captured. Marcos insists that they are working on it though Lorna isn't convinced that the Struckers' plan to talk to lawyers will help. Marcos asks that she not be too hard on them because they came from that world. Part of them still believes and trusts in it. Lorna isn't alright with them cozying up with the very same people that hate them. Marcos reminds Lorna that their kid is in their. Lorna knows this. But they have their own baby to think about and the world they're bringing that baby into.

Sonya, Clarice, Lauren and Andy have been transferred to Trask labs. As Sonya and Clarice sit in their connected cells, Sonya begins to wonder what is being done to Lauren and Andy. She reveals to Clarice that many years ago, before anyone knew that she was a mutant, she used to volunteer at a shelter for battered women, who had suffered great tragedies. Occasionally, she would secretly use her powers to pull their worst memories from their minds. Sonya wishes that she can make all of them forget that they have been apprehended. Clarice instructs her to think positively. She thinks back to her days in the mutant detention center, where she was terrified. She was shaking so hard that when she got the chance to escape, she almost portaled herself into the middle of a 10-lane freeway. However, Sonya can't help but feel that their current predicament is impossible to escape. It's only impossible if you give up, Clarice explains. Not to mention that John will eventually come to their rescue. They merely need to figure out a way to hold on until then.

Reed and Caitlin discuss the risk they take with Esme's plan. At least in jail, Andy and Lauren will have a chance. In that lab, they'll be turned into Hounds. So if they'e going to do it, they need to do it now. Without telling anyone since the Underground doesn't want them talking to anyone, much less a Sentinel Services agent. Caitlin wonders how they will even go about getting in contact with him. Reed suggests approaching him at home. The file work from the courthouse had the addresses of all the agents on the program, which includes Agent Turner. Caitlin tells Reed to get the address while she gets supplies and keys to a car. Esme stands on the other side of the station, by the vault, seemingly observing their moves.

Andy and Lauren are brought into Dr. Campbell's office. Immediately, Lauren questions what was done to Clarice and Sonya. Dr. Campbell assures her that they are fine. His concern is only Andy and Lauren, who are now wearing skintight jumpsuits that'll measure their biometrics. It'll help give Trask an accurate reading on the full extent of Andy and Lauren's abilities. They're the great-grandchildren of Andreas Von Strucker. He and his sister Andrea shared a trait that Campbell believes Andy and Lauren have inherited. The ability to combine their powers. However, Lauren claims to have no knowledge of what Campbell is referring to. Although, he isn't buying it. Their father has been exploring his past, which includes their grandfather Otto's Trask research. Dr. Campbell orders that they be taken to testing to determine whether or not they share their ancestors' special gift.

Andy and Lauren are taken into an indestructible cell lined with adamantium. An extremely rare, metallic alloy. Took a while to acquire, but they had found some in a defunct military installation in British Columbia. He tells them to face the sensors, join hands to combine abilities and demonstrate what they're capable of. With their collars turned off, Campbell requests they give it all they got, but they refuse. So he shocks Lauren. But even then she still refuses, as does Andy.

Reed and Caitlin pull into Turner's neighborhood. It reminds them of their own neighborhood. Reed wonders how Patriotic they'd feel if they knew their fellow Americans were being used as Science experiments. Honestly, Caitlin believes that a lot of people would be fine with it, just as they were before everything that happened. Caitlin then turns her attention back to Turner. Reed wants to at least try to convince him to do the right thing. Turner on some level Reed believes is a good man, but he's just angry. Caitlin pulls a gun out of the glove compartment just in case things go wrong. When Reed asks if she's sure she wants to do this, she replies that her dad put a gun in her hand when she was 4 years old.

Marcos and Lorna go over the layout of Trask Industries. Security was tight before, it's going to be worse now. Shatter is out scouting, but it isn't looking good. Esme claims that she read the Struckers' mind unintentionally and suspects that they went to talk to Agent Turner. As Marcos and Lorna rush off, Esme smiles evilly as her plan seems to be falling together.

Jace returns home and has a drink. Paula, noticing the signs, realizes that it must've been a rough day at work for him. Jace claims that he's fine, but she knows there's more to it. He says that it's just work stuff that he can't talk about with her though she hates that he has been burdened with carrying all that on his shoulders. Nonetheless, she is so proud of him. But she wants him to take time off. However, he can't as he is on to something big. Leaving Paula to question if he wants to end up like his father, leaving her widowed at 40. Jace replies of course not. But she'd make a hot widow, he remarks. The doorbell rings. She answers it. Upon opening the door, Caitlin and Reed force their way in with a gun.

At the station, Marcos, Lorna and Esme report to John that the Struckers have left to speak with Agent Turner. Esme says that they had some idea about convincing Agent Turner to get everyone out of Trask lab. As if a life time spent behind bars is better, Esme remarks. She now claims that the Struckers just don't understand because they're human. It is clear that Esme is playing both sides, with an end game in mind no doubt. Even if Reed and Caitlin succeed in convincing Agent Turner, then he moves them to a detention center and they're gone forever. Even if there's a small chance that Agent Turner will move the prisoners tonight, John and Lorna think that they might be able to recuse everyone. However, Marcos argues that it's still a big risk. Last time they hit Sentinel Services, they were hit back hard. Given that Reed was a lawyer, Esme informs John that it's possible they may get through to Turner. Regardless, they need a plan. Marcos recalls that Shatter is still scouting Trask. So he needs to know that Sentinel Service might be coming.

Jace tells Caitlin and Reed that kidnapping him and Paula will only hurt their cause. Furthermore, Sentinel Services doesn't negotiate with terrorist. Reed explains that it isn't a kidnapping and that they aren't terrorist. At the end of this, they're going to walk away. What happens after that is up to Turner. Caitlin explains that they're only there to talk about their kids and the other mutants who are being tortured. So Paula decides to hear them out. Reed and Caitlin are there because they've seen Agent Turner's record and more importantly because he's a father who has dealt with the pain of seeing his child get caught up in a war that they did not start, a war that began before they were even born. Reed and Caitlin want the Hound program shut down. But Agent Turner isn't willing to let an entire facility full of criminals to go free. All Reed is asking is that he uphold the constitution. However, Agent Turner counters that everything going on at Trask labs has been authorized by Congress.

While Lorna is ready to proceed with a plan assuming the chance comes for them to recuse their friends, Marcos is still worried. They're going to be dealing with a group of armed Sentinel Service agents on high alert along with Trask security. It could be a bloodbath, which Lorna is fully aware of, but she's not about to beg for mercy like the Struckers and bank on human decency. They're trying to save the people they love. Marcos knows how that feels. However, as Lorna points out, he actually came to get her while Reed and Caitlin only want Lauren and Andy out of Trask labs just so that they can sit in prison for the rest of their lives. While neither Marcos nor Lorna can accept that, Marcos has seen a lot of killing and knows where this roads goes as their current predicament isn't that much different from his days in the Cartel. He's lost more friends than he can count. He doesn't want that for them. However, Lorna refuses to accept living in fear.

In the adamantium cell, Lauren and Andy wonder how much longer they will be kept inside. While the shocking hurts, Lauren refuses to combine her and Andy's powers for Campbell. If they hold out long enough, Lauren is sure that someone will come for them. Dr. Campbell returns, this time around with Sonya and Clarice as additional motivation. Dr. Campbell holds Sonya and Clarice at gunpoint and threatens to kill them should Lauren and Andy refuse to comply with his demands. Despite knowing the dangers she faces, Sonya tells Andy and Lauren not to combine their powers, which angers Dr. Campbell. When she repeats this sentiment to the Strucker kids once more, Dr. Campbell grows tired of both her interference and Andy and Lauren's refusal to obey. So as a show of force, he shoots Sonya in the chest without hesitation. She dies instantly as her lifeless body hit the ground and pink smoke exits her mouth.

Dr. Campbell points the gun at Clarice's head and demands that Andy and Lauren face the sensors or else Clarice will suffer the same fate as Sonya. Andy looks to Lauren for answers though neither of them know what to do next. With Clarice still being held at gunpoint, shaking her head no, Andy and Lauren decide to conjoin hands and combine powers in order to save her life. Just like before, their hands glow and their hair blows upward in a dramatic motion. As they hold hands and the light seemingly courses throughout their body, Andy and Lauren direct their blast at the sensors. However, they are approaching the limits of the sensors though Campbell isn't concerned as the room is supposedly indestructible. Andy and Lauren disprove that theory by greatly denting the wall of the adamantium cell and completely destroying the wall of the neighboring lab.

Back at the Turner's house, Reed and Caitlin continue to plead their case to free Andy and Lauren along with the other mutants. While Reed insists that Turner knows what Trask is doing is wrong, Turner counters that what they're doing is perfectly legal. However, as Reed points out, that doesn't make it right. But the matter isn't up for debate as far as Turner is concerned. He reminds Reed that Andy and Lauren were apprehended attacking a key infrastructure facility. Which makes them terrorists. Whatever their circumstances, Turner points out that at least their kids are alive. Meanwhile, his daughter is dead. Caitlin then speaks up. She knows how upsetting this must be for Turner with them at his house as she recalls him coming into her house with a gun. His home is the last place she wants to be. So she's going to say what she has to say, then she and Reed are going to leave. Caitlin tells Paula that she's seen first hand what the Hound program does to people. It pumps the mutants full of drugs until they are helplessly addicted. They're also given mental conditioning so that they have to do as told. And then they are sent to kill everyone they love. They may be alive, but that's worse than death. Caitlin and Reed then exit the Turner's home. As soon as they do, Jace prepares to call a team to hunt them down, but Paula wonders if what they said was true, which it is. Which leaves her to question what Jace is doing in Grace's name.

That night, Clarice bangs on her cell window, frustrated over Sonya's death. She cries and slowly falls into a corner as she has seemingly lost hope. So have Andy and Lauren it would seem, who also sit in their cells, upset over Sonya's death. They blame themselves for Campbell killing her. She told them not to do it, but they did it anyway, essentially making her death meaningless. Lauren can't believe that Campbell just blew her away so effortlessly. Andy looks to Lauren for reassurance that everything is going to be okay, but not even she is sure anymore because Campbell now has whatever it is that he wanted from them.

From the biometric results, they were able to isolate the bonding agent that contains the same amino acids as the other siblings. Meaning Trask now has a weapon that'll provide a permanent solution to their mutant problem. Campbell then gets a call that Sentinel Services has arrived. Agent Turner, Weeks and a small team of agents come by to retrieve the prisoners. Agent Turner had been reviewing the status of the detainees and he isn't satisfied that any of it is legal. He has revisited the deal and decided to take the mutants back. Turner looks at the monitors, with each one providing a view into the prisoners' cell. He notices that Sonya is missing. Campbell tells him that there was an incident during one of their experiments and she didn't make it. Agent Turner is upset, but proceeds to round up the other mutants.

John gets word from Shatter that Sentinel Services is at Trask with a large transport vehicle and relays this to the others. They can't believe that the Struckers actually managed to pull it off. Unfortunately, the Underground doesn't have a lot of time to make their move. They're going to storm Sentinel Services on the road, free the prisoners and make their escape off the interstate. They're going to have a maximum of 1-2 minutes. The guards coming from the lab are going to be coming at them fast and they might have Hounds. Esme volunteers to go in to scout security, read one of the guards to see what she can find out.

Thunderbird, Eclipse, Polaris and Esme convene with Shatter just outside Trask. He tells them that he saw 2 Sentinel Services SUVs, 2 Sedans and a transport vehicle. And they all rolled in pretty high. Thunderbird's foresight allows him to see that Sentinel Services just left the building with the friends. When Polaris asks if they were all there, Thunderbird replies that he isn't sure. All he knows is that there is a group of them. They're going to be at the gate soon. Eclipse and Esme go in now to see what they can get off the guard at the booth.

Harry confronts Caitlin and Reed as soon as they return to the station after learning that they went to Agent Turner. Caitlin and Reed can't make sense of why Esme would tell everyone about their plan as she was the one that suggested it. They're now realizing that Esme has been lying to everyone.

Eclipse and Esme move along the fence quietly, slowly approaching so that Esme can get a read off the guard. Agent Turner and Agent Weeks approach the booth and hand the guard authorization papers for a transfer. They're taking out all the prisoners. Esme then tazes Eclipse, leaving him on the ground, throbbing in pain as she explains that she has her own plans. Back at the booth, the guard questions who authorized the prisoner transfer. Agent Turner tells him Sentinel Services.

Esme proceeds with her plan. Her eyes glow blue as she takes control of Agent Weeks and makes him turn off the collars on the mutant prisoners. Inside the transport vehicle, while under telepathic mind control, one agent kills two of his fellow agents before killing himself. Still under Esme's control, Agent Weeks shoots the guard in the booth as well as Agent Turner, before turning the gun on himself and pulling the trigger. Another agent is instructed to take his grenade off his belt, pull the pin and then get in his car. A couple seconds later, the car explodes with the agent and his partner inside. Agent Turner tries to stop the massacre but is knocked unconscious by the explosion. Meanwhile, in the transport bus, Clarice begins looking for keys to the collar. Esme approaches the transport vehicle where she reunite with her two identical sisters, Phoebe and Sophie. As more Sentinel Services agent approach, Esme, Sophie and Phoebe's eyes glow blue though Esme's seems to glow brighter than before. They instruct the leading officer to fire on his fellow agents, killing them all.

Eclipse wakes up to the aftermath. He runs off to inform Thunderbird, Polaris and Shatter about Esme's betrayal and her sisters, who are killing everyone.

Back on the road, Andy, Lauren, Clarice and the other mutant prisoners exit the transport vehicle. Esme, Sophie and Phoebe speak in unison. "Time to go boys and girls. The fun's just starting".

## Cast

* Amy Acker as Caitlin Strucker
* Sean Teale as Eclipse/Marcos Diaz
* Natalie Alyn Lind as Lauren Strucker
* Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker
* Coby Bell as Jace Turner
* Jamie Chung as Blink/Clarice Fong aka Clarice Ferguson
* Blair Redford as Thunderbird/John Proudstar
* Emma Dumont as Polaris/Lorna Dane

Guest Starring* Elena Satine as Dreamer
* Skyler Samuels as Esme/Sophie/Phoebe
* David Norona as Senator Montez
* Frances Turner as Paula Turner
* D James Jones as Trader
* Tess Malis Kincaid as Campaign Manager
* Gabriel Manak as Lab Tech
* Joe Nemmers as Agent Weeks
* Charlie Parrish as Gate Guard
* Dawson Towery as SS Stunt Agent #1
* LLoyd Pitts as SS Stunt Agent #2
* Jermaine Rivers as Shatter

Special Guest Star* Garret Dillahunt as Dr. Roderick Campbell

## Trivia

* The testing room that Andy and Lauren were placed in was lined with adamantium, a rare, metallic alloy commonly associated with Wolverine. As it is the substance bonded to his skeletal structure.
* This episode marks the introduction of the Stepford Cuckoos, telepathic quintuplets who were part of a series of clones of Emma Frost. The clones were created by the Weapon Plus program (the same program that grafted adamantium to Wolverine's skeletal structure and gave Captain America his superhuman abilities). The project was code-named **Weapon XIV**, and the goal was to create thousands of telepathic clones of Emma Frost (one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet) that, when combining their telepathic powers into a hive-mind, would be capable of killing every mutant on the planet.
	+ The names of Esme's clone sisters are revealed to be Sophie and Phoebe. In the comics, Esme and Sophie are dead, with the other surviving Cuckoos alongside Phoebe being Celeste and Mindee (aka Irma). In *iMprint*, it was reveled that they did exist, but in this continuity they're the dead sisters.

## Multimedia

* Promotional
* Screencaps
* Behind the Scenes
* Videos

### Videos

Preview More Bloodshed Season 1 Ep. 10 THE GIFTEDPreview I Want You To Pay Season 1 Ep. 10 THE GIFTEDAndy & Lauren Are Stuck In Jail Season 1 Ep. 10 THE GIFTEDSentinel Services Interrupts The Campaign Season 1 Ep. 10 THE GIFTEDThe Mutants Argue At The Base Camp Season 1 Ep. 10 THE GIFTED

## References

1. ↑ http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/the-sked-monday-network-scorecard-12-11-2017.html
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Gifted - Episode 1.10 - eXploited - Promotional Photos & Press Release