Marvel’s Inhumans: The Gentleman’s Name Is Gorgon

Marvel’s Inhumans: The Gentleman’s Name Is Gorgon | Season 1, Episode 6 | Rating: 6/11 |

I’m going to get this out of the way early so that I’m not a Negative Nancy during this review: they did Gorgon completely wrong this season.

So far, each member of the royal family (besides Crystal) has gotten an episode to show their journey and flashbacks. Gorgon has appeared in other’s flashbacks and helped to shape their character growth but he’s generally been shown as a lovable, but oafish character. From the title of this episode, it seemed as if we were finally going to get the lowdown on Gorgon, but – spoiler alert – this was all just a lead up to his death. There was even a further missed opportunity when Auran, who was questioning her ability to regenerate, finally finds herself face to face with her mentor, Gorgon, in battle. Although the fight was well choreographed, it lacked emotional resonance which could have been interjected with flashbacks to their original meeting and training. We still have yet to find out why Auran, who has been a part of the royal guard for years, has sided with Maximus. Is it love for him? Was her family hurt by Black Bolt and the others or by the caste system? Is she resentful of her own place in the caste system like Locus? WE. STILL. DON’T. KNOW. And there are two episodes left to wrap this story up. Auran deserves better, Gorgon deserved better and we, the audience, deserved better.

Now onto what was good about the episode. Medusa, Black Bolt, Karnak and Gorgon are reunited and thanks to Locus, they know that Crystal is somewhere on Oahu, as well. Auran is trying to lure Black Bolt back to the lab for a confrontation and Maximus is sending her reinforcements. While she’s holding him hostage, Declan reveals that Auran isn’t regenerating as fast or as fully as she has in the past. There’s a limit on how many lives she has and when she looks at her scarred hand, it’s obvious that he’s right. It’s different going into battle when you know you can be killed, and that twist added some weight to Auran’s character.

To make this move faster, the royals split up; Black Bolt and Medusa with Louise to find Crystal and Karnak and Gorgon to face Auran. Karnak is still unsure of his ability to calculate his way out of a situation, but a pep talk from Medusa and some encouragement from Gorgon builds his confidence and he and Gorgon manage to take out everyone one by one. But it’s funny how the royals fall into old habits. Karnak lies to Mordis about feeling bad that he was locked away for his power and Black Bolt immediately wants to kill Maximus. You can see why the royal family is hated by some. They may have abilities, but their need for self-preservation and desire to maintain their power is very much human. Although they knock everyone out and secure the hostages, Mordis comes to and he – rightfully – doesn’t ever want to go back to prison, so he self-destructs taking Gorgon with him. And that’s it for us learning anything more about that character. I get wanting to have a death that raises the stakes and Gorgon is a good choice because he’s part of the main cast, but he was woefully underdeveloped.

Medusa and Black Bolt are trying to find Crystal and Lockjaw while Medusa is, also, trying to convince Black Bolt to give Maximus a trial. She thinks it’s important that Black Bolt show the people he is fair. The show does a really good job of showing what a good leader Medusa can be. In the comics, she basically runs Attilan and her intellect and skill set are much better than Black Bolt’s. He’s right to want to kill Maximus, but in order to build with those that Maximus has on his side, it will take diplomacy.

They find Crystal because she and Dave go to the highest point where Crystal makes lightning to signal her location, but Dave’s ex has called the cops to report Crystal and her alien dog so they have to leave suddenly ditching Lousie and Dan. This is after Louise has spent the better part of the episode trying to convince Black Bolt and Medusa that there are good humans and they shouldn’t hide. In a world where there are Sokovia Accords and Inhuman registries, I don’t know why the writers were trying to go that route, but a few nice humans doesn’t mean the government won’t immediately lock up everyone on that moon and get to experiementing. Louise girl, stop. I hope we’re done with her.

Back in Attilan, Maximus is feeling the pressure. Black Bolt could return at any moment, and there is also dissent and he can sense it. The flashback this week focuses his training with Gorgon and Karnak and realizing that while he’s not a fighter, he is cunning. It’s the reassurance that he needs as he takes out Tibor and the resistance against him. Despite that his paranoia is clearly going to drive him mad, he’s determined to be king and he’s going to make everyone bend the knee by any means necessary.

Again, Inhumans is proving to be a show that has all the makings of a great comic book story but their tendency to move things along for plot or yadda yadda over details that could lend emotional weight to the story, is dragging this show down. Inhumans could have been a much tighter and impactful mini-series, but it falls short of greatness and this is coming from someone who actually enjoys it. Most people have given up. I hope they can finish strong and maybe even return with some lessons learned, but first we have to see if they can stick the landing.