It’s a gripping and savvy series that carves out its own space in the cluttered comic-book TV landscape.

Where the show goes will largely determine its ability to sustain itself as a weekly series, but “The Gifted” gets off to a smarter, more visually compelling start than the other new superhero show of the fall season that debuts tonight.

The Gifted falls pretty squarely in the middle. Based on tonight’s pilot episode (the only one Fox screened for critics), it gets the basics down and doesn’t try to deliver more than what you might expect, for better or worse.

The Gifted does little to make you forget you’re watching a less ambitious version of an “X-Men” story. You can see the actors--all of the actors--straining to convey the emotional weight of their struggles, and it helps. Having people like Acker, Moyer, Dumont, and the generally strong cast push themselves to give the pilot more of an impact is a benefit that’ll carry into future episodes.

The Gifted has come out of the gate with a solid first hour and memorable cast (something that’s hard when there are so many of them), and there are plenty of things that should make viewers optimistic--assuming it can cut through the noise and prove that it deserves to.

The Gifted is driven by action, not character development, and it soon settles into a humdrum series of cheapjack versions of set pieces from Carrie. Don't get too excited; whether through budget shortfalls or fears of rousing the FCC programming police from their deathbed, there are no exploding heads or even a pig-blood shower. Such a pity.

The mutants in The Gifted champion the abnormal, the different, and the weird, but the series itself is none of those things.

I love watching the gifted. The gifted is a show that is intense and shows the truth of the real world for mutants. I think the best show yet was season 1 episode 9. I really hope that there is a a season 2 and so forth. Keep up the good work, and don't forget that you guys have millions of fans that love you and adore you including me!!

This show has a great production and its heart is constantly in the right place. The problem is that the acting and writing make it a total slog to sit through.

I want to like this show, No i want to love this show, but it suffers from weak writing.... I don't even blame the actors.... I entirely blame whoever is writing this show.... It's enjoyable, but expect plot holes.... lots of plot holes and shallow writing

As much as I want to like this show or something like Marvels Runaways. Its not good. The show is much easier to watch if you realize you are not in a comic movie or TV, but a melodramatic soap opera. Once you've accepted your watching.... Young and the Restless with Xmen powers you are far more equipped to handle the writing in the show. It shouldn't be normal to be able to write better than the pros. In The Gifted most of us would be able to write better twists, turns, and characters. You will be left wanting. The show isn't without its bright spots and moments... Yes you will shed a tear or two, but remember it's a mutant soap opera... Which makes that behavior normal. The cheap melodrama, over explanation of dialogue, and lack of purpose and heroic direction eventually wears on you. Finally, if you want a female night crawler, magneto, prof X, along with 3-5 other main characters with the most powerful abilities to all be FEMALE. Then you come to the correct IP. If instead you want males to imagine yourself as... All you have are weak beta males, anti-heroes, and villains. I'd watch it if you are done with everything else, with the understanding it will never fulfill you for even more reasons I didn't get into. Also, expect it to be canceled soon and replaced by some other SJW crap. Which will also be canceled... Maybe in 2077 we'll be done with this crap...

Such a good idea and such horrible realization. And the further the show goes the worse it becomes. Or you simple realize more and more with every episode how dumb the characters, the dialogues and the whole story is. Nothing good can be found here. Horrible quality overall and a waste of time.