Inhumans “… Behold The Inhumans,” jumps right in on the action and was immediately followed by “Those Who Would Destroy Us.” If you haven’t read any of the comics or followed updates after the Royal Family was introduced, you might be a little confused on who everyone is and what their powers are.

Inhumans 101

• Black Bolt is the King of the Inhumans. His voice is so powerful that he can destroy a city with a whisper.
• Medusa is Black Bolt’s wife and the Queen of the Inhumans. She has prehensile hair, which she allows her to move and control her hair as if it was another limb.
• Maximus is Black Bolt’s cousin. Although he’s technically Inhuman, he doesn’t have a power.
• Crystal is Medusa’s sister and is able to control the four elements of fire, earth, water and air.
• Gorgon is Black Bolt’s cousin and the Head of the Royal Guard. He has powerful legs and hooves, and the ability to create seismic waves with a single stomp.
• Triton is Black Bolt’s cousin. He has a fish-like ability and can live underwater.
• Karnak is also Black Bolt’s cousin and is able to see the fault in everything that surrounds him from people to plans and everything in between.
• Lockjaw is Crystal’s dog, but his ability to teleport makes him more than just the family pet.

The intro scene is a little clunky, but its purpose is to set up the impending collision of two worlds, the Inhumans from the City of Attilan (on the moon) and the humans on Earth. Triton encounters a young woman with wolfish eyes being chased in a rainforest in Oahu. He explains that she is Inhuman and that he intends to take her back to Attilan with him. Before they get a chance to leave, the men chasing her catch up with them. She gets taken out pretty quickly, and Triton is ultimately shot before seemingly falling to his death after jumping off a cliff.

Now the action moves to the City of Attilan, and Black Bolt and Medusa are in bed, enjoying a moment together before royal duties take over their day. They are next shown walking the streets of Attilan much to the delight to their people. Maximus is amongst the people and summoned to follow them. Now that the trio is together, it’s clear that he’s an outsider.  

Back on Earth, an Aerospace Center has an earth rover exploring the moon and it keeps getting stopped by an invisible forcefield. It ultimately disappears because Gorgon snatches the “baby car,” but it sets Louise on a mission to figure out what happened.

Maximus doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind

Maximus wants to go to Earth and attack the humans before the humans find them. Apparently, this isn’t the first time he’s brought this up. After Medusa announces that they’re staying, Black Bolt convinces Maximus to back down and Maximus says that he trusts his brother.

The Royal Family is present at a terrigenesis ceremony, and Karnak explains that terrigenesis exists to provide Inhumans with the genetic qualities they need. On Earth, Inhumans exist because they are descendants of those left behind when they fled to the moon and they were exposed to terrigen in the water supply. Two teenagers are placed in chambers and exposed to terrigen mists. When they emerge, their true selves are revealed. One is revealed to be a flyer, and the other seemingly has no powers. When Maximus goes to comfort him, the boy has a seizure. Maximus touches him again and the seizure stops, and he shares a vision about snakes being all over Maximus.

“He has yet to undergo the Genetic Council’s testing. I’m sure they’ll find something wonderful about him.” – Maximus #Inhumans pic.twitter.com/zuWkni2yxF

— Marvel’s Inhumans (@theinhumans) September 30, 2017

When the boy has no power to reveal, a man says he should be in the mines with them. Maximus gives an impassioned speech about the strict caste system in Attilan and how things would be different if they were on Earth.

Maximus learns that Triton is dead and shares the news with everyone at a family dinner. Just like any family dinner, there’s some arguing when it’s revealed that Triton was on a secret mission to retrieve Inhumans on Earth. Maximus again brings up wanting to go to Earth, but gets shut down by Black Bolt. Karnak tells Black Bolt that he’s blind to his brother and lets him know that Maximus has the ear of the people.

Black Bolt takes Gorgon’s gun away from him and he is sent to Earth to rescue Triton. Crystal tells Lockjaw to take Gorgon to where Triton was and the pair disappear.

When Medusa affirms everything that Karnak said about Maximus, Black Bolt makes it clear that he needs to be alone to think. She seems annoyed, but ultimately understands. She has a flashback of herself as a teenager, when she first snuck in to visit Black Bolt. 

Medusa runs into Maximus and he talks about how he would treat her differently than his brother. He insinuates wanting to be with her and brings up their past friendship. Things escalate when Maximus reaches out to touch Medusa. She chokes him with her hair, but ultimately releases him. After she leaves, Maximus remembers the vision about the snakes.

Medusa gives her brother-in-law a reality check. #Inhumans pic.twitter.com/seSP8oxdEp

— Marvel’s Inhumans (@theinhumans) September 30, 2017

Maximus realizes that he needs the backing of the Genetic Council to move to Earth, but they are loyal to Black Bolt. The Head of the Genetic Council, Kitang, accuses him of treason and asks Auran to arrest Maximus. Auran quickly kills Kitang and calls Maximus, “My King.”

The Royal Family Flees

With the Genetic Council out of the way, Maximus starts going after his family. Gorgon is on Earth and manages to evade the men Maximus sends after him. Karnak uses his gift of seeing flaws to his advantage and outsmarts the men that come after him. In a cruel, but necessary move, Maximus shaves off Medusa’s hair. She’s in tears as not only her power, but her identity, is stripped away.

Maximus taunts Black Bolt about what he did to Medusa and is trying to goad him to speak. Maximus reveals that Black Bolt killed their parents by speaking and just when it seems that Black Bolt is about to break his vow of silence, Crystal and Lockjaw appear and Lockjaw teleports Black Bolt to Earth. Medusa and Karnak teleported to Earth earlier and it’s unclear on why Crystal doesn’t go with Black Bolt. Maybe Lockjaw can only teleport one person at a time.

Lockjaw gets his coordinates a little mixed up and everyone is scattered around Hawaii. Lockjaw leaves Black Bolt in the middle of the street and out of his element.

Maximus uses the fact that the Royal Family fled to his advantage and lets the people know he remained and he promises that justice will be served.

On Attilan, Maximus tries appealing to Crystal, but she’s loyal to Black Bolt and not interested in siding with a human. Lockjaw returns to get Crystal, but he is rendered unconscious before he can take Crystal to the others and she’s taken to her room.

The Inhumans are alone and searching for each other

In an emotional scene, Medusa contacts Black Bolt. She’s desperate to know he’s okay and he holds up his comlink to his heart so she can hear his heartbeat. She also hears traffic in the background and knows he’s in the city. It would be convenient if the comlinks allowed texting since Black Bolt can’t speak.

Crystal finally reveals her powers when Auran brings her food. A comlink is conveniently left behind and she calls her sister who is now on a tour bus headed to the city. No one on the bus seems to notice that she’s talking on speakerphone even though it’s the most annoying thing in the world when someone does that on public transportation. Medusa quickly deduces that Auran tricked Crystal into calling her. After reminding Crystal to remember what she taught her, Medusa destroys the comlink.

Not one to wait around, Gorgon calls Maximus to bring the fight to him. Maximus sends Auran to Earth to “take care of” the Royal Family. He lets her decide if she wants to bring back or kill, but wants his brother and Gorgon dead. Auran opts to go alone so she can be discreet.

Black Bolt quickly realizes his clothing isn’t going to help him blend in with the locals. But shoplifting an outfit doesn’t help him keep a low profile. Numerous police officers show up and he’s able to fend off all of them until one of them tases him. He grunts in response, causing a police car to fly through the air and naturally this is caught on video.

The King’s new clothes…#Inhumans pic.twitter.com/7lsmikXcWr

— Marvel’s Inhumans (@theinhumans) September 30, 2017

Maximus meets with the boy that has visions again and learns that the Genetic Council wants to kill him.

After learning about energy glitches on the moon, Louise heads to Oahu, but not before grabbing a necklace. She doesn’t know the glitches were caused by Lockjaw traveling back and forth to Attilan. When she lands, she sees video footage of Black Bolt on the news.

Maximus tries to turn Crystal again and even threatens Lockjaw, but she won’t budge. Next, he reminds her that her parents once tried to overthrow his parents from the throne.

Auran finally encounters Medusa and the two fight. Auran comments that Medusa isn’t much without her hair. Just when it seems that Medusa is bested in the fight, she stabs Auran with a knife she stole from a man on the tour bus.

Black Bolt is at the police station and he cheekily takes off his handcuffs, but doesn’t try to escape. Right before he gets his mugshot taken, Medusa contacts him with Auran’s comlink and vows they will return to Attilan, “We are not defeated, not ever.”

Maximus visits the mines and reveals that the boy can see the future. Later, he’s speaking to the people of Attilan and tells them that change is happening. While this is going on, Crystal looks at a photo of her parents, no doubt thinking of what Maximus told her earlier. Gorgon is hanging out with his newfound friends on the beach. Karnak is curled up on the beach. Medusa is staring up at the moon, alone on a park bench. Black Bolt is placed in a cell, which is reminiscent of his days spent in isolation as a teen.

Earlier, the people of Attilan weren’t too interested in what Maximus had to say. But with the Royal Family gone, they’re quickly coming around.

The final scene reveals that Auran is alive and that her power is her ability to heal herself.

Final Thoughts

ABC did Inhumans a disservice by releasing promotional stills and a trailer that weren’t the final product. Inhumans bombed at the box office for a multitude of reasons, one of which could be that viewers felt they could wait until the series aired on television. There are some flaws to the series, but it’s not unwatchable by any means. The pacing is off a little, more so in the second episode. The costumes seem outdated, but eventually everyone will get a new wardrobe on Earth.

Eight episodes is a short amount of time to establish complex character relationships and while Inhumans did a good job showing the dynamics between Black Bolt, Medusa and Maximus, those dynamics were lacking with the other characters. Maximus isn’t entirely wrong for wanting to erase the caste system, but him wanting to murder his family makes it hard to sympathize with him.

I love flashbacks, especially when they’re used to flesh out the relationships between characters. I’m hoping for more flashbacks of Medusa and Black Bolt as teens. However, I’ve never been a fan of flashbacks that show information that was shown twenty minutes earlier.

One thing I’m wondering is if there is any sort of significance to the necklace that Louise grabbed before she went to Hawaii? Is there any chance that her necklace holds terrigen crystals? Also, was Medusa aware that Auran could heal herself? If so, leaving her half-dead probably wasn’t the best idea.  

There’s definitely potential for the remainder of the series and I’m looking forward to seeing the Inhumans evolve, not through terrigenesis but by having to cope with their humanity and lack of powers.