This week’s edition of Inhumans settles into its regular Friday night time slot. They are still apart, but the show adds new and intriguing details. For one, someone not in SHIELD knows about Inhumans, and there are flashbacks that give some insight about why Maximus wants Black Bolt’s throne.

SPOILERS BELOW

This episode starts with someone very interested in what Black Blot did when cops surrounded him in Honolulu last week. He’s Dr. Evan Declan (Henry Ian Cusick). Declan decides to call a big burly inmate named Sammy (Feleolo Alailima) because he is an Inhuman. Sammy has a power that ruined his life but may help Black Bolt. Why is Declan interested?

It’s revealed that Louise (Ellen Woglom) works for a company that wants to build a base on the Moon, maybe a hotel. Attilan may be worried about that. It’s not certain if Louise knows about Inhumans, she apparently wants to talk to Black Bolt.

If there’s a theme to this episode, it’s “what would happen to an Inhuman if his or her primary power is taken away?”  The answer is to be just a human, which is the worst thing for anyone in Attilan. Medusa has no hair to help her fight, Karnak is disoriented, and Black Bolt can’t talk to prison officials to explain himself. If he did, there would suddenly be no prison.

It’s too bad the show makes Medusa (Serinda Swan) look silly, especially when she tries to get money from an ATM by talking to it. She manages to get money and clothes just by walking into a home in a gated community. That’s too easy, and having her just looking for her husband makes her look more powerless. She has to be capable of taking care of herself.

The series does a much better job taking Karnak (Ken Leung) off his game. He wanders into an illegal marijuana farm run by a guy named Renoand is almost killed. Tied up, Karnak figures out a plan to escape which doesn’t work. Karnak tells a female friend of Reno’s that he’s always been useful to his King, giving the best answers to any problem. Now that he can’t because he hit his head last week, Karnak doesn’t know what to do. For now he’ll work at Reno’s farm, until the cops show up. At least he comes up with an explanation for his face tattoos.

Meanwhile, Maximus (Iwan Rheon) is busy solidifying his power. He wants Crystal to declare him king so it will be better for him… and her, too. He keeps saying he doesn’t want to kill Black Bolt, but you can sense he’s enjoying this. Besides, Maximus is not doing anything evil. He just has Auran and her minions do it for him.
Before fans think of Maximus as pure evil they see flashbacks of him and Black Bolt as teenagers dealing with their futures. The young Black Bolt doesn’t think being king of 1400 people is that impressive, but his brother seems to like the idea. Later, Maximus finds out his DNA is too human for him to reign over Inhumans. Then Black Bolt’s parents learn about his deadly voice, but they are determined to help him reign. As they discuss this, we see Maximus wonder why can’t he be the heir if his brother’s ability makes him too dangerous to reign. Some people online have compared Maximus to Loki, except his brother’s voice is much more destructive than Mjolnir.

Back on Earth, Auran (Sonya Balmores) looks for Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor) with fellow Inhumans including a guy named Mordis (Bridger Zadina) who has eyes that fire a death ray. He’s also kind of snarky. There’s someone called Flora (Krista Alvarez) who can clear away trees that putting her hands on the ground.

Gorgon is ready, though. Some of his surfer buddies agrees to help him, and ambush Auran. This leads to a fight between and Auran, and it’s too bad the editing for this scene isn’t that good. Gorgon’s stomp and Mordis’ death ray put an exciting end to the fight.

It’s still not clear why Auran is helping Maximus. Maybe she and other Inhumans have relatives with no powers, and they were hurt somehow.

Maximus meets with the Genetic Council and says he wants to end the caste system that separates Inhumans from non-powered people. One of the Council members hates the idea because the caste system puts each Attilan resident in his or her place. If anyone suspects this is like apartheid, that might be true. Maximus does have a good idea, and it would be progress. It’s just too bad he’ll kill his brother if it’s necessary, or get the non-Inhuman citizens to do it for him.

When Crystal is asked to tell the Genetic Council what she thinks, she says Maximus is King… but not hers. Thanks to freeze power she finally gets to use, she wakes up Lockjaw (the large transporting bulldog) and tells him to send her to where the others were. She is somewhere in Hawaii, in the dark, and a guy with a dune buggy accidentally hits the dog. This is used as the post-credits scene because we’re supposed to be worried about the dog’s safety since he’s the most popular character.

The real climax happens back at the prison, where Sammy and Black Bolt seem to be part of a possible fight set off by guards. A riot is set off, and it shows Black Bolt can handle himself well. Thanks to Sammy’s very hot hands, they escape, and suddenly board a helicopter piloted by none other than Dr. Declan. Louise sees this, and so does Medusa, who gets there too late. Medusa then sees Louise, points a gun at her, and tells her to follow the helicopter.

They’re too late for that, but this is actually the start of a more positive relationship (according to photos from the next episode), especially if Louise really does know something about Inhumans.

Meanwhile, the Inhumans may have a bigger enemy:  falling ratings. Despite a lead-in of the seventh season premiere of Once Upon A Time, the show’s ratings dipped by 22 percent over last week. All eight episodes will likely run on schedule, followed by the return of Agents of SHIELD on December first.

Watch this episode of Marvel’s #Inhumans online http://abc.go.com/shows/marvels-inhumans/episode-guide/season-01/3-divide-and-conquer