"Hated and Feared" Re-Watch: "Reunion" Part 1 & 2

 X-Men

It's been almost two months since I've made a post. Not my longest break, but longer than I was intending. What can I say, life happened but I'm ready to get back on track. We are back with the X-Men and it's time to close out season 2 with Xavier rejoining the fold and a final confrontation with Mister Sinister. Let's go.

"Reunion" Part 1

Mister Sinister: (to Morph) "I should've let you die!"

In the Savage Land, Xavier and Magneto are kidnapped by the mutates. After visiting Morph performing his own one man version of "Jekyll & Hyde", Jean joins them. Sinister uses the shape shifting pterodactyl man Karl Lykos aka Sauron and his mind powers to lure the X-Men to the Savage Land. The team is aware they are walking into a trap but spring it willingly in order to save their teammate and their mentor.

Ka-Zar sounds better than Kevin Plunder.

I loved the Savage Land as a kid. "X-Men: The Animated Series" premiered in 1992. I was but a wee lad of 9 and I was obsessed with superheroes and dinosaurs. The next year the movie "Jurassic Park" was released and I watched that sucker so many times. We saw it at the local theater. The drive in. On VHS. I'm pretty sure I drove my folks crazy. So, imagine my glee when I found out my new favorite superhero team regularly traveled to a land where dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. Not only that but there was a bad guy who was a humanoid pterodactyl? One of my favorite dinosaurs?! I mean, if there was more of a sign that the X-Men were destined to be my favorite superhuman team, I can't think of one. These finale episodes use the Savage Land better than the previous episodes. After getting glimpses of him, we finally get fully introduced to Ka-Za, Lord of the Savage Land and his saber toothed tiger companion, Zabu. There isn't a lot of background given here, but you still get enough to enjoy him and I bet more than a few '90's kids love Ka-Zar because of "X-Men."

Morph is back in this episode. Jean, Scott and Logan find him performing both parts in Jekyll and Hyde. It's pretty funny. Morph plays Jekyll as Xavier which is hilarious. He's basically working out his angst in front of an audience. I love how oblivious Scott, Jean and Logan are in this moment. They know that Morph has had his brain fucked with. They know he has betrayed them multiple times. They are just like "hey old buddy, how's it going? What? You lured us here on the orders of Sinister so he and his henchmen can get the drop on us and kidnap Jean? How could you?" You mean, how could you do this over and over again and keep falling for it? Come on, folks. Get it together.

We get to meet the mutate Brainchild, who feels like M.O.D.O.K if he was able to stand upright of his own volition. He's like the Gollum of the X-Universe. A bootlicking panderer who was happy to call Magneto master until he took off and Sinister showed up. Brainchild has zero loyalty. We also get more Sauron who uses his mind control powers to force Xavier to contact the X-Men and lure them to the Savage Land. I'm not sure if I believe that Sauron would be able to override Xavier's will, but we'll go for it. And hey, at least the X-Men are fully aware this is a trap they are walking into. It only took them being fooled like a million times this season.

Grade: B

"Reunion" Part 2

Jean Grey: (In regards to Sinister) "It'll be a minute before he's back together."

The X-Men head to the Savage Land and are almost immediately taken captive by Sinister and the mutates with only Wolverine escaping. The X-Men are rendered powerless by Sinister's machines. Wolverine teams up with Ka-Zar to rescue the team and drive Sinister out of the Savage Land. Can the two of them save the X-Men and stop Sinister?

Oh you Nasty Boys.

I don't think there is a ton to say about this episode. Much like the first season finale, it's a lot of action and not a lot of plot. It's like the episode is just biding time until the next big action sequence to go down. It opens with the X-Men going head to head with the Nasty Boys and mutates. It's pretty short lived. And then Wolverine gets away as he's wont to do so he can come back in the third act and rescue the team.

There are some interesting things, I kind of wished they had focused in on here. First off, Wolverine powerless means he's without his healing factor, which they don't really touch on at all. Now, I know in comics or movies, Wolverine sans healing factor could be a little gruesome but I think there was definitely a way they could have made it more kid friendly. It would have gave the episode a little more tension which it was severely lacking.

Now, that Rogue and Gambit are powerless they decide that now is the perfect time to get down to the most important business there is: fuckin'. I'm just kidding. No, they have a ton of melodramatic conversations that should actually be pretty annoying but aren't. I feel like a lot of credit for that has to go with Rogue's voice actress, Lenore Zann. She just really embodies the Southern belle and makes her so freaking charming that even when she's being super ridiculous, you give her a pass. So, when the moment comes and Gambit and Rogue share their first real, non powers stealing kiss, it's a really sweet, heartfelt and romantic moment.

Shortly after, Wolverine shows up and things go pretty much exactly the way you thought they would go. The X-Men get their powers back and make short work of Sinister and his cronies. Magneto even puts on his hero hat and saves the X-Men in the end. It's kind of annoying that all this Xavier/Magneto camaraderie that we've seen this entire season basically amounts to jack squat and Sinister ends up as a puddle so that's fine. Jean gets to make a little joke. Alls well that ends well.

Grade: B-

Next up, season three starts off with Wolverine getting a visit from a vengeful ex-girlfriend. Honestly, does he have any other kind?

Honestly, I've always felt these episodes were a little lackluster. What do you all think? Let me know in the comments.