"Hated and Feared" Re-Watch: "Longshot" & "Cold Comfort"

 X-Men

Honestly, at this point, I'm just counting down to "The Dark Phoenix Saga." That isn't to say there isn't good stuff in these episodes, I'm just more excited for what's coming. Let's dive in.

"Longshot"

Jubilee: [channeling Storm] "JUBILEE, THE PRINCESS OF PYROTECHNICS, COMMANDS YOU TO RELEASE HIM!"

While on a driving lesson with Wolverine, Longshot appears from the Mojoverse. He's being pursued by Spyral and Mojo's lackeys. They are dispatched by Wolverine and Jubilee, but Longshot says he has no memories. Logan doesn't buy it but Jubilee does because she's a smitten kitten. When Mojo brings his show to Earth to recapture Longshot, it's up to the X-Men to cancel him for good.

Lovebirds?

The last time we saw Longshot was the first time the X-Men went to Mojoworld. He didn't get much play so I guess I can understand why they'd bring him back. I wasn't a huge fan of the first Mojocentric episode and shocker, I'm not a huge fan of this episode, either. 

I'm too lazy to go look at my recap of "Mojovision" so I may be making some of the same points, but honestly, if you follow my blog, you're probably used to this, so it should be old hat. Mojo is not interesting. He's one note. He's just screechy and shouting bad television related puns. I think Mojo could be used for sharp satire but instead most writers just use him to go for the low hanging fruit. And, it's not that I think that "X-Men: The Animated Series" is going to go for hard hitting satire, but it feels like they don't do it in the comics. His lackeys are even worse. I get that they are trying to be funny, but Majordomo's various ways of referring to Mojo's size aren't funny.

I was a big fan of the Outback team of X-Men and Longshot was a part of that. I don't think the animated series does a great job of capturing Longshot as a character. He's very generic. He reminds me of Gambit a lot. A charming cad who is blond and not Cajun. The fact that he always seems to be mind wiped doesn't help.

This episode feels like a re-hash of "Mojovision" in a lot of ways just with Mojo and his cronies coming to Earth this time. There are the same sort of fake tv shows that the X-Men are fighting in and performing in. The one joke that did make me chuckle was Mojo assuring his crew that Earth viewers would be into a dinosaur. This was not too long after "Jurassic Park" came out and I know as a child when this was airing I was super into dinosaurs. It was nice little inside baseball reference that I wish there was more of.

There are some little things I enjoyed. I loved Jubilee driving with Wolverine. I think Wolverine has probably never been more scared for his life than with Jubilee driving. Wolverine is in full dad mode when he finds out that Jubilee has a crush on Longshot. Wolverine is the dad cleaning his gun when a guy comes to pick his daughter up for a date except he's cleaning his claws. Also, irony alert that Logan is disbelieving of someone with memory issues.

Grade: D

"Cold Comfort"

Wolverine: "So what are we up against with this Iceman?"

Professor X: "We're not against him, Wolverine."

Wolverine: "So then we're with him?"

Professor X: "Of course not; he's destroying federal property!"

Wolverine: "Boy, I'm glad we cleared that up."

One of the Professor's first students, Bobby Drake aka Iceman, is caught trying to attack a government warehouse. The X-Men capture him but he refuses to tell them what he was doing there. It all seems to have to do with another former student and his ex, Lorna Dane aka Polaris. When Jubilee helps Bobby escape, the X-Men are confronted by a mutant team working with the government, X-Factor!

X-Factor baby.

A classic X-Man makes his animated series debut in this episode. It's one of the five original X-Men, Bobby Drake, the Iceman! I always thought it was weird that Iceman wasn't a part of the main cast of X: TAS, so it's great to finally get him for an episode. It's nice to find out that Xavier had other students prior to his current crop and that not of all them stuck around. In the comics, the five original X-Men were: Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl. It looks like it was very similar in the continuity of the animated series. The only difference was that it doesn't seem like Warren was a founding X-Man based on his previous appearances, so now I'm curious who was the fifth? Was it just Lorna? That'd be cool. She was part of the classic line-up for a time prior to the soft-reboot in "Giant-Size X-Men." I loved seeing the original X costumes on the animated series. I kind of wish they would have been on it more.

Iceman is very similar to how he is in the comics except he seems a lot angstier and angrier. Bobby Drake is a goofball. He's is a perpetual jokester. Think Peter Parker, but less mature. He definitely doesn't come off as mature, but he is like not fun. That is strange. It's also strange that he has sworn off the X-Men but he is still wearing his X uniform. Though, I do love that call him out on it.

Iceman being back introduces some interesting dynamics into the fold. Cyclops is in full oldest child mode. He's upset that Xavier and Hank would constantly give Bobby a pass and coddle him because he was the youngest. Though he never says it, he is clearly resentful and blames them a little bit for Bobby's current predicament. Jubilee is relating to Bobby hardcore which is probably why she lets him out of his cage and goes with him to the warehouse.

I'm a '90's kid through and through so my heart sang when the Peter David X-Factor team appeared onscreen. It was the classic line-up: Havok, Polaris, Forge, Quicksilver, Strong Guy, Multiple Man and Wolfsbane. It's a great fight and I loved every minute of it. We get some foreshadowing when Cyclops and Havok face off and their powers don't work on each other. For some reason, siblings mutant powers cancel each other out. I didn't think it was funny that they just kept trying. And these are the leaders of their respective teams. Come on, guys. Also, it should have been common sense to switch up opponents. Why ya acting brand new?

The plot of this episode is pretty threadbare. It all hinges on a relationship that we are just introduced to, that no one really cares about, but I'm willing to give it a pass.

Grade: B+

Next up, it's a two part trip back to the Savage Land and we might get the full team?

What do you all think? Any Mojo fans? Let me know in the comments.