"Hated and Feared" Re-Watch: "Xavier Remembers" & "Courage"

 X-Men

Have you been wondering where Morph is? Well if you have been then you're in luck. Let's get right into things.

"Xavier Remembers"

Wolverine: "It's up to you, Chuck. You don't have to worry about us anymore. Let it go."

Charles Xavier: "I don't know. To be with you, all of you, no more struggle, it would be so easy. Yes! I feel so light! So free!"

The Shadow King: "Let go. The universe will be yours."

Charles Xavier: "Yes!"

Charles Xavier is having nightmares. And they may just cause him to never wake up. The X-Men are doing everything they can in the waking world, while Xavier wages a psychic war on the astral plane. His opponent? A man he imprisoned there years ago, Ahmal Farouk, the Shadow King. Can he stop the Shadow King or will Xavier never wake up again?

Cyclops is yelling. Big surprise.

This is an interesting episode. It feels like the show is trying something new but I'm not sure how successful it is. It's a stormy night at the mansion and a ruckus causes the team to rush outside. They are soon being confronted by their biggest fears. Wolverine faces Sabretooth. Jubilee is menaced by a Sentinel. Storm feels as if she is being closed in a box. Cyclops and Jean are captured by Mister Sinister. All Xavier can do is watch in shock. He can't stop them. It's pretty soon after that the episode reveals that this is all a dream. I kind of wish that they had framed this a little differently. I think it would have been better if viewers had maybe been strung along a little longer. Kept off-guard a little longer. I think the writers should have left their cards a little closer to their chest. But instead, they let us know right off the bat. And I think it ratchets the tension in the episode way down right from the start.

The Shadow King is an iconic X villain that is still a major player in the modern comics, so it's great for him to get his moment in the sun in the animated series. Though, I'm not sure that the episode is entirely successful with his introduction. The show plays it pretty faithful to the comics. Xavier meets Ahmal Farouk on the streets of Cairo, after stopping a young Ororo Munroe from pickpocketing him. Farouk is using children like Ororo to do his criminal deeds. After stopping her, Farouk hits Xavier with a psi bolt and they battle on the astral plane with Xavier barely winning and trapping him. I love all that. This is a great story and there's no need for the show to reinvent the wheel here.

What I don't love is a lot of stuff that happens outside of this introduction. First off, Storm should have been a major player in this episode. She has a history with the Shadow King and she's barely in the episode. This is a real missed opportunity, particularly since the show barely acknowledges Storm. A lot of stuff is not explained here well enough either. The episode never really tells us how Farouk was able to escape Xavier's mental prison. I'm not saying that we need a long explanation, but like, one sentence would have been enough. Xavier is the strongest telepath in the world we need a little bit more.

A lot of this episode takes place on the astral plane and that again is hit or miss for me. I get that it's difficult to make a psychic battle look cool and engaging, but the show goes too far. Why are Xavier and Farouk fighting on the astral plane as kaiju? It makes zero sense. I am glad that Jean gets to be the hero here. She goes into the astral plane at the end of the episode and helps Xavier. I'm so used to seeing Jean being disrespected that I'm not used to her actually playing the hero here. Even if she does end up being so weak she has to be carried by Cyclops at the end of the episode.

This episode is just OK. There's a ton of potential here and I'm disappointed that the episode couldn't live up to it.

Grade: C+

"Courage"

Wolverine: "What's going on?"

Storm: "We do not know."

Beast: "However, based on the urgency of Professor Xavier's summons, it would appear to be a matter of some importance."

Wolverine: "You sure got a windy way of saying 'get the lead out."

After some rehabilitation time on Muir Isle, Morph decides to rejoin the X-Men, against the recommendation of Moira Mactaggart. Things take a turn for the PTSD when Master Mold and the Sentinels return to menace the team. Can Morph overcome his fears and help the team or will his return to the team be short lived?

You know what they say about big feet...

I have to start this by asking anyone reading this to help me out. Did I miss something? When the team runs into the surprise welcome back party for Morph, someone makes the comment that they are a week to early for a party for Rogue and Gambit. Why would there be a party for Rogue and Gambit? They aren't engaged. Are they? Did I miss something? I feel like I pay attention. I take notes but I don't remember anything being said about that. So, if you know something I don't, please educate me in the comments.

I wasn't super psyched about this episode at first. Morph is a character that you either love or don't love. I have always been pretty ambivalent about Morph. He's not a character original to the comics and was seemingly killed off in the first episode. Then, they brought him back in season two just to be a source of cheap tension for his former teammates particularly Wolverine. I honestly had forgotten that he made another appearance and I was ready to write this episode off completely. But imagine my surprise when I found myself really enjoying it. 

The show could definitely just trot Morph out for any old episode as like a cheap plot device, but it feels like they really thought about and decided to tell a story that Morph really complements. This is great. The return of the Sentinels really hit Morph where it hurts particularly since one nearly killed him. It has real pathos and it never feels put on.

One of the things that I really enjoy about Morph is his relationship with Wolverine. There are characters that really bring out the softer side of Logan. In the comics, it's characters like Jubilee or Kitty Pryde, but in the animated series, Wolverine isn't super close to Jubilee. There are also characters like Nightcrawler that Logan connects with and they are able to have these deep discussions and Nightcrawler is able to see through the gruff exterior. Morph is that character in the animated series and maybe the show was done a disservice by not having Morph around more so we could see that side of Wolvie. It's present here. Morph and Wolverine go investigating the attack on Zydek Industries and when Wolverine realizes the culprits were Sentinels, he immediately tries to protect his friend. It riles Morph up, but it's very sweet.

The plot of this episode is interesting but relatively simple. Zydek Industries has created a material that is thin as plastic but strong as steel. Master Mold, or his head at least, is back and directs his Sentinels to steal the prototype so he can build himself a body made of the alloy and create Sentinels made out of it. It's easy and I love the idea of Master Mold's head trying to take revenge on the people who wronged him including Bolivar Trask an Henry Peter Gyrich.

Gyrich and Trask are on the lam. They are living in the jungle in a treehouse and bickering like an old married couple. I love it. It's definitely queer coded and like, I get that they are mutant hating douchebags, but I'd watch a spin off of them as opposites attract lovers. Sue me. I'm sure there's some sort of fan fic of that that exists somewhere.

If I have a minor gripe about the episode, it's Morph's behavior after the Sentinel involvement is revealed is a little all over the place. I can forgive it to an extent because Morph is suffering from PTSD and that is difficult to navigate. But, he snaps back and forth so much it gives me whiplash. I will say it's all worth it to see him torture the Sentinel head for information which feels like a big deal, but it turns out the X-Men already have that second set of coordinates so... what exactly was the point?

The episode ends with the Sentinels defeated and Morph leaving the team again, saying he came back too soon. So, I'm sure we'll see him again. All in all though, this was a solid, entertaining episode and it honestly feels like a while since we've had one of those.

Next up... oh Jesus Christ. Cyclops has another solo adventure. Fuck me. And Nightcrawler makes his animated series debut.

What do you all think? How do you feel about Morph? What did I miss in regards to Rogue and Gambit? Let me know in the comments.