X-Men
It seems fitting that the episodes for this posts are all pretty Wolverine focused since we got the Wolverine costume reveal from "Deadpool 3" this week. I am not a huge fan of Wolverine's, but these episodes (for the most part) show why he is a compelling character and why writer's are drawn to him. Let's get to it.
"Lotus and the Steel"
Wolverine: "Who's Evel Knievel?"
Kisara: "He's my brother, Soichi. He... has a wild spirit."
Wolverine: "My condolences."
Wolverine is struggling mentally. He feels himself starting to revert back to the feral man he was when he first joined the X-Men. It feels like all the progress he's made with Xavier and the team is coming undone and the last straw was almost hurting Jubilee. Wolverine heads to Japan, the last place he felt truly calm. He begins working on the temple of us his former sensei, Oku. But, Wolverine's vow of non-violence is tested when a gang led by the Silver Samurai threatens the nearby villagers.
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| Logan... you've changed. |
Wolverine and Japan have a long history. The first solo "Wolverine" comic was a four issue miniseries written by Chris Claremont and penciled by Frank Miller that focused on Wolverine's time in Japan, fights against the yakuza and engagement to Mariko Yashida. The second Wolverine solo movie, "The Wolverine," was also set in Japan. So, it was only a matter of time before the animated series sent the hairy Canadian to Japan, particularly after introducing Lady Deathstrike in the premiere of season three.
The episode begins with Xavier meeting with Wolverine and basically just hitting him with every trauma he's ever had. He starts out with the Proteus stuff. And I have to say, I kind of liked that being brought up. I maybe didn't love that plot point in that two-parter, but I do like they didn't sweep it under the rug and it makes sense that would be the first thing Xavier asks about. When it's not that, its just a cavalcade of things. Is it his Weapon X trauma? No? How about your Jean trauma? No? It's like Logan's trauma greatest hits. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
One thing I enjoy about this episode is that it really focuses in on Wolverine's maturity which isn't something that we see a lot of in comics or in this series. He's looking to tear stuff up or be gruff. But here, Logan understands that something is up and he needs to take care of himself. He recognizes that he is a threat to everyone including one of the people he cares about the most: Jubilee. Wolverine taking the time to leave and clear his head is really good and important. Wolverine being reasonable? That never happens.
Wolverine in Japan is typical Wolverine in Japan type stuff. He reunites with his old master, Oku and immediately begins rebuilding the temple there. He is ready to give up his life of violence and live a life of peace here. We all know that isn't going to last. It's not long before Logan is embroiled in a conflict involving the villagers in the nearby fishermen and a gang of ruffians led by the Silver Samurai. These young ruffians drive crotch rockets because it was the mid-90's and that was cool back then. Don't think about it too much. But trust me, it was.
The conflict Wolverine has in this episode is nothing new. It's a conflict that he and other characters like him have faced many, many times. Is sometimes violence necessary? Should you always turn the other cheek. Should you involve yourself in other people's conflicts? I say it all the time. I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to make your turning of the wheel interesting and engaging and this episode does that. Wolverine's internal conflict is engaging. You feel for him.You know that he is not going to sit by and just let the Silver Samurai terrorize people. i enjoyed the montage of him teaching the fisher folk how to defend themselves and watching the youths fall victim to these pretty basic traps was extremely entertaining. It was like Wolverine in a Japanese set "Home Alone." Also, Japanese women find Logan irresistible, don't they? Kisara knows him for like five minutes and she's making out with him.
There are a couple small things I didn't love about this episode. I don't really think Jubilee needs to steal an X-Plane and fly to Japan. She doesn't really add much to it. It feels more like, Logan connects with these teen girls in a paternal way so she should go and try to talk some sense into him, but it never really goes anywhere. And, I was pretty disappointed with the Silver Samurai and Wolverine's fight. It was over too fast and pretty anticlimactic. But overall, a solid addition to the cache of Wolverine in Japan X stories.
Grade: B+
"Weapon X, Lies and Videotape"
Sabretooth: "Well, what do ya know? If the runt hadn't trashed the place, I coulda had tin-plated bones too!"
Wolverine: "You oughta thank me."
Wolverine is not doing much better since his return from Japan. He's still having waking dreams and delusions that are dangerous to his fellow X-Men. They all seem to be related to his time in the Weapon X program. This leads Wolverine and Beast to the former Weapon X facility. While he's there, Logan is confronted with people he thought were dead and memories that may or not be his.
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| I miss her. |
Can we talk about how the title of this episode is a play on the 1989 film, "Sex, Lies and Videotape?" The plot of that movie is a man who videotapes women talking about their sexuality and fantasies and his impact on the relationship between a married couple and the wife of that couple's younger sister. I am trying to somehow connect the themes of that movie to this episode and I'm going to say that because of the fake memories implanted and the videos the former Weapon X'ers watch that were recorded by the head of Weapon X is the connection. But the truth is probably that they just wanted to use that pun and they knew the kids watching the show had never seen the movie. Hopefully.
It was nice to see Jean in an episode for a small amount of time. You all know that Jean is my favorite X-Men character and she is criminally underused here. Let's hope that she gets her due in "X-Men '97." I was disappointed that she sends Beast to go after Wolverine. It's kind of a weird choice. I would have thought that she would volunteer to go since Logan is in love with her. Or Cyclops, because he's, ya know, the leader of the team, but nope. Beast it is. Why not?
I really like how the show is moving back to the more serialized element that it had in the first two seasons of the show. I know they initially didn't air this way, but watching this episode directly after the Wolverine in Japan episode made it more impactful. It's easy to think that after the last episode that had a relatively happy ending that everything with Wolverine is hunky dory and things will go back to how they were before. The episode opening with Logan still struggling and if anything worse, I think is great. The episode quickly and deftly introduces the tension and threat and moving on from there.
I've been critical of the use of flashbacks in "X-Men: The Animated Series" lately. A lot of times it feels like they are used to pad out an episode because the writers are maybe out of ideas. But here, they are used really thoughtfully. They are used to not only remind viewers of things that have happened on the show that they might have forgotten about, but also to help add context when the big reveal of the episode happens later in the episode's runtime.
We haven't seen too much of Wolverine's time with Weapon X aside from the flashbacks of him breaking out of the facility so it's interesting to see them explore it more here. I enjoy when the show explores heavier themes and it does that here. Whether it's Sabretooth's abuse at the hands of his father or Wolverine's relationship with Silver Fox that could or could not be real, the drama never veers into the realm of melodrama.
The revelation that a lot of these memories were manufactured by the Weapon X people to keep them in line and that it was actually called "trauma conditioning" is super messed up and surprisingly serious and adult for a kids animated series in the '90's. I like how the episode never really reveals which memories are real and which are fake. I think what you want to be left with at the end of an episode like this is a feeling of unease and maybe not being able to trust what you've just been seen and told and this episode definitely leaves you with that.
The only relatively minor issue I have with this episode is that I think that Wolverine is not surprised enough when it's revealed that Maverick and Silver Fox are still alive. This is a big deal. His belief that Sabretooth left them to die seems to be pretty formative so I feel like there should have been a bigger reaction. I'd also love to have seen more of Maverick. But overall this is a great episode that reminds people why this is a classic animated series.
Grade: A-
"Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas"
[a typical X-Men Christmas...]
Gambit: [yells] "What do you mean not eating? Gambit has spent days on this meal. My oyster sauce... my dough glacé."
Jean Grey: "We could warm it up tomorrow."
Gambit: [yells] "Warm it up, you do not warm up such a meal. Gambit does not make TV dinners!"
It's Christmas time at the X-mansion and Jubilee is excited to spend her first Christmas with the team. While out on a shopping trip, Storm, Jubilee and Wolverine run into Morlocks who need their leader's help to keep one of their youngest alive. Can the team perform a Christmas miracle?
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| Storm is kind of the worst in this episode. |
When Fox Kids was thriving, it felt like every one of their successful kids shows, whether live action or animated, had a Christmas episode. They were usually pretty frivolous affairs and you know the hope was that families would add these episodes to their holiday viewing traditions. Some were better than others. I remember enjoying the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" holiday episode. "X-Men: The Animated Series" was not immune to this trend so we got this episode that originally aired on December 23, 1995.
This episode plays out initially how you would expect. The X-Men are preparing for Christmas. They are trimming the tree. Jubilee is excited. Wolverine is the team scrooge. You feel like you know where it is going, but once Storm, Jubilee and Wolverine head to the city so Jubilee can buy some last minute gifts things take a turn.
Tonally this episode is all over the place. When you first watch it, you definitely know that something is going to happen that is going to teach Jubilee the true meaning of Christmas. That is what happens but the way that the lesson is learned is not how I, or anyone, probably would have guessed. The life of one of the youngest Morlock's hanging in the balance? Forced blood transfusions? I just assumed that the Morlocks would get an invite to the mansion for Christmas dinner and hijinks would ensue. Boy was I wrong.
There are two stories being told here. There is a pretty ridiculous story happening at the mansion that feels like it was pulled right out of a TGIF sitcom. Wolverine hates Christmas. Beast causes an explosion in his lab making cranberry sauce and it gets all over him. Jean and Gambit are fighting in the kitchen over making dinner. Why is Jean in the kitchen? Well, why not? She's a woman and according the the writer's of the show basically useless. So why not have her in the kitchen gritting her teeth at Gambit and getting angry that he would deign to say that she, a woman, doesn't know what she's doing in the kitchen. As kind of ridiculous and cliched as all this is, it's what you expect from an episode like this.
It's when the Morlocks crash an ambulance into the ice skating rink that things take a turn. It turns out something is wrong with Leech. He's dying and they were turned away at the hospital because of how he looks hence the stolen ambulance. They play on Storm being the Morlock's absentee leader and convince her to go to the tunnels with them to try to help Leech.
It's here that things become extremely wild and unhinged. I feel like I have to point out that Storm is just the worst in this episode. I love her, but wow. She is just awful. She has been a terrible leader to the Morlocks and has the gall to be a bitch to Callisto when called out. She doesn't act like she even wants to save this child. She bullies Wolverine into transfusing his blood into Leech even though Logan does not want to because apparently he's done it before and it went poorly. Storm knows this but she's unmoved. Logan relents and she asks Ape for a transfusion kit and then seems disgusted when he doesn't know what one is. Seriously? He's a dude who lives in a sewer and seems to have the IQ of a five year old. Are you really that surprised he doesn't know what a transfusion kit is? I know that I have been wanting more Storm in these episodes, but this is no what I was looking for.
It's all crazy but of course, all's well that ends well. Logan's blood saves Leech. Storm finally admits she is a bad Morlock leader because she genuinely doesn't care about this ugly mutants and appoints Callisto their leader. Jubilee learns the true meaning of Christmas and all it took was a trauma inducing Christmas Eve where a literal child came extremely close to death. But it's fine! Because he lived. And look here's Gambit throwing a fit because half the team is going to take food that less fortunate people need and eat in the sewers with them. Why didn't they just invite the Morlocks to have Christmas dinner in their posh upstate New York mansion where they had plenty? You know, I shouldn't think too deeply about this anymore.
Grade: C-
Next up, Apocalypse returns in the four part almost series finale. Don't worry after these there are still ten more episodes.
What did you all think? Did the Wolverine episodes hit for you non Canucklehead fans? Did you find the holiday episode as unhinged as I did? Let me know in the comments.
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