X-Men '97
It really is a great time to be an X-Men fan and it's an even better time to be a fan of Jean Grey and Madelyne Pryor with the first episode we are going to be chatting about. Let's get to it.
"Fire Made Flesh"
Beast: "I used gamma rays to isolate the hemoglobic properties of both Jeans' genetic markers. Effectively carbon-dating each woman on a cellular level."
Rogue: "Uh, English, sugar?"
The team is still reeling from Storm's departure when an identical Jean Grey shows up at their door. After Beast performs test, he realizes that the new Jean is actually the original. It turns out the Jean that gave birth to Nathan is a clone made by the team's arch nemesis, Mister Sinister. She transforms herself into the Goblin Queen, attacks the team and takes Nathan to Sinister. Can the team save Nathan and can Jean save the Goblin Queen form Sinister's machinations?
 |
| Father of the year (sarcasm) |
These first three episodes of "X-Men '97" have not taken their foot off of viewers necks and that is just how it should be. If you saw some of the pre-release merchandise, a clone of Jean Grey shouldn't have come as a huge surprise, and I'm glad that they didn't wait to give us the reveal. Things move briskly which I appreciate especially because it doesn't feel rushed. In the first few moments of the episode, Beast reveals that the Jean that gave birth to Nathan is not the actual Jean. It's crazy that no one speaks up for this Jean and it's understandable that she's upset. Even, Scott, the father of her child, doesn't even stick up for her. I get why she's angry, which may make her more susceptible to Sinister's control. I will say I'm not sure if Storm would have believed her, but go off, sister.
It's not long before Mister Sinister is contacting Jean through Nathan's baby monitor. What Sinister really wants is baby Nathan. And though "Jean" tries to fight him she succumbs to his control. Which leads us to "Jean" getting her own magical girl transformation into the Goblin Queen. I definitely wasn't expecting it. A Sailor Moon style transformation sequence was not on my "X-Men '97" BINGO card, but I will take it. I swear, sometimes it is like they are making these episodes just for me and I am not mad about it at all.
It's really a great episode for fans of redheaded telepathic mutants. If you are a fan of the Goblin Queen, she gets multiple moments to shine. When she comes into her full power, she sends the X-Men that are in the mansion into a nightmarish hellscape. Gambit sees Rogue and Magneto getting handsy in the headmaster's office. Jubilee and Roberto are attacked by the characters in the movie that they are watching. Morph sees Mister Sinister when he tries to join Wolverine in the shower. And I just have to say, I love that moment. Neck beards are upset that Morph is non binary. I don't care. I love that the show gave us a moment that is unabashedly gay. There is not straight explantation for Morph to go into the shower to make Logan feel better about Jean.
One thing the original series did was adapt classic comic stories in a way that made sense for this format and it's wonderful to see "X-Men '97" doing that here. This is definitely an extremely condensed, extremely abridged version of the "Inferno" crossover. And, yes, I would have wished for maybe two episodes, I was still really happy with the nods that we got to the original story. The Goblin Queen puts the X-Men into a Limbo like scenario where demons are attacking them. This leads to a really badass sequence where Cyclops charges up Bishop with his optic blasts and he takes out all the flying demons with a single blast.
It can be rough being a Jean Grey fan, particularly if you're talking to someone who knows her only from the animated series. They are inevitably going to make a joke about her fainting and that can be super frustrating. I appreciate that this episode gives nods to the fainting but it also shows how badass the real Jean Grey is even when she's struggling with memory loss and trying to control her awesome powers. She dismantles the Goblin Queen's illusions and saves the team. Then, she enters the Goblin Queen's mind and pretty easily breaks Sinister's control over her all from the bed she's recuperating in. I think these will be the only episodes we see Jean faint in and I'm here for it.
The soap operatic drama that we've come to know and love is there. I mentioned the recurring dramz between Remy, Rogue and Magneto. Wolverine goes to Jean to help her, he does and she immediately abandons him for Scott. Sinister infects Nathan with the techno organic virus and it's decided that Bishop will take baby Nathan into the future to save him. Scott initially seems like he is going to do the right thing. He knows what it's like to be abandoned! He won't let Nathan feel that way. Just kidding. He can't do this. So he leaves the newly christened Madelyne Pryor to bear the entirety of the emotional burden. He doesn't even see her off. Jean has to do that. Scott really is the worst. I've said it before and I'll say it many, many times.
We check in with Storm at episode's end. She's at a dive bar and is approached by Forge, who offers to help her get back what she's lost.
Grade: A
"Motendo/Lifedeath" Part 1
Forge: "Keep up. I'm not building you a faster horse."
Storm: "What a rude little man."
It's Jubilee's 18th birthday! She wants to celebrate with the team at the mall arcade, but Magneto quickly puts the kibosh on that. She finds a Motendo system in her room. It turns out that is a gift from Mojo and she and Roberto get sucked in. Inside, they have to relive some famous X battles and it doesn't seem like Jubilee is in a super big rush to find a way out. Meanwhile, Storm learns some unsettling news from Forge that has to do with his connection to how she lost her powers.
 |
| Do we buy this love story? |
I have to say, when I looked at the episode titles and synopses before "X-Men '97" was released and I saw that episode four was partially going to be a Jubilee episode, I did sort of write it off immediately. Jubilee has never been my favorite mutant, in the comics or in the show. So, I didn't have high hopes. And the fact that they had to couple this Jubilee-centric outing with the first part of the shows adaptation of the classic "Lifedeath" story from the comics wasn't a great sign. And while, this episode is good, it can't help but feel like a bit of a letdown when the previous three have been great.
This is the first episode of the revival series that feels the most like an episode of the original series. The plot is basically on Jubilee's 18th birthday she gets sucked into Mojoverse via a video game system and doesn't want to leave initially. In the end, Jubilee learns a lesson about what it means to grow up. That comes straight out of the original series.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Part of the episodes charm is how much it does feel like a classic "X-Men: The Animated Series" episode. And there are a lot of great bits. It was difficult for me not to smile when Jubilee and Roberto find themselves in the classic "X-Men" arcade game fighting those multicolored Sentinels that you know so well if you spent hours in an arcade with your friends mashing buttons desperately trying to get to the next level. "X-Men '97" is a show that traffics in nostalgia, certainly, but this feels like the most blatant lean in that we've gotten so far.
It's hard not to feel like the message of this episode is a little trite and a touch heavy handed. Jubilee is struggling with the fact that she's an adult now, which I think is normal for any newly 18 year old, especially one who is still in school. Technically you're an adult, but you still don't have the freedom that you think you want. I can understand how it would feel simpler reliving these battles that are familiar. That you've done before. That you know how to navigate. This episode allows Jubilee's original voice actress, Alyson Court, a chance to have a nice voice cameo. She's Abscissa, a digital copy of herself from the beta version that has aged. She's the one that gets Jubilee to fight to get home.
It's fine. There are a few small things that don't make a ton of sense to me. Like, how did it take Jubilee so long to realize she was in a video game? That feels pretty obvious, especially for someone who has fallen victim to a similar Mojo scheme before. She and Roberto do kiss at the end which feels nice and earned. This all feels kind of slight and I think the writers knew there wasn't enough here to fill the 30 minute running time so that is why the decided to shoe horn the first part of "Lifedeath" onto the end of this episode.
I think the "Lifedeath" portion of the episode is better overall, but I wish they would have given it more room to breathe. There's so much that happens in this ten minutes that I feel like would have worked better if it just had more time. You see Storm and Forge enjoying each other, then he's telling Storm that rough sketches he made when he worked for the government were used in the inhibitor collar tech and the tech that was used to take away her powers and then he's telling her he loves her. There's clearly been a lot of stuff that has happened off screen and it feels like the writers are hoping that viewers will just go with them and be ok that we weren't shown it. I can accept that Forge loves Storm because I'm thinking of the comics. I'm curious if it works for someone who's just watched the show.
At the end of the episode, Storm and Forge are attacked by an owl like creature who identifies itself as The Adversary. Talk about a deep pull.
Grade: B
Next up, Genosha gets ready to join the UN and Storm faces off against the Adversary.
What do you all think? Did you like our mini Inferno? Did "Motendo/Lifedeath" feel a little too scattered? Do you wish the "Lifedeath" portion had been given more time? How are you enjoying "X-Men '97" overall? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment