TV REVIEW: X-Men (5.6) – Jubilee’s Fairytale Theatre

First Things First…

This episode originally aired as Episode 5.9.

Neither the episode title nor description gives me optimism. I like Jubilee as part of the team, but it sounds like this is an episode with just her and a bunch of kids. That could be a recipe for disaster.

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3 Things I Like

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3. Jubilee’s Main Squeeze

I never thought I’d be happy to see Longshot. I’m not a big fan of his and, in the past, seeing him also meant seeing Mojo. As an X-Men viewer, nothing sends shivers up my spine like that.

Here, though, he plays a small part in Jubilee’s fairytale that she tells the kids. She never even calls him by name, nor does he factor into her story beyond the first scene. But it’s her story, and she had the hots for him when she met him last time. So it makes perfect sense that she’d include him.

2. The Right-Hand Troll

“This is Logan, my right-hand troll. He may look disgusting, but his heart is brave and true.”

Jubilee

I just said in the previous episode that I’m a sucker for these monstrous transformations, like Super Beast in “The Fifth Horseman” and Wolfman Logan in “Family Ties”.

Well, now we get Logan, the Right-Hand Troll!

Of course, this one isn’t real, but he looks cool.

It also speaks volumes about how Jubilee truly sees Wolverine that she casts him as her protector—even while poking fun at him. And his trollish voice made me laugh every time he talks.

1. Hero for a Day

“It is her! She is real! The one they call Jubilee!”

Peasant Woman

Jubilee finally gets her chance to shine. And it’s not just in her fairytale (though she does a good job of casting herself as a badass hero in her story, too).

She’s actually a real hero here.

She keeps the kids safe on their field trip in the caves beneath the mansion, leading them away from danger as one part of the cave starts to flood and even using her powers to create a dam, so they have a safe space until their rescuers arrive.

But more than that, she does such a great job with her storytelling that those kids don’t even realize how much danger they’re in. As she gleefully offers them hot cocoa after their adventure, Jean comments to Xavier…

“It’s odd, Professor, but I don’t sense the fear that I should from children who have been through this kind of trauma.”

Jubilee has spent so much of the series getting left behind—literally babysitting, in this instance—that it’s nice to see her get to show off what she can do. She proves here that she brings more to the table than her teammates often give her credit for.

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1 Thing I’m Mixed On

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1. Unexplored Territory

“You all get to talk to the President while I get to babysit!”

Jubilee

No, not the caves. (We’ll get to them next.)

As I just mentioned, Jubilee often gets left behind. This has come up numerous times throughout the series. But they’ve never fully explored it. This idea was ripe for a lengthier Jubilee storyline.

Instead, all we get here is her briefly showing her frustration as she gets left behind again.

Granted, her using this opportunity to display her heroism is what keeps this out of the “Don’t Like” category. But that doesn’t change the fact that we never delve too deeply into her feelings, and the lack of support she must feel as part of the team.

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4 Things I Don’t Like

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4. Check Out These Caves Under the Mansion That We’ve Never Mentioned Before

This is like the monorail all over again.

Well, it’s not as ridiculous as the idea that the X-Men have a working monorail beneath the mansion that no one ever mentioned before. But having a huge system of caves that’s never come up is pretty weird, too.

It would’ve been a lot cooler if these caves were a known thing, even if they had never factored into the story. That way, there would be something to get more excited about when we finally find out Jubilee is going to lead some kids into the caves. It could’ve been the payoff to something we had wondered about for a while, rather than something out of nowhere.

3. Rat Spy

Who the heck is this guy??

And why not cast another actual villain here in her story? The role calls for a shapeshifter. Wouldn’t this be perfect for Mystique?

2. Magnus the Malevolent

Magneto has been an ally to the X-Men for the majority of the series.

I know this is just a story Jubilee tells a bunch of kids, and it doesn’t matter, but it would still make more sense if she chose as the villain someone who has truly been a villain to them.

Now, if it’s going to be a Big Bad, Apocalypse is too powerful and godlike to make sense here. And she already cast Sabretooth perfectly as a henchman. Juggernaut would make a better henchman, too.

That leads me to believe Mister Sinister would’ve worked here. He’s been an antagonist for the team much more consistently than Magneto.

1. The Kids Make It FEEL Like a Kids’ Show

“Love? Yuck!”

Boys on Field Trip

I know. Complaining that this feels like a kids’ show is dumb. After all, it IS a kids’ show.

But the great thing about this series is that it rarely FEELS like a kids’ show. Despite some clunkers over its five seasons, the writing is consistently smart and rarely feels dumbed down.

But having these annoying kids show up, then putting them in peril, only to be distracted by a whimsical fairytale, changes the whole vibe.