First Things First…
More Bishop!
And hopefully now that his memory is back, he’ll be even cooler!
Plus, I want to see how this mystery plays out. I’m sure I saw these episodes as a kid, but I really don’t remember. I doubt Gambit is actually the assassin, but knowing how pissed off he usually is, it should be fun to watch how he reacts to Bishop accusing him.
4 Things I Like
4. Big Implications from the Big Bads
Neither Apocalypse nor Magneto is in this episode, but boy do they loom large over it—even though that’s not apparent right away.
After Mystique is uncovered as the assassin and Rogue helps her escape, she says the assassination attempt was all Apocalypse’s plot. After the last arc, I thought we were done with Apocalypse, at least for Season 1. But even with a new arc to finish the season, this turns out to be a great piece of connective tissue, because Apocalypse foresaw what would happen if a staunch anti-mutant politician like Senator Kelly was murdered by mutants. It would lead to utter chaos and destruction for everyone.
And since he hates everyone… well, this is what he believes they all deserve.
After it’s foiled, though, Kelly goes missing, and all signs point directly at Magneto.
Magneto doesn’t want the same future Apocalypse wants—at least not for mutants. But he’d probably be just as happy to kill Senator Kelly. The problem is, he can’t anticipate the future as clearly as Apocalypse can.
At the end of the day, I love that the two Biggest Bads seem to want to take the same course of action, but for very different reasons, and with different intended outcomes.
3. More Bishop in Our Future
I was really caught off guard by how at odds Bishop is with the X-Men. He and Wolverine butt heads constantly, Jubilee calls him a tattooed freak, and even after his uneasy truce with the team, Rogue ends up ripping off his transceiver and sending him back to his time.
Luckily, this won’t be the last of him…
… because the future still sucks. Stopping the assassination didn’t work. But Forge is already working on fixing their time portal and says Bishop will be able to try again.
So I don’t know when or where, but my guy will be back!
2. How the World Fell
“Your stupid friends have saved your life so you can betray them… time’s up for all of you! Because of him, the whole world is going to be enslaved! Everything you believe in will lie in ashes! And the X-Men are going to die.”
Bishop
Bishop walks the team through the series of events that lead to the dystopia he’s from, starting with Gambit assassinating someone important—he still can’t remember the target yet—in Washington, D.C.
He says all mutants got blamed for Gambit’s actions, humans revolted and demanded protection, a Mutant Control Law passed, and an army of Sentinels was commissioned. We even see Master Mold from the Genosha arc cranking them out.
Then we see the detention camps for mutants—which we already know are really termination camps. But his story gets very interesting from there…
“But those who control the Sentinels don’t stop with mutants. Eventually, they bring their new world order to all humans.”
This is where we see Sentinels infiltrate the White House, round up humans in their homes, and cause the fall of civilization as we know it.
1. Powder Keg
“I’ve hated you all my life.”
Bishop (to Gambit)
Wolverine and Gambit are already the two most combustible team members. Now you add Bishop to the mix and this situation could blow at any time… which it does.
Of course, Gambit’s anger is justified. Not only does this stranger falsely accuse him of murder—and of basically ruining the world—but nobody has his back. As much of an obnoxious prick as he is at times, I felt for him when he says…
“Don’t nobody trust Gambit, eh? Then Gambit don’t need nobody.”
On the other hand, the rest of the team realizes that it could conceivably be any of them. They’re all capable of evil—especially if they believe their actions are righteous. And Wolverine makes a great point when he says they don’t actually know much more about Gambit than they do Bishop because Gambit’s never been totally straight with them.
All this leads to these three staying behind while the rest of the team heads to Washington for the mutant affairs hearings.
It’s out of character when Wolverine says, “You kids better behave yourselves. I’m staying behind to babysit.” But he probably realizes being in between Gambit and Bishop might put him in the thick of the action even more than trying to stop the assassination.
From there, things are as tense and, ultimately, explosive as you’d guess. The three of them try playing cards, which leads to another claws-out Wolverine gem…
“Sit down, both of you. Or cards won’t be the only thing that gets cut around here.”
Gambit finally escapes and the other two follow him, but it’s an incredibly fun dynamic while it lasts.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Rogue’s Mommy Issues
I’m confused about this mess. When Mystique first turns into Rogue’s mama, I figured she was just trying to mess with her. She could’ve somehow learned what the woman looks like.
But Rogue treats her like it really is her mama. So if it’s just Mystique preying on her emotions by looking like someone Rogue loves, and Rogue knows it’s not really her mama, then Rogue looks pretty stupid.
At the end of their interaction, though, after Mystique looks like herself again, Rogue asks why she would’ve tried to turn her into a slave back on Muir Island. Mystique—not Mama—says, “It seemed like the only way to get you back.”
So was Mystique really the person who took Rogue in? If so, how long did she pose as her mama for?
This seems like an even sillier idea. I mean, did Mystique raise her since she was a kid? I need more clarity about this.
Tim Matassa
