First Things First…
I’m drooling at the prospect of Cable vs. Bishop. Not to mention Cable teaming up with Apocalypse to take on the X-Men.
I mean, I have to assume he’ll see the error of his ways inside of 22 minutes. But I don’t know how they’ll work their way out of this predicament, with Cable needing the plague to decimate the X-Men’s future—Bishop’s time—to save his own reality. I just hope they don’t take a cheap way out.
5 Things I Like
5. Reliving Part One
Once Cable decides to go back in time to make sure the plague happens, he goes to the exact moment Bishop went to. This worried me at first, because it meant we’d relive a lot of Part One in this episode.
We still hit the same major notes, like Bishop trying to break up the anti-mutant protest, the Congressional hearing in Washington, the X-Men following Creed back to his lab after he gets infected with the virus, and the fight with Apocalypse.
But this time, even as the results are the same, the scenes play out differently with Cable involved. Instead of feeling like I’d seen it all before, it’s cleverly structured to allow for a new perspective.
A great example is the hearing in Washington. Beast still delivers the same testimony, Bishop still jumps in to save Beast from Creed, and Creed still accidentally infects himself in the scuffle.
But that all happens in the background this time. Our focus is on Cable arriving outside the hearing room, disabling a bunch of cops, and bursting into the room to grab Wolverine.
4. Sisyphus, Thy Name Is Bishop
“Plague? What plague?”
Forge
Is this gonna be a running gag every season?
Bishop arrives back in his time after stopping another cataclysmic event, only to find he still hasn’t altered the hellscape he’s trying to prevent.
Forge’s memories have again been altered. Now that the plague has been stopped, he doesn’t know anything about it ever happening in the first place. But another major issue must’ve sprung up in its place that’s caused their society to fall apart.
It sure seems like this future is destined to happen, one way or another. And no matter how many times Bishop pushes that boulder up the mountain, it’s gonna roll back down every damn time.
3. Remember My Name!
Cable makes one thing very clear…
He wants Apocalypse to remember that he’s the one responsible for neutralizing the virus and thwarting Apocalypse’s plan for the plague to run rampant.
Considering Apocalypse’s nearly limitless power, staying off his radar would be the smarter play. Which, of course, makes it even more badass that Cable basically tells him—twice—“Remember my name, bitch!”
2. Wolverine’s Antibodies
As I said in the intro, I was worried the show would take some lame way out of the quandary they put themselves in. Instead, Cable finds a solution I never would have thought of, and it actually makes sense.
Wolverine is the key to his plan. Cable thought he’d have to let the virus ravage the mutant population so they’d make the antibodies that would preserve his future, even as it would’ve killed most of them in the process.
Instead, he puts Wolverine in position to get infected. Wolverine’s healing powers cause his body to instantly make the future-saving antibodies Cable needs, while Wolverine recovers right away. No mutants have to die.
Problem solved without needing some deux ex machina. The solution was right there all along. Luckily, Cable is crafty enough to find it.
1. Cable Vs. Bishop
“Looks like you got everybody mad at you, rookie. And one of them has a big gun.”
Wolverine
It might not be Godzilla vs. Kong, but this is undeniably a battle of two behemoths.
They’re both badasses I wouldn’t want to mess with, but with very different dispositions. Cable is surprisingly calm and rational for a one-man wrecking crew. To his credit, he tries to reason with Bishop when he first arrives.
Bishop, however, is much more likely to fly off the handle. He won’t even give Cable a chance to explain before he starts firing.
I couldn’t wait to see them duke it out. And they deliver, through multiple fights and shootouts. Now that they’ve fought, I hope we eventually see them team up.
0 Things I’m Mixed On
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Can’t Pull the Trigger (Oh Wait, Yes He Can)
The only thing I didn’t like about Cable and Bishop’s fights—and the episode in general—is that at one point, Cable has a clean shot but doesn’t take it. He lowers his gun and even says to his computer that he can’t do it. But mere moments later, he’s trying to shoot Bishop again, and if not for Rogue’s interference, he might have done it.
Now, sure, the situation is as dire as ever for Cable, but that was already the case when he initially passed up his shot. Nothing changed. His flip-flopping so quickly, with nothing specific causing the sudden change of heart, is pretty awkward.
Tim Matassa
