TV REVIEW: X-Men (4.12) – Proteus – Part II

First Things First…

This episode originally aired as Episode 4.5.

I didn’t like the first part of this story, and I doubt I’ll like Part II any better. I just didn’t care much about Proteus. And with he and Moira at the center, I wouldn’t have chosen this story as a two-parter. But who knows? Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

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2 Things I Like

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2. Possessing Xavier

“Kevin! Kevin, listen to me. My name is Charles Xavier. You know me now. I’ve come to help you face your rage, and face it you must! Possess me as you have others, Kevin. Look inside my mind and see that I know your pain. Otherwise it will consume you. I can get you through this, if that’s what you want.”

Professor X

Professor X tries over and over to get through to Proteus, to no avail. Proteus has a single-minded focus on talking with his father, and he refuses to believe his father abandoned him and has wanted nothing to do with him all his life.

The Professor finally has the daring idea of letting Proteus possess him, so he can see that Xavier only wants to help him. It works, and it actually feels like a satisfying and believable resolution that plays off Proteus’ telepathic power. This is much better than if Xavier simply talked some sense into him at the end.

1. Fear Comes for Wolverine

“There’s no emotion harder to control than a paralyzing fear. We have all experienced it. But it must be even worse for you, who has never felt it before.”

Beast

This episode begins and ends with Wolverine, and with good reason. His struggle is as compelling as Kevin’s—and being that Wolverine is one of our heroes, facing something he’s never dealt with before, it’s that much more poignant.

I obviously didn’t pay enough attention to what happened to Wolverine toward the end of Part I. I paid more attention to how much I disliked Proteus’ powers, so I ignored the fact that Proteus basically pulled Wolverine apart at the molecular level.

As a result, Wolverine is shook.

He pukes, he hesitates, he even runs away from a fight when about to come face to face with Proteus again.

We’ve never seen this from Wolverine. We’ve never seen him afraid. And he has to work though that fear in real time to help his teammates.

Speaking of his teammates, part of what makes this storyline so compelling is how they react to seeing Wolverine scared for the first time. Rogue is compassionate early in the episode, asking Wolverine if he wants to talk about what happened to him. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t. All he says is…

“No. Not now, not ever.”

Later, after Wolverine fails her and Beast by running away, Rogue gets pissed. But she comes around again by the end of the episode, telling Wolverine to shake it off. Only he still doesn’t want to hear it.

In the middle, Wolverine and Beast almost come to blows because Beast explains what’s happening to Wolverine with such cool logic, simply identifying what he’s going through. But Wolverine, ever the hothead, replies…

“You saying I’m a coward, Blue Boy!”

Beast is really saying anything but that. The problem, though, is that fearlessness is one of Wolverine’s trademark characteristics. And now that he’s suddenly afraid for the first time, it’s a huge blow to his sense of identity. He doesn’t want empathy from his teammates. He just wants to get back to who he knows he is, and who he knows they rely on him to be.

And he certainly doesn’t want to hear that he’s experiencing something everyone goes through. He doesn’t want others to be able to identify with him, because he doesn’t identify with their vulnerability.

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0 Things I’m Mixed On

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1 Thing I Don’t Like

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1. Seeking Forgiveness

“Well tell him Xavier’s his father. You always wanted it that way.”

Joe MacTaggert

Moira’s ex-husband—and Kevin’s father—Joe MacTaggert, is a new character in this two-part arc. So it’d be unfair of me to assume he can’t change.

That said, he’s portrayed as a reprehensible piece of shit for the first 95% of these two episodes.

Then, after Proteus is done possessing Professor X and controls his powers enough to appear solidly as Kevin, Joe has a complete change of heart. He asks Kevin for his forgiveness, then hugs him and, inexplicably, scoops him up and carries him out of the building.

And he does this in front of the cameras, right before the election, even though he’s made it clear all along that winning the election is the most important thing to him—which means keeping his divorce and his freaky mutant son who the public is unaware of out of sight.

I can buy a father who knows he’s done wrong by his son all his life to want a second chance. But up until this moment, Joe hadn’t wanted a second chance. He didn’t give a shit about Kevin.

And on top of how unrealistic this sudden change of heart is, I also don’t see the need for it from a story perspective. Joe MacTaggert isn’t a character who needs a redemption arc.

And Kevin could’ve easily seen the error of his ways and decided to start anew just from what he learned in Professor X’s mind.

I understand Kevin’s desire for his father’s love, but that love isn’t necessary for him to change. And if Kevin/Proteus returns later in the series, the possibilities of where to take his character are just as plentiful without a relationship with Joe as they are with one.