TV REVIEW: X-Men (5.8) – Hidden Agendas

First Things First…

This episode originally aired as Episode 5.13.

We’re down to the final three episodes of the series, and this one is about Sam Guthrie. I had never heard of him until I just googled him. Apparently, he’s part of the New Mutants, a team I have essentially no knowledge of. Could be cool, but it’s not what I would’ve chosen this close to the end of the series.

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3 Things I Like

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3. Public Figures

“But that’s Charles Xavier. I’ve seen him on TV with the President! And Hank McCoy. They ain’t terrorists.”

Sam Guthrie

Sometimes it’s hard in this series to tell whether the public is aware of the X-Men. Mutants are all over the news, but are they fully out in the open?

That said, it makes complete sense that Sam, this 16-year-old kid from Kentucky, at least recognizes Professor X and Beast. Maybe he’s unaware of the rest of the team, but those two are on the news pretty regularly, often working with President Kelly. It would’ve been silly to pretend that Sam wouldn’t recognize them.

2. Kindred Southern Spirits

“Must be tough being the only mutant in town. Maybe I ought to go down and say ‘hey.’ No 16-year-old boy could mind a visit from a good old Southern gal.”

Rogue

Sam is a hero. But he’s also an outcast in his hometown.

If anyone understands being an outcast, and the isolation caused by mutant powers, it’s Rogue.

She’s the ideal choice to pay Sam a visit and talk with him about what he’s going through. And she knows it. That’s why she volunteers for the job. (It doesn’t hurt that he’s a Southern boy from Kentucky.)

Aside from her heroism, Rogue has always felt like a really solid person. Her empathy for Sam tracks. And being that she hasn’t been too involved in the show lately, it’s good to see her back in the mix, playing to her strengths (even if I don’t love her new artistic rendering).

1. Small Town Fear and Hysteria

“They ought to stick your kind in a zoo, before you poison the rest of us!”

Cumberland Sidekick Bully

This feels like classic X-Men.

Thanks to Kirkland’s fearmongering, the small Kentucky town of Cumberland has completely turned against Sam—heroism be damned. The townspeople literally show up at his front door with torches and pitchforks, trying to run him out of town.

This is especially effective because the episode starts with Sam rescuing not only his own father, but another miner who, it turns out, is the father of a local bully.

Sam is a good kid just trying to do right by his family as he navigates his powers. But his ability to live peacefully in his hometown is stripped from him once he’s targeted by Kirkland’s smear campaign.

Bigotry is at the heart of the X-Men stories. And this story, while it has its share of problems, fits well within that scope.

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1 Thing I’m Mixed On

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1. Top Priority: Eliminate the X-Men

I’m not entirely sure what this military outfit’s objective is for most of the episode. But it seems the X-Men only come on their radar when Rogue goes to Cumberland to meet Sam. Then the whole team follows, and while I don’t think that was necessary—only Rogue, Gambit, Beast, and Professor X have any real role in this story—they meddle enough that this unit declares eliminating the X-Men their new top priority.

It sounds ominous, and the idea that there’s a group like this targeting the team could be compelling. But, this group itself isn’t that compelling. At least, not yet, while I know so little about them.

And, more to the point, there are only two episodes left in the series. So how can I get too excited about the possibilities of where this story could go when it will clearly go nowhere?

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3 Things I Don’t Like

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3. Why Sam?

“The kid’s not cooperating. He’s going to need more convincing. It’s time for a less subtle approach.”

Kirkland

Duh… he’s powerful.

But aren’t there lots of very powerful mutants scattered throughout the USA?

Is there something more specific that’s causing this group to target Sam rather than anyone else? Instead of taking “no” for an answer and moving on to another target, they turn his hometown against him and try to ruin his life so they can bring him into their fold. I’d love to know why they go to such great lengths for Sam—and why they targeted him in the first place.

2. Dad Throws the X-Men Under the Bus

Sam and his whole family are meant to be sympathetic. It’s to his parents’ great credit that they love him for exactly who he is.

But it’s hard to feel sympathy for his dad when he’s like, “Hey, you want mutants? There are your mutants,” and sics the townspeople on the X-Men, who have arrived in full force to try to help Sam.

I know he does it to protect his son, and not out of malice toward the X-Men. That’s probably why they don’t hold it against him. They don’t even bring it up afterward. But there must’ve been something else they could’ve done instead of having one of these sympathetic new characters intentionally put our heroes in harm’s way.

1. Where Are the X-Men?

Just like “The Fifth Horseman” a few episodes ago, this episode starts with characters we’ve never seen before. But this time, it takes even longer before we see anyone we know.

I wouldn’t have minded too much if it started with the cave-in at the mine, when Sam uses his powers to save his dad and another miner, if it then moved directly onto characters we know.

But it goes straight from the mine to a scene in the Guthries’ living room and Kirkland’s introduction.

The X-Men don’t come in until after the first commercial break, which is roughly a quarter of the episode. To me, that puts the episode behind the 8-ball from the start.

But there’s more…

Between Sam, his family, his best friend, the bullies, the other miners, and Kirkland and his team, there are multiple scenes dealing with this town. And though, as I mentioned already, they do a good job with the small-town hysteria, they go a bit overboard with the new characters. Especially since it’s clear there won’t be any payoff to spending all this time with them.