First Things First…
After finishing the original series and enjoying the finale—especially how open ended it is—I wonder if this picks up that same story thread.
Are we still primed for mutants to rebel against humans?
Will Magneto rejoin the mutants as their leader after leaving them to help save Professor X’s life?
And where is Professor X? Is he even here, or is he still with Lilandra?
I have so many questions as this series begins!
9 Things I Like
9. Trask Can’t Adapt
“You mutants may be the next step in evolution, but you’re still animals, and you need to be put down.”
Bolivar Trask
Looks like Bolivar Trask has been busy…
He built another Master Mold in the Sahara Desert, because he and Henry Gyrich realized long ago they needed backup. Sucks for him that this one gets taken out by a full-team assault.
As he’s being led away in cuffs, Trask says…
“You X-Men might use your gifts to protect everyone, but all you do is remind us that our days are numbered, that humanity itself is obsolete. You’ve no idea how it feels to be left behind by the future.”
As usual, the X-Men have hit on something very timely. Trask’s sense of being left behind by a changing society isn’t new, and it wouldn’t be out of place in our world.
Of course, his intolerance and bigotry are wrong. Calling all mutants “animals” is messed up. It’s a shame he’s chosen violence and hatred as his only avenues of fitting into this new world, especially when he’s a brilliant scientist who could use his skills for good.
At the same time, he’s not crazy for feeling inferior when he’s seen firsthand the miraculous things mutants can achieve with their powers. And even if Trask is out of the show now that he’s been arrested, it’s clear his sentiments live on in others, like Gyrich and the Friends of Humanity.
8. Mystery Buyer
The FoH say they’re getting paid $10k from a mystery buyer for every mutant they nab. The buyer wants to use these captured mutants as target practice. That’s why they kidnapped Roberto Da Costa.
Now, unless they meant Trask, that mystery buyer is out there. And I’m excited at the idea of an overarching mystery throughout the season.
7. One of the Good Ones
“Be an X-Man, Jubilee? I don’t even want to be myself.”
Roberto Da Costa
I wasn’t sold on Roberto Da Costa the first time I watched the episode, but I found him more compelling when I rewatched it.
First off, I think he’s Sunspot. That’s a character I don’t know much about, but I’m familiar with the name and look (and his arm seems like a giveaway when he finally shows Jubilee his power).
Roberto is kind of a douchebag. He gets called both a “trust fund baby” and an “arrogant yuppie” in this episode, and both insults fit.
But what makes him compelling is his lack of self-acceptance. Assuming he plays a role throughout the season, his arc will probably be one of learning to accept and embrace who he is.
Right now, he has a little bit of what Jubilee had at the beginning of the original series, feeling like they don’t fit in anywhere. But Roberto can hide his powers, while Jubilee’s kept erupting at inopportune times before she learned to control them.
Most damning about Roberto so far is when he tells the Friends of Humanity…
“I’m not like the ones on TV. I’m one of the good ones.”
Maybe he’s just trying to get them to take his money and let him go. But considering his lack of self-acceptance—his parents don’t even know he’s a mutant—he doesn’t want to get lumped in with other mutants. There’s a certain “pick me” quality to this. He’d rather cozy up to these terrible people simply because they’re regular humans, and he still finds that more acceptable than anything mutant-related.
Considering how much intrigue there is with the team in the wake of Xavier’s departure, it’s a bit risky to bring in a new character like Roberto and devote time to his arc, too. But so far, so good.
6. Xavier Looms Large
I’m assuming Xavier is off with Lilandra and—to the best of the X-Men’s knowledge—never returning.
In other words, he’s not really dead, but as good as dead.
Nevertheless, the world believes he’s dead. Gyrich is serving 25 years for his murder. And his death/departure looms large over everyone.
In the wake of the world witnessing this horrific crime, mutant-human relations are actually in a good place. A newscast early in the episode sets this cooperation as the backdrop for where we’re starting, saying…
“Professor Charles Xavier… the mutant leader’s assassination last year by former NSA agent Henry Gyrich has spurred increased sympathy toward mutants despite their strange powers.”
But we hear these words as we watch the Friends of Humanity bring their prisoner, Roberto, into their hideout. So clearly, the ramifications of Xavier’s “death” aren’t entirely positive.
But it’s not just the world at large dealing with the fallout of his departure…
The team is trying to find its footing, too. Cyclops is pushing extra hard to live up to what he believes is his responsibility as team leader, and most of his teammates find that off-putting. Rogue, Gambit, and even Jean push back at different points. And Wolverine—never one to mince words—says…
“What Gyrich did was pretty horrible. But want to know the worst part about the Professor being gone? You.”
Now, I assume Xavier will return at some point this season. How, and what kind of shape he’ll be in, I don’t know. But the way his return will affect the world, and especially the team, now that they’re getting accustomed to operating without him, is one of the things I’m most looking forward to.
5. Assault on Master Mold—Take 2
The fight against the new Master Mold and the Sentinels is probably better action than the original series ever did. The climax alone is sick, with Wolverine getting his claws charged up by Gambit, then using Morph—who’s shapeshifted into the Blob—as a trampoline to leap way up and decapitate Master Mold!
And that’s after the Sentinels suddenly sense an Omega-level threat as Storm appears and creates a sandstorm that violently chews them up and spits them out.
I usually focus on story and character beats rather than action, but this fight sequence is too exciting to ignore!
4. Throuple Trouble
For the first time in a while, I’m interested in the three-way dynamic among Scott, Jean, and Wolverine.
Wolvie is often the most astute team member, and he connects the dots and figures out Scott and Jean are planning to leave the team before they announce it. And it’s obvious that he’s upset about Jean going away.
At the same time, Wolverine is also, unsurprisingly, the one who pushes back most against Cyclops as he takes the reins. When Cyclops orders him to look for Roberto, who has run away because of Wolverine, he says…
“Jean may dig the Boy Scout routine, Summers, but I don’t much go in for being bossed around.”
Of course, when Jean then asks Wolverine nicely to find Roberto, he folds like a cheap suit.
3. Magneto’s Bombshell
The series premiere ends on one hell of a cliffhanger…
Magneto breaks into the X-Mansion, and into Xavier’s office, with his last will and testament in hand. It claims that Magneto inherits everything—Xavier’s fortune and his school… and consequently, his X-Men.
Coming into this series, Magneto was already the character whose next moves I was most intrigued by. After this revelation, my curiosity has roughly QUADRUPLED!
Now, with everything that’s been said about mutant-human relations being in a better place in the year or so since Xavier left, it looks like that war Magneto was primed to lead in “Graduation Day” never got off the ground. But is he still fighting for that cause? If so, inheriting everything that belonged to Charles will seriously endanger all his friend worked so hard for.
2. Performative Tolerance
“No, you’re in vogue, Storm. A fad. ‘Look at my mutant friend.’ But under all that fashionable sympathy, normal people know the more room we make for your kind, the less we leave for ours. So we might wear tolerance on our sleeves, but we know the naked truth. Tolerance is extinction.”
Henry Gyrich
According to Gyrich, the improved cooperation and tolerance of humans toward mutants is just a façade. Mutant tolerance is trendy. Having a mutant friend you can show off to feel good about yourself is trendy.
But resentment and fear are bubbling just beneath the surface, beneath the performances much of the public puts on. In his mind, the Friends of Humanity and other anti-mutant militias are the only humans being honest about how they feel about mutants.
I very much want to see what might detonate the ticking time bomb he thinks is waiting in the wings…
1. New and Improved Cyclops
“The team will be fine. Our son will need us more. Deep down, you know that. And I know it hurts. But this one time, Scott… it’s okay for you to let go.”
Jean Grey
Morph makes fun of Cyclops for being boring and hating fun. Yet, despite still frequently having a stick up his ass and feeling self-important, this is a much-improved version of him.
Yes, he’s still the do-gooder who complains to Gambit after their first fight against the Friends of Humanity that they needed help, and he criticizes Gambit for being more worried about cooking beignets.
He still complains about the rest of the team playing basketball when they could be out hunting the FoH.
He still says corny things like…
“Rogue, the Professor entrusted us with his dream of mutant-human coexistence. We have to stay vigilant no matter how good things seem out there.”
But we also see other sides of Cyclops…
We see his doubts about what meaning his life would have if he left the team. He’s happy to finally be on the verge of having the family he’s always wanted, but he’s devastated at the thought of giving up the fight and leaving Professor X’s dream in the hands of others.
We see a more hardened Cyclops, who tells Gyrich right before allowing Jean to invade his mind via Cerebro…
“You’re right. I’m not Charles Xavier. He’d reason with you. Be patient. He’d do everything in his power to save you.”
We even see a more confident Cyclops, as he tells Roberto in the first fight…
“Name’s Cyclops. Definitely the good guy.”
And when he strikes a cool hero pose after landing in the Sahara and says…
“To me, my X-Men.”
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Bishop Is a Full-Time Team Member!!! (But Why???)
Bishop (and Morph) is now part of the enhanced, old-school intro. So I assume he’s now full time, and I couldn’t be more excited about it!
But the question remains—why?
He obviously must’ve time traveled again to be there with the team. But what’s the story? Is he stuck? Did he join them intentionally? Was there any issue in him joining? I mean, they’ve worked together enough that he’s proven himself to the team, but it’s still never been the most amicable working relationship.
I’m just hoping we’ll get answers to these questions as we go. There’s no reason they had to explain his addition to the team in this first episode, but I eventually want to know how this came about.
Tim Matassa
