First Things First…
Is Magneto really taking over the team?
If so, is he really going to honor Xavier’s vision? Or will he continue his own crusade?
And is the new and improved Cyclops here to stay?
6 Things I Like
6. “Who? Apocalypse?”
Wolverine is usually so smart and instinctual. But every once in a while, he’s a dope.
When a pregnant Jean bursts into the living room doubled over in pain and distress, sweating, and exclaims, “He’s here!”, it doesn’t occur to him that she’s going into labor.
Nope… instead, he says, “Who? Apocalypse?”
As if Apocalypse is at the front door.
It’s one of Wolverine’s dumbest moments. But I couldn’t stop laughing.
5. In the Crosshairs for Doing the Right Thing
“What in the blazes did we do?”
U.N. Judge
The judges of Magneto’s trial are flabbergasted that they’re also being targeted by the X-Cutioner.
What did they do wrong? They’re not mutants.
Apparently, giving a mutant the “gift” of due process is enough to consider them race traitors.
Magneto understands this. He tells the judges…
“You gave a monster a trial. Now you are traitors to your kind. Oh, to play by the rules and still they come for you.”
Of course, it’s ridiculous to think they should be in the crosshairs of this madman simply for doing their job. They shouldn’t be targeted by an insurrection.
Then again, neither should Magneto.
That’s the point they miss.
Sure, the X-Cutioner is the extremist. He, along with the Friends of Humanity and the other rioters, are to blame. But the judges’ inherent bias against mutants becomes apparent through that one simple question, too. Even though they give Magneto his trial, this reaction to the insurrection makes it clear they think he’s beneath them. They’re not in favor of terrorist threats against Magneto, but it’s as if they find it understandable. He could be threatened, but not them.
And if that’s how they feel, how fair was his trial ever going to be in the first place?
4. Will They, Won’t They?
“The Professor trusted you, and I trust him. I guess that’ll have to be enough.”
Cyclops
Prior to the cliffhanger at the end of the episode, there’s a lot of uncertainty about Scott and Jean leaving the X-Men.
In the premiere, Jean convinced Scott to leave. He finally accepted that he could let go and leave Xavier’s dream in the hands of others.
But Scott makes it clear early in this episode that Magneto’s arrival and takeover of the team has torpedoed those plans. He, more than anyone, pushes back against Magneto, to the point that Jean has to say to him…
“Scott, read the will again. Like it or not, this is what the Professor wanted.”
To his credit (I think…), Magneto goes to great lengths to earn trust from Scott and the rest of the team. Yielding and allowing himself to be arrested, knowing he’ll face an uncertain trial, is a massive step.
On top of that, Magneto fights by the X-Men’s side after the terrorists infiltrate the trial, refusing to kill anyone in the process. These actions cause Scott to soften toward Magneto, if just slightly, toward the end of the episode. And once his son is born, it seems he’s back on board with leaving…
… until Jean tells Storm they aren’t going anywhere until Storm’s powers are restored.
Then, that cliffhanger throws everything into chaos. Who knows where things stand now?
3. Another Cliffhanger
This is the second straight episode to end with a crazy cliffhanger. And I don’t know what to think.
If that’s really Jean who shows up on their doorstep at the end, then who is the “Jean” we’ve seen in the first two episodes?
If there’s a shapeshifter in their midst, the obvious guess (besides Morph) is Mystique. But how would she fit into this story?
And has the real Jean been gone at least nine months? Did Scott knock up an imposter?
We’ve seen the Jean we’ve been with these first two episodes use telepathy. We saw her use Cerebro to amplify her power and probe Gyrich’s mind. If it was an imposter, would they have been able to do that?
Of course, it’s also totally possible the Jean who shows up at the end is a shapeshifter. That’s less shocking but makes more sense. Could they be Mystique?
Or maybe the most likely answer is that the new Jean time traveled from the future. Another intriguing possibility…
Obviously, there are way more questions than answers, and I can’t wait to get some light shed on this situation.
2. Magneto’s Ambiguous Motives
“Bigot, ingrate, sycophant, worm. So small I could smite you with a step. There was a time I would smite you all for what was done to Storm. But today, I have saved you from your own, for an old friend has challenged me to remember this view of Earth. How vast it is versus how small we make it. Charles Xavier entrusted me with his dream, and it does not ask you to love or embrace my kind as your own, but merely to accept that this is a shared world with a common future, and that my kind, like yours, have the right to live in it. I am trying to be better. Please… Do not make me let you down.”
Magneto
Magneto keeps saying the right things… about Charles and his vision, about the X-Men, and about wanting to be better.
At least some of the team is also trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Beast quotes Mark Twain in saying…
“The only safe and sure way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend.”
The idea is proposed that the Professor’s reason for leaving everything to Magneto is because he believed it would get Magneto fully on board with his vision of coexistence.
Magneto even speaks of that dream when he brings the judges into outer space, to look down at Earth from a new perspective, as he gives voice to Charles’ vision—about how coexistence doesn’t mean humans and mutants ever have to be best friends, but they must both accept the others’ right to exist on the same planet.
Yet, despite it all, I keep wondering if Magneto is pulling more strings than he’s letting on.
I can’t help but notice he still lets out a heavy sigh every time he’s about to say the word “coexistence.”
He also lectures the judges in court right after Storm has been shot with the X-Cutioner’s power-neutralizing weapon, saying…
“Lies. This is your dream. My kind splayed before you, powerless and afraid. All the X-Men have done is use their awesome power to protect a world that hates and fears them. Behold their reward. What must we do to be good enough? Is this the high road’s destination? If so, I say, as I have too many times before, never again.”
I haven’t worked out how, or if, any of this makes sense. I’m just thinking out loud here. But did Magneto intend for this to happen? So he then could take the high road and prove his worth to the humans?
Look at the results…
He’s been pardoned for his crimes against humanity. And as a gesture of goodwill toward mutants, the U.N. has even begun talks to admit Genosha as a member nation.
And all it cost is another mutant’s powers—while Magneto gets off scot-free.
We’ll see where he goes from here. But for now, I’m still suspicious of everything Magneto says and does.
1. Storm Rises… and Falls
“The breeze is gone. I cannot feel it, nor the moisture, nor the air. What has he done to me?”
Storm
As Magneto says early in the episode…
“Storm, you are the closest thing to a goddess as we will ever see.”
And she has a moment fitting of a goddess when she tells one of the judges who questions why she’s giving orders…
“Do not think. Be silent. Heed my commands and you shall survive.”
It’s amazing! But then…
She gets shot with the X-Cutioner’s weapon… a gun that uses a concentrated dose of whatever radiation makes the power-dampening collars work… and it robs Storm of her powers—permanently.
I have my doubts this will stick. But for now, it’s very emotional. Especially in light of her conversation with Jean, when Jean revealed that part of her hopes her baby will be born human.
Storm seems to love her powers more than most. She doesn’t abuse them, but she loves being connected to nature and the Earth in a way no one else is. That’s what makes it heartbreaking when she tries to use her powers after getting shot and says she can’t feel that connection.
It culminates in her leaving the team. And her only goodbye is a heartbreaking note she leaves for Jean, which she asks Jean to read to the rest of them.
As much as I suspect she’ll be back with the team and at full strength before the season ends, this is still tough.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Skeleton in Rogue’s Closet
“That was a long time ago, Erik. And that cat’s got to stay in its bag, you hear me?”
Rogue
Talk about another shocker… have Magneto and Rogue slept together?
When? HOW?
I’m intrigued, and this could have serious implications. Gambit realizes there’s something there, and he’s the other one, along with Cyclops, pushing back against Magneto.
My only hesitation is that this comes out of nowhere.
Through two episodes, they’ve referenced so many events of the original series. This is not only rewarding for viewers of that series, but it makes it clear we’re in the same universe.
This relationship seems to come from outside that continuity.
But I want to give it the benefit of the doubt. It’s not fair to think we saw every aspect of every X-Man’s life from the original series years. They’re not doing anything wrong by saying something happened—even something major—during that time and we simply didn’t know about it. It just feels jarring because it’s such a bombshell, and there was never a hint of a relationship between these two back then.
Also, how is it that Rogue can touch Magneto without absorbing his powers and hurting him?
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Absorbing Medical Knowledge
Speaking of Rogue and her absorbing powers…
A doctor refusing to deliver Jean’s baby because Jean is a mutant has some serious real-world parallels…
But what I don’t like is Rogue being able to absorb his knowledge of how to deliver a baby.
Is this a thing from the comics? Because in the series, I don’t think we’ve ever seen her use her powers on a human. We’ve only seen her use them on mutants and take their powers. But I don’t think that’s ever extended to absorbing their knowledge and skills.
Maybe I’m wrong. But I found it sillier that she touched this doctor and suddenly had the knowledge and ability to deliver a baby than I’ve ever found it when she touched a mutant and suddenly could use their powers.
1. Selective Memory
“You must understand. You have been our fiercest foe for years.”
Storm
I think the X-Men forgot that Magneto helped them more than he fought against them throughout the original series.
Now, maybe they believe that was only because of his friendship with Charles. And now that Charles is gone, they can’t trust him.
Maybe they still worry that Gyrich’s assassination attempt on Charles pushed Magneto over the edge, which seemed to be the case in the original series finale, when he was set to lead a mutant rebellion against humanity.
Or maybe the fact that he fought alongside them multiple times throughout that series just doesn’t fit the story the writers want to tell now.
If this is really the reason they now consider him their fiercest foe, which simply hasn’t been true, that’s a bummer when all the other references to the original series have been so rewarding.
Tim Matassa
