3 Things I Like
3. Frolicking Through the Savage Land
At times I felt we weren’t making any progress in the Savage Land storyline with Magneto and Professor X. There are a number of episodes where they just run into another one of Magneto’s Mutates and have to escape. But when I look back on it, this is still one of the best aspects of the season. It’s the most unifying storyline, because even with a Big Bad looming over the season, there are a number of Villain of the Week episodes. Plus, it’s Charles and Erik, and I’ll always pop for them fighting side by side.
That’s to say nothing of the Savage Land being such a unique and fantastic setting. I love a hidden civilization. Even better that this one is prehistoric and tropical, hidden within Antarctica.
2. Battling the Friends of Humanity
They ramp up the real-world parallels this season with the Friends of Humanity. And they don’t shy away from calling them what they are—bigots.
There are some powerful moments where we see mutants—the X-Men and others—dealing with the hatred, fear, and lack of compassion coming from this hate group. Jubilee faces it early in the season, there’s the whole plot to release a plague on society and blame it on mutants, which almost decimates their world, and Beast faces hardcore hatred because of his relationship with his would-be girlfriend, Carly.
“Beauty and the Beast” is also the episode where Wolverine exposes Creed’s secret—that he’s the son of Sabretooth. It’s another powerful moment, seeing that this guy hates mutants so much and projects so many vile qualities on them when it’s really his self-loathing because of his own background.
1. Bishop and Cable Return
I was so excited to see these two favorites duke it out, and boy do they deliver!
But the two-part “Time Fugitives” arc has much more to it than just these two fighting. It has a real conundrum, with Cable having to either help Apocalypse release the plague and ruin the X-Men’s civilization or see his own reality destroyed… the Friends of Humanity causing all kinds of trouble… and a real solution that actually makes sense and doesn’t feel like a cop out.
2 Things I’m Mixed On
2. Morph’s Return
I didn’t care about Morph in Season 1. I would’ve been content if he stayed dead and gone. But in bringing him back, they do a pretty good job of showing the trauma he experienced, not just by being beaten down by the Sentinels, but especially by being left for dead by his team.
My problem with this is that even Morph’s erratic behavior is erratic.
It’s easiest to tell that he’s being controlled by Mister Sinister when he has the black bags under his eyes and is drawn to look more… well, sinister. But there are times when he’s not drawn that way but still acts against the X-Men, and it’s not always clear whether it’s the mind control or legitimate trauma at play.
Considering all he’s been through, it makes sense that he’d be filled with doubts, and his actions would reflect that. But there are times when it’s hard to make sense of his actions and shifting allegiances, and it feels more like inconsistent writing than intentional character development.
1. Mister Sinister
I have such nostalgia for Mister Sinister based almost entirely on him having the coolest action figure when I was a kid. As dumb of a reason as that sounds to enjoy him being in this show, I couldn’t help but be excited that he’s the Big Bad for the season.
That said, his motivations were always murky. Stealing “essence” … building a new race of super mutants with Cyclops and Jean as the foundation (but I still don’t understand why them) … inheriting the Citadel and control of the Savage Land but never explaining how that happened or how he gained loyalty from the Mutates… it never quite felt like they pulled it off with him.
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Silly Resolutions
Early in the season, Cyclops is captured by Mister Sinister, bound, and unable to break free—but later in the episode he suddenly has the strength to muscle out of his bonds.
Plus, there’s Wolverine’s fight with Alpha Flight, when the machinery gets destroyed because one of the scientists left a glass of water sitting around and it gets knocked over and short circuits everything.
And who can forget Professor X foiling Sinister’s master plan that we’d been dealing with all season by smashing his machine with an office chair.
Individually, these might each feel like nitpicks, but this sort of silliness happens too many times. (I’m not sure I even remembered every example, tbh.) And for a show that deftly tackles such heavy themes as racism, bigotry, and feeling isolated in a way kids’ shows rarely do, you’d think they could find slightly more sophisticated resolutions to their action sequences.
1. Mojovision
To put an entire episode here in my full season review of any show, I have to really dislike it.
Welp, as I said when I recently reviewed “Mojovision,” both the timing—placing a complete throwaway episode right before the two-part finale, when I just wanted to ramp up to the endgame—and more importantly, the content, are abysmal. Mojo is as grating as any character I’ve watched in any TV show recently, and I couldn’t stand anything about this plot.
Tim Matassa
