[7.6/10] Let’s start with the most obvious thing -- Bastion’s backstory is wildly confusing. So Mr. Sinister infected Nathan Summers with a techno-organic virus, and then Scott and Madelyne sent him into the future, and somehow that created human-sentinel hybrids (or the human-sentinel hybrids evolved separately?) and the successor to Master Mold sent a similar virus back in time to (I guess?) the 1970s to infect Sebastian’s dad, who then conceived Bastion, who has visions of the future that he’s now trying to create?
Who fucking knows? The show does its best to explain, but the whole thing is about as clear as mud. I have a high tolerance for comic book-y outlandish when it comes to superhero storytelling, but this is some Kingdom Hearts-level time travel insanity. What the damn hell.
But you know what? It doesn’t necessarily matter, because you get the gist of what Bastion is going for here. Regardless of how it happened, he can envision a future (or came from the future? Or has Nimrod’s memories of the future? Again, who fucking knows) where mutants vastly outnumber and eventually overwhelm the human population. So his idea is to enhance the human population, make them android hybrids the way he was, so that they can turn the tables and usher in the “utopia” that Cable has witnessed.
I like the concept and how it turns the tables on our heroes. The X-Men are used to being technically superior but socially ostracized. The idea of the opposite happening, beings who are more powerful, claiming that they are the next evolution, changes the dynamic. We’re used to the X-men fighting mutant supremacists or angry humans afraid of being left in the dust. Fighting a new “species” who claims to want to leave mutants in the evolutionary dust flips the script in a compelling way.
The problem is that the techn-zombies, and how far and wide they’ve been seeded without memories, is another loony touch to me. You’re telling me all of these people went in for Bastion’s treatment? And they’ve lived their lives blissfully unaware for so long. And that no one asked questions fr discovered them until now. Again, I don’t ask for much in the way of plausibility from an outsized show like X-Men ‘97, but the whole thing plays like a random Pod People/Cylon/Zombie twist for the sake of setting up a giant set piece than anything that makes sense on even a generous narrative plausibility scale.
But it’s a darn good set piece! I’m already a little tired of the Jubilee/Sunspot pairing, but him showing off his powers to save her mid-flight is a nice beat. And I especially appreciate how damning it is that, when confronted by her son’s abilities in front of shareholders, she’d rather sell him out to respectable-seeming monsters than own that her child is different. Again, in many ways, Roberto’s mom is worse than the openly bigoted parents we’ve seen in X-Men, because she accepts her son personally, but cares more about appearances and finances than his well-being.
I don’t know if I’d call Cyclops the epitome of great parenting, but he’s at least better than Roberto’s mom! The show doesn’t give the Summers family subplot that much room to breathe, but their mini-arc is good nonetheless. The idea of Jean having Madelyn’s memories and not knowing quite what to do with them is especially intriguing. Nightcrawler has really climbed the ranks of my favorite characters in this, and the way he describes one’s personal history as recollection plus emotion is both poetic and thought-provoking.
Her, Cyclops, and Cable jumping out of a fighter jet in a sports car, racing away from a flying horde of zombie androids, and bursting through a cave via Scott’s eye-beams is not exactly a typical family outing. And yet it’s surprisingly wholesome when they work together and become the world’s most extraordinary blended family in the process. Plus, I’m not made of stone. Them leaping into a cool pose while the car explodes behind them is eminently fistpump-worthy.
And hey, as much as it’s just mindless action, watching Wolverine and Nightcrawler team up, blades in hand (or in hands, or tail) to beat up the bad guys is hella cool. Even when the plotting and character beats get jumbled, X-Men ‘97 can reliably deliver the fireworks.
But there’s something under the hood here. The show makes Bastion an earnest villain of sorts, one who does terrible things to mutants both physically and by reputation. But he’s also someone who thinks he’s a dinosaur stopping an asteroid. It mirrors the way real life individuals justify bigotry and extermination with the idea that they’re just trying to fend of their own “replacement.” His excuses and self-justifications make him seem extra-pernicious, but to his own point, different than the mustache-twirling baddies like Mister Sinister.
I also appreciate Dr. Cooper’s change-of-heart, realizing the horror of what she’s been a part of after Genosha and wanting to make amends. Her releasing Mangeot as penance is a strong choice for a character who’s been a bit generic to date. Her speech talking about how moments of triumph and acceptance for the oppressed fall to ruin so often that they’re sad but not surprising, and go ignored by those unaffected, is gutting, and her “Magneto was right” climax is terrifying. Magento going to one of the poles and unleashing an electromagnetic wave that wipes out all power (and the technorganic goons) is a deft way to halt the problem du jour while also setting up a reckoning to come as “the war” begins.
And oh yeah, Xavier’s back. As I’ve said before, I'm pretty sanguine about that happening. Comic book resurrections happen all the time, and Xavier was tastefully written out at the end of the original series. I’m loath to see the show go back on it. But hey, I’d be lying if hearing him say, “To me, my X-men” again wasn’t rousing.
Overall, the plotting and practical elements of this one get more than a little off the rails, but the action-heavy parts are superb, and the reflections on intellectual fig leaves for bigotry and how easy it is for those unaffected to ignore the worst of it leave this one with a lot to like nonetheless.
shout out to whoever decided magneto would be naked the whole episode
professor X is GOATED he has real presence . Cyclops being back into means is the start of serious business against the villains . Excellent episode and backstory
Yet another episode that made me shout "YES!" The way this show drags emotions out of me is so weird but I'm not questioning it.
A series that leaves you wishing for just one more episode is undoubtedly a good show. :yum:
This is just too good. Ending was so hypeee
Brilliant, action packed and relatable.
This whole show is an Omega Level threat!!!!!!!
“I gotta talk to Hank about his taste in woman” :clap:
To me, my X-Men. :fist_tone1:
I’ll give them one thing, they have absolutely perfected these super hero landings!
Mutants are the most tormented beings that can exist; they always suffer misfortunes, making us wonder what the limit of their endurance is. The chapter ends dramatically with Magneto, showing that he’s tired of trying the patient approach and is now ready for confrontation
the two times I watched it, I spent most of the episode thinking it was a 7/10 episode, building a grand finale with this zombie chase that is cool but not as cool as famous villains or classic sentinels would be. BUT two things made the episode an 8/10 for me: xavier and magneto. the final scenes with magneto releasing his power, handsome spiderman appearing and xavier calling his x-men are top tier.
GOATNEATO DID IT AGAIN, I CRIED, HE COULD'VE DESTROYED THE EARTH ALL THIS TIME IF HE WANTED TO!
He's so powerful yet forgiving
So happy to see spider-man and others, this is how it should be, marvel, whole, none of the rights problems.
get the gang together and then sell it off from disney to some mid tier struggling studio that could use the money, from "safe" disney.
Also HOLY the medic from TF2 voices here? WHO ALL
Dialogue is the key.
I'm not talking about the conflict in X-men, but why so many episodes of the series felt impactful, fresh, poignant.
Visuals are incredibly creative, be it fight (any), ability (Kurt's teleporting) or contemplation (Auschwitz's shadow). Its both cinematic and faithfully limited to the movement of the OG series.
But, in my opinion, only in combination with handful of lines, one sentence sometimes, do those scenes feel heavy, very character focused and forever relatable. Sadly, even "Never again" feels beyond tainted
Shout by MantisTobogganMDBlockedParent2024-05-01T18:57:30Z
They cooked
:fire::fire::fire: MAGNETO WAS RIGHT :fire::fire::fire: