[7.5/10] Here’s where I admit that I am unfairly judging X-Men to some extent based on its spin-off, Spider-Man: The Animated Series. That series had an unfortunate propensity to pack a ton of story into the confines of twenty-two minutes, which often meant good narrative ideas didn’t necessarily have time or space to breathe.
I liked “Slave Island” a lot, but that's my main criticism. There’s a lot going on here, and everything moves so quickly, and with so much incident, that you don’t have much time to really sit with the characters or the moments and let it sink in.
All that said, I like what happens. This is a fairly stock plot. “The good guys get trapped on some faraway island” is pretty standard superhero stuff. But I like the wrinkles the reactive team adds to it. Storm being forced to deal with her claustrophobia, Gambit pretending to defect in order to get our heroes out of dodge, Jubilee trying to be a ringleader for escape but losing the trust of her fellow inmates when an attempted breakout goes wrong, all add different character motivations and challenges to a fairly typical setup.
Despite how typical much of that is, I also appreciate the bonkers comic book-y qualities of this one. Gyrich and Trask relocating to a tropical island where a giant-sized sentinel called “Master Mold” churns out regular sentinels and is powered by the dam the inmates are building is wild, silly, but enjoyable stuff. The whole thing being funded by a faux-benevolent “Leader” (the same one from The Hulk?) and his proto Owen Burnett-esque assistant is interesting. And the sense of the MCA being a rogue nation with demands it can place on others thanks to its arsenal of Sentinels adds an interesting ingredient to the series.
Plus hey! Cable’s here! I didn’t remember him showing up so early in the series. But in a show already clearly inspired by Liefeld-esque designs to some degree, it’s interesting to see one of his signature creations pop up, riddled with muscles and shooting his funky exploder guns. We’re only halfway through the first season, and X-Men is already piling on the lore and teases.
Still, for all the byzantine tangles among the different characters and plots, it’s cool to see Storm freed through Gambit’s, well, gambit, and use her weather-controlling powers to wreck the dam and the Sentinels with it, just in time for Rogue and company to have their Big Damn Heroes moment.
Overall, this one packs a lot into a small amount of real estate. But what it packs in is good stuff, so it’s hard to complain too much.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-04-10T22:21:31Z
[7.5/10] Here’s where I admit that I am unfairly judging X-Men to some extent based on its spin-off, Spider-Man: The Animated Series. That series had an unfortunate propensity to pack a ton of story into the confines of twenty-two minutes, which often meant good narrative ideas didn’t necessarily have time or space to breathe.
I liked “Slave Island” a lot, but that's my main criticism. There’s a lot going on here, and everything moves so quickly, and with so much incident, that you don’t have much time to really sit with the characters or the moments and let it sink in.
All that said, I like what happens. This is a fairly stock plot. “The good guys get trapped on some faraway island” is pretty standard superhero stuff. But I like the wrinkles the reactive team adds to it. Storm being forced to deal with her claustrophobia, Gambit pretending to defect in order to get our heroes out of dodge, Jubilee trying to be a ringleader for escape but losing the trust of her fellow inmates when an attempted breakout goes wrong, all add different character motivations and challenges to a fairly typical setup.
Despite how typical much of that is, I also appreciate the bonkers comic book-y qualities of this one. Gyrich and Trask relocating to a tropical island where a giant-sized sentinel called “Master Mold” churns out regular sentinels and is powered by the dam the inmates are building is wild, silly, but enjoyable stuff. The whole thing being funded by a faux-benevolent “Leader” (the same one from The Hulk?) and his proto Owen Burnett-esque assistant is interesting. And the sense of the MCA being a rogue nation with demands it can place on others thanks to its arsenal of Sentinels adds an interesting ingredient to the series.
Plus hey! Cable’s here! I didn’t remember him showing up so early in the series. But in a show already clearly inspired by Liefeld-esque designs to some degree, it’s interesting to see one of his signature creations pop up, riddled with muscles and shooting his funky exploder guns. We’re only halfway through the first season, and X-Men is already piling on the lore and teases.
Still, for all the byzantine tangles among the different characters and plots, it’s cool to see Storm freed through Gambit’s, well, gambit, and use her weather-controlling powers to wreck the dam and the Sentinels with it, just in time for Rogue and company to have their Big Damn Heroes moment.
Overall, this one packs a lot into a small amount of real estate. But what it packs in is good stuff, so it’s hard to complain too much.