1x04 Deadly Reunions

[7.5/10] This is the best episode of X-Men yet, which hey, it’s only been four episodes. But still! A good bar to reach!

My favorite part of this one, not surprisingly, is the confrontation between Magneto and Xavier. We’ve heard about their past. Measuring it against their present gives this one extra force, especially since the setup here is Magneto threatening a collection of “homosapiens”, and eventually the X-Men team, in the hopes of drawing Xavier out. Something about Magneto using bystanders, and later Xavier’s lackeys, to get his old friend’s attention, shows the depths of his cravenness, but also how badly he wants to face someone he once considered an ally.

Their moral debate is just as interesting as the circumstances that lead to it. Xavier is ever the pacifist, someone who wants to show both that mutants can be one unified brotherhood, and that they can coexist with the humans. We don’t really know why he feels so strongly, beyond the obvious but effective moral rebuke to Magneto that he doesn’t want to stand against six billion human lives on this planet.

But Magneto is no mustache twirling villain in response. The show continues to dance around the characterization from past materials, that Mangeot is a Holocaust survivor. But whether you have that subtext or not, him declaring that his people used words and reason while their enemies used tanks and war to wipe them out, and he won’t let that happen again, makes his perspective comprehensible. Magneto is not some mere extremist. He’s someone who’s lived through the worst of prejudice and appeasement, and wants to avoid history repeating itself to his people’s detriment. He’s sympathetic even as he’s villainous, which makes for a compelign antagonist.

Part of that comes in how Xavier defects him though. It’s not a mere power battle. But instead, comes down to Xavier forcing Magneto to relive the trauma he faced in his home country as a child. It’s abstract enough to be accessible to younger audiences, but is pretty intense if you stop and think about it. Pretty damn good stuff.

The action and fireworks are all solid too. I like the hints we get that Storm has some traumatic backstory too that leaves her terrified of falling bricks. And Rogue performing CPR on Cyclops, only to struggle to deal with his eye lasers, shows the ups and downs of her powers.

We also get some added depth and shading to the Wolverine/Sabertooth relationship. We learn that they were once allies, and that Sabertooth killed Wolverine’s friends, ostensibly for no reason. In a weird way, Wolverine is the Magneto here, having been burned badly once before and not wanting to extend the kindness or understanding with a risk of being burned again. With an impressive abstract sequence to start off with, we learn that Sabertooth has some demons of his own, but we can also understand Wolverine’s reluctance.

And what I find especially interesting is that we end things on such a pessimistic note. Everyone wants to be as compassionate toward sabertooth as they were toward Wolverine. But Sabertooth takes advantage of their compassion to try to take over the compound and threatens both Jubilee and Logan in the process. After his experience with magneto, Professor X gives up his dream of all mutants living together in harmony, reasoning that some people just can't be reached.

That's pretty grim! There’s realism in that, with the idea that you have to be judicious and mindful in these types of situations because some people will take advantage of your kindness and others are too scarred by their past experiences to heal. But that's some heavy stuff to introduce in what’s ostensibly a kids’ show!

Overall, there’s a lot going on under the hood fo this one, and it makes for the richest and deepest installment of X-Men yet.