[7.6/10] When Lilandra announced that Jena’s fate would be decided in a trial by combat, I winced a little bit. I worried the climax to this arc was going to be one big beat-em-up without any character or substance. In fairness, the middle portion of the episode is nothing but the weightless fireworks I grow increasingly tired of in X-Men. Maybe it’s seeing the artistic glory of Batman: The Animated Series or successors like Samurai Jack, but seeing our heroes trade shots with a group of alien heroes we know next to nothing about, with little in the way of inventive staging or “choreography”, does next to nothing for me. Phoenix vs. Gladiator, and the other X-Men vs. Lilandra’s champions falls pretty flat.
But before and after that, “Fate of the Phoenix” does a superb job of rooting these climatic events in the personal and ethical. The X-Men are understandably aghast that the shi’ar would choose to kill Jean just to get rid of the Phoenix. Beast makes an understandable impassioned plea about not killing an innocent to get at the guilty. Jean is their friend and teammate, and they won’t sit idly by while she’s sacrificed by veritable strangers.
Frankly, though, those strangers make a pretty damn good point. Phoenix wrecked an entire star system. Sure, it’s under control now, but who’s to say that next time her destructive appetites won’t increase? There's a utilitarian “sacrifice one to save billions” idea at play here, and as hard as it is to stomach morally, it makes it so you can understand both sides of the debate, which is a sign of good writing.
What I like is that Jean herself threads the needle between the two. She cares about her friends and family in the same way they care about her, but she also doesn’t want this malevolent force inside of her to hurt the people she loves either. The middle ground, of caring about connection but having that be a reason for self-sacrifice, is an interesting one.
The broader theme of this closing chapter seems to be people torn between personal connection and higher duties. We see it with Jean and the X_Men, but we also see it with Lilandra and Xavier. The Empress still cares for Charles, but has responsibilities as a leader that she’s bound to uphold. The tension between the two adds another layer to the proceedings here. (And as an aside, it’s neat to see the Kree and the Skrulls teased here.)
So the battle is the battle. It’s fine, nothing to write home about. But what I like is Jean stealing a moment with Scott to say goodbye, a last refuge of connection when the situation seems hopeless. And I also like that what breaks the Phoenix out of her mental prison is the Shi’ar goons hurting Cyclops, unleashing the Phoenix’s fury.
We get more of the “We must kill her, for the good of everyone” business, with again, Wolverine being unable to, and Cyclops only doing so under extreme duress. The human element to that, these people having to take down one of their own for the good of the galaxy, comes with a potent emotional impact.
I initially rolled my eyes when, after all that, the Phoenix force emerges and says, “Thanks for teaching me a lesson. I’m all good now!” What was the point of taking it down if it could just pop back up and be fine? I was even more concerned when it suggested it could revive Jean somehow. But I’ll admit, as much as a cheat as it is I like how Jean’s resurrection connects to the theme of self-sacrifice, with each of the X-Men sacrificing a measure of their own life force to bring her back We don’t know exactly what that means, but the idea of it gives these friends banding together to revive one of their own a bit of poetry, and adds a cost to defying death.
Overall, this is one of the strongest outings for the Phoenix storyline, with strong personal themes amid the larger-than-life conflict, and some Trekkian ethical quandaries to boot. A strong way to go out.
Review by WardVIP 8BlockedParentSpoilers2022-10-28T07:48:36Z
What an absolutely superb episode. This is what the phoenix saga should have been all about. Most of both phoenix saga's so far were pretty generic and not good. But then this episode just completely flips the table and delivers something outstanding.
We get all the team discussing this moral dilemma of whether Jean should be alive, about their role in the fight and their thoughts about the phoenix. It's all really good dialogue. We see some of the team training for the fight. We see Cyclops and Jean discuss the moral dilemma and what's about to happen, and their heartbreaking romantic words and feelings for each other. We see Rogue having some good dialogue in talking to Cyclops. We see professor x trying to convince Leandra multiple times in different ways. It's all so damn good.
And then, it gets even better. The battle is amazing. We get cool fight scenes with all of the team, and i gasped when the x-men started going down. The x-men lost, even, but they took down a few of the enemy. It was all so good and felt realistic, like the x-men weren't overpowered. It was a proper good battle, and they fought well. And then with Jean left, and seeing Cyclops down, in a mix of anger and probably deliberate choice, she unleashed the phoenix to save him, to save them all. And then professor x uses his mind powers to revive them all, which felt a bit forced as a moment, but i rationalized it as he forcefully revived them and they were all still injured, and it's dangerous to forcefully revive them, but this is an emergency. And then we see the struggle Wolverine and Cyclops have with making the killing blow on Jean. But Cyclops actually does it. But still, the phoenix is too powerful. Then Jean, in her last moments of strength, sacrifices herself. Well done.
And then, after we think she's dead, the phoenix itself comes out, pure and alive and changed, and revives Jean. And the x-men have to sacrifice some of their power to revive her, meaning from now, the x-men are all going to be a bit weaker. Wow.
I'm an absolute sucker for a happy ending, and this was just great.
Most of the pheonix saga's were utterly generic/barely above average (like in this season we had the secret society rubbish and boring pheonix personality, and the previous pheonix saga felt like a generic x-men in space adventure). But this episode is completely different, and is amazing. Best episode of the show so far. Just an incredible episode. If it had better buildup, this could have been a 10/10 for me. But it's still a fantastic episode that was a great change of pace. Utterly fresh, bringing the depth that the saga needed.
I mean, even the trial by combat was interesting, like a team fight to decide the outcome of what happens to Jean. And you even had Beast talking about the morality of such a thing, of such a competition of fighting to decide the outcome of what happens, and not using reason instead. I agree with both points of view. Just a fantastic episode.