5x14 Graduation Day

[7.8/10] The finale of X-Men isn’t perfect. In an ideal world, it would be a two-part episode, with enough time and scope to sum up this ambitious, if hot-and-cold series. But as it is, “Graduation Day” is a roundly satisfying finale for the show. It allows the conflict that has driven from the series to froth to a boil, and then pivots everything back between two men at opposite sides of the ideological dispute at the core of it, and the found family Professor Xavier has built over the past seventy-five episodes.

It comes back to Henry Gyrich, one of the heads of the Mutant Control Agency who started out giving our heroes trouble. It comes back to whether the mutant should try to peacefully coexist with a human population full of people who fear and resent them, or whether they should rise up and carve out something for themselves. It comes back to the friendship between Charles and Magnus. And it comes back to the growth the members of Xavier’s team have shown since Jubilee first arrived at the mansion.

And it’s also the culmination of so much that has been running through the show since it started. I love that it starts with what is essentially a referendum on whether mutants are a menace to be contained (or worse eliminated), or a collection of individuals no more inherently good or evil than any of us. Gyrich twisting the events of the series into a series of invectives and bad faith interpretations of mutants as terrorists shows the insidiousness of prejudice. It leads people to misinterpret noble events as building blocks in some terrible conspiracy that indicts all its participants.

And on the other end is Professor Xavier, spreading his message of shared understanding, being a voice for a maligned people and championing the good that his team has done, the building blocks of community between humanity and mutant kind they represent. And for his troubles, he is nearly killed.

In truth, putting Xavier on death’s door is kind of a cliche. But I love what “Graduation Day” builds out of it. True to the title, it forces the X-Men to figure out what to do without their fearless leader. The show touched on this same idea in season 2, but it’s still interesting to see Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine be forced to wonder “What would Xavier do?” when it’s a question that seems permanent rather than temporary. Weighing their natural combativeness and desire for vengeance for their leader, against that same leader’s message of peace is a conflict rich with meaning.

At the same time, I love it as a flashpoint for mutants across the world to wonder if the time has come to rise up. I was compelled by one of the Genoshan mutants who said, basically, that if someone as wealthy, famous, human in form, and known for his message of peace cannot avoid persecution, what chance do the rest of them have to be treated with dignity and equality? There’s a grim irony to all of this -- that it’s an unfortunate incident that transpires while Xavier makes a plea for peace and understanding that convinces his fellow mutant that plea is too naive to be worth listening to.

I’ve been listening to the Revolutions podcast from Mike Duncan, and it’s hard not to draw parallels to real life revolutionary movements. Seeing strong mutant demonstrations across the globe in response to a belief that there’s no way forward with the existing regime has the character of any number of popular uprisings throughout history. The notion of one inflammatory event setting off an explosion of long-simmering resentment and a growing list of grievances, is a familiar one.

Granted, I do have some qualms with the idea that all of these disparate mutant groups across the globe would be united in their desire to have Magneto as their revolutionary leader. And it reduces things to a sort of Great Man:tm: theory of history that I bristle against a bit. But it's also in keeping with the spirit of the show, which personifies massive social movements and ideas so that they’re more accessible to a younger audience. To that end, making Magneto the figurehead of the mutant urge to reject or even conquer humanity makes a ton of sense.

Separate and apart from the politics of it, I like the simple but powerful dilemma it starts up. A fight among the X-Men faithful reveals a convenient but important fact -- Magneto’s powers can heighten psychic brainwaves. Is that a little silly? Sure. But it’s well within acceptable tolerances for this fantastical show. The chance epiphany during a fight between him and Jena Grey helps give it a layer of plausibility, as does the whole “The brain runs on electric pulses, so your electromagnetism powers would have an effect” thing.

It’s important because Earthly medicine cannot help Charles in his beleaguered state, but Shi’ar technology might. The catch is that thus far, only Professor X’s psychic link to Lilandre has been able to contract their alien pals across galaxies. But what do you know! Magneto’s powers could allow him to boost Charalels’ abilities to reach the SHi’ar despite Professor X’s coma.

It’s convenient as all hell. But I still like it for a simple reason. It forces Magneto to choose between the cause he’s pursued for his whole life, and the friend he’s cherished for almost as long. The people are incensed. They’re ready to buy into his philosophy of mutant superiority, that the time is right to strike back at the humans who revile them, subjugate them or at least carve out a place of their own, before the humans try to eradicate us. It’s all that he’s wanted since we met him.

And he’s willing to cast it all aside, or at least put it on hold for the time being, knowing this moment might never come again, because he loves his friend.

That is a powerful statement on the goodness within Magnus, despite his combative and unaccommodating ways. And it’s a testament to his devotion to his friend, despite their philosophical differences. I’ve grown a bit colder over the years. I’ve become more sensitive to the fine line between accepting that reasonable minds can differ and accommodating repugnant beliefs to everyone’s detriment. (Don’t worry, I’m not planning to don a distinctive helmet and develop magnetic powers.) But it’s hard not to be moved by Magneto setting aside his differences with Dear Charles and sacrificing the chance to achieve his dreams in order to protect his friend when he needs it most.

Of course, it works. But X-Men makes much out of those tenuous moments where it looks like hep may not arrive until too late. In those fearful minutes, Chaarales gives one last benediction to his students, a tribute to who they are and what they’ve achieved in the time that we’ve been with them.

Some are more profound than others. Xavier’s slime about Rogue not being able to touch anyone and yet having touched them all is a hollow bromide. Storm being able to be both fearsome and gentle is a hoary cliche. But you know what? Given the heightened tenor of the moment and the soft sincerity of Cedric Smith’s delivery, it all works better than it has any right to on paper.

And some of what he says is pitch perfect. Again, it’s a bit obvious, but him noting Wolverine as a man with a savage anger but a heart of gold, and a loner who found a family, puts a nice pin in his character journey over the course of the series -- the most fleshed out one of the show. Him speaking about the hope he feels for the future when he sees Jubilee is heartening. Him quoting literature back to Hank is pitch perfect. And him calling Cyclops his surrogate son, one he’s deeply proud of, tugged at my heartstrings, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Scott.

I am a big fan of Morph though! And I’m glad that as part of the full circle sensibility of this episode, they take time to not only have Morph play an important role in helping to calm the masses by impersonating the Professor, but for him to receive his own blessing and affirmation from Xavier as well. His journey is one of my favorites, and it’s nice to see him get a little closure and catharsis in this final outing.

With that, the show has its cake and eats it too. I assume there were network prohibitions on outright killing off Professor X. But “Graduation Day” delivers the closest equivalent it can muster, essentially saying that he’ll have to be away forever in order to survive. Suddenly, the X-Men are in the nads of, well, the X-Men. He’es taught them all he can. It’s their time now. Time to carry on his ideals and vision of a brighter future for mutant kind and humanity in the way he would want. With his final words, they, and we, can trust they’re ready for such an awesome responsibility.

And so closes one of the seminal television series of my childhood. I’ll confess, despite my praise here, I walk away from the show a little disappointed. As a kid, I thought of this show as so sophisticated and bold. As an adult, I see much more the undeniable ambition that nonetheless runs around on shaggy story structure and oodles of melodrama.

But these are still the canonical versions of these iconic characters for me. Its reach exceeded its grasp on more than one occasion, but the series didn’t hold back on the moral and personal complexities at the heart of the X-Men’s essential predicament. I admire it as much for the show it was trying to be as the show it was, even if the latter left something to be desired now and then. No matter its successes and failures along the way, X-Men goes out on a high note, one that exemplifies the ideas the show strived to explore, and the figures whose struggles and breakthroughs brought them to life.