Or will the burden of X-Men's complicated history weigh the writers down?
Episodes one and two of the new X-Men ’97 series on Disney+ hooked me. I was, frankly, dazzled by the action scenes and willingness to engage deeply with the themes of discrimination and rejection ever-present in the X-Men comics. The show airs new episodes weekly, so I waited patiently, hoping the writers would be able to keep up with my high expectations.
When episode two ended with a seeming clone of Jean Grey landing at the X-Mansion in distress, it was confirmation to me that the writers were adapting a specific storyline from the comics, a famous one called ‘Inferno.’ I was excited, because it’s a storyline heavily featuring ‘Mister Sinister’, one of my favourite X-Men villains, but I also held my breath and braced myself. Some X-Men storylines can get a bit…messy, packed as they are with lore and characters. As iconic as ‘Inferno’ is, I wasn’t sure if the writers would be able to pull it off with finesse.
Episode 3 – Fire Made Flesh
What followed was a great, if not amazing, episode. The episode’s central question is initially ‘Who is the real Jean Grey and who is the clone?’ and the writers do a good job of exploring this from the points of view of both Jean Greys, as well as her husband Cyclops, who doesn’t know what to believe. There’s initially a great sense paranoia in the episode as both Jeans struggle to come to terms with what they might be.
It falls apart a little too quickly though, and if episode three could be summed up in one word, it’s ‘rushed’. They had a great premise here, but it’s resolved too quickly to make much of an impact, all in the name of getting to the villain of the week—Sinister—as quickly as possible, which is a shame.
I gather from various character reactions that Sinister appeared in the original series at some point, but I would have liked to see a bigger build-up to him, maybe by spreading this storyline across two or three episodes. In the comics, Sinister is a psychotic character with complexity, but here he’s just a mad scientist with no real personality.
The episode is still a lot of fun, filled with fun action scenes and an interesting first half, but the Jean Greys work through their issues far too quickly to be satisfying, Sinister is wasted, and the episode just needed more room to breathe.
Episode Four - Motendo / Lifedeath – Part 1
Episode four marks a break in what had been up until this point three episodes of semi-serialised, semi-episodic storytelling, now leaning firmly into the realm of episodic—i.e. telling a standalone story that has little to no bearing to what has come before it, but featuring our familiar cast of characters.
The episode tells two stories, one about Jubilee trying to celebrate her 18th birthday, the other about Storm trying to get her powers back after the events of episode two.
Motendo
The Jubilee story is the better of the two. Jubes and her new maybe-boyfriend Roberto get sucked into their ‘Motendo’ video game system and are forced to fight as virtual characters for the pleasure of interdimensional alien network executive, Mojo.
This episode is totally bonkers as Mojo is a totally absurd villain. It’s silly fun, and even manages to work in themes about growing up and leaving childhood behind, but ultimately, it’s a little too light for my taste. Sure, if they die in the game they die in real life, but everything is so silly, I never really felt those stakes.
The switch in focus to Jubilee and Roberto also felt a little jarring after three episodes of dealing with heavier themes surrounding the X-Men and their place in the world after Xavier’s death. I don’t blame the writers for wanting to have a little fun with a side story like this, but I hope they get back to tackling the bigger issues facing mutants soon.
Lifedeath Part 1
The second story in the episode tracks Storm after she left the X-Men. She’s working with a mutant named Forge, who wants to help her get her powers back. There are some genuinely interesting developments here, and the episode relies heavily on dialogue rather than action, which I really appreciate. Storm is questioning her place in the world and Forge… well, he might be helping more out of a sense of redemption than altruism.
This storyline is a ‘Part One’ and is cut short rather abruptly. Similarly abrupt was the revelation that Forge is in love with Storm… This literally came out of nowhere and had me rolling my eyes. These two characters hardly know each other, and maybe I’m blind, but I wasn’t picking up on any romantic undertones between them before this was revealed. The moment fell flat, and then cut to credits.
A little disappointing…
Overall episodes three and four were poorly paced. Episode three was rushed and episode four was choppy. It’s a bit of a let down after the heights of the first two episodes, and I hope they course correct soon. I’ll be watching the whole season regardless, though. Like I said, I’m hooked, and even if these episodes have been a bit disappointing, they haven’t been terrible either.
I hope we see a return to form with episodes five and six.
***
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