The class gets a bit bigger, and things get more complicated.
Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Magneto
attempted to recruit the strongest Mutants to his cause. He revealed a machine
that use the Gems of Cyttorak to enhance Mutant’s powers to their absolute
limit. He tricked the brothers Summers into using the device, neglecting to
mention the machine will affect their minds and make them side with Magneto.
The “loser” X-Men, Toad and Mystique bust in and battle with Magneto and the
majority of the Brotherhood. The X-Men escape, and Scott and his little brother
Alex use up their enhanced powers to destroy the falling Asteroid M. Magneto
and an enhanced Mystique escape in pods. The episode and season ends with Xavier
promising that the X-Men will always be there to help Mutants and humans. Enough
recap, let’s get to it.
 |
| He's a little late to the game, but we now have the "human that makes you realize that Magneto has a point." Cast complete! |
The episode begins with a girls’
soccer game. Jean and her team win, with the rest of her team watching from the
stands. Scott, Kurt, Kitty and Evan come down to congratulate her, but her asshole
boyfriend Duncan cuts them off to heap on praise. Oy, this guy. Jean gets a
ride home from Duncan much to Scott’s annoyance. Scott drives Kurt and Kitty home
in his car… (I guess Evan skateboard home?) and is clearly fuming at Jean’s
choice in guys. He’s so lost in thought that his car almost gets rear-ended by
a car being chased by police. The police cut the reckless driver, but it causes
him to slam into and through a guardrail and over a bus full of kids! Oh my!
Scott hesitates for a moment about if they should get involved, but as the car falls,
he makes the right call. Kurt bamf’s the driver out of the car, and Scott
blasts the car away with an eyebeam. After that, Kitty grabs them both and they
phase through a building to avoid the news.
 |
| Think insurance companies in Marvel and/or other superhero universes cover damage by super powers? |
We cut over to Institute and get
visually introduced to some of the New Mutants. In between seasons I guess Xavier
sent out a bunch of invites to new students. While they’re names aren’t dropped
hear, I’ll give a quick rundown. We’ve got Rahne (pronounced Rain) Sinclair aka
Wolfsbane, a canonically Scottish Mutant that can shapeshift into a wolf or
wolf-human hybrid; Roberto de Costa aka Sunspot, a young Brazillian man that
can absorb sunlight and turns it into his own power; James Madrox aka Multiple,
creates clones via kinetic impacts, (an ongoing joke is seeming him pump into
people and three-to-five clones bounce off); Bobby Drake aka Iceman, cold and
ice manipulation and the ability to turn himself into an organic ice-form;
Jubilation Lee aka Jubilee, creates energy blasts that resemble fireworks; Sam
Guthrie aka Cannonball, flies at jet speed and creates an impenetrable forcefield
around himself; Tabitha Smith aka Boom Boom, creates spheres of explosive
energy; Amara Aquilla aka Magma, can transform into a fiery form akin to Iceman’s
ice form, pyro and geothermal-kinesis (think if Human Torch and Avalanche had a
baby); and Ray Crisp aka Berzerker (he goes by his nickname exclusively) who
can manipulate and generate electricity. They’re all secondary characters to
the original X-Men team, but we’ll get to know them over the rest of the
series. Xavier and Logan watch over their new charges from the mansion. Xavier
is worried that it’ll be significantly harder to keep things under-wraps now
with so many new students, and Logan suggests they’ll probably need more
instructors sooner rather than later. Before they can get too much more into the
Institutes hiring policy, Ororo comes in and shows them the news report of the car
chase.
Scott pulls into the mansion and the
three discuss maybe just not telling their instructors what happened. The plan
is almost immediately dashed when they see the three adult X-Men standing outside
and glaring. Scott and Xavier have a private chat. Scott is frustrated with
himself for hesitating almost too long before acting, and the fact the kids and
the criminal were almost hurt because of it. Xavier preaches caution, to try to
use their powers but be subtle about it, as humanity is definitely not ready
for Mutants to be a thing. Scott isn’t sure if he can do that. Scott goes to
video chat with Alex. The younger Summers is showing his bro some of his surfing
skills and says that he might try going pro next year. Scott is clearly a
little disappointed that his bro won’t join them at the institute anytime soon,
but is proud of him for pursuing his interests and getting a hang on his powers.
The next day, there’s a school
assembly. Jean unknowingly snubs Scott to sit with Duncan. The Brotherhood boys
are annoyed at still trying to do the school thing now that Mystique thing is gone.
Side note, how the hell does no one notice Toad shooting his 10-foot-long
tongue at flies! Rogue also meets a punky new British exchange student named
Risty. Lance, who has eyes for Kitty, goes over to try to get her attention.
She isn’t interested, and the assembly starts. We’re introduced to the new
principle, Mr. Edward Kelly… Oh no. I’ll get to that in the synopsis. Lance
tries to get Kitty’s attention again by causing a tremor that makes Kelly
stumble. Kitty, unfortunately, laughs, encouraging Lance. He causes a much
bigger tremor and almost kills Kelly when the Basketball scoreboard nearly
falls on him. Jean saves Kelly by shoving the board out of the way telekinetically.
Kelly makes a joke about fault lines, and then starts his speech. Props for the
professionalism, Kelly. He makes a speech about facing new challenges and
showing off their personal talents. He also encourages the students to all come
to Jean’s championship soccer game.
After the assembly, Scott looks for
Jean, but can’t find her. He notices Lance trying to get Kitty to forgive him and
confronts the Brotherhood boy for not accepting her rebuffing his advances.
Lance tries to goad Scott into blasting him, but Kitty talks him down. Good pseudo-little
sister, Kitty. As the X-Men walk off, Lance expresses a desire to embrace the
principal’s advice and go public with their “unique talents.” Oh my. Blob
implies that Mystique wanted them to keep things quite, but since she vanished
Lance isn’t interested in following her standing orders anymore.
 |
| If being villain henchment doesn't work out for them The Brotherhood boys could have a career as a Grunge Band. |
That night, everyone goes to the
girls’ champion soccer game. Lots of excitement from Bayville, Kelly unveiling a
new statue of the school mascot, the Bayville Hawk. The game starts, but less
than five minutes in Toad steals the mic. He hands it off to Lance. Mr. Alvers reveals
that he and his crew, Scott, Jean and everyone else from the institute are
Mutants. He shows off his powers by creating a giant chasm in the middle of the
field. He also sends Blob to smash the Bayville Hawk, and Quicksilver races
around Kelly, launching him into the air. The X-Men suit up and face off
against the Brotherhood. Xavier calls out to Storm as his team go to battle.
Cyclops brawls with Avalanche personally, while Shadowcat and Spyke smash up
the camera equipment to try to do some damage control. Jean saves Kelly and
disables Quicksilver, Nightcrawler nabs Toad, and Rogue once again has to drain
Blob to knock him out. Cyclops eyebeams Avalanche and knocks him out. Storm flies
in and puts the fires out with rain. She lands and the team laments that the
secret is out. Xavier decides to risk his mind and try to alter the memories
off everyone there. He’s able to reach out and alter the minds of everyone
except Principal Kelly. He tries to blank Kelly’s mind, but the strain finally
hits him and he passes out. The crew bring Xavier home. When he wakes up and asks
about the damage, Logan reveals that a magnetic interference cut the broadcast
off just before Lance started dropping truth bombs. So… things are fine? Yes
and no, they’re secret is safe, but Xavier isn’t sure if he finished the wiped
Kelly’s mind right as that’s when he passed out. Huh, that could be a problem.
 |
| Ororo Munroe knows how to make an entrance. |
This episode is okay. It feels like
a bit of a letdown compared to the Cauldron two-part season finale, but that
was a season finale and possibly a series finale. It gave me the vibe that they
were trying to wrap up the story as satisfactorily as possible just in case
they didn’t get another season. We were introduced to some new characters, we
see some of the relationship develop like Lance starting to try to pursuit Kitty
romantically, and saw some subplots get set up. Principal Kelly is an
interesting addition to the cast. He’s based on Senator Robert Edward Kelly
from the X-Men comics. He’s an anti-mutant bigot that eventually grows into a
Mutant ally after Mutants save his life several times. His addition feels like
they’re going to start setting up the human side to the X-Men’s Us v Them narrative,
which is always uncomfortable but fun to watch. And while it wasn’t mentioned
specifically, I do enjoy the mental image of an irate Magneto calling up Pietro
and making it clear that there will be consequences if the Brotherhood boys
pull this kind of crap again. Dad’s got to put his foot down to make sure his
boy doesn’t screw everything up. So yeah, it’s an okay start to a new season,
and I look forward to talking about our next episode where we get to know some
of the New Mutants. Anyone hear some booms?
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41048276
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
No comments:
Post a Comment