And Lo, a Beast is born.
Last time on X-Men: Evolution, a
party got out of hand, as they so often do. While Xavier was away to make
repairs on his half-brother’s prison tank, and Logan and Ororo were out; Kitty,
Kurt, Evan and Rogue threw a party at the Mansion. They stranded Scott and Jean
to make it happened. But, things got complicated when Webber Torque, aka
Arcade, was lead into Cerebro’s mainframe and caused the mansion’s defenses to
run amok. He thought it was a computer game. He was stopped and the party broken
up. Charles realizes at the end that this was all a set up, but doesn’t know by
whom. We do, though. It’s revealed that Rogue’s friend Risty is Mystique in
disguise, and this was all for her to get data on Mutant’s Xavier had compiled.
That’s so not good.
Nice metaphor for Hank McCoy's reputation at
Bayville High going up in flames in the next
few days.
This time we open on Evan not paying
attention to a chemistry lecture by McCoy. Not sure how I feel about both of
his focus episodes after being introduced are about him being a lackluster
student, but what are ya gonna do? Anyway, he sees his skateboard friends out
the window, asks for the hallpass and blows off the class. McCoy, who was
showing off how potassium ignites even in water, spies Evan skating off out the
window as he went to close the blinds. He looks disappointed, right before he’s
struck by some kind of fit. He smashes beakers, because that’s what you do when
you’re having a fit in a chem lad, tells the students to read chapter four and
he’ll be back later. He runs to a nearby bathroom, splashes water on his face
and quotes lines of Shakespeare to himself, but that doesn’t seem to work and
he ends up ripping a sink off the wall in fury.
After the credits roll, we see Principal
Kelly cordoning off the bathroom. Myst-er, Risty asks if he knew what happened,
but Kelly is completely unaware. Kurt, on the other hand, believes it was Hank.
He was in the class with Evan. Kitty doesn’t believe him, though, even when Kurt
points out Hank has been MIA since leaving the class.
Evan takes finding his teacher reciting classics
with murder in his eyes WAY better than I would
have in that position.
Outside, Evan is skateboarding with
his friends, when he hears Hank speaking in the nearby amphitheater. He goes to
check it out, finding Hank in the midst of a Shakespeare recitation. I’m not
sure of the exact quote, too lazy to search it out, but it’s either from Macbeth
or Hamlet. Anyway, he’s wrapped up in reciting and clearly fighting to keep
control of something. When he notices Evan, he literally shatters the concrete
around Evan’s head before he can completely master himself again. Once he does,
he apologizes to Evan and tells him that he’ll see him tomorrow.
Evan returns to the mansion and
brings in a package that had been delivered for Kitty. We’re then shown the
Danger Room, where the others are in a training session. Looks like it’s a get
to the goal type thing. They’re running up a stone pathway to a pillar of some
kind, while dodging attacks from explosive balls. Rogue gets taken out, but Cyclops
almost gets her to the finish before the buzzer. The session ends, and Rogue complains
that Evan was supposed to have her back when he rolls in. The others are angry
with him, and Ororo chastises him for not being dependable. Oh, and Kitty’s
package turns out to be a blue pyramid hat, central American style, something to
stimulate her brain for a test. Kay.
The hat is stupid. That's the whole joke.
The next day, Evan runs into Hank,
who apologizes for that little scene at the amphitheater. He got “lost in the
words” and says he often goes there to clear his head. He turns the conversation
into a speech about Evan not using his potential, using an old trophy of his
from when he played football at Bayville as part of it. I’m insulted by this. Henry
‘Hank’ McCoy is a Midwest boy, I won’t have New York try to steal him like
this! Well, whatever, he said he goofed off as a freshman and didn’t realize
his potential until he became part of a team. He gives Evan a Shakespeare
passage to memorize as a punishment for missing chemistry… not sure how those
jive together, but whatever. Hank goes to coach a girl’s roller-hockey practice
that Jean’s in. Things start out fine, until he has another fit and almost
attacks a student that ran into him. Evan and Jean are able to talk him down
and play it off like he was surprised. This is very much getting out of hand.
That night, Evan tries to memorize
the lines but is having difficulties. Kitty offers him her pyramid hat, which
he takes while being skeptical. At that moment, Hank arrives at the mansion,
asking to see the professor. In a private interview, we learn that Hank was a potential
student that Xavier tried to recruit years ago, but Hank brushed him off, as he
didn’t want to admit what he was back then. He regrets it, and says that the “beast
within” is getting harder and harder to control. He explains that he’d been
taking a serum to repress it, but it’s not working like it used to. Charles
tries read Hank’s mind, but when he does, he gets an impression of a blue
gorilla charging him. He tells Hank that there’s nothing that he, Charles, can
do. The “beast” is apart of him and the only one who can control it is Hank. Charles
advices Hank take some time off until he can get control back, but teaching is
Hank’s life and he can’t picture life without it. Hank says that he’s trying to
control it, but Charles points out that he USED to try, but got too reliant on
his serum. Hank says he’s just too tired,
Later, Hank goes to the chemistry
lab to whip up a new batch of his serum. After mixing it up, he takes a sip and
immediately turns blue and furry. Wow, I can’t imagine a formula failing harder
than that. Principal Kelly, who’d been working late too, hears Hank’s screams
and goes to investigate. He sees the trashed lab and is immediately charged by the
Blue beast formally known as Hank McCoy. Kelly is able to escape the beast, pulling
a fire alarm to scare him off. He finds Hank’s lab coat and reports the “beast”
to the police. The X-Men hear, suit up and roll out.
This jumpscare feels like it's 45% the beast, 55%
Hank getting Kelly back for something.
Shadowcat and Jean find him first,
prowling a scrap yard. He almost gets Shadowcat, but Jean hurls a car at him
and pins him to a wall with it for a few seconds. He breaks free, but Wolverine
arrives and the two of them end up tussling. Wolverine is the more experienced
combatant, but the beast proves stronger and he tosses Wolverine aside before running
off. They note that he’s still going north, and Spyke realizes that Hank is in
there and is going somewhere to clear his head.
The other team, composed of
Nightcrawler, Rogue and Storm find him next. Storm blows him back with a whirlwind,
but he almost gets Nightcrawler when the other blue beast tries to investigate
where he landed. Nightcrawler is able to bamf away, but loses the beast in a
warehouse. The others join in, and they’re almost attacked when the beast
breaks through a crate to grab them. Thankfully Cyclops arrives and optic
blasts the beast through a wall. The beast, though, is able to get up and slink
away.
Spyke makes it to the amphitheater and
is also almost immediately attacked by the beast. Apparently, part of his
mutation involves ninja levels of stealth. Wolverine rushes in, though, grapples
the beast and crushes him with a concrete pillar he sliced off. But the beast
gets back up and throws Wolverine. Jean arrives and telekinetically pins the
beast to a wall, but the beast is struggling too much for her to hold him long.
Spyke starts quoting Shakespeare again, which calms the beast enough for
Nightcrawler to bamf the professor in. Charles gets a hand on the beast and
helps pull Hank McCoy out of the recesses of his own mind.
Hank takes turning into a blue gorilla/troll thing
significantly better than I would.
The next day, on the tv at the
mansion, we learn the police are still searching for Hank McCoy but have no
leads as of yet. We’re then reintroduced to Hank McCoy, who is still blue and
furry but is now wearing sweats and speaking again. He laments the fact that he’s
still trapped as a beast, but Charles tries to help him see the silver lining
of having control again. Hank says he can still feel the beast, but the worst
part is that his nightmare still came to pass, as he can’t teach anymore. Evan
suggests getting him an image inducer, but Hank doesn’t want to be a different
person and Hank McCoy is still wanted by the police. Charles offers him a
solution. We learn Kitty threw out the hat because it looks stupid, what a
pointless plot, before Charles introduces the Institute’s newest instructor,
Hank McCoy. He smiles as he tells them that they can also call him Beast.
This is an episode that I have
mixed feelings about. The Hank McCoy stuff I loved. The reveal that he was an
early, perhaps even THE first, recruit attempt by Xavier was great. The idea
that he didn’t sign on either due to youthful pride or a belief that his power didn’t
need training to control is a different spin on the character. Other adaptations
suggest that Hank usually leaps to be apart of the X-men. I also liked the
change that turning blue and furry was either a natural progression of his
power or a side effect of trying to repress it as much as he had. In the comics,
Beast originally just had simian looking hands and feet, but he augmented
himself into his blue furry form in an attempt to stop a robbery at a lab he
was working at but also hide his identity. He lost track of time, didn’t take
the counter drug and thus was stuck in beast mode. So, it feels similar to the
original story but is its own thing. And the use of Shakespeare to help him
keep a grip on sanity felt fitting. Hank McCoy is a big reader and lover of the
arts, so using it to keep him grounded is just perfect. Now, on the other, I felt
that the Evan subplot was really unnecessary. Like, did we need a repeat of his
academic issues from last season for him to bond with a teacher? It would have
worked just as well for Evan to be the one student to see Hank in the bathroom,
see him at the amphitheater, ask him why he liked the quotes and Hank giving
him the passage to see if it helped Evan focus as well, and the rest of the
episode continues as is. The way it is just feels… unnecessary. Just saying.
And Kitty’s plot was pointless. Can’t really look at it any other way. So, a
good Beast story, not a great story for anyone else. Next time, we’ll see a
bonding story between the brother’s Summers.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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