Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 19

While not jumping the shark, they definitely rode the funnel into the sky. Which feels crazier. 

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Hank McCoy was having some trouble. We learn that the kindly chemistry/phys ed teacher is in fact a Mutant that had been repressing a part of his power for years. The rage of his internal monster grew from being repressed until it finally exploded forth, forcing him into a blue ape form. Evan, whom had bonded with the teacher earlier, used lines of Shakespeare to keep Hank calm enough for Charles to pull his conscious mind out. His new look and the damage he caused mean that Hank’s career at Bayville is over. Thankfully, the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was in need of a larger teaching staff. The episode ends with the Xavier students welcoming Mr. McCoy, aka Beast, to the family. That’s a heartwarming recap, but let’s get to the new content, shall we? 

 

This WiFi signal is way stronger than it has any
right to be.

We open with a quick news blurb that a massive storm is going to hit the Hawaiian Islands. The storm is dangerous, but also leads to massive waves, so naturally Alexander Masters aka Alex Summers is out on the water. Scott is on the beach, recording his brother’s run via a web cam that Alex has in his surfboard. Scott tells his brother that this will be the last one, so naturally this is one where Alex wipes out bad and disappears. Scott frantically calls out to Alex, having lost sight of him in the storm. Alex, thankfully, is still on his board and can broadcast to Scott’s laptop. Alex got sucked out by a riptide and is being pulled out to sea. Scott wants to call the harbor patrol, but Alex is worried how that’ll effect his surfer rep and just wants Scott to come get him. Scott, clearly frantic, decides to go along with Alex’s idea and steals a boat from a rental place to save him. He tells Alex to fire off plasma flares to help Scott find him, which helps, but he’s only able to shoot off a few before he exhausts himself. Scott calls the harbor patrol, but his radio keeps cutting out.

 

Back at the mansion, Kitty gets a call from Lance and the two get flirty. Guess Kitty really likes a bad boy… She’s interrupted by Kurt coming in, showing off that he somehow got freakishly ripped. Turn out he was playing with his image inducer. It starts malfunctioning as he walks out, showing us what Kurt would look like if he fused with Fred Dukes. He goes to the kitchen where Jean is watching the news about the storm that’s hitting Hawaii. Kurt is also concerned, but ends up freaking Jean out when his malfunctioning inducer gives him a massive head.

 

Kurt shouldn't play with his image inducer. That's 
the joke. Do we really have time for this, guys?

Scott is able to get through to the Harbor Patrol, but his signal keeps cutting out. Alex digs deep and fires off one more blast for Scott, but then goes under. A helicopter is in the area looking for them, they can’t find the boys. Alex makes it to Scott’s boat, and Scott pulls him onto the boat. The boat gets buffeted by a massive wave, but thankfully they aren’t capsized.

 

Back at the mansion, the New Mutants are having a snowball fight. It looks like it’s the energy blasters v Bobby. Hank joins in, wanting to show them what a real snowball fight is like, using his hands and feet to barrage them with snowballs. Evan calls Jean in, and she’s able to hear the report about Scott and Alex being lost at sea. Charles tells Storm to prep the X-Jet.

 

Okay, despite my complaints, this moment is nice.

Out on the water, the Summers’ engine cuts out. Alex thinks he heard a chopper, but Scott is doubtful. He tells Alex to look for a gas to get the engine going again. He finds one, just before a big wave can crest. Scott optic blasts the wave, breaking it, saving them for the moment, and giving a flare for the chopper to find them. The X-Jet is burning sky toward them. Another big wave hits, capsizing the boat. Scott and Alex are able to find each other and grab a floatie. Alex is feeling pretty depressed about their odds, and thinks it figures that this happens just when he filed to change his name back to Summers. Scott tells him to keep his spirits up, just as the chopper finds them. Scott hooks Alex up to the winch when it drops, and he’s pulled skyward, just as a lightning bolt hits the tail rotor and the chopper goes down. Scott optic blasts the chopper to keep it from falling directly onto Alex. The chopper goes under, and Alex is, unfortunately still hooked up to the winch. He gets dragged under, and doesn’t have the energy to slice the line. Scott is able to swim down to him, thought, get’s him loose and they bob to the surface. The search-and-rescue guys have locator and a ship is en route to pick them up, but they lost sight of the Summers.

 

The X-Jet makes it into the area, but funnel clouds are forming which isn’t bad now, but will be bad if it touches down, so you know what is going to happen in the next five minutes. The Rescue guys are pulled out of the water by the boat, but they have no idea where the Summers boys go to. The X-Jet locks on them, though and dives to them.

 

So... like... Alex is definitely dead in this situation.
Right?

The funnel clouds touch down by the Summers’ and are pulled in. They try to swim out, but, come on, it’s a force of nature. They get pulled up high into the funnel, thankfully it’s high enough for the X-Jet to find them. Storm goes out to keep the funnel cloud back and Jean goes down to try to lift them up telepathically. It’s close, but they’re pulled inn. Scott and Alex are given a blanket to warm up. Alex thanks Scott for saving him, and Scott assures the younger Summers that he’s sure that Alex will return the favor some days.

 

Back at the mansion, the grounds are trashed and the New Mutants are exhausted. Hank sighs and figures that he’ll need to pick some new skills to teach Mutants. Kurt waits to see Scott, when Charles rolls in and gives him a repaired image inducer. Kurt apologizes for messing with it, and promises not to again, to which Charles is sure Kurt won’t. Kurt goes in to see Scott, whom is receiving some bedside aid from Jean, and instantly causes them to giggle. Why? Because as a sort of “this is what you get for goofing off” punishment, Charles set the image inducer to show what Kurt would look like as a girl. The episode ends on the laughing.

 

So, this is the first truly meh episode in a while. The situation is interesting, I’ll give them that. Putting Scott and Alex in a situation where they can’t use their powers to fix everything was an excellent use of this setting. There’s no Mutant to fight, no force they can really overcome, it’s just them verses the Storm. But that said, there are only so many times that someone’s head can be dunked underwater and the situation remain suspenseful. The “helicopter goes under and drags Alex down” was a sort of jump the shark moment for me. I did like the sibling bonding that was going on before and after the terrifying stuff was done though. And that stuff at the mansion was pretty much pointless. The two scenes of Kurt messing with the inducer really didn’t make that last sight gag worth it. Also, if I have anyone who is more read up on the topic of Transphobia, making a cis man look like a woman, Transphobic or not? It feels like it might be, but I might be making a mountain out of a mole hill. But the super powered snowball fight was a neat concept even if we only got like 15 seconds of it. And I’m glad to see Beast adjusting well. And that’s all I have to say about that.

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