Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 25

Hank does have a few traits in common with Bigfoot...

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Forge came back to see if he could boost Kurt’s teleportation power. He made a device that would increase his range, and slowed him down to view the dimension he slides through when he teleports. The Hell dimension he teleports through would be neat, if not for the dinosaur demons infesting them, and the fact that Forge’s device left enough of a tear for them to rip through. This thoroughly screws up the Sadie Hawkins dance, where Kurt had gotten a date with a girl he fancied named Amanda. The X-Men and Brotherhood are able to force the creatures back, and Kurt learns that Amanda knew he was blue and furry all along and the two of them start going steady. So, an eventful dance if nothing else. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Now, Hank, what did that tree ever do to you?

 

We open on Hank running around town. He barely escapes initial notice from police, but they see him drop from the building he climbed and follow him. Turns out, Hank was just going to see his old chemistry lab at Bayville high. Seeing it, though, fills him with rage and he smashes a tree just as the police roll up behind him. Hank is able to get around he police, but they chase him down into an alley. Hank ends up leaping onto the police car, smashing the roof and back windshield as he climbs over it. They don’t call him beast for nothing.

 

The next day, Hank apologizes to Charles for his little midnight run and the trouble he caused during it. Charles, though, isn’t too surprised, as Hank has been making these late-night treks on a fairly regular basis. Last time I guess he went to see a drive-in movie in the back of a pick-up truck. Charles tells Hank that his need to want to be out in the world is natural and he shouldn’t sequester himself in the mansion, but Hank disagrees, feeling like he doesn’t belong in the world anymore. Charles offers to make Hank his own image inducer, but Hank feels like that would still be hiding.

 

Kitty, who was passing outside and complaining about some earth science project, overhears and comes in. She and Charles come up with a plan on the fly via telepathy to have Hank lead a field trip to the California Redwood National Forest, to get him out of the mansion and enjoy himself a little. Hank is initially against it, but they convince him to go along. Hank decides to bring along a few students that might need to boost their earth science grade, which ends up being a mix of X-Men and New Mutants.

Rahne and Roberto, wish we saw more of them.
What? Solar powered energy form is cool, and
I like dogs.

 

The next day, the group flies out in the Velocity. It ends up being Hank, Kitty, Evan, Bobby (ice creation), Rahne (pronounced Rain, lycanthropic shapeshifting), and Roberto (absorbs sunlight to enhance his body and shoot energy). Coincidentally, they brought the two New Mutants that have gotten the least screen time. They spend the day setting up tents, study some plants and insects, and swim in the river. Evan ends up getting poison ivy, which is kinda not fun. Hank is clearly having fun, examining insects and swinging through the trees like Tarzan, but upon taking a dip in a river looks upset and walks off. Kitty follows and asks him what’s wrong. He admits to having fun, but not wanting to because that’s the Beast in him more than the man. It’s not who he is, as he puts it. Kitty argues that maybe it’s who he’s meant to be, but Hank disagrees. He tells Kitty to go back with the others. He does a bit of a hike, finding a salmon in a shallow stream and returns it to the main river, commenting that they both can’t go back. Someone is clearly watching Hank from the trees, but he either doesn’t notice or ignores it.

 

We then cut over to the camp of Bigfoot Enthusiasts. The group has taken note of Hank’s presence, finding his footprints, fur, and other signs of his passing. The scientist in their group, he doesn’t have a name but I’ll call him Doc Red, thinks it’s all very interesting but hardly proof. Another enthusiast comes up, having the video of Hank. They think that he was trying to catch the fish but that he lacked the dexterity to hold it. Two big game hunters, they also don’t have names but I’ll call then Phil and Dave, are excited to catch the creature. They’re looking to bag themselves an Ape man.

 

Okay, yeah, not knowing Hank McCoy is a thing,
I could be convinced that those are Bigfoot signs.

Hank gives the kids they’re assignment, to find five mineral samples, he thinks it’ll only take an hour but gives them four so they can hopefully have fun doing it. He goes off on his own to try and relax. As he’s swinging, he comes across the Bigfoot enthusiasts, all using caribou calls to try to get Bigfoot’s attention. They think it’s a Bigfoot call, but anyone who has heard a Caribou knows it’s a Caribou. Hank, feeling impish, makes a roar and rolls a boulder at them, probably just looking to give them a good story. Doc Red, Phil and Dave find Hank and hit him with tranquilizer darts. Hank goes into a rage and charges them, chasing Phil down, but get’s caught in an electrified cage. He eventually drops. Hank is brought back to their camp, where one of the enthusiasts calls him the Real McCoy, causing Hank to stir. Phil and Dave are excited to have him stuffed, but Doc Red is against it.

 

The students realized Hank is missing and are looking for him. When calling out to him doesn’t seem to work, they ask Rahne (they call her Ronnie for some reason) to see if she can track him by scent. Rahne isn’t sure, but is willing to try. She transforms into a wolf and starts sniffing. Wait, your power involves turning into a wolf, and you’ve never tried tracking by scent before? Rahne, come on.

 

Hank finds friends in the strangest places.

Back at the camp, Hank gets all the way up and starts talking with Doc Red. He absolutely blows the doctor’s mind when he knows how the cage’s electric function works. They chat for a few minutes, Red realizing that Hank isn’t Bigfoot. He goes to release Hank, but Phil and Dave come up. Realizing that they mean him harm, Hank signals Red to play dumb, which he does. When they’re alone again, Hank tells him that there will be others looking for him, like him but not like him. He gives the doctor the gist of Mutant’s without saying the word, that they’re unique in their own ways. Red promises to find a way to let Hank go.

 

The kids find the Bigfoot enthusiasts campsite, but it’s empty. The enthusiasts are on the road, Hank being transported in the back of a pickup. A mudslide hits and the trucks are rolled from the road and into the river, just before a flashflood hits and sends them hurtling down it. The trucks end up crashing against a downed tree, Hank’s cage flying off and he keeps going down river. The kids come across Hank and start to save him. Bobby creates an ice dam to drop the water level, and Roberto gets enough sun to transform into his Sunspot form, he dives in and frees Hank. Once he’s out of the water, he tells the kids about the Bigfoot enthusiasts and they rush to save them.

 

Hank uses a downed tree that he holds as a bridge to while the students grab the enthusiasts and help them off out of the river. Phil and Dave see Hank and they along with Red follow after him. The students follow after and they use their powers to scare off the hunter. Bobby and Roberto in their altered forms, Evan in full Spyke spiked form, and Kitty’s phasing, along with Rahne going into her werewolf form, and capped off by Hank promising to punish them. The hunters run off. Red comes out of the forest, and says that he’d love to know more about them, and Hank promises to tell him someday.

 

Four visually startling teens, and Kitty.

Back at the Bigfoot Enthusiasts camp, Phil and Dave tell the others about being attacked by the students with their weird powers and the Bigfoot talking to them. They enthusiasts don’t believe him, as while they’re hunting Bigfoot, they aren’t stupid. Red come up and they appeal to him to tell the others, and Red just repeats his first line of “It’s interesting, but hardly proof.”

 

The X-Men and New Mutants board the Velocity and take off. The others point out that without him, those Bigfoot enthusiasts would have died. He smiles and agrees, repeating Kitty’s words about him becoming who he was meant to be as they fly home. That’s a nice message to end on.

 

I liked this episode. Hank is one of my favorite X-Men, and so giving him a focus episode is always a treat. I liked that while he’s clearly found a home at the Mansion, he still hasn’t completely adjusted to being a blue and furry creature. It was real fun to see him swing around and enjoy his bestial form for a while. The bigfoot enthusiasts were also fun, they didn’t add much, but seeing Red and Hank bond a little as scientists and to see a human scientist excited by the concept of Mutants was interesting. I just wish they brought him back around when the secret gets out. I also liked seeing a bit more of Roberto and Rahne, I just wish they could have been given a little more to do than track Hank and pull him out of the water. They’re fun international Mutants, I wish they’d been given more to do here, and a less than satisfying (I’m told) movie adaptation. Just saying. This was a fun run of episodes to cover, and I’m a bit sorry to put X-Men: Evolution on the back burner again for a bit. When we return, I’ll finally start covering WandaVision. I’m looking forward to it. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/46933289

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 24

Nothing kills a mood like interdimensional monsters popping in. 

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Jean went on a bit of a trip. And by that, I mean she was mind controlled by a malevolent Carnie that used her, and about half the other X-Men, Kitty, Evan, and Kurt, to steal three rings. After getting out maneuvered a few times, the non-brainwashed X-Men try to save them. Charles and the mastermind behind this plan, a Mutant called Mesmero, had a duel of the winds that the Professor somehow lost. We were then shown Mesmero in the mountains of Tibet, where he used the rings to make a key, and unlocked the first of three doors. His master gave him further instructions, and Mesmero promised to free him, so the world will tremble at his presence again. The presence of… Apocalypse. Well, enough of that heavy stuff, let’s talk about a dance, shall we?

Forge, new early 2000s look, same 70s lingo.

 

We open with Kitty and Rogue making their way down to the sub-basement. As they walk, they discuss the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance and prospective guys they’d ask. Kitty isn’t sure about the obvious bad idea that is going out with Lance and Rogue is still denying that she wants to ask Scott out so bad that total strangers can see it. They’re interrupted by Jean joining them. This Jean-Scott-Rogue with a side of useless Duncan situation is just getting more and more complicated. They make it to the sub-basement and we get the gist of this little test. Forge, who is rocking a more modern for the time look but kept the 70s era lingo, is working on a device that will theoretically boost Kurt’s teleportation substantially. The device in question will, again in theory, let him teleport beyond his usual 2-mile limit and slow him down as he does. Forge has got this idea that when Kurt teleports, he’s actually passing through another dimension, he’s just moving so fast through it he doesn’t register it. The device will slow him down, so they’ll get data on this other dimension and hopefully learn more about how Kurt’s power works. Kurt straps the device on and an oxygen apparatus, as they’re fairly certain the brimstone smell Kurt leaves when he Bamfs indicates the other side is toxic, and he Bamfs away to Forge’s old lab. It was farther than 2 miles and should be secluded enough that no one would be freaked out by a blue demon’s appearance.

 

I'd be a bit freaked out to realize I regularly travel
through Hell, too.

Kurt enters a world of fire and brimstone, with a river of lava running beneath him. Thankfully, he’s able to float in this dimension. Neat. He passes over the river of lava fairly quickly, somehow always just missing the large, dinosaur like monsters lurking in the shadows. He appears in Forge’s old lab and is ecstatic. Rather than radio back like he was told to, he just teleports back in triumph. As he leaves, a rip in reality forms and one of those dinosaur peaks it’s head into their reality for a moment before being forced back. Oh, that can’t possibly good.

 

Later on, Kurt is still gushing about what he saw in the other dimension to Scott and Jean, and how excited he is to go again. Jean peels off, telling Scott that she wants to talk to him about something at lunch. Kurt is pretty certain that she’s going to ask him to the dance, but Scott is doubtful. Kurt tells him to trust the Fuzzy dude, and Scott turns it around by asking if a girl named Amanda that Kurt’s been interested in for a while but has never been brough up before asked him. He thinks she will but gets flustered.

 

Kitty meets up with Lance, and does the very obviously bad idea of asking him. Bad idea long term, he seems like a nice enough dude when they aren’t battling but they battle a LOT. Lance tries to play it aloof for a second but then agrees. Somewhere, a large Russian is inexplicably getting angry… Kurt also gets asked out by the Amanda girl, whom is kind of adorkable.

 

Back at the Mansion, Forge, Logan and Charles are looking over the video. While Charles and Forge are surprised by the particulates Kurt’s device detected, Logan spots the dinosaurs. Forge is eager to send Kurt through again for more data, and Logan graciously volunteers to go with him, just in case.

 

Back at the school, Kurt is excited but freaking out about the dance. He hadn’t thought about how Amanda will feel his furry hands if they’re dancing close together. He wants to call it off, but Scott just tells him to wear glove and lie about a skin condition, a similar strategy to how he tells folks he has an eye condition when they ask about his shades. They get distracted for a moment when they see Jean walking over, but then Taryn swoops in and metaphorically snipes Scott before Jean got the chance. Girl decided to switch to active pursuit, I guess. Rogue is clearly bummed too, but Risty convinces her to… what’s the woman equivalent to going stag? Looking it up… Going doe, I guess. Whatever, they’re going together.

 

Well, crap.

A dimensional rift in Forge’s lab opens again and another dinosaur thing sticks its head through, but is pulled back in.

 

Back at the Brotherhood house, the boys plus Tabitha are good naturedly teasing Lance about going, but then quickly change their tune and decide to go to the dance in a group. Even the villains are having fun this time round. Oh, and Fred lost his mohawk at some point and I have no idea how or why.

 

At the X-Mansion, the others are seeing the video from Kurt’s adventure. He’s clearly nervous to go back, knowing that monsters are there, but Forge points out that he moves through it so fast that without the device, he’d probably have never noticed the things. That plus Logan’s promise to go with him seems to lift his spirits. This time they’re going to bamf into the gym… Yeah, I can’t see this idea backfiring. Logan is tied to Kurt with a line and they both bamf away.

 

This time the creatures appear to have been waiting for them, as hordes of the things are all around the lava river. The monsters start charging the duo, quickly overwhelming them. They’re dropped to the ground by one of the monsters that grabbed their tether. Logan cuts it and they try to climb higher. They fight several monsters off, before Kurt’s timer runs out and they teleport back into their dimension. Kurt tears the thing off and swears off teleporting forever. Logan calls in for a pickup, and fails to notice another right opening behind them.

 

On the drive back, Forge tries to convince Kurt to go again, for science, but Charles says he won’t force him. Forge apologizes for trying to force things, as he was just trying to help his friend. Kurt asks if the creatures might break into their dimension, but Forge thinks it unlikely, or they’d have probably done so already. I pinch the bridge of my nose at how silly that assessment was.

 

At the dance, everyone seems to be having a good time. Scott with Taryn, Kitty and Lance, Toad and Blob are both splitting time with Tabitha, and Pietro shows up with four girls (How da hell did he do that?). The only one who look like she isn’t having a good time is Jean, who is being ignored by her date and clearly wished she’d been faster with Scott. Risty and Rogue show up late, and Risty encourages Rogue to look for dudes. Mystique is trying to hook Rogue up? That’s bonkers. In the basement, a monster is able to break through into their reality. Well, crap.

 

Back at the dance, Amanda tells Kurt that she’s aware that Kurt doesn’t always look like he does now. He tries to play this off, but Amanda clearly knows about his usual blue and fuzzy look. But she backs off and says she’ll wait until he’s ready to tell her. Good girl, Amanda.

 

At the Mansion, Xavier, Logan and Forge are packing up his gear. Forge is hoping that someday Kurt will let him test some more. Logan thinks it’ll be a while before Kurt teleports again, and then sees a monster break through into the Danger Room. Oh no!

 

Meanwhile, Toad and Fred are taking a breather while Tabitha takes a stop at the ladies room. Apparently the two are more exhausted by one Tabitha than she is by two guys. They’re interrupted by the first monster rounding the corner and charging them. In the Gym, Kitty and Lance are dancing together when another rift opens between them. A monster leaps out and starts snapping at people. The X-Men start using their powers to hold the creatures off, hopefully no one will notice. Amanda and Kurt get cornered. She begs him to teleport them away, which Kurt is hesitant to do so up until another creature leaps at them. No other options available, Kurt grabs her and bamfs away.

 

A mysterious force between them, keeping them apart
Feels like a metaphor for their whole relationship.

Logan, Charles and Forge pull up in the X-Van, with Logan and Forge running into the school with another projector like from Forge’s intro episode. Rogue and Risty get cornered by another monster. Rogue tries to temp the thing into biting her, planning on draining it, but Risty hits it with fire extinguisher foam to distract it so they can run. The thing almost runs them down, but Forge and the others run up and hit it with a projector’s beam. Forge explains that this is a new projector that he whipped up, designed to send the creatures back to their home reality and to seal the rifts. They got two other creatures and just need to get one more. We’re shown that Tabitha and her dates disable the one that charged them, and they port it back.

 

Why do I want it to shout "Pepper Breath!" and
shoot a fireball? Digimon reference for the win!

Kurt is walking Amanda home. She admits that she’s known Kurt’s secret since around episode Ten. That’s the one where Kurt learned that Mystique was his mother. She saw when he got mad at Rogue for not wanting to show him more, he turned off his inducer and teleported away. She asks to see the real him, which he obliges. He’s scared, but then she admits that blue is her favorite color. They decide to go for ice cream and they teleport away. How sweet.

 

Okay, this episode is fairly good. I liked expanding on Kurt’s powers, and how they’re more or less like they are in the comics. They don’t mention his demonic father Azezal, or that he’s stuck in that dimension, but the implication is there. I also liked the inclusion of Amanda Sefton. She’s loosely based on the character of the same name from the comics. Comics Amanda is an alias of a woman named Jimaine Szardos aka Daytripper, the foster sister of Kurt Wagner and one of his on-again-off-again love interests. They really just took the name, as Amanda/Jimaine was a sorcerous of fairly impressive power, and this one isn’t even practitioner of close up magic. I even liked the dance forcing different character interactions into the lime light. Jean is once again having to deal with her repressed feelings for Scott, Lance and Kitty are trying to make things work despite being on opposite sides, and all that. And it was nice to see Forge again. Good to see that he’s adjusting to jumping forward in time 22 years or so. I am really only disappointed in the ending. It just gets wrapped up so quickly, with apparently no ramifications of monsters coming into the gym. Like, I can buy that Charles once again blanked everyone’s memories, but maybe confirm that instead of just leaving up to me? Maybe they should have cut a scene or two of the interpersonal stuff to just finish off the “monsters in the school” story. All I’m saying. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/46893202

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 23

 The Mysterious Mesmero mindbends Mutants to malicious misdemeanors. I know that theft of this magnitude is probably a felony, but I needed to alliterate.  

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, an Angel took flight. Reclusive trust fund kid Warren Worthington III decided to use his gifts, a pair of angelic wings, to fly around NYC saving people. This drew the attention of both Xavier and Magneto. Wanting to recruit Warren, Charles sent Rogue and Scott to look for him, as they were his only two students not away for Christmas, and Magneto handled this one himself. Magneto sets Warren up and forces him to knock a child into the frozen water. He saves the girl, but New Yorkers quickly soured on the “freak” after that. Rogue and Scott track Warren to a cathedral where the girl’s parents were praying, and where Magneto attempted to force the fledgling Mutant to come with him. The three force Magneto to retreat. They are all relieved to see the girl recover from her dip in the frozen river, and we closed on how everyone was doing over the holiday. It was a very nice episode. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open on Jean walking through a carnival in her nightshirt. She’s almost immediately set upon by demons from the foulest pit of hell, Clowns. What? Read or watch It, clowns are Monsters! Anyway, she’s surrounded by bigger and bigger clowns until one of them collapses and crushes her. She wakes up, floating a good foot or more off her bed. After landing, she noticed a Jack-in-the-box by her bed winding down. She grabs it for some reason, and when it pops open, the creepy smiling grimace of a tattooed man makes her scream.

 

... I can't imagine this sells well.

The next day, the entire mansion is frantically searching for Jean. Apparently, she vanished in the night. They found the Jack-in-the-box, but Scott just says it’s something she one at the Carnival in town last week, not realizing that thing is a smoking Chekhov’s freaking gun. Hank informs Scott and Charles that Jean is for sure not on the grounds. Hank then goes down to their super computer and goes through news articles looking to see if she’s made headlines yet. When asked Charles why they aren’t using Cerebro, Charles reminds everyone that Cerebro won’t detect Jean until she uses her powers. Meanwhile, the others are searching for Jean around town, Scott calling their normal friends as he drives, Rogue, Evan and Kurt trying her favorite spots in town, and Kitty checking to see if the Brotherhood knows anything. There’s a pretty funny gag where the area shakes, Kitty comes out in a huff telling Lance to cool it and that she wasn’t accusing them but remarks “as if one of you hadn’t tried it before,” as she walks off.

 

Meanwhile, the New Mutants, Bobby, Berserker (yes that’s his name), Sam, and Jubilee sneak down into the Danger Room to have an unsupervised training session. Jamie runs in to do the training session too, but the others ditch the younger New Mutant saying that Multiple isn’t fit for the Danger Room just yet.

 

Logan is the one to finally get a clue, a bus station attendant remembers seeing her, got a ticket to Boston at about 4 in the morning. He calls it in, and Charles confirms using Cerebro. Oh no.

 

It's best to not mess with Ms. Jean Gray.

In Boston, Jean in her full costume, breaks into a museum and steals a gawdy looking gold ring with a large ruby. As she flies out, some patrol cars pull up to stop her, but she casually flings them aside as she floats away.

 

Scott has the X-Jet prepped, but Charles tells him they’ll have to wait, as Jean’s last use of power was at a set of train tracks, so she’s likely long gone.

 

The New Mutants, meanwhile are caught in a tentacle trap in the Danger Room. They’re able to free themselves combining their powers. The guys are all stoked to keep practicing, but Jubilee has had enough and tries to leave. Unfortunately, Jamie is in the control booth and decided to give his classmates some extra credit. They come out some time later with frazzled hair and torn uniforms. Jamie comes over to gloat, and the others threaten to get him, but are too sore to do it immediately.

 

That night, Jean returns to the Mansion. Scott, who’d been tossing and turning with worry, sees her and tries to talk to her. Unfortunately, she just mentally blasts him to knock him unconscious and puts him to bed. She goes to Kurt’s room, the occupant snapping one is eyes and moving silently like Jean has all episode.

 

Scott wakes up and tells the professor what happened. They’re able to track them via Airport surveillance and found them heading towards New York City… wait, aren’t they really close to there? Whatever. Scott and Logan head out in the X-Jet.

 

Okay, this is a very clever combination of powers.

Kurt and Jean break into a bank, Jean using her powers to keep them above security and Kurt using his to bamf them into places. They pull open a safety deposit box and take another gawdy ring with a large gemstone from it. Logan and Scott land and bust into the bank in quick order. Jean throws them both back out into the street, and then she and Kurt teleport out and up to the X-Jet, stealing it. Logan grumbles that “this is seriously starting to get me upset.”

 

The X-Jet lands at the mansion. Within, Hank has done some research and figured out that the rings are from ancient Tibet, and that they’re part of a set of three. They’re still looking for the third ring when Charles senses Jean. He uses his telepathy to try to delver her mind, but only sees an image of that tattooed man from earlier. When he breaks the trance, Hank informs him that they’re locked in. Kitty and Spyke have been taken over as well and the group of four escape.

 

Sometime later, Charles is able to reconstruct the man from his vision on Cerebro as Rogue walks in. She recognizes him, and takes Charles back up to the now cooled Chekhov’s gun… I mean Jack-in-the-box, saying that it is of the Mindbending Mesmero, one of the acts of that Circus they visited last week. And then Hank comes in and says that he found the last ring, at the Washington Museum of Eastern Antiquities.

 

In Washington, the X-Jet lands on the roof of the Washington Museum of Eastern Antiquities. Security meets them on the roof. Huh, a half dozen rent-a-cops vs. four highly trained Mutants. Well, it goes exactly how you’d think, and they slip into the building. They use their combined powers to seal off the exhibit area and Kitty is the one to phase the final ring out of its case. They return to the jet and take off. Well, at least no one got hurt.

 

Beast, Rogue and Charles pick up Logan and Scott in the Velocity. Logan complains that it’s about time as they’re not dressed for socializing with normals, but Hank comments that they’re all dressed for the Circus.

 

The X-Jet lands and the crew disembark to bring Mesmero his prizes. The Velocity lands a moment later, Charles telling his team that they just need to hold off the others long enough for him to face off against Mesmero.

 

Beast and Nightcrawler start the fighting off, the two blue Mutants grappling, with Nightcrawler teleporting around to try and disorientate his teacher. Spyke faces off against Cyclops and Rogue, almost skewering them but Cyclops is able to knock him off his feet. Jean takes over and throws her oldest friend around like a rag doll. Wolverine then faces off against Shadowcat… kinda. He says that he can’t hurt the twerp, and she kicks him in the shin… I’m 100% that would hurt her foot more than it’d hurt his shin. Because metal bones. But this apparently disables Logan? Weird.

 

You mess with the Xavier, you get the mind crush.

Jean goes for the tent, but Charles tries to stop her. He pulls the whole “fight it,” thing, but Mesmero’s hold is too strong. Rogue rushes Jean and tries to drain her. She’s able to drop Jean but she’s strong enough to toss the bag to Mesmero, whom I guess was hiding just inside the tent, watching like a creepy voyeur. Mesmero laughs evilly now that he has his prize, but Charles doesn’t make it easy for him. The two have a psychic duel where it seems like Charles will obliterate him, but then Mesmero smirks and says “You have no idea who you’re messing with, Xavier,” before mentally blasting Charles back. Mesmero ducks back into the tent.

 

He is coming.

Everyone comes too, with no memory of the last few days or hours as the case may be. Rogue helps Charles up and then uses her borrowed Telekinesis to rip the tent apart. But Mesmero is gone. Charles is clearly shaken by this, claiming that Mesmero was merely another pawn in the game, that he was working with something far more powerful than anything he’d felt before.

 

We cut over to the mountains of Tibet. Mesmero is creeping through the rocks into a hidden temple. He creeps through the temple, grabbing a golden shaft from an altar. He fixes the rings onto the shaft, turning it into a key. He uses the key on the lock, causing a lot of light and lightning to spark as the door peels open. It reveals another door, one with some kind of insect inlayed in it. He asks for more instructions, which he receives via telepathy. He promises to find the other two keys and that one day soon the world will once again tremble… at the presence… of… Apocalypse! OH balls.

 

I thought that this was a great episode introducing the Apocalypse arc. While only shown briefly, Mesmero is creepy and mysterious enough to work as a servant of Apocalypse. The bit at the end where he’s actually able to fight off the strongest Telepath alive, hinted at with long distance help from ol’ Nur, was a bit of a shock. I also liked how they showed the effects of his powers. Once enthralled, his victims were completely silent, staring unblinkingly forward, and not even grunting as they’re battered around. Though I do question why Mesmero didn’t grab everyone, or at least Kurt as well as Jean when he grabbed Jean. Like, teleportation plus telekinesis, that solves 90% of the issues you might face. I think my one complaint was that bit where apparently Logan was stopped by Kitty, definitely, breaking her foot kicking his shin. That was just such a bizarre choice. This is not the last we’ll see of Mesmero, Apocalypse is coming, and the world will TREMBLE with his coming. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/46851850

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 22

 An Angel descends from on high.

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Lance tried to turn over a new leaf… kinda. He joined up with the X-Men in a fairly transparent attempt at getting closer to Kitty. He does fine with the training, but quickly gets blamed for vehicles getting trashed. It’s revealed that three New Mutants, Bobby, Sam and Jubilee, are the real culprits, but Lance gets blamed because, well, reforming supervillain. After the three take the X-Jet out and almost get themselves and Kitty and Lance killed, Lance quits, claiming the X-Men are too high maintenance for him. Well, at least he tried. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

One of the most populated cities in the world, I'm
sure no one is looking up to see the Birdman. lol

We open with NYC at Christmas Time. Lots of Christmas decorations, snow and all that jazz. We cut over to Worthington Tower and up to it’s penthouse. In it, Warren Worthington III is sitting alone in the dark watching the news. From a voicemail his mother leaves, he’s been doing that a lot lately. Warren sees a news report about a disabled woman being stuck on the top floor of a burning building, gets up, takes off his trench coat to reveal his magnificent wings and flies off toward the blaze. We’re shown the woman’s daughter sobbing as the firefighters keep her back, as Warren flies in. He grabs the woman and drops her off at a park bench just outside her building. She calls her daughter over and says an Angel saved her. And there we have his new nickname.

 

We cut over to the X-Mansion where they’re having a holiday party. Everyone’s laughing and having a good time. We learn that most of the students and staff are going to be clearing out from conversations between Scott and Rogue, and Charles and Logan. The most of the students and Ororo are going to visit family, and Logan is going to go do Logan stuff. That leaves Scott, Rogue, Hank and Charles at the mansion… I guess Rogue doesn’t want to visit Irene? Odd. The party seems to end with Kurt, whom had been playfully chasing Kitty with mistletoe, accidentally kissing Bobby’s cheek. Oops.

 

The next day, the majority of the staff and students head out. Jean seems to take a lingering glance at Rogue and Scott standing together, but drives off regardless. Hank goes in asking who wants to help him upgrade Cerebro, to a groan from Scott.

 

Back in NYC, Warren is in Central Park reading about his exploits. He hears a mugging take place, takes off his trench coat and flies to help. A mysterious figure watches him from a distance as he flies off. He grabs the mugger and leaves him on top of a flagpole before returning the stolen goods. When he goes back for his coat, we’re shown the face of his stalker, and it’s none other than Magneto. That can’t be good.

 

News about the Angel spreads fast, and makes it to the X-Mansion. Hank quotes the bible, making it seem like maybe he thinks it’s an actual Angel, but Charles thinks that he’s a Mutant. Worried that his honest efforts to be helpful could bring people to learn about Mutant’s before they’re ready, Charles thinks they might need to send a team to see if they can recruit Angel. Rogue volunteers herself and Scott to go looking. Clearly with no ulterior motive (eye roll).

It's really just a nice, quite moment between friends.

 

The next day they head to NYC and start interviewing those that Angel saved, but don’t get any leads on finding him. The two searchers stop at a diner to warm up. Both know finding the Angel is a long shot, but Rogue is pretty upbeat about it. She suggests they do something fun in the city before heading back, specifically checking out a record shop so Scott can get her a present. Oh, right, she gave him a sweater at the party and Jean saw and didn’t look super stoked about it. Sorry, skipped that before. Scott agrees but then asks if maybe this was a real Angel. Rogue scoffs without thinking, but apologizes when she realizes Scott wasn’t joking. He explained that after the plane crash that seemingly killed his whole family, he held onto the belief that Alex might be alive thanks to a Guardian Angel until he grew up. But then meeting Alex again makes him wonder if maybe there are real Angels out there.

Max, what was your plan here? You're a very 
distinctive man, that disguise wouldn't fool
anyone for long.

 

We cut over to the Brooklyn Bridge where Magneto is standing atop one of the struts. That’s what you call the big pillars right? Whatever, he’s standing up there, and when he sees Angel fly in, uses his powers to cause a car accident. Oh, and Angel has upgraded to one of those masks that covers his eyes but leaves him mouth and hair open to the air. Angel swoops in an is able to save a family of three from falling into the river. After setting them down, Angel get’s mobbed by people who want to see him. Magneto uses his powers to wrap Angel’s leg in a cable, and while he’s struggling to free his leg, accidentally knocks the little girl he saved over the bridges edge. He swan dives after her, grabbing her and after a struggle to take off from the water flies her up to her parents. Magneto then whips up a mob, saying he saw Angel knock the girl in. People start hate chanting at Angel but he takes off before the cops arrive.

 

At the record store, Scott and Rogue hear gossip about the incident and head to the hospital where the girl was sent to see if they can find a lead.

 

The girl is in pretty bad shape after falling into the icy water. When her parents are taken out, Angel slips in to check on her. He’s almost caught, but is able to avoid detection and throws a lab coat on to slip away. He walks past the nurse’s station as Rogue and Scott ask about the girl’s parents. The doctor mentions they left to go to church to pray for their daughter. The two turn just in time for Rogue to spot a feather falling from Angel’s coat and jumps to the conclusion he’s who they’re looking for. They chase after him, but he slips off the coat and jumps out a window.

 

Shock of shocks, Magneto isn't a fan of people
saying no to him.

At the cathedral, we see the girl’s parents praying while Angel looks on from the upper floor. Magneto, this time in his full costume, approaches him and tries to recruit Angel. He pulls the ‘do you think they’ll ever accept you?” line, but Angel isn’t interested in his pitch. Since the carrot didn’t work, Magneto tries the stick, literally, he attacks Angel with a metal candlestick to try to force him to come with Magneto. Angel dodges and almost flies away, but Magneto tangles him in the metal chain of a chandelier and tries to fly off with him, only to be blasted through a stain glass window by Cyclops as he and Rogue arrive. They free Angel, but Magneto quickly returns for payback. Cyclops keeps firing at Magneto as he destroys parts of the cathedral to get himself projectiles. Angel looks like he bails on the two X-Men, but instead loops around to fly through the broken window and grab Magneto. He holds him long enough for Cyclops to line up a shot. Cyc knocks Magneto out of the air, and Rogue runs up and drains him a little. Magneto recovers and throws her off, but she drained enough of his power to make him scared. He flies off with Rogue in hot pursuit. They fly around downtown, with Rogue almost losing Magneto around the Empire State Building. He rips off one of those eagle gargoyle things and throws them at her, knocking Rogue back and out of the sky. Angel swoops in and grabs her at the last moment. Rogue compliments him by saying he might be a real Angel.

 

Scott, Rogue and Warren then return to the hospital. Scott explains about the X-Men, and how their group takes no for an answer, unlike Magneto. He advises that Warren lay low for a bit since Magneto is still out there and that humans aren’t ready for Mutants just yet. He suggests the institute, just as the doctor comes out to tell the girl’s parents she’s awake. Warren goes to confirm with his own eyes. Rogue asks Scott if he think’s Warren will come with them, but he doesn’t think so. We’re shown the girl awake and saying she saw her angel again, which makes them all smile.

 

We’re shown a quick scene each of the X-Men with their families over the break. Jean is Christmas tree shopping with her folks. Kitty is celebrating Hanukkah with hers. Kurt arrives in Germany in his normal man guise to see his adopted parents. Evan has a snowball fight with his dad while Ororo and her sister chat. They try to get Ororo with snowballs, but are… unsuccessful. Logan is having a quite evening playing pool in a bar. And Charles and Hank toast the holiday back at the mansion. That’s a happy holiday ending.

 

I liked this episode a lot. It was nice to see Angel in something again. For whatever reason he seems to be the original X-Man that has had the worst luck with adaptations of late. His parts in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Apocalypse left a LOT to be desired. I like how they characterize him as this lonely dude who is just trying to use his powers to help but gets in a bit over his head when an actual Supervillain comes calling. Sure, we didn’t get to see him as the wild party playboy like he is in the comics, but I don’t know, I like this more somber, serious version of him a lot. I also liked seeing Rogue and Scott working together. Her crush on Scott is fairly obvious at this point, and while it’s clear he doesn’t reciprocate, it was nice to see how they interact with one another one on one. They’re good friends, I think. And the fight at the cathedral was pretty cool. It was nice seeing the three use their powers to overwhelm Magneto, and the bit where Rogue drains him, he knocks her away, she turns back toward him and her eyes are now glowing yellow like his was a great bit. I’m a little disappointed that I know Angel doesn’t sign on with the team, but this isn’t the last we’ll see of him, I can promise you that. Next time, we’ll meet the mysterious Mesmero.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/46807243

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 21

 Lance tries to turn over a new leaf, and nearly gets run over. Metaphorically.

I’m aware WandaVision is out, but I think I’ll be covering that in February. I wanted to avoid another Mandalorian situation where not enough episodes came out in a month for me to do five posts. I’m sure you understand. 😊

 

 Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Ororo had to deal with the double whammy of her nephew Evan having trouble in school and a witch doctor called the Houngan tracking her down in a bid to steal her power. The Houngan used Storm’s claustrophobia to break her spirit and then captured it in his staff, allowing him to control her body. The X-Men, Evan specifically, broke the Houngan’s staff and set her free. After blowing the witch doctor back to Africa, Ororo and her sister agree to give Evan one more chance to turn his academics around and stay at the X-Mansion, which he resolves to do. Enough recap, let’s get to it.

I wonder what they thought was in the gym bag
before he made the big reveal.

 

This episode opens with Lance Alvers aka Avalanche strolling up to the mansion with a gym bag over his arm. He busts down the gate and knocks out the security weapons as they come online. He makes it to the front doors and is greeted by Wolverine and the senior X-Men class. Wolverine threat-asks if there’s something they can do for Avalanche and he says that he wants to be an X-Man. Everyone is kind of incredulous at this, but kindhearted Charles is willing to give him an interview. Lance is evasive about why he wants to join, making Scott distrustful of him, but Charles thinks they should give it a shot. He sends Kitty to show Lance to a guest room. Once the others clear out, Scott voice his concern, claiming that Lance would only be doing something like this because he wants something. Charles is quite confident that what Lance wants is to be near Kitty, and sees no harm in using that blatant desire to try to make Lance a better person… the ethics of this thought is above my pay grade, so lets just move on.

 

Lance is shown a room, which he thinks is nice but admits he’ll have to grunge it up to make it feel like home. Kitty warns Lance that this won’t be easy, but Lance is confident. He eats this feeling the next day when he’s put in a training flight sim with the New Mutants. Bobby Drake aka Iceman is flying the simulator and crashes almost immediately. Outside the sim, Logan rips into Bobby about crashing the sim, and Lance is able to fake bravado to Kitty until she turns her back on him, where he promptly runs off to throw up. Kurt is told to clean up the simulator, which has some other bits of Lance’s vomit inside. I guess he’s still on probation from that incident with Tabitha, but this is the first I recall hearing about it since it happened… whatever.

 

He was able to hold his vomit down longer than
I would have.

We’re shown a few more training situations. The kids are knocking buzz saws out of the air to test ranged skills, Lance knocks the launchers down. After getting huffy at Scott for complimenting how Lance looks in uniform without his fruit bowl helmet. Sensing some hostility. They then run through an obstacle course in the Danger Room, Lance is last to cross but does so in good spirits. Until Scott hits him with a surprise trap as a bit of hazing. So, hostility is mutual. Jump to the mansion pool where they’re tasked with saving a drowning upperclassman. Lance ends up saving Kitty, leaving his drowner Rogue to ah, drown, as well as Kitty’s assigned rescuer Sam to drown as well. Rogue pushes the two back into the pool in revenge.

 

Later, everyone heads out for the day, but to Scott’s shock his car has been covered in mud and the front grill has fallen off. He immediately blames Lance as the former Brotherhood boy drove off in his jeep.  After class, Lance is approached by the Brotherhood Boys plus Tabitha and they confront him about where he’s been the last few days. He fesses up to staying at the Mansion, much to his friend’s disgust. Toad straight up tells him Mystique is going to rip his arms off when she gets back, but he’s not worried. Mystique is gone, the Brotherhood is dead and they need to move on, according to him. Tabitha warns that he’ll never fit in over there with the X-Men as he walks off.

 

That night, Lance sees some of the New Mutants, Bobby (Ice Man), Sam (Cannonball), Jubilee, and Jimmy (Multiple) sneaking from the rooms. He follows, sneakily. Kitty meanwhile is in the kitchen getting a midnight snack. She somehow misses each of the student’s passing by, and through an improbable chain of events ends up with her head through the kitchen table and a plate, apple in her mouth as Lance walks by. He sees it and promptly passes out.

 

... They have to know this is insane, right?

Bobby and his squad make it to the garage and take the X-Van out for a joyride. They also accidentally cause a bunch of damage to the area as they push random buttons, activating the van’s weaponry and destroying things like telephone poles without noticing. Oy, kids these… twenty years ago. Bobby and his group make it back to bed just as Charles calls them down into the hanger for a special training session. We’re taken down into the X-Jet hanger, where Kurt is washing said jet and complaining about it. Scott notes the sleepy New Mutants and asks Logan if maybe they’re working the kids too hard, but Logan doesn’t think so. He shows them the jet and talks about how cool it is, really getting them interested. Bobby asks if they’re taking it out for a spin, but Logan shoots that idea down, saying they’ll start simpler… with the X-Van. Said van is of course completely trashed from the joyride the night before. Nobody fesses up, but Scott has a theory on who took the vehicle out unauthorized. He’s completely wrong though, as Lance was on the kitchen floor when this was taken out.

 

The next night, the same squad minus Jimmy (guy makes clones whenever he gets hit, so I can see why they might ditch him) go to Lance and offer to take him with on their next ride. They figure if he’s going to be blamed anyone he might as well have fun with them. He says no and tries to get back to sleep, Bobby saying fine, but he’s going to miss out on them taking something big and wild out. It takes him a few minutes, but Lance realizes they mean to take out the X-Jet. He gets Kitty and they make it to the hanger as the Jet starts taking off, Kitty phasing them into it as sit rolls by.

 

The take off is not smooth, with Bobby scraping the wing against the hanger tunnel and almost smashing them against the bay doors. Once they’re in the air, though, they have a wild time. They jet through the nearby city, Jubilee opening a hatch and tossing her personal fireworks into the air via her powers. Lance and Kitty make it into the cockpit, kind killing the vibe. And almost killing them, as Jubilee in her shock causes a short in the controls with her fireworks. They start rocketing out of control, and into restricted airspace. Attempts to contact the two fighter jets they run into end badly, as Lance accidentally launches a rocket at them trying to get the radio to work. They hurtle passed the jets, who pursue. They make a mess trying to get the Jet working again, Jubilee using her fireworks to save them from some missiles, Bobby using an Ice Slide to get them airborne again when they almost crash, and Lance causing a minor rockslide to slow the jets pursuing them. Unfortunately, they can’t lose the last set of heat seekers, but Kitty gets them away by phasing the whole jet through a Mesa. The Airforce pilots agree that they didn’t see anything. Not sure how they’re going to explain the missing rockets, though…

 

I can feel his soul being crushed when he thinks
he'll have to clean that.

Back at the mansion, Scott almost immediately starts laying into Lance. Lance is willing to take the blame but the others fess up to all the joyrides that week. Even admitting to using Logan’s motorcycle, brave morons, but lie and say they didn’t when they see his face. Kurt comes down to wax the jet, in good spirits because it’s the last day of his probation, but is crushed to see how wrecked it is. Charles lets him off and assigns the trio to start cleaning. Scott tries to apologize to Lance, but he’s had enough. He claims the X-Men are too high maintenance for him and starts storming off. Charles lets him know that the door is open if he changes his mind and Kitty gives him a kiss on the cheek as he leaves. Kind of a bummer ending.

 

This episode is just kinda okay. I think the concept was a good one, Lance trying to join the X-Men in an attempt to woo Kitty is a solid idea, but I think this could have been a multi-part concept. They had to cover a lot of ground with this one, fast, with Lance joining the team, showing what areas of the training he excels in and what he does even try, the hazing, how his Brotherhood friends react and all that on top of the plot about Bobby and co joyriding and wrecking vehicle. Sidenote, I’ve never taken a car on a joyride, but surely kids know the point is to bring them back in one peace, yeah? I guess Bobby lost the memo. And it was interesting to see Lance and Kitty seem to try to pursue something. It’s not addressed directly but the flirtation between them does seem a bit more serious this time. Or maybe that’s just me. Unfortunately, I know that this doesn’t really go anywhere, so it’s a bit of wasted plot potential. Some Romeo and Juliet romance would have livened things up a bit. I did like seeing more of the New Mutants in this episode, and characterizing Bobby, Sam, and Jubilee as kids more interested in having fun than respecting people’s property was at least a memorable way to use them. Still think that they should have had the braincells to know taking a jet out is significantly different than a car. Just saying. And I think Scott or Logan should have been more visibly hostile or strict with Lance to make his walk out seem more believable. I know, kids cartoon from the 2000s, they needed a plot cul-de-sac but they could have been less obvious about it. So yeah, a so-so episode, not great but not terrible.  Next time, a much more interesting concept that introduced some fans to Warren Worthington III, aka Angel.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/46765388

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero