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.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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