It was Agatha all along. But not really, this time.
Last time on X-Men: Evolution, we
got a brief history of Logan’s relationship with Captain America. He’s forced
to relive meeting and working with the ol’ Hitler puncher when Magneto steals
the equipment for Operation Rebirth, as relayed to him by Nick Fury of SHIELD.
He brings Rogue and Kurt along to help. It’s revealed that Magneto stole Rebirth
because his research had proven the procedure could rejuvenate him. He’d
rapidly aged to more like what his chronological age should be, appearing to be
in his mid-70s or so. His genetic enhancements kept him fit and young for
longer than natural, but I guess the piper finally came calling. Kurt couldn’t
bring himself to destroy Rebirth before Magneto put himself through the procedure,
and it does rejuvenate him. They destroy Rebirth, and Magneto looks like he
might kill them, but he spares them as Kurt spared him, and as payment for a
favor owed to Logan. It’s revealed in flashbacks that on the mission Logan
undertook with Cap that they saved a young man who used magnetism to help them
escape, yep, that’s Mags. The episode ended with Logan visiting Captain America
in his frozen pod and promising to find a cure for the cellular degeneration
that put him under. Enough recap, let’s get to it, shall we?
Wanda is pissed. Again.
We open on a gothic, cathedral
looking building. Xavier is brought
through heavy security and put into a locked cell to meet a patient. The
patient is removed from her own, even heavier duty box of a cell. Hello Wanda
Maximoff, you’re looking… spry. Her hands are totally bound in a straight
jacket… but she still has eyeshadow and lipstick on? … Kay. Wanda is able to
get her hands free as they try to lead her out, releasing her destructive
powers to blow out lights, blasting guards, and melt steel door… just to rush
to see Charles. Huh. She lunges at Xavier, but he’s able to soothe her with his
telepathy. He also calls the guards off, so he and Wanda can have their
session. He tells her that while a spot is open for her at the institute, he
can’t risk bringing her there until she has her anger under control. She
demands to be let out, but Xavier is still adamant she needs control before
being released. A doctor comes in, telling Xavier they need to cut the session
short as Wanda needs additional MRIs.
The Doctor leads Wanda through
security, but then right by Radiology. They make a run for the exit, Wanda’s
powers causing tremors as they run, implying I think that while she wants freedom,
it’s still triggering anxiety. The doctor takes her to an old woman outside.
She mutters something magic sounding which knocks Wanda out. The Doctor,
obviously, reveals himself to be Mystique, whom tells her companion to keep
Wanda under while she handles other business, shapeshifting into a guard as she
reenters the hospital.
We cut to Bayville High, where Kurt
is forced to try awful muffins Kitty made, and it’s revealed both Scott and
Jean are having relationship troubles with their non-Scott and non-Jean
partners. Summed up a five-minute scene in two sentences. Also, Jean, lass, if
you aren’t happy with Duncan, BREAK UP WITH HIM. Light, this subplot annoyed me
when I was a kid and even more so now that I’m an adult.
Honestly, the most dysfunctional version of their
relationship... okay, second to the Ultimate version
(Shudder)
Later, as a storm is kicking up,
Mystique bursts into the Brotherhood house, announcing “Guess who’s back?” The
boys are clearly shocked, with Toad confirming this is really Mystique when she
throws him as punishment for their failures. She berates her team for their
continued failures, for wrecking her house and for generally being screwups.
Tabitha comes down and is clearly unimpressed with Mystique. The blue
shapeshifter demands she get her stuff out of Mystique’s room. Tabitha tries to
threaten her with her bombs, but Pietro stops her. He passes the bomb to Blob,
who throws it to Toad and then throws Toad to escape the blast. The scene did
have me snorting. Tabitha storms off to get her things. Mystique reveals that
she has a secret weapon to let them finally defeat the X-Men, and brings in
Wanda. She and Pietro lock eyes and Wanda immediately tries to kill him. Her powers
start wrecking the place worse, and that’s when Pietro reveals to the team that
Wanda’s his sister. Lance tries to force her back, but she’s able to redirect
his seismic wave back them, and she does the same with Toad’s slime spit. The
old witch comes in and puts her under again, leading her from the room.
Pietro is pretty upset at Mystique
for pulling Wanda into the Brotherhood. We’ll say 30% fraternal concern, 70%
fear for his own safety. Mystique thinks that her friend, Agatha Harkness, will
get Wanda to channel her anger into something useful. … QUICK, SOMEONE PROTECT
THE DOGS! Sorry, had a WandaVision flashback. Pietro is doubtful that she’ll be
willing to cooperate, specifically because she clearly hates him with a
sizeable number of fibers of her being. Mystique reveals what she downloaded
from Cerebro when she led Arcade into it, Wanda’s full psychological profile.
She knows she can manipulate Wanda’s hatred of Magneto in her scheme to kill the
master of magnetism. Tabitha leaves, telling Mystique she can have the room, just
before a bomb goes off. Boom Boom, indeed.
Back at the mansion, Xavier tells
Scott, Kitty and Kurt to gather the team so he can fill them in. This saves
Kurt from having to sample another muffin, which leaves a crater in the kitchen
floor when dropped. Xavier informs his team about Wanda, reveals that her
father left her at that hospital after she became unmanageable. And he thinks
she broke out for a reason.
We cut back to the brotherhood
house, where we get a few scenes of Wanda being trained by Agatha Harnkess. Both
exercises, being in the center of flames while being able to breath calmly and
creating an aurora borealis with a crystal, are hampered by memories of when
she was left at the hospital. She is able to get some control, though. Later,
Wanda cuts her hair into a pageboy look. Pietro compliments his sister’s new
look, but Wanda is still more than a little peeved at her twin. He tries to
connect with her, though, saying that he didn’t want to leave her at the
hospital, but Magneto convinced him that it was the right thing to do for her.
We get a full look at the scene, then, of Wanda being forced into the hospital
by several orderlies while Magneto and Pietro watch from across the street. She
watches them drive away from an upper window, sobbing. In the present, Pietro
does the absolute stupidest thing and tells his abandoned, emotionally
distraught sister to try to see it from his perspective. Wanda obviously gets livid
and storms off after yelling that “Monsters don’t have a perspective!” When alone,
Mystique asks Pietro where his loyalties lie, with her or with Magneto. He says
her, as while his childhood was better, Magneto wasn’t much of a father to him,
either. She is pleased and tells Pietro they’re almost ready to enact her plan to
fight Magneto, but she arranged one final tests.
Back at the Mansion, Xavier tells
his team that Cerebro got a hit on Wanda’s location. She and the Brotherhood Boys
are at the Bayville Mall. He tells the team to suit up and check them out,
which they do, with Scott and Kurt in particular confident at their odds of
winning.
We're getting close to the finale of this Westside Story,
me thinks.
At the mall, they split up to
search. Kitty, high strung and nervous, leaps at what she thinks is a Brotherhood
boy, but instead hits a mannequin. But then Lance shows up, Avalanche telling
Shadowcat to get out of the mall or she’ll get hurt. Kitty refuses to go,
though, when she hears Spyke wrestling with Blob. Blob is lobbing TVs at Spyke,
but he’s able to distract the Brotherhood’s muscle by flipping the TVs on and
then spiking them, blinding him in electric sparks. Pietro faces off against
Kurt, doing this bit where he pretends to be a tailor, measuring the
Nightcrawler and then burying him in clothes. Kurt teleports away and then knocks
Quicksilver into a shoe rack.
Jean battles Lance, Avalanche’s seismic
power starts to overwhelm her. She gets a little assist from Cyclops, but then
Toad steals his visor. Rogue gets it back, though, by draining Toad, and Jean
gets a second wind, driving Avalanche back. Then… Wanda arrives. The soon to be
dubbed Scarlet Witch flexes her vaguely defined powers, causing the earth to
quake, electronics to explode, and even cause their powers to start malfunctioning.
She manipulates Cyclops’ optic beam, Nightcrawlers teleportation, Kitty’s phasing
and eventually causes the whole building to come crashing down. Jean calls a
tactical retreat, and the X-Men run.
The Brotherhood celebrate their
first win against the X-Men… I mean, I guess it’s their win, but I feel the
need to point out they lost every individual match until Wanda was brought in.
X-Men lead in points, is all I’m saying. Pietro compliments his sister, but
then goes the complete wrong way by bring up what Magneto might think of her
control. Wanda swears everlasting vengeance against him. Outside, Xavier meets
his team and tells them that the fault lies with him, as he never trained them
to fight someone with a power set like Wanda. He tells them that defeat builds character,
and that this was a much-needed lesson. Downer ending.
This was a very interesting episode
to introduce a very different Wanda. The goth punk look definitely works for
her, as does a more aggressive attitude. Most interpretations I’ve seen of her
have her either extremely timid until pushed or in ridged control of herself
until pushed, so this version that is one misspoken word from wrecking the
place is interesting. It’s also a unique take on her and Pietro’s relationship.
Typically, the two are very codependent, relying on each other above anyone
else. So, to see Wanda be furious at him and try to inflict bodily harm on him
multiple times was definitely a change of pace. I think the one weakness to her
here is that her powers are a little too vague. Wanda in almost all of her
appearances have a combination of innate Magic power and a mutant ability to enhance
negative probability. The two together make for a potent destructive combination,
but we never really hear what Wanda’s powers are in the episode. They way as
well be a will that alters reality as far as we know. Mystique’s plan, by the
way, is devious, and you may have noticed some clues as to what it is here if
you’ve been paying attention. The biggest negative is that completely nothing b
plot about Kitty’s cooking. This is something I noticed as a kid, and again
during the rewatch is that a lot of the high school kid problems just seem
kinda tacked on. This episode loses nothing from dropping the Kitty bakes bad
muffins joke, and could have given us more time to develop Wanda’s powers is
all I’m saying. But, no use crying over spilt milk. Next time, we get re-introduced
to Magneto and his new team, and truly introduced to another of the X-Men’s
iconic villains. See you then.
…
MUTANTS DETECTED.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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