It's amazing Public school politics is more ruthless than the US Congress.
Last time on X-Men: Evolution,
the team was still reeling from the Sentinel attack and the MIA Professor Xavier.
While Ororo and Hank go to congress to try to keep the politicians from jumping
on the “Mutant Menace,” the others tried to stay low. It worked about as well
as you could imagine. Logan leaves after Scott steps up and orders that they do
a defensive strategy, the rational being that they aren’t the US military’s enemy,
and they should refuse to be made into one. While running from military
choppers, the team learns about Juggernaut attacking a nearby dam, clearly plotting
to drown a small city nearby. They fight the unstoppable Juggernaut, get thrown
around a bit, but do ultimately stop him with a combination of Cyclops’ eye blast,
Iceman’s freezing and Rogue draining his powers a little. After the fight,
Rogue uses the information she dug up from Jug’s nogging to find the professor,
who had been mysteriously swapped with his brother. They bring him out, and the
US President gives the X-Men a full pardon and asks the people to wait and see
about Mutants. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.
Pretty good likeness of Scott.
We open on the X-Mansion at night.
The students are living in a sort of temporary barracks in the intact wing of
the Danger Room. The mansion is currently under reconstruction. Kitty is up
getting a late-night snack as several guys in Halloween masks sneak onto the grounds.
She and Kurt spot the intruders on the monitors and teleport to the ground
level to scare them off before they set off an alarm. Oh, and they think it
might be the Brotherhood boys. Nah, it’s some high schoolers in rubber masks.
The show tries to make them seem shocking or scary, but one of them is in a letterman’s
jackets for goodness’s sake. She and Kurt wrestle them into the dirt, unmasking
them and realizing that they are just students. They’d come to graffiti hateful
messages on a wall. Kurt and Kitty send them backing, Kitty remaking that it
was a lot simpler when it was just the Brotherhood that actively hated them.
The next morning, we see Jubilee
packing up and being taken home by her parents. Logan laments that she’s the
second student to be pulled out, the second one after the Lycanthropomorphic Rayne.
Xavier understands their fear, and admits that he failed in his promise to keep
the children safe. Logan tries to blame himself for not catching Mystique’s scent
while she was acting as Xavier, but Xavier points out he should have sensed her
mind in Wanda’s hospital room. He concludes that her enhanced powers, which she
obtained in the season 1 finale, make her significantly more difficult to track
or detect. Logan goes for a ride to clear his head.
The next morning, the older student’s
are called into a meeting with Xavier. The professor explains to Scott, Jean,
Kurt, Kitty, Rogue and Evan that the schoolboard has decided to let the students
start attending classes that day, provided that they don’t use their powers. This
is their last chance to show off before a big school board vote on whether they
should ban mutants permanently. Kitty admits that she’s scared to go back, but Xavier
stresses that they need to work with people to be accepted. Evan is visibly angry
at still being labeled as a monster. Kurt notices in the paper Xavier was
holding that he's listed as identity unknown, as his blue form is just
different enough from his Kurt Wagner disguise that I guess folks aren’t make the
connection. He’s excited to still have his secret, but obviously also a little disappointed
in himself for being excited. Xavier tells them that he wants them at the
meeting, to show the people behind the powers.
School goes about as well as you’d imagine.
Lots of generic “we hate you,” lines from other students, Evan is the most visibly
upset of the group but Scott tells him to just keep cool, and Kurt socially
distances himself from his friends to preserve his secret identity. It’s clear
from a look that it’s over between Scott and… looking it up… her name is…
Taryn! Yeah, Scott’s not-Jean admirer isn’t cool with the real reason Scott keeps
his sunglasses on. Duncan shows up and tells Jean that nothing changes between
them because of her powers, and then immediately ruins it by suggesting she use
her telepathy to help him cheat on tests. Oh god, this guy. Jean breaks it off with
him and immediately pulls Scott and the others (Scott literally, the other’s
figuratively) behind her. Principle Kelly watched the Xavier Student’s arrival rather
ominously from his car. Inside Scott and Jean have a moment while their hand
hold lasts a bit too long to be platonic before heading to class.
Logan, meanwhile, is riding his motorcycle
when another rider pulls up along side him. He flexes his fist, turning it into
steel. Yeah, that’s Piotr Rasputin aka Colossus. Logan chases the Acolyte, but
Colossus causes a major traffic pileup, slowing Logan down enough for him to
get away. … So… why did you reveal yourself, Piotr? Just to show the Acolytes
are nearby, I guess.
At the Brotherhood house, Toad and Blob
are mocking Lance. Why? Because Kitty broke off their Romeo-Juliet style
romance and is now refusing to go anywhere near him. I’m shocked this didn’t
worked out. Sooooo much sarcasm right there. Lance starts shaking the house in
frustration when Principal Kelly knocks. He personally invites them to the
school. He lets them know that their new notoriety should make sure no one messes
with them and is clearly not planning to use them for his own ends. Again, lot
of sarcasm on that last half.
.png)
One of these three would be terrifying to fight, and,
hit, it's the goth.
At the School, Kurt is enjoying
hiding, until his girlfriend Amanda runs over and almost spills the beans. He
pulls her aside and lets her know that he’s not ready to show who he really is
to the world. She asks what about his friends, to which Kurt says that he’s
sure they’ll be fine. A point immediately proven false as we’re showing Duncan
attacking Scott to force him to use his powers to get expelled. I’m not sure he’s
thought this through, as Scott not using his powers just means he’ll be bullying
someone. Scott tells him he’s not worth it and tries to walk away. Duncan has
his goons grab Scott and takes his shades. Scott easily drops the goons despite
his eyes being shut, and then Kitty and Rogue show up to give him back up. Duncan
backs off, saying they won’t last two days. Rogue returns the shades, Scott
thanks her and he walks off. Kitty spots Kurt watching from a corner, and she
and Rogue find him just in time to pull a St. Peter. … He denies his connection
to his friends, for any non-Christian readers who don’t have biblical stories
shoved down their throats, all six of you. Later, Principal Kelly asks for
Duncan Matthews to be sent too his office.
Logan, having continued the chase,
finds Colossus in a barn in the country. He throws his motorcycle at Colossus,
which the big shifter throws off. Wolverine tells him that he “got my attention.
Now let’s talk!” and then dive at him with claws extended.
Kelly meets with Duncan. He covertly
but obviously tells Duncan that he should use the Brotherhood Boardinghouse crew
to attack Scott and the other Mutants. Like, he doesn’t say those words, but it
is the most obvious subtext ever.
Logan throws Colossus outside.
Colossus grabs a tractor and throws it at him, saying that he’s been tasked with
delivering a message to Logan from Magneto. He shifts down and delivers the
message, it’s a recruitment pitch to join the Acolytes. Logan isn’t interested
and learns that Colossus isn’t a willing member of the Acolytes. He won’t say
what Magneto has on him but confirms it’s ‘enough’ to keep him in line. Logan
gives him a counterproposal, offering him a spot on the X-Men roster where he
belongs, but Piotr declines.
.png)
Kelly going full racist.
At the school, the Brotherhood boys
come in and make a nuisance of themselves. We cut to Jean practicing basketball
with her team. She’s immediately accused of using her powers to make a basket,
much to her shock. She denies it, but no one believes her. She sees Principal Kelly
pulling her awards from the trophy case. He has decided to return them, as he
feels that there’s no way to prove that Jean won them without using her powers.
He’s clearly being racist to Mutants, going so far as to call Jean a menace and
demands she return her soccer MVP trophy. Dick. That’s right, he doesn’t
deserve a DICK acronym.
That night, Xavier asks Jean to
make a speech for the pro Mutant side. She agrees but says she wishes the others
would arrive to give her backup. The others walk up, but Duncan pulls up in his
car and threatens Scott. He reveals he brought the Brotherhood boys as backup
when Evan, Rogue, and Kitty refuse to go inside. So, it’s one asshole plus
three Mutant assholes vs. 4 Mutants that are trying to show restraint. Fun. Kitty
immediately accuses Lance of being a hood, and Lance starts shaking the ground,
shouting that he guesses he’ll never be good enough for her. To which I say,
bro, good enough for her was just not actively attacking her friends. That is such
a low bar!
.png)
Woo, Jean, give a speech!
As they fight, Jean gives her speech.
She gives the usual talking points, anyone can be a Mutant, everyone deserves the
right to a public education, that sort of thing, juxtaposed over her friends
fist fighting with the Brotherhood plus Duncan. Lance’s quakes finally get so
bad that it causes the building to start to collapse. Everyone runs outside to
see the Brotherhood boys wrecking the place. Kelly tries to use this as
evidence that Mutants are dangerous and can’t be controlled, but Xavier does
point out that none of his students are using their powers at all
despite ample reason to do so. Lance nearly kills parents and Kelly with a big
quake, but they’re saved by Kurt breaking down and teleporting, Jean’s
telekinesis, Evan’s spikes, and Kelly himself is saved from a flying car by phasing
Kitty. Now that the power gloves are off, Lance calls for the retreat. The
Brotherhood boys run. Kitty asks Kurt to turn off hiss inducer and dazzle them
with the real him, but he’s not quite ready.
The next morning, the upper
classmen join Xavier for another meeting. Everyone is pessimistic about their
chances, but Xavier says that in light of the life saving and Jean inspiration,
they’re being welcomed back to school officially. They’re not super jazzed by
this, really, because they’ve got to deal with outright hostility. Xavier tells
them to take heart and consider this an honor to be the first to show the world
what it’s in for.
After two full seasons of the X-Men
working in secret and having several near misses with their powers being revealed,
including that one where they should have been revealed if not for Xavier mind
erasing everyone present and Magneto frying the recording equipment, it’s nice
to see X-Men: Evolution starting to deal with the Mutant’s dealing with
intolerance. That’s like 80% of what their stories ultimately revolve around. I
liked seeing Kelly finally being blatantly hostile to the Mutant students. They
set it up well in season 2, making him one of the few people to notice all the
weird and dangerous things that have happened because of Mutant activity. Hell,
they all but assured us he’s the only one who remembered the Brotherhood attack
in the season 2 opener. His hostility isn’t completely without merit, but
obviously he is fixated on proving there are no good Mutants, so targets good Mutants
with obviously bad ones. It just great to see an asshole be an asshole. Kurt’s decision
to try to distance himself from his friends is a bit of a dick move, but I kind
of get it. He’s spent most of his life being looked at as a monster or freak by
the vast majority of people, I personally can’t begrudge him wanting to extend
the dream of being normal just a little while longer. Not helping Scott was too
far, but ducking down, I get. I’m glad that the Lance/Kitty thing is pretty
much over at this point. I mean, he still holds a candle for her, so goes out
off his way to help her a few more times but trying to make a relationship work
is done. I don’t think it was a necessarily toxic pursuit, but Lance, ya know,
actively tries to kill her friends. Often. There was no way that works long
term. Just sayin’. I respect the hell out of the students holding back during
their fight with the Brotherhood boys. Scott fist fighting Duncan was obviously
not going to turn out well for Duncan. Oh, the football player vs. the dude who
has what is just shy of a lifetime’s worth of combat training, whoever is going
to win? I like that the ending isn’t exactly happy in the student’s eyes. Sure,
they get to continue their normal lives and go to high school like any other
teen… where they’re no social pariahs, will be looked at with fear and scorn,
and will have to deal with the Principal that’s only better than Darkholme at this
point because he’s not actively trying to kill them… yet. I’d have mixed
feelings about that too. But that’s high school for you. I’ll see you next
time.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71096415?pr=true
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
No comments:
Post a Comment