Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 39

 The classic team goes out for a mission.

We’re doing a few more X-Men: Evolution episodes before She-Hulk. I’m so close to X-23 episode, I’m not waiting any longer!

 

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Rogue was having some identity issues. Her friend Risty, Mystique in disguise, returns and convinces Rogue to go to a concert to take her mind off Scott and Jean becoming a thing. During the concert, Rogue’s shirt gets ripped, and she’s knocked into Risty, revealing her to be Mystique. Rogue’s been having headaches and random bursts of power from people she’s drained, which coupled with a heavy dose of shapeshifting is… bad. Rogue starts morphing into the people that she’s drained and rampaging around Bayville. Mystique catches up to Rogue and confirms that she’s Rogue’s adoptive mother. Rogue doesn’t take it well and runs. Eventually Rogue start getting control of her multiple powers but keeps fighting her friends. Finally, Logan talks her down, keeping her calm long enough for Xavier to arrive. He uses his telepathy to help Rogue purge her mind of the additional personalities. There’s an incredibly cool visual of Rogue shapeshifting into her other forms as Xavier purges her mind. She’s free but left incredibly weak. We learn from Mystique’s friend, probably lover, Destiny that Rogue and Mystique’s destinies are now in the hands of an ancient Mutant, implied to be Apocalypse. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

Oh, Remy, you little scamp.

We open on Gambit pole vaulting into what at first looks to be an art gallery of some kind but is revealed to be the current residence of Warren Worthington III. Using a combination of his powers and fancy gear he breaks into the lower level and grabs half of a stone bug. Warren confronts Gambit, but he throws an explosive at him and runs. Outside, gambit gives the stone half to Mesmero, the servant of Apocalypse and mind controlling Mutant from last season. Warren tries to get his stone bug half back, but Mesmero mind blasts him, causing him to crash.

 

Suddenly, we hear Magneto’s magnet noise. Magneto rips up the fencing around Warren’s house and uses it to trap Mesmero. He flies in and demands Mesmero free Gambit. Mesmero tries to mind blast him, which doesn’t work because of Magneto’s signature helmet, and then use Gambit, but Magneto tangles him up further in metal until he frees Gambit. Magneto takes the stone bug and flies off, though a moment later he rips up Mesmero’s cage with his magnetic powers and floats him after. Warren wakes up in time to see Magneto and is clearly pissed.

 

We jump over to the X-Mansion where the X-Men are playing softball. It looks like Hank was trying to encourage a no power rule, but Jean throws the softball telekinetically, Bobby ices up his bat to knock it away and the play degenerates from there. Hank just walks off to do a seventh inning stretch as Bobby announces Mutant ball is on. We get a montage of the kids having fun with their powers for a bit, but then Warren touches down in his Angel costume. He needs to talk to the professor.

 

At one of Magneto’s compounds, his telepath Mastermind has been probing Mesmero’s mind. He’s discovered that the rock is called the Spider Stone, and that there’s a second half to it. It’s in London’s Tisdale Museum. The two halves together form a key, but that’s all Mastermind has been able to get. Mesmero has a powerful mind and has used it to hide much. Mastermind asks for more time, Magneto says time is up, and then he quickly spins Mesmero’s chair to disorientate the Mutant. Mastermind probes his mind again, this time seeing Mesmero open the first door to Apocalypse’s tomb. Mastermind tells Magneto that the Spider Stone will unleash the most powerful Mutant ever, En Saba Nur, who will be known as Apocalypse.

 

Angel informs Xavier, Hank, Scott, and Jean of what happened at his house, while Bobby watches from behind some décor. Xavier explains Mesmero’s whole deal, using his powers to control other Mutants to do his dirty work. They’ve researched the rings that Mesmero stole via the controlled X-Men last season and know they form a key and believe the Spider Stone will do something similar. Bobby wants to join the mission, but Hank informs him that he’s benched for being unable to follow rules. Sound reasoning, if he couldn’t keep himself from using his powers during a no powers Softball game, can’t really trust him, can they?

 

At Magneto’s compound, it’s revealed that somehow Mesmero escaped from Mastermind’s watch, stealing back the Spider Stone as he left. Magneto refuses to let Mesmero form the second key and orders his team to follow.

 

Back at the mansion, Kurt teleports into Rogue’s hospital room to bring her dinner. He’s apparently been trying to foster a sibling bond between the two of them since finding out Rogue is his adoptive sister. He informs her that Logan and Storm are out looking for Mystique while the other members of the main team are on their way to London. Rogue seems less than pleased by the Kurt’s insistence on thinking of her as his sister, but like, you can’t be mad at Kurt for any length of time. It’s just not possible. He teleports away to get Kitty to whip up something else for Rogue to eat.

 

Ah, it's good to see the old team back together.

In London, the Velocity lands just outside the museum. They’re hoping they arrived in time. Xavier has Scott retrieve their stowaway. Bobby snuck onto the jet and hid in one of the compartments. I guess Xavier decides that the several hour flight in cramped quarters is enough of a punishment for Bobby as he’s allowed to help on the mission.

 

Meanwhile, Magneto and the Acolytes break into the Museum. He orders they fan out and secure the building. Gambit takes out the lone security guard on break, Colossus grabs another, and Pyro uses a flame horseman to terrorize a third.

 

The X-Men approach the building. Fun fact, this is the first time that the original five X-Men, Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Jean Grey and Iceman have been depicted on an active mission together outside the comics. The 90s X-Men: The Animated Series, had Angel and Iceman appear in the main team in flashbacks, but they never appeared together. If I recall correctly, Iceman only appeared in one episode in total. Angel was more of a recurring character but was in his Archangel persona for most of it. Beast tells Iceman to stick with him as they head in.

 

It just feels so wrong to see Colossus with the bad guys.

Inside, Magneto drags an elevator car ripped out and follow him for some reason. In the main entryway, the X-Men knock Sabretooth around a bit before the other Acolytes join him and the two groups face off. Upstairs, Magento crosses paths with Mesmero, revealing he dragged the elevator car after him to use as a makeshift prison. He makes it chase after Mesmero as he runs. The X-Men seem to be very well matched against the Acolytes, Bobby in particular showing that he’s got more skills than they give him credit for, protecting Beast from some debris that Sabretooth threw at him, and deducing that freezing Pyro’s flamethrowers (cutting off his fire supply) would stop his fire constructs.

 

Mesmero is captured just before making it to the Spider Stone. Magneto tries to pull it toward him, but the two halves react to each other, coming together by magic it seems and transforming into a giant spider construct. It knocks Magneto back, injuring him slightly. He’s able to get up and capture the Spider Stone in his magnetic grip, but the spider keeps walking, pulling him along. As he’s pulled away, Mesmero frees himself and laughs maniacally as he goes. That can’t be good.

 

Magneto tries to pull it back towards him, but the Spider pulls free and escapes. Magneto orders his men to destroy that Spider. Xavier tells him they need answers before they do anything, but Magneto refuses to listen. Xavier sends his team to capture and protect the Spider as it has answers they need.

 

Colossus chases the Spider down, but it grabs him and electrocutes him. Sabretooth charges it next but is thrown into a van. Pyro captures it in a firewall, but the Spider digs under ground and escapes.

 

Xavier finds and corners Mesmero. Mesmero’s mental defenses are great, but he’s going up against the single most powerful telepath in Marvel Comics, he can only keep Xavier out so long. Xavier sees the same vision as Mastermind, learning the name Apocalypse.

 

Well, crap.

Jean, Cyclops and Angel find the Spider as it tries to dive into the river. Jean pulls it out of the water, but it blasts her back and dives back in. Cyclops blasts it a few times, trying to slow it down. They follow it with Iceman’s signature ice slide. Gambit, meanwhile, hits the Spider with a double-decker bus and then turns the bus into a bomb. The Spider survives, but he’d slowed it down long enough for Magneto to catch up. Everyone gathers as Magneto goes in for the kill, Xavier shouting at his friend to not destroy it, but Magneto claims he must. He hits the stone with super concentrated magnetic waves, I guess, frying it. Xavier only then can tell Magneto that that was what Mesmero wanted. The Spider Stone was a key, but Spider it created was guardian of sorts. Mesmero knew that Magneto was the only Mutant powerful enough to destroy it, so fed Magneto just enough information to force his hand. Angel notes that the Spider was headed southeast from London. They don’t know what is in that direction, but it's in their best interest to find out. There’s only one key left protecting the world from… Apocalypse.

 

This was a fine episode to bring Apocalypse back into center stage. Yeah, last time hinted that he’d be the next big bad, but that was more of an epilogue plot point than part of the main story. This time, we had a return of Mesmero, and an official second key was revealed. I must give props to Mesmero, his plan was diabolical. Use one of Magneto’s men to put the Spider Stone in play, get captured, feed Magneto just enough information to get him scared and force him to act, and then let Magneto destroy the guardian and unlock the door. Brilliant. But he’d better hope Magneto never tracks him down. The dude does not take kindly to being used. This episode also marks the beginning of Bobby Drake stepping up to take Evan’s place after Ororo’s nephew decided to live with the Morlocks. You’ll be seeing more of the OG X-Man going forward as he fills the role of guy who makes obstructions during fights. I read in a few places that Bobby was going to be a main cast member from the beginning but was dropped in favor of original character Evan to fill out the team with a little more diversity. After writing Evan out, it does make sense they’d pull Bobby into the forefront. Like I said, this episode is the first time that the original X-Men team was shown on a mission together. That’s a bit odd to think about, but when most series like to go with a more diverse team than the original group of four white boys and a white girl, I kind of get it. The episode did a good job of showing off Bobby’s strengths, namely his powers and strategic thinking, and hinting at his biggest flaw, namely that he has trouble with responsibility. It’s only hinted at a bit here, but we’ll get more of it as we get more of Bobby. So yeah, a good episode. Next time, we’re finally getting to the episode that made me want to do this whole retrospective summary series, X-23. See you there. 

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