Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 41

 The stage is set for the return of Apocalypse.

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, we were introduced to Logan’s secret “clone” X-23. The villainous HYDRA had attempted to replicate the Weapon X program with a lab grown Mutant assassin. To do so, HYDRA scientist Dr. Deborah Risman used a genetic sample of Wolverine to make X-23. Her female clone of the legendary Wolverine was just as deadly as her genetic template, and just as angry. X-23 stole SHIELD data on the X-Men before running a raid on the X-Mansion. X-23 was able to take out 90% of the X-Men on her own using her strength, speed, and cunning, and took out the last three after Logan arrives. Logan and X-23 fight. Well, X-23 tries to kill her genetic template, while Logan does his best to talk her down. He finally breaks through to her, telling X-23 to stop fighting her emotions and let them win. They share a hug, but Logan tells her to run to avoid being captured by SHIELD. The events convince Logan to go easier on his own students, as you must let kids be kids sometimes or you’ll make monsters. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

… Well, one more thing before we get started. This has bugged me for nearly 20 years. Like most episodes, this one begins with a brief clip show explaining the events of previous episodes to set the mood. For some reason, while showing the scenes of Magneto sending the Acolytes and then his destruction of the Spider Stone, Magneto’s voice is wrong. I’m not talking like it’s distorted or something, that is another actor besides Christopher Judge talking. I assume something happened and they lost the raw recording of Judge’s voice, so they had to do a redo… but why not have him do it? I’m sure there’s office politics or time restraints behind it, but still, tis odd.

 

We open on the X-Mansion at night. Rogue slips from room to room, touching and draining the powers of all her friends and mentors. Kitty wakes up as Rogue does this and initially escapes being absorbed. She phases through the wall and runs to check on Scott, who’s room is across the hall. She finds Scott in a Rogue drain coma, and before she can react, Rogue slips behind her and drains her too. While it’s not stated yet, the dead eye stare from Rogue certainly hints at what is going on with her.

 

Wow, Kelly is such a dick.

The next day, the X-Men all wake up late and groggy. Kitty is the first one up, and given how Rogue’s power works, assumes everything from last night was a nightmare. She quickly rushes around to make sure everyone is up to get to their last day of school. The kids all use their powers to make breakfast to make up for lost time. Rogue is the groggiest of the bunch, as one can imagine all the power draining is exhausting. The kids all arrive at school and run inside, except Rogue. A limo pulls up, and she enters it without question or comment. That’s not spooky.

 

Jean and Scott have conflicted feelings about graduating. She’s feeling nostalgic about the good times, whereas Scott is focused on the last several months of harassment. They pass Principle Kelly who, still being a Mutant Racist, tells them that he wants no Mutant mischief tomorrow as some of the students have earned a hassle free graduation. Dick.

 

Rogue stealing Wanda's powers is legit terrifying.

Rogue is dropped off at the Brotherhood House. Using her stolen powers, she sneaks in and quickly drains Wanda and Lance. She then grabs Blob, and then teleports around to capture Toad. He’s got a great line when Rogue finally has him cornered. He’s shaking like a leaf as he says, “I hate this part.” Pietro runs down and finds his whole team disabled. Rogue telekinetically flies/phases through the ceiling and tries to get the drop on him but is quick enough to dodge. He tries to run upstairs, but Rogue lifts him from the ground and pulls him back to her. She drains him and then walks out to the limo and Mystique. Well, shit.

 

That night, Ororo promises Jean and Scott that she’ll keep the rain away from their graduation. Xavier asks about what their plans are for the future, Jean expresses an interest in medicine, maybe specifically genetics, which pleases her surrogate father. We see Rogue walking through the rain, still tranced out and on her way to another attack.

 

Super metal. I'll show myself out.

We cut to the limo outside a warehouse building. Rogue drains Mystique to shapeshift into an owl and fly in through a window. She enters one of Magneto’s compounds. She finds Colossus moving a heavy crate, runs up and drains him. The crate drops on them, but she breaks through it and drags him out. Sabretooth jumps her, but she uses a metallic hand to catch his clawed one and drains him too. Pyro arrives and tries to fry her. Rogue completely turns to steel to protect herself and then drain Pyro too. Gambit arrives and tries to flirt fight with her. Obviously Rogue won’t react to his questions. He guesses that Mystique is involved but can’t get anything out of Rogue. She slips around him and drains him, this time with a peck on the lips. Huh, not sure how I feel about this nod to their comic romance when Rogue is at most 17 and I think Gambit is at minimum 21. With the Acolytes drained, Rogue shapeshifts into gambit and plays knocked out long enough to sneak up on and drain Magneto as well. Damn, one woman wrecking crew.

 

The next day, Jean and Scott get ready for their graduation ceremony on the Bayville high football field. She’s still optimistic, and Scott is being less gloomy about it all. He goes to get his seat as Jean greets her parents and sister. Xavier, Ororo, Logan and a trench coat and hatted Hank watch from the stands with Rogue. Kelly gives his commencement speech, which includes a bit of “Why did you feel the need to go there?” Mutant racism in it, as Pietro wanders the area and spots Rogue. Kelly’s speech is finally stopped by Magneto and his two teams’ arrival. Everyone obviously panics and runs. I kind of want Magneto to throw something at Kelly, but he has bigger fish to fry. Pietro stops Rogue from running off and Magneto attempts to bind her with metal chairs. Mesmero, who’d been watching from under the bleachers like a creepy stalker, switches Rogue to attack mode. Magneto tells Xavier what happened, that Rogue attacked his compound and stole his powers, and that Mesmero used his own powers to completely wipe their minds of the event. It’s only thanks to his security cameras that he knew what happened. Rogue takes off, lobbing the chairs at her friends before flying away. Kelly has one more Mutant racist comment before we move on. Logan, Sabretooth and Gambit are sent to look for Rogue as Magneto and Xavier go to work out a plan of action.

 

While the trio ride around on motorcycles to find Rogue, Xavier and Magneto settle on a plan. Plan A is to find and stop Rogue before she gets to the key. The more realistic Plan B is, if they fail to stop her, to get to the tomb first and defend it to keep the key from being used. Magneto thinks they can only send their best on this one, and Xavier plans to put mental blocks in their minds to keep them from being controlled by Mesmero. Hank, meanwhile, has narrowed the search for Apocalypse down to ancient Egyptian territories, but not much farther. Magneto tells him to search for Apocalypse’s real name, En Sabah Nur.

 

This feels so wrong.

Logan and Sabretooth were able to track down the limo but find it empty. They pick up Rogue and Mesmero, but neither of them was driving the limo when they ditched it. They don’t realize it but that kind of confirms Mystique was involved as who else doesn’t have a scent. Gambit keeps them from fighting, and they realize that Rogue and her captors must have left by the nearby air strip.

 

Having Apocalypse’ name did yield results. Hank discovers that he ruled Giza some 5000 years ago. We’re shown a pictograph of him subjugating his subjects with lightning. Hank believes that this means he’s entombed in Giza, but that’s still a big area to search. Xavier, using the knowledge he stole from Mesmero in their last confrontation and Cerebro to amplify his powers, realizes that the tomb is beneath the great Sphinx off Giza. The X-jet and several of Magneto’s pods race to Egypt to stop Apocalypse’s rise.

 

Meanwhile, Logan, Sabretooth and Gambit find the tower crew of the airstrip knocked out and a jet missing. Gambit determines their heading east over the pacific. They resolve to follow in their own stolen plane.

 

The X-Men and co land in Giza just outside the Sphinx. The team consisting of Magneto, Xavier, Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Shadowcat, Pyro, Colossus, Beast and Storm. Kitty phases through the ground with a mask on to help her breathe and see in the dark. She falls for a few feet before finding a stairway to a chamber underneath the Sphinx. She finds a button and pushes it, revealing the hidden staircase. The group enters and Pyro lights the torches so they can see. A moment later, the stone statue depicting the Egyptian gods come to life, sealing them in and preparing to attack. And that’s how they end the episode. Jerks!

 

This was a solid start to the two-part finale. While, yes, Rogue being controlled by Mesmero was obvious from minute one, it was interesting to see how the plot unfolded. Why is he using Rogue to steal powers? It has to do with freeing Apocalypse, because duh, but we’re not sure how, or why Mystique is helping him. Regardless, it really shows off how devastating Rogue can be when she wants to. Sure, she juices herself up with powers of the unconscious X-Men first but seeing her systematically take down the X-Men, Brotherhood, and Acolytes all by herself was impressive at the very least. Seeing Magneto and Charles work together was also a treat. They’ve been frenemies for so long that they rarely work together at this point, but knowing that Apocalypse is a big enough threat to them all to put aside differences in philosophy to stop him is damned satisfying. Other than that, this episode mostly serves as set up for the finale. Just getting Magneto, Xavier and his team to Egypt, while Logan and his companions chase after Rogue to the real location. This finale is going to be a bumpy ride. See you then. 

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