Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 48

 Evan returns, and he's spikier than ever.

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Charles Xavier learns that he has a son, David, by his ex-wife Gabrielle Haller who has been kidnapped. He, Jean, Scott and Ororo fly to Scotland to try to save him. There, they meet the mysterious mute boy Ian that is living with the Hallers, as well as the angry and aggressive Mutant Lucas. Lucas is the kidnapper and has a big beef with Charles. It’s eventually revealed both other boys are David, different personas of him. Charles tries to help his son by forcing the other two personalities back and drawing David into the forefront. Unfortunately, Lucas pulls a fast one and gets himself pulled out and into the primary persona. This was his plan all along, as he knew Charles was the only Mutant strong enough to do it. He flies off, leaving his distraught parents behind. Later, Ororo says advises Charles that David isn’t gone for good, and he’ll find his way home. That’s a sweet way to end that debacle. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Damn, huge nose. Snout. Thing.

We open with a young, green skinned boy named Dorian watching the news. It’s revealed Apocalypse has made another dome around a Pyramid in China and that tensions with Mutants are continuing to escalate. Dorian’s mother doesn’t want him watching the news and turns it off, but Dorian turns the tube back on the moment she’s out of the room. We jump over to a restaurant worker throwing out some food. One of the Morlocks, Lucin, climbs out of the sewers and uses his X-Ray vision to open the lock on the dumpster to get fresh-ish food. Some yokels show up and start chasing Lucin, cornering him in a back alley, when he’s saved by Evan. Evan’s gone through a lot of changes since we last saw him. Change 1. He’s almost entirely covered in armor made from his spike calcium, change 2. His Spikes now burn when launched. Neat. He fights off the yokels and he and Lucin return to the sewers.

 

Remember, Morlocks are Mutants with obvious physical differences that makes them blend into day to day life difficult if not impossible.

 

Evan looks good.

Back at the Morlock Camp, their leader Calisto goes to speak with Evan. Calisto tells him that he needs to back off, as his aggressive actions against people have tensions running high. Evan, still extremely angry, says that it’s unfair that they are living in the sewers and eat garbage but are still hunted. Calisto warns Evan that bad things could happen if he keeps pushing things, to which he asks what sort of bad things will happen if he doesn’t?

 

At the X-Mansion, Hank McCoy has done some additional research on the Pyramid situation for Charles. The Pyramids are encased in spheres, not domes. The domes reflect any energy hit against it. Research indicates that both the Pyramid in Mexico and China date back to Apocalypse’s reign in Egypt and that can’t be good. They’re both concerned as the Chinese Government is building up an army around their pyramid, as the inevitable destruction caused there will not look good for Mutants.

 

Meanwhile, two of the New Mutant’s Sam and Amara are leaving the library talking about an assignment they’re doing. Sam stumbles and accidentally cannonballs into a wall, breaking it. They’re then accosted by Duncan, Jean’s ex, who are looking to cause trouble for Mutants. Amara holds them back by threatening to burn their car. Duncan and his gang seem to be willing to risk Amara’s wrath, but the situation is taken out of their hands when Evan arrives and throws burning spikes at the Mutant haters. It destroys their car. He tells them to get home and that he’ll handle things. Evan scares the crap out of them, and tells Duncan to spread the word that the Mutants of Bayville are off hate crime list.

 

Later, Xavier uses Cerebro to track down Evan. The adults agree that Evan’s heart was in the right place but he’s not dealing with the consequences of his actions. Charles finds Evan in the sewers. Ororo wants to rush out and talk to him, but Charles cautions that pissed off aunty might not be the best tactic for this. He suggests sending Logan in to talk to him. He begrudgingly agrees. Hank calls Charles in to see a news report. The Chinese government pulled everyone out of the province to drop bombs on the Pyramid. It goes about as well as they predicted, the dome is fine but everything else is destroyed. Unbeknownst to them, after this fiasco, Fury pulls Bolivar Trask from his cell. Why? Because the president authorized the restart of the Sentinel program. It’s their best option against Mutants like Apocalypse.

Yeah... Mrs. Leech, no one is buying that he's
sick.

 

Logan goes to the sewer. The Morlocks send a scout, but Logan sense him and tells him that he wants to keep things civil. Evan comes to Logan and the two debate for a minute. Logan admits that he agrees with a lot of Evan believes, but as an adult looking at the big picture, things are too tense for Evan to be stirring up additional trouble. Evan says that he’s just doing what needs to be done and storms off. Later, he enters a grocery store and freaks everyone out by just… buying things like a normal person! Dorian and his mother are there as well, the kid has a headache as things get more tense. Evan is refused service and told to get out. He begrudgingly goes, the crowd demanding that Evan take Dorian with him. His mother insists that Dorian is just sick, but they don’t believe her. They try to force Dorian out, he’s almost crushed by some shelves in the scuffle, but Evan saves him and makes an exit in the wall for them to leave. Dorian’s mother yells that the crowd are a bunch of monsters as she run out. Evan takes his bag of groceries, but still leaves the money on the table as he leaves.

 

Jean dodged a cannonball with this guy.

After the destruction in China, tensions are high. Duncan is calling for attacks on Mutants. He calls out Spyke by name in his litter interview with the news. There are angry mobs forming outside the Xavier Institute and Brotherhood Boarding house. Duncan, not content with just talk, steals some dangerous mining equipment and he and his buddies start driving around town, melting sewer grates and dropping bombs down on the Morlocks. We’re shown a quick second at Dorian’s house, where his mom both denies Dorian is a Mutant but wants to keep him out of sight too. A bomb goes off near the Morlock’s base and Evan, righteously pissed off goes out and attacks the assailants. He beats up several before being lead to an abandoned building by a small mob. Dorian sees this happening on the News and goes out to help. The X-Men see the same report and go to give additional backup.

 

The Morlocks join Evan first, but the X-Men arrive a moment later and the two groups quickly overpower the mob with their minding lasers. Jean gets some catharsis by throwing Duncan aside telekinetically. He gets up, though and goes to shoot Evan and a newly arrived Dorian as the cops arrive. Evan protects Dorian who then shouts “STOP!” and causes everything to stop. His wave of energy shuts down all electronics and suppresses Mutant powers, turning Evan back to normal, causing Jean to drop and Scott’s eyes to stop blasting. The cops arrive and arrest Duncan and his crew for reckless endangerment. Dorian’s mother takes her son, Evan tries to apologize for everything that happened, but she’s not feeling like listening right now. Evan returns to the sewars with thee Morlocks. Ororo tries to convince him to come back but he feels like the Morlocks need him more. She lets him go with her blessing.

 

Just outside their apartment, Dorian and his mother, revealed to be named Mrs. Leech, are met with Charles Xavier. Charles gives them his no pressure sales pitch for the institute before leaving, the credits rolling a moment after.

 

I liked this episode. I’d missed Evan, so getting to see him again is neat. The big changes in his appearance were somewhat shocking but fit what was happening to him at the end of the last episode he was in. It looks like his spikes grew out of control until they encased him in armor. The new plated look means he fits in quite well with the Morlocks now. I liked seeing tensions rising in the world at large with Apocalypse’s actions. Obviously, X-Men and racism-based adversity go pretty much hand-in-hand, so seeing more of it as Apocalypse prepares for his big moment makes sense. I liked the moral quandary that this episode presented. Evan is right that he and the Morlocks deserve the right to be able to walk around town and not be persecuted or attacked because they are different. But Charles and the others are also right that attacking others to prove a point is just so not the publicity they need right now. Is it alright to turn the other cheek, or to slap back? Who knows? This introduction of Leech was interesting too. In the comics, Leech is a Mutant that can stop all powers in the area around himself. The field he emits stops all power use around him. This is the only version, I think, where he can repress his power to an extent before the energy gets too much and blows outward. Usually, he blocks powers by just being around. And it was really nice to see Duncan deal with the consequences of his actions. That asshole should have been arrest for something ages ago. So yeah, good to see Evan, good to see tensions rising, and good to know Apocalypse is gearing up for his showstopper. Next time, Rogue bonds with a certain Cajun with charm. See you then. 

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