Wyngarde plays with fire until it burns him, shocking.
Last time on X-Men: The Animated
Series, Jean’s back! After spending an unspecified amount of time at Muir
Island for therapy to treat her PTSD from being the Phoenix. It hasn’t been going
well because the Phoenix is still actively trying to control Jean’s body. Moira
has Charles take her home, believing that might help her more than keeping her
in isolation. At the same time Scott and Gambit attend a concert for up-and-coming
singer Dazzler, and Scott saves her from being kidnapped by a 18th
century aristocrat and his gimp minions. My tongue is firmly in my cheek but I’m
only slightly exaggerating. The aristocrat, Pierce, is part of the Inner Circle
Club, a secret society that is trying to control the world. Pierce had been
sent to ‘recruit’ Dazzler for their club. They decide to not pursuit her,
though, as two more members, Emma Frost and Jason Wyngate, burst in to tell the
others about the Phoenix and their belief they can control her. Using Frost’s
telepathy and Wyngate’s illusions, they attack Jean in her mind and try to fit
her into a cliché romance novel starring herself and Wyngate. Jean senses
something is wrong and reflexively calls out to Scott, waking her. She sought
Scott out, arriving at Dazzler’s show just in time to see the starlet kiss her
man. She didn’t know he was seeing anyone, in her defense. Wyngate and Emma followed
them and ensnared the Phoenix in his illusion and escape. The X-Men track them
to the Inner Circle Club and interrupt the sham wedding between Wyngate and
Phoenix. The Inner Circle isn’t all Mutants, but they’re absurdly rich so those
without natural powers can buy enhancements, just a FYI. The X-Men start to win
against the Inner Circle until Phoenix herself gets involved on their side and
blasts Storm. She swears her loyalty to Wyngate and so the Dark Phoenix is
born. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.
We open on the X-Mansion in the AM,
Charles is reaching out to his team via their communicators but isn’t getting
anyone. He tries to reach Scott with his telepathy, but someone actively blocks
him from digging deep enough into the inner circle to find them. He powers up
Cerebro, his usual trump card, but Emma Frost predicted this move and powers up
her own scrambler. That, combined with her own telepathy blocks, even Cerebro
enhanced Charles from defeating her. He orders Cerebro to keep probing
electronically while he takes a break.
At the Inner Circle club, they’ve
got the X-Men in restraints, including the inhibitor collars from Genosha to
block their powers. Shaw gloats to Leland about how his plan worked, but is interrupted
by Emma telling him about Charles. He begins to threaten her, but Wyngarde
joins them with Dark Phoenix, now dressed in the Inner Circle club approved
costume of lingerie. I have no idea how this got past 90s censorship. He
changes whatever he was about to say to suggest he’ll get Phoenix to do it if
Emma fails. Shaw kisses Phoenix in greeting, prompting an angry outburst from
Scott. Shaw tells him to calm down, as he’s all bluster anyway. He claims that
the Inner Circle club is an impenetrable fortress, the X-Men were only allowed
to enter so they could be captured and introduce them to Phoenix. Meanwhile, a
pair of their gimps… I mean soldiers, are trying to find Wolverine. Or his
remains, so they believe. He got dropped from high up through several floors
and into the sewer system… but he is a ball of fury with a healing factor… To
prove my point, he climbs out of the water just before they arrive. He knocks
them into the sewar water and runs upstairs. He scares the piss out of another guard
by paraphrasing Clint Eastwood and demands to know where the other X-Men are.
Upstairs, Shaw is fawning over
Phoenix. It disgusts Emma Frost, who isn’t happy to have psychic competition. Wyngarde
promises that he can control him too. He also calls Emma his ‘love’ so I think
we can all guess his ‘loyalty’ to Shaw or a romantic partner at this point. Shaw
leads her away so she can freshen up before dinner. When alone, Shaw demands to
know if the Phoenix loves him or if that’s another illusion. Wyngarde is smug
in his ability to control the Phoenix, though Emma insists they can only control
the Phoenix for so long. Wyngarde isn’t worried, be believes that the Phoenix craves
sensations, emotions, and with the ‘dark’ emotions he’s introduced her too, he’ll
be able to control her forever. The pride of this man is disgusting. Shaw seems
to agree with me as he orders Wyngarde to order dinner.
In the kitchen another Inner Circle
member is whining about not getting his 1559 wine, only for it to arrive… in
Logan’s hands. He knocks him out with a kick before quipping “lousy year” and dropping
the wine on him. He steals a turkey leg and continues his investigating. He’s unimpressed
by their garb (which is old even by his 1800s ass) and shows his displeasure by
hurling a gimp guard at a few others. He’s hellbent on finding Leland, to get
payback. He beats a few more guards before they rush him.
The Inner Circle club toasts Jean
as their “new Queen.” They don’t say she’s taking the position of Black Queen,
but her garb as opposed to Emma’s makes it seem likely. Scott reaches out to
Jean. Emma senses it, though, and tells Wyngarde to engage Phoenix’s mind. Scott,
Phoenix, and Wyngarde enter Jean’s mind where Wyngarde uses his powers to ‘duel’
Scott, because these weirdos are obsessed with the Georgian era. The mental landscape
keeps changing, throwing Scott off balance. He accuses Wyngarde of cheating,
but Wyngarde claims that “Jean” is the one helping him beat Scott. Scott nearly
beats Wyngarde, but then Phoenix steps in, claiming that she’s already ‘been freed.’
From sympathy and morality. Scott tries to reason with her but she’s not
listening, Wyngarde reappears and stabs Scott. It’s one of those “stab his
mental projection, hurt the real one’ situation, so the real Scott drops.
Wyngarde says that he’s dead and gloats some more, but no, turns out Scott is still
alive. Emma brain scans him and learns he’s still connected to Jean and that
connection saved him. To prove his power over Phoenix, Shaw orders him to make
Phoenix destroy Scott. Jean peaks through Phoenix’s control, but Wyngarde goads
her into attacking. She prepares to obliterate Scott, but then Wolverine bursts
him, dragging a bunch of guards with him. He shouts “here’s Johnny” as he
enters, which makes me think Logan is a movie buff. The man’s seen The Shining!
Phoenix blasts him, though, and knocks him down. High on his sense of power, Wyngarde
demands Shaw surrender his chairmanship of the Inner Circle over to Wyngarde.
Shaw is confident that the Inner Circle wouldn’t follow a Mutant who’s only
power is circus trickery, but the other three members present vote against him.
Unbeknownst to them, Phoenix goes over to Wolverine and scans his mind. She
sees one of their many intense romantic moments in his mind and that snaps Jean
out of the Phoenix’s control for a moment. Wyngarde interrupts her though, and
tells her to destroy Shaw. Unfortunately, snapping Jean out for that one moment
broke Wyngarde’s control of Phoenix. She tells them they’re all fools, no one
can control the Phoenix and flies off.
Another brawl breaks out, the X-Men
doing better this time sine they know what to expect from the Inner Circle
members and their guards. Wyngarde runs off, believing he can still control Phoenix
if he can get to her. Scott follows them to save Jean. Storm summons a blizzard
to stop Shaw, who was their heaviest hitter without the Phoenix. This scares
many of the normal guests to the Inner Circle Club, and Emma Frost ran off
rather than having to deal with the cops. Shaw doesn’t stop so easily, as he runs
through an escape tunnel hidden behind a bookcase. He and Pierce (sans his
robot arm that Rogue tears off) run through their escape tunnel, swearing to get
revenge on the X-Men. On the roof, Wyngarde tries to ensnare Phoenix in another
illusion, but she’s far too powerful for him to control now that she’s embracing
her dark side. She says that he gave her a taste for evil to gain himself power
and now she hungers for more. To humiliate him for his hubris she breaks
through Wyngarde’s illusion around himself, revealing he’s much older and homelier
than he pretended to be. She offers to show Wyngarde her REAL power and seems
to destroy his mind with the Phoenix Force. Scott makes it to the roof and
calls out to Jean, but the Phoenix tells him she’s gone. She claims to be Fire
and Fury incarnate, and redubs herself the Dark Phoenix! Well… crap.
Well, that went about as well as
could be expected. Wyngarde, a weak man with one unique skill and privilege
greater than he deserved, in his hubris corrupted a celestial god-like being
into becoming a vessel of pure destruction. It would come down to a rich
insecure asshole destroying the world, wouldn’t it? Dark Phoenix’s little speech
about how weak he is in comparison to her and how he made her into something he
could never hope to control was well done. I liken his ability to control Jean
to be largely based on when he set up his little illusion. She was asleep, her
defenses lowered when he laid the trap, and he sprung it when she was at her
most emotionally vulnerable. If Jean hadn’t been exhausted battling the Phoenix
for control of her body or if the Phoenix had been just a little more aware, he’d
never have been able to put the mental wammy on her. Also, that Wyngarde is a piece
of work, right? His machinations to take over the Inner Circle were so damn obvious,
I’m shocked Shaw didn’t react sooner. The man is usually very protective of his
position, I’m surprised he let it come to a vote to oust him. And I liked how
they characterized Emma Frost. Resourceful, strong telepathy but not as strong
as Charles while being more devious, wanting to take the Phoenix for their group
but being extremely jealous once she started getting upstaged, all classic
Emma. Still, hard to see her here, how I assume she was in the comics at this
time, and know she’d go on to be a regular on the X-Men roster. Oh how
characters can change with time. I should note that while destruction was
always an intrinsic part of the Phoenix, its fire is the sort that destroys but
makes way for new growth sort of thing. The Dark Phoenix is all about incineration,
pure and simple. I liked how this episode continued to bring up Jean and Scott’s
psychic connection. Jean’s power has made the two intertwined in a way that few
couples could be. Scott being Jean’s rock that she reaches out to even when she’s
not completely sure why is a key part of that. Wolverine’s mini rampage is fun,
as they tend to be. I am shocked by the loyalty of the Inner Circle goons. I
see that angry Canadian and I’m playing dead right then and there. So… ya, next
time we’ll see what happens when a dark goddess that’s addicted to sensations
goes on a rampage. Here’s a hint, it ain’t good.
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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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