Christmas time in 95.
Last time on X-Men: The Animated
Series, Logan’s past was… investigated. Logan had been suffering from
worsening nightmares and hallucinations for several weeks after receiving a letter
in the mail of him and a Native woman hugging. The photo had coordinates for
southern Canada written on the back and he headed for them, Hank following
behind to give his buddy backup. At the facility they run into Sabretooth who’d
also been lured there and also been suffering from nightmares and headaches. We’re
introduced to two former teammates of theirs, Maverick and Silver Fox, Silver
Fox being the woman from the photo and Logan’s ex. They enter deeper into the
facility and learn that much of their past was created on a soundstage. The doctor
in charge of the Weapon X project, Hudson, had devised a truly sadistic
brainwashing program in order to make the perfect sleeper soldiers. Basically,
Logan and co were pumped full of drugs and put into scenario after scenario to create
fake traumatic memories to bury their covert ops training into their psyches.
It’s implied some of what they experienced is real, as Hudson says experiences similar
to their actual traumas encode best. They enter a secret door that needed all
four of them to unlock, which turned out to be the last failsafe Hudson built.
It activated a robot called Talos that was supposed to capture, sedate and
reinstall their programming. They’re able to beat Talos and escape. Logan tries
to talk to Fox, saying that some part of their past together must be real. A
cabin they remember living together in was on the soundstage, but Logan insists
that it can’t all be made up as the door didn’t have their names carved in it,
a detail they both remember. Fox tells him to forget her as that was a lifetime
ago. He and Hank leave together, missing the tree with “Logan + Silver Fox” carved
into it in a heart. How sad. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?
We open on the X-Men singing carols
as they decorate the tree. Specifically, Scott, Rogue and Jubilee. Logan meanwhile
is sitting before the fire and being grumpy. Jubilee asks him to help with the
tree and singing, but he tells her that the day he sings a carol is the day
pigs fly and walk off. Scott and Rogue tell her not to take it personally,
Logan hate holidays and there’s no use ruining their fun to try to get him to
not be a humbug. Rogue flies Jubilee up to the top of the giant tree to put on
the star. In the kitchen, Jean and Gambit are fighting over how to prepare Christmas
dinner. Jean’s advocating for ‘traditional’ meals, whereas Gambit’s Cajun Roots
are DEMANDING more spice. It ends with Gambit falling over and getting soaked
in water, insisting Jean still doesn’t know anything about Christmas dinner,
but she laughs so it’s all good. Hank meanwhile is doing some holiday chemistry
in his lab, upside down as he so often likes to be. He seems to enjoy his non-alcoholic
eggnog. We pull out to view Charles and Ororo watching everyone from the War
Room’s cameras. Charles is enjoying the night, but Ororo is restless for some
reason that she can’t figure out why. Before they can psychoanalyze her, there’s
a disturbance of some kind that shakes the mansion. The team all scramble to
figure out what just happened.
They reach Beast’s lab and see him
covered in goo, him saying that I’s his cranberry glaze. His chemistry
experiment blew up in his face, it seems. Logan is the last to arrive and is
disappointed to learn that it’s not an attack. He says he needs to get out of
the house before the Christmas season makes him sick. Jubilee says that she and
Ororo are going to do some Christmas Eve shopping and begs Logan to come with
them. He begrudgingly agrees, saying that he’d have better luck fighting Sabretooth
than fighting her. The trio do some shopping; Jubilee especially is excited to
be able to celebrate with a real family for once. After their shopping trip,
they go to a skating rink and do some skating, Logan still being grumpy. That
is until he smells something burning and realizes something is about to go
down. Not a minute later an ambulance crashes through a wall and nearly crashes
into everyone. Storm stops it with a summoned tornado and has it gently touch down.
Two Morlocks get out, Ape (shapeshifting powers) and Annalee (telepathic). They
rip the doors off the back of the ambulance and search around. Logan says that
stealing an ambulance has made the Morlocks sink real low. The cops pull up and
Logan tries to stop them. Storm flies in and they talk to her. Remember, Storm
is their absentee ruler after all. They explain that Leech, the youngest
Morlock with a green, reptilian-looking appearance and the ability to drain energy,
is extremely sick. They’re trying to find a way to help him, but they don’t
know what he has. They tried to take him to a hospital, but his powers were
going haywire, and they refused to treat him. Annalee begs for Ororo’s help and
she agrees. She holds the cops off with a blizzard burst and they follow the
Morlocks.
They enter the sewers and head to
the Morlock’s camp. Calisto greets them and shames Ororo for not being around
as the Morlock queen. They agree to a ceasefire for the moment, needing to
focus on Leech. Ororo orders Logan to prep Leech for transport and she’ll carry
him to the mansion for Hank to look after. Logan has been a field medic, so
this is a solid plan. Unfortunately, Logan determines that Leech is in a bad
way already and he’ll never survive the trip. Jubilee meets and hugs a little
Morlock girl named Mariana. Jubilee begs Logan to do something, as he’s so good
at healing himself. Logan says that Leech isn’t like him… but maybe… He tries
to back off the idea, but everyone demands he elaborate. He admits that a
transfusion of his blood might work to save Leech. He’s tried it before but says
that it only worked twice out of twenty-two tries. 10% is still a chance, though,
so Ororo insists they try. She gets a transfusion kit from the medical supplies
they stole and tells Logan to get started on a transfusion while she goes to
get Hank. Logan’s still obstinate and points out Leech wouldn’t be in trouble if
Ororo kept a better eye on the Morlocks. She accepts that verbal slap but begs
him to help. They have Ape shift into a table to give Logan a flat surface to
lay beside Leech and get started. Mariana asks if Leech will be okay and
Jubilee asks if she believes in miracles. Shockingly, the Mutant living in the
sewer doesn’t know what those are, but Jubilee says hopefully they’ll see one
soon.
Back at the mansion, Gambit’s in
trouble for ‘juicing up’ the ham. Jean demands this “swamp rat” out of the
kitchen. Before the fighting can get any worse, Charles comes in and tells them
to move it. Specifically, he tells Rogue to fly Hank to the Morlock ASAP.
In the sewers, they begin the
transfusion. Everyone is worried and Logan begs Leech to help him out and
survive this one. Mariana takes Jubilee to see the Morlock Christmas tree,
which is a damaged artificial tree in a can. Mariana asks if she thinks it’s
pretty and Jubilee says it’s the most beautiful thing ever. Mariana shows
Jubilee their dinner, saying that Leech got both the tree and the ingredients
for the soup before he got sick. She asks Jubilee to stay for dinner. Ororo
comes in and they all head over to check how Leech is doing. Jubilee whispers
to Ororo asking how they can survive like this, and Ororo gives a platitude
about how every day is Christmas when you’re with people you love. Really not
feeling that with the people forced to live in the sewers, but whatever. The
transfusion doesn’t seem to be working, Logan shouts that he told them so, and nearly
storms off but Hank arrives and says he may need Logan’s help. Hank begins to
examine Leech. He tells Calisto, who’s pissed, that Logan’s healing powers are
incredible but poorly understood and unreliable in terms of being transferable.
Thankfully, it sees to work this time as Leech opens his eyes. Ororo demands Calisto
hand over the scepter of power, the symbol of Morlock leadership. She renounces
her position of Leader and hands back the position to Callisto. She realizes that
she can’t lead these people like they need, but knows Callisto is right for the
job. Logan thanks Leech for surviving, which sparked a bit of hope in him. Ororo
apologizes to Logan for snapping at him earlier, saying that she shouldn’t have
questioned his willingness to help a child. Everyone decides to stay with the
Morlocks for Christmas Eve dinner, Jubilee giving them her last minute shopping
gifts in celebration. Gambit is irate at the idea that the others aren’t coming
back for dinner, as he and I quote “Does not make TV dinners.” Jubilee calls
Charles and lets him know that they won’t be making it back and he tells her he
understands. And that her gift of generosity makes him so proud.
Meanwhile I’m sitting here and
wondering why the hell aren’t they transporting the Morlocks to the Mansion for
dinner? It’s not THAT far and they’ve got a literal feast!
It’s an extremely basic Christmas episode.
An emergency causes a younger character to learn the true meaning of Christmas and
helps instill a feeling of hope in a grump. That’s all this one is when you
break it down to the base level. I do like that they decided to bring back in
the Morlocks and tie off this existing plot thread that Ororo is the queen of
the Morlocks but has apparently not been to see them even once since beating Calisto.
Storm is a great leader but even the best leader is terrible in absentia. While
Calisto was borderline psychotic in her first episode, she’s mellowed out since
then and does seem to truly have the Morlock’s best interest at heart. I really
don’t have a lot to say about this episode. It’s just… basic. Not terrible, not
groundbreaking, it just IS. Part of me wishes that TV shows didn’t feel
obligated to do Christmas episodes at all, but that’s the society we live in.
That’s all I have to say about that. Still figuring out what the rest of the
month will be, you’ll see my decision tomorrow. Have a good one!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135276283
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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