'X-Men 97' Season 2: Episodes 4-6 Recap and Review: Supervillains, Sentient AI, and a Shaky Midsection
Six episodes into x-men 97’s second season, this latest batch shows a noticeable downtick in an otherwise great series.
Last time we saw Professor Charles Xavier’s “children of the atom” in X-Men 97, forces beyond their control spread the team far and wide across time. In hopes of thwarting the aptly named Apocalypse, Xavier and his team are trapped in either 3000 B.C. or 3960 A.D, two key points in Apocalypse’s reign of terror. As of episode two, team 3960 A.D. has gone back to the 1990s, whereas team 3000 B.C. remains in ancient Egypt. The season’s first three episodes promised a worthy continuation of X-Men 97’s first season, even though the departure of original showrunner Beau DeMayo left matters uncertain. This latest batch of episodes, though not bad, calls X-Men 97’s future into question.
Episode three, ”Rise of Apocalypse: Part I,” left off on a cliffhanger, as Pharaoh Rama Tut—Kang the Conqueror—fired an enormous superweapon at Apocalypse (originally named En Sabah Nur) and the X-Men. Before this point, En Sabah Nur killed one of Kang’s generals after learning his mentor, Magneto, harbored ulterior motives in his guiding hand, continuing down his path into becoming the Apocalypse we all know and fear. In a classic “good cop” maneuver, Xavier persuades Nur to accept guidance once more, although Professor X’s mental prowess foresees great calamity. Xavier eases Nur’s worries by confessing (most of) the truth of their visit to his time, though conveniently leaves out the portion where the X-Men intend to thwart Nur’s ambitions.
Further pitting nature against nurture, En Sabah Nur’s potential rehabilitation places the future of mutant-human relations in the balance. If Charles and Magneto succeed, the prejudice of their time (as well as its dire consequences) would be null, placing the future in their hands. Unfortunately, prophecy has a way of outclassing good intentions. Xavier’s visions guide En Sabah Nur to an intergalactic vessel once used by a “Celestial” named Eson, with the prophecy of Apocalypse’s ascension etched into the walls. Learning that Xavier too planned to stop him, En Sabah Nur takes command of the ship and transforms into Apocalypse. Most of the X-Men escape to the ‘90s, but Apocalypse disintegrates Magneto right in front of Xavier’s eyes.
Back on Earth, X-Men 97’s fifth episode, Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs (a play-on-words of Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape) focuses on Wolverine after Magneto forcibly removed the adamantium plating from the former’s bones. We do get a cool glimpse of his bone claws in the 3960 episodes, though the lack of adamantium isn’t doing Wolverine any favors. Approached with a “Weapon X” (the secret program that gave Wolverine his adamantium bones) dossier by Captain America and Black Widow in the previous episode’s post-credit scene, Wolverine assembles a team consisting of Maverick, Kane, Lady Deathstrike (or Yuriko), Sabretooth, and Morph. After learning that the base is overrun with bioweapons, episode five is basically half-Aliens and half-The Suicide Squad.
Even in the looser episodes, X-Men 97’s subversiveness remains one of its best traits. Coupled with the post-credits scene from episode four, one would think that the Weapon X lore drop would be about Wolverine and his backstory. However, like Jubilee in episode two, Morph takes the forefront as he tries to wrangle Wolverine’s gang of mercenaries from causing more damage. What really shines through is Morph’s unrequited love for Wolverine, whereas Wolverine has feelings for Jean Grey (who’s dating Cyclops). Love triangles are essential to the X-Men’s core drama, though this situation appears to be a love square in comparison. The dominoes are set for a chain reaction of heartbreaks, with things looking grim for both Morph and Wolverine.
“Danger.exe,” X-Men 97’s sixth and latest episode, deals directly with the fallout of Magneto’s death in episode four. Horrified by the event, Xavier finds himself in the newly rebuilt X-Mansion’s “Danger Room,” repeatedly—if not masochistically—using the telepathic simulation to relive the moment where Apocalypse disintegrated Magneto. Somewhere in my heart knew that we couldn’t have a full season where Xavier and Magneto are allies, but can you blame me? Meanwhile, after being kicked out of the Justice Department’s X-Factor group, Polaris (Magneto’s similarly superpowered daughter) returns to the X-Mansion and reconnects with her old teammates. That is, until the Danger Room—like in the Astonishing X-Men comic run—gains sentience, attacks the X-Men, and goes rogue.
With Magneto out of the picture, a gap opened in the mutant crew regarding steel sorcery, so it makes sense for episode six’s villain of the week to be entirely made of metal. Fleeing to Genosha (the site of a mutant massacre in season one), the Danger Room, now “Danger,” faces off against the X-Men as a twisted training exercise, demanding their readiness for impending threats. It’s a bit odd to put the Apocalypse plotline on the back burner for two subsequent episodes, though the episode succeeds in establishing Polaris as a potential mainstay going forward. That said, “Danger.exe” ends with one of the more shocking revelations in the show, as Apocalypse wakes fan-favorite character Gambit from the dead.
As I said in my previous review, X-Men 97 maintains its fluid animation, energetic action sequences, strong character writing, and mature tone. This latest bunch of episodes, however, has slightly wavered my confidence in this latest season. The show isn’t a stranger to semi-tangential episodes about specific characters, but an episode like season one’s “Montendo/Lifedeath - Part I” was a two-for-one special. Episodes five (particularly five, which feels like a rehash of Storm’s season one plotline) and six, while entertaining in their own right, do feel like a show spinning its wheels for far too long. With three episodes remaining in the season, there’s still time to wrap things up nicely. Conversely, after two less-than-ideal episodes, the clock’s a-ticking!