1x09 Tolerance Is Extinction (2)

[7.8/10] Holy hell! That was intense! As seems to be the case with the last...five(?) episodes of X-Men ‘97, there is a lot going on here.

Let’s start with what compelled me most here - magneto. There is something so fascinating about his return to aggression. It’s not like Magnus hasn’t plotted the Earth’s destruction before. But something about this feels different, in a good and frankly kind of scary way.

Those past instances were born on the backs of Magento thinking he had the right approach, that Charles’ path was misguided, that mutants and humans could never be reconciled, let alone peacefully coexist. But heaven help him, he tried. To honor Xavier’s memory, he made an earnest attempt to live out his departed friend’s dream.

Now he’s seemingly been betrayed by everyone. Now Charles is back. Now the attempts to extinguish mutant kind via the Sentinels have resurfaced more deadly than ever. Most of all, now he has given Xavier’s methods a try, a genuine, authentic attempt to see them to fruition, only to watch them result in destruction and near-annihilation and abandonment by humanity in the wake of the attacks on Genosha,.

Magento was always furious about how his kind were treated, but now he comes with the fury of his worst fears realized, and the vengeful certainty that he was right all along. The force of a man who believes himself right is nothing compared to the anger of the man who tried things the other way and saw his nightmares realized in living color.

Which is all to say that is a more resentful, a less yielding, a more vindictive and undeterred Magneto than we’ve ever seen. When he descends from the sky in a new Asteroid M, declares the earth a pigsty, and prepares to extract his comrades to live as gods above humanity’s destruction, it has power. When he hears the pleas of the man who for so long held him back from the brink of complete malevolence, and instead gives him those two damning words -- “shut up” -- it has power. When he takes Wolverine’s claws through the chest, and has his payback by tearing the adamantium from poor Logan’s bones, holy shit it has power.

Hell hath no fury like a cynic-turned-believer scorned, and this is the dark afterimage of Magneto’s earnest attempt at peace.

What’s interesting is who ends up as his allies. I was expecting him to show up with some members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (or at least Emma Frost or something). Instead, he gets two defections that come with good reason. Rogue takes to Magnus’ side because she too tried the Professor’s way, and it cost her Remy. Magneto’s point that Xavier’s methods have now cost them countless mutants’ lives is a pretty compelling argument, one with extra resonance for someone who feels that loss personally.

And it makes sense that it resonates for Roberto too. What would break your faith in the ability of mutants and humans to coexist than your own mother selling you out? The idea that coexistence is hopeless, that the only choice is to expropriate yourself and your people, would make sense for each of them in both a philosophical and personal way, which is a sign of deft writing.

I’m a little milder on some of the other character interactions here. The reunion between Jean and Storm is sweet, but also kind of weird? Maybe the show is going in a different direction, but their vibe seemed more intimate here than sisterly, which is fine, but a little odd as a pivot given everything else that's going on. (And hey, while the line is too cute by half, I’ll cop to liking their “mind your weather”/”weather your mind” exchange.)

Likewise, the Cyclops/Cable interaction was a little trite. I’m a sucker for pre-battle heart-to-hearts, but theirs was fairly generic. And the inverse of the “What were you expecting, yellow spandex” line is amusing for longtime X-fans, but a little silly. (Though Cable wearing his dad’s uniform...somehow...is weirdly sweet.)

Speaking of which, I found Cyclops and Jean wearing their old uniforms to look pretty goofy. This is entirely subjective, and I’m sure that the 90s X-Men outfits look goofy to those who didn’t grow up with them. But I’ll admit, something about them wearing the old costumes takes me out of the moment a bit.

In the same vein, the fight with Bastion and his crew is a mixed bag. I’ll just say that at this point, I don’t really care about Bastion. He has a convoluted backstory, no real personal connection to our heroes, and his plan already seems to have been mostly stopped, so whatever. The show busts out some cool fight scenes and imagery here and there (I particularly like Beast’s sentinel slap and Bastion’s circuit board ribbon limbs). But the whole idea of him being a “technopath” is pretty silly. I guess the goal to defeat him as the central “server” for the other Prime Senintels is fine, but it feels like the perfunctory superhero goal rather than something with meaning.

The battle between Jean and Mister Sinister has much more to it. Her fighting an abuser of sorts, someone who wrecked her life and injected scads of uncertainty into it, gives the fight something deeper that the standoff with Bastion doesn’t have. Sister mins-controlling cable, and Cable suddenly developing telekinetic powers is a bit much for me though. And man, Jean’s died and come back in one way or another multiple times now (Rogue even comments on it), so her saying her psychic goodbye to Cyclops doesn’t have much impact anymore.

It does prompt Scott to prevent Xavier from taking over Magneto’s mind, presumably so that the magnetic field can halt Bastion’s sentinels for a while longer. It’s an interesting case of the personal getting in the way of neutralizing a greater threat, which is a kind of storytelling I tend to appreciate. (Hello Avengers: Infinity War fans!)

The rest of the Magneto fight is good too. I appreciate that in addition to the defections and philosophical differences, there’s also a similar difference in perspective within the team. Xavier wants to save his friend. Wolverine wants to neutralize the threat. Neither of them really gets his way, which is a canny choice for maximum impact. There too, the fight is good, and I damn near had to pick my jaw up off the floor by the time it was finished.

Otherwise, the way the show has to explain its way around the magnetic field effect for practical purposes (Forge has an EMP-blocking leg! Bastion can still power some of his sentinels despite the zap apparently!) is a little strained. There’s something a little dispiriting about the full X-Men crew finally being back together only for the missions immediately splitting them apart, but it mostly serves the story. And on an entirely fanboy level, it’s neat to see Morph turn into The Hulk.

But overall, this is another double-stuffed episode of X-Men with enough momentous incident to span two or even three episodes. But with results like these, I’m not complaining.