[6.7/10] Dark Phoenix is strong! We get it! So much of this episode is just the X-Men repeatedly going after Phoenix, and her knocking them away like flies. I can understand what the show’s trying to do. It wants to establish that Phoenix has a strength beyond strength. Not even our superpowered heroes, all working together, can stop her. (Though where’s Jubilee? Not that it’d make a difference.)
So the whole crew tries to knock her out, and boom, they get batted back. Rogue tries to use her power-sucking abilities and it gets her nowhere. A Shi’ar ship scans her in deep space and gets wrecked for her trouble. She gives silly taunts about how their attacks are all like mere annoyances to her. I don’t mind this stuff that much. It’s largely fine filler. And you need to do something to establish how strong Phoenix is. (Though surely we’ve already done that a bit in the prior Phoenix saga.) This thing just takes forever, with repetitious fights that go nowhere because Phoenix is too powerful for them.
That said, there’s a few things I really like here. One is the continuing idea that the Phoenix refuses to leave Jena Grey’s body because it still wants to experience the glory of human sensations. That’s still a cool idea, even if the show hasn’t really developed it beyond a “Being evil is fun” mantra from Phoenix.
But I also like the tug of war between Phoenix and the people whom Jean loves. Wolverine is able to get through to Jena beneath Phoenix’s control for once and in the moment she asks to be killed lest this mysterious force do more damage through her body. But for all his toughness, all his determination, Logan can’t bring himself to kill someone he loves, even for the greater good. The same is true for Cyclops, whose “psychic rapport” allows him to bring Jean to the fore for a moment as well, but he too is incapable of eliminating someone he loves, even when it’s what she wants.
I’lll admit, I cringed a little bit when Beast invented a magic headband that would supposedly let them simply scramble Jean’s brains to flush the Phoenix out. It seemed way too easy as olution. But then she melted it off whilst being little worse for wear, so clearly some folks felt the same way!
The business with Xavier is a little better. I like the notion that Phoenix’s weakness comes from Jean’s mind. Having the two of them go toe-toe in a mindscape creates interesting new possibilities (even if Xavier just turns into some sort of strange witch gladiator in the process.) The combination of Xavier using his power to trap Phoenixs, and Jean herself rising from within the mindscape to help stop the person who’s commandeered her brain, makes for a satisfying and characte-rfoused answer to how our heroes could stop this seemingly unstoppable foe.
The tease at the end, with the Shi’ar and Lilandra returning to Earth to take out the Phoenix and Jena, lest the two combined cause any more harm, is a solid one.. It feels like the real stor y ended here, but I’ll still be interested to see how things go.
Shout by EricVIP 5BlockedParent2023-02-25T03:08:31Z
I loved the reference in this episode (Dr. Strange, Thor, The Watcher, Eternity). It shows the rich lore of the Marvel Universe and how events touch even these great beings. I also love that Beast keeps a picture of his girlfriend on his computer and the he is left handed. Just those little details show how much the show's creators care about the characters they are creating.