Wolverine and the X-Men 1x11, 1x12

[jedi_of_urth]

Wolverine and the X-Men 1x11: Past Discretions

This episode...wasn't bad. It's far better than I probably would have expected if I'd been reading descriptions and how much I've been disliking Wolverine; but it's also completely toothless and a lot of wheel-spinning.

I can't say I expect most media to go very far with Wolverine's dark and mysterious history, I don't even know much of what the comics do with it; but I do kind of expect him not to be much of a hero when we see it. I know the movies were fairly wussy about it too, couldn't really pay off the “You were always and animal, I just gave you claws,” setup with ferocity and destruction. But in the movies it felt more like...a concession to the rating rather than being handcuffed by the rating. Which may be the difference between making an R rated character into a PG-13 one vs. into a Y7 one, that's definitely fewer steps.

But what does this revel even do to Logan's character? Turns out he wasn't such a bad guy in that past he can't remember, what does he learn or choose about his future? Given its inclusion, they might have gone for him realizing something about Rogue, but he doesn't seem to be thawing on that front either.

Logan and Rogue continue to be the only people on this show whose relationship I buy. As she said in the pilot, he's family to her; and nobody hurts like family in this case. She'd being the rogue here, not really loyal to anything, not even much in the realm of ideals, going where she can gain something or feel the most satisfied; but Logan is different, for good and for bad. Without him, as she looses faith in the Brotherhood she'd just go her own way and figure something else out; but because of him, doing the 'right thing' still has weight; but because he can and did hurt her worse than the others, until that trust is restored the X-men aren't an option especially under his leadership. She definitely doesn't trust him as a leader; maybe the reason I remember Rogue's role in this more than others is I agree with her more than those that are just okay with this situation.

Because this episode does show that he's not a good choice for this role (though he may still be the best they have). On scraps of data (it was awfully easy to find that specific pair of mountains) he just takes off with no plan or goal. He didn't go because he needed to find out what happened to the girl who was haunting him, he went because he's a selfish idiot when it comes to figuring out his past. Much as Charles annoys me a lot of the time, Xavier is right that the future is a lot more important to consider than the past.

Also, there's something fishy about this, and I don't know if it's supposed to be, or what's supposed to be, or if it's just highly coincidental writing and me reading too much into things. Let's start where the answer is most likely narrative economy; what are the odds of running into the same girl out at the house? She clearly doesn't live there and hasn't since the destruction however many years ago it happened. Maybe she lives nearby and often rides out that way, but the timing is still really convenient that she shows up two minutes after Logan gets there. And mightn't she have some of her own demons about going out to the place where her father was killed? So while I'm sure we're meant to accept this at face value, or at least roll with it in the name of plot, is there maybe a small chance she did get captured at some point and she's part of the game to find out what Wolverine remembers (assuming she's even that same girl)?

The other side of my issues is Emma (I never said these sides fit together well). I don't trust her, and when you don't trust a telepath they're terrifying (again, B5). How do we know these memories are even real, much less unaltered? There was a moment at the end where I wondered if she had somehow 'cleaned up,' his memory so he'd continue to see himself as a good person; yeah Sabertooth confirms that version of memory, but I'm too suspicious of Emma for that to reverse my stance. The gentler but still wary version could say those memories are correct, but Emma's motivations for awakening them is suspicious; she clearly wants to be in people's good grace, and it's in a way that reminds me of needing to stand behind someone before you can stab them in the back,

And as a small note, are the X-men even pretending to be a school anymore? I never see anyone but the attack team around and clearly no one is keeping the library properly sorted.

Let's see, I talked more about Rogue and Emma than I did Wolverine; yeah that sounds right.



Wolverine and the X-Men 1x12: Excessive Force

I think I liked this episode, at least I liked more than I didn't, but it does bring back two of my regular topics; that Wolverine is the worst part of this show, and as a general rule I'm pro Sokovia Accords.

Let's start with the latter point, even though I've always kind of intended to review the MCU movies and this would be more obviously discussed in Civil War. The thing about the movie is it leaves it kind of ambiguous what the Accords are focused on. If you go by just the movie it seems like it's setting up an oversight committee for the Avengers themselves and I'm 100% behind that. Steve makes some claims that would complicate whether I think the precise terms are the best idea but that's a matter of fine tuning (and why I'm not on fuck you Steve Rogers' side is because he's not trying to fine tune a good idea which I would be on board with). Throw in some of the other sources of canon, and especially if we base our opinions on the comic's version of Registration I'll at least admit they need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what this deal is meant to address.

While in the MCU or X-men I'm not exactly pro-registration, as that's a dangerous road to walk; but if people are going to have super powered fights in the middle of the road I think there does need to be a way to hold them accountable for what happens. Not having accountability is just as dangerous as overstepping too far into over-policing. And the X-men, arguably even more than the Avengers, exist in a really murky grey area. If villains and criminals cause destruction, then you can add it to their wrap sheet, same as you would with human criminals; if recognized police cause destruction in the act of pursuing a criminal then (at least in theory, don't lecture me) they can likewise be fired and/or brought up on charges if they were judged to be reckless or excessive. But the X-men are not recognized agents, they're private citizens who can do exceptional amounts of damage in their efforts to play hero. The world would likely be worse if they weren't taking action against worse mutants who care that much less about about collateral damage, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be an accounting for the way they go about doing so.

Let's have a hypothetical. A private citizen, trying to be a good and helpful member of the community, runs after a purse-snatcher/pick-pocket; and in so doing runs into a ladder that someone is standing on; the person on the ladder falls and suffers serious injury. Do you have an easy answer to how our private citizen should be treated when things resolve? It was an accident, there was no intent to cause harm, only to help someone; on the other had the person on the ladder would not have been hurt were it not for private citizen not watching where they were going as they were running.

Does the math change if private citizen didn't so much see the original purse snatch/pocket pick, but heard a rumor to guard your stuff if you saw that guy in a crowd; and random citizen took it upon themselves to chase the thief off? And maybe the thief hadn't done anything that day, or the rumor was just wrong, or it was a case of mistaken identity, and the ladder climber still got injured in the chase? Private citizen still meant well but doesn't it seem likely sympathy would, maybe should, drift away from them? Especially if during the chase, private citizen was also shouting something about really chasing the thief because of something unrelated that happened to their significant other?

Because, Scott, I like you, I think you are poorly treated in most X-men media I've seen (yet I still like you), I would have rather watched this show follow your struggles to deal with your feelings and what needs to be done; but you were in the wrong most of this episode. And you're wrong in that way that reminds me that none of you have actual authority for what you do.

It's another place where them dropping us into the story without an introduction hurts things. If we knew this guy, had encountered any of the people in this genetics group before and knew they were bad dudes, I might at least have more sympathy for Scott's logic. It gets in his head that maybe that's where Jean is and he can't just let that thought go (I'll pass on pointing out that Emma could be pushing him slightly, she could still be trying to sow division on the team and/or pushing Scott to the dark side), it would still be the wrong idea and his actions selfish and misguided, and he should still be held accountable for the destruction, but as a story I would be more willing to see it through Scott's eyes.

This episode takes time to raise the specter of, why the fuck is Logan in charge when Scott is right there? The bad guy mentions Scott being Xavier's golden boy and protege, then why don't we see them interacting? I'll grant that part of it is what we see here, Scott was bound to be distracted by thoughts of Jean while Logan is unattached so X-men will default to his focus (when he's not running off to do his own thing); and I stand by my suggestion from a bit ago that Charles wanted someone who would get the job done whatever the cost, in order to save the future and that's not Scott for abstract things like that.

But it also feeds into my not so kind reading of Xavier in this. He trained a bunch of child soldiers, but he didn't exactly train any of them to lead; he was the unquestioned leader and they were disciples of what he taught (even if his personal morals were kind of twisted, he taught them well enough). As Magneto has called them, they are Charles' children. But Wolverine isn't; he may not be a good leader, but he wasn't trained to follow the same way the others were.

That said, Wolverine is a bad leader. We don't know what crap any of the characters are dealing with unless Wolverine is forced to pay attention to it, and I suspect a few of them have their own problems going on. I think it's no coincidence that the whole team gathered around Scott at the end and promised they wanted to work with him the next time there was a chance to find Jean, but Logan just demands obedience as if they're soldiers rather than family. Maybe that's the only way he knows how to lead, maybe it's because he never quite got the family part of Charles carefully balanced soldier/family treatment; that might even make sense since his relationship to the group is different from those who spent their lives in it, but it doesn't make him good at it.

Because even though I don't trust Emma in general, I do think she has Scott's number more that Wolverine. I'm not sure as viewers we even know enough to believe in the boy scout version of Scott that Logan talks about, but what we have had inclines me to think Scott will do whatever it takes for the things he loves; he came back to the team to go and save Charles, he'll follow any lead it takes to find Jean; and having not had an outlet for his feelings for so long he was kind of spoiling for a fight. Though what he's really fighting is despair. And he is clearly depressed; and because Wolverine is an asshole he pushes things further by saying 'get better or I'll kick you out.'

I really hope I'm not supposed to be on Logan's side on this show; that would make me think even less of the writers.