Wolverine and the X-Men 1x15
Oct. 30th, 2020 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tori_reviewsWolverine and the X-Men 1x15: Hunting Grounds
My opinion on this episode will not settle, so you get to watch me work through my thoughts as I write this. It's mostly positive, but there's usually a caveat to most of the compliments.
Since Nightcrawler having his own plot was one of the things I did remember about this series, I've been surprised by how little of it there actually is. I remember enjoying Kurt/Wanda, and I still kind of do, and there might be more coming, but so far there hasn't been as much as I would have thought, and a lot of it is not showing them in a good light. I will say that this episode codes Kurt and Wanda's ages closer than the previous episode they were in; and that's good. I'm not opposed to there being an age gap in either direction, but I found her to come off as too adult last time; both for dealing with a more naive seeming Kurt and in her following of Magneto. Here they both seem like young adults (not in the literature age bracket sense, but in the 'college age or so' sense) and I think that works with how each of them is shown. They have the conviction in their cause of young adults who want to change the world, but there's still enough naivety of the young that they can be mislead into believing things they probably should have issues with.
Part of me is just annoyed that the show felt the need to bring Wolverine into this episode at all, he has no purpose here and I am tired of him. And yet at least the story doesn't become about him, and for the end discussion (which we will get to) there did kind of need to be a third player brought into the drama. So it could be Logan as easily as anyone else for the sake of Kurt and Wanda's story; but at least they didn't get overshadowed by it becoming his story. The scenes back at the mansion are a waste of time though, unless they were setting something up; and I'm not going to assume that of this show. On the other hand, this episode could have been more interesting if this show had taken a more grey view of Logan all along. Because if seeing him as an animal was a possible reading of the character, then seeing him like this would have more impact. Being fully honest (part of the reason these reviews are rambley is because I am), at first I thought it was a robot or clone or something that just looked like Wolverine. Because it matters so little that it's Wolverine; and even cuts against the story in one particular area: Wolverine doesn't die. I'm not saying they should have just left him to die, it would have been pretty hard to find him again if they did (at least practically, as a TV show they'd find him in an hour or two) and just be a douchey move; but at the same time I kept thinking that if it was a choice between their survival and his then save themselves and find Logan later.
I dislike this Jabba the Hutt guy (they said his name a lot, it went in one ear and out the other). This is actually kind of like what I was talking about last episode; these subplots don't all seem to inhabit the same world, much less feel connected to the larger narrative. Is this guy another mutant, or is he an alien? Does this world know about aliens or would this be too weird for people to believe? What makes the X-men special in a larger universe sense? It makes far more sense for there to be human (or mutant) run fighting pits and abduction/slavery rings because it's new and exciting to Earthlings, but on a wider scale why would it be that interesting?
I can't decide if this episode is a clumsy attack of reality TV or a clumsy rip off of Hunger Games which was a better thought out attack on reality TV (hmmm, looks like THG came out in 2008, which is cutting it close on it being able to influence this while it was in production so I'll lean towards the former). Not that it's a new concept either way, since pit fighting for the entertainment of the producers has literally been around for lots of human history, and I'm sure the concept has been done in comic books, it's been done in Star Trek and most other sci-fi shows. And yet there's something about this episode drawing attention to it being broadcast and having to fit in commercials that feels like it's drawing either from THG's well or the same well THG was using, and invites comparison.
This episode is a much better introduction to Wanda's character, and I believe this show was mine. But it's also frustrating how they don't use her powers. Why does Kurt need to keep throwing himself in to get electrocuted by the head gear when Wanda could probably just undo it from a distance? It should have at least been discussed if she doesn't think she has enough control. And what are her powers in this universe? Can she rewrite reality or do basically whatever the writers need her to do or is she more like MCU Wanda who has a smaller set of abilities (note that I do get the impression WandaVision is going to up her powers to a new level, but we haven't seen that yet)? Why can't she use her powers to hold on to Logan? Why can't they basically fly while they figure out what to do? This episode hints at her being really powerful, but never lets her unleash it.
As a side note, the introduction of Magneto's younger daughter might as well have flashing lights around it as something important. There is no point in that scene except to introduce this character. I don't know if this is sitting in the back of my brain or it's just the super obvious Doyalist conclusion, but I'm betting she has something to do with the messy future Charles is in. That has some flaws in that as an idea, but it was the first place my brain went. (Also, I have been having some thoughts on Watsonian/Doyalist/Extra-textual readings of things and how that plays into modern fandom's easy antagonism; I haven't quite worked out how to discuss them yet, but it's brewing.)
But back to Wanda; I don't think this ep was very consistent with her character. If she's a true believer in what Genosha represents, then saving other mutants should be a lot more important to her than it seems to be. But if we're supposed to see her as someone with compromised morals thanks to how she was raised, then we should see her as far more actively putting her survival above others. If the fact that she let Logan fall (and really the line between lost her grip and let him fall is pretty thin) then we probably shouldn't have seen her trying so hard to hold on to him. She should have actually made a wrong choice for there to be something she felt bad about and needed to reevaluate her reasons when she realized it was wrong; or to justify how judgey Kurt is (and Logan, but he's always judgey). Here's a way to fix it with minimal change; if they had shown her perhaps having a fear of drowning, and then Wolverine fell in the water she was willing to let him drown instead of facing her fear; then when she does it shows her putting others before herself, an ability to change the way she thinks about others and overcome problems in how she sees the world; shows her initial choice as a flaw she needs to learn from/deal with, but an understandable difficulty for her to overcome. You know, like a metaphor for accepting her father's word on what was best instead of the scarier task of thinking for herself (and being inspired by Kurt's heroism to become better).
Also, on my Emma check, still not feeling it; in this case I think it's her saying how long and difficult it will be to find Wolverine; which makes sense on its own, but it takes me back to how easy it was to find Storm in 'Africa' in like five minutes.
So I think on balance I did like this episode, a lot more than I expected because yet again the DVD icon has to show off Wolverine fighting someone and I wasn't in the mood for that. But everything I like has an asterix on it and that keep me from being able to truly praise it.
My opinion on this episode will not settle, so you get to watch me work through my thoughts as I write this. It's mostly positive, but there's usually a caveat to most of the compliments.
Since Nightcrawler having his own plot was one of the things I did remember about this series, I've been surprised by how little of it there actually is. I remember enjoying Kurt/Wanda, and I still kind of do, and there might be more coming, but so far there hasn't been as much as I would have thought, and a lot of it is not showing them in a good light. I will say that this episode codes Kurt and Wanda's ages closer than the previous episode they were in; and that's good. I'm not opposed to there being an age gap in either direction, but I found her to come off as too adult last time; both for dealing with a more naive seeming Kurt and in her following of Magneto. Here they both seem like young adults (not in the literature age bracket sense, but in the 'college age or so' sense) and I think that works with how each of them is shown. They have the conviction in their cause of young adults who want to change the world, but there's still enough naivety of the young that they can be mislead into believing things they probably should have issues with.
Part of me is just annoyed that the show felt the need to bring Wolverine into this episode at all, he has no purpose here and I am tired of him. And yet at least the story doesn't become about him, and for the end discussion (which we will get to) there did kind of need to be a third player brought into the drama. So it could be Logan as easily as anyone else for the sake of Kurt and Wanda's story; but at least they didn't get overshadowed by it becoming his story. The scenes back at the mansion are a waste of time though, unless they were setting something up; and I'm not going to assume that of this show. On the other hand, this episode could have been more interesting if this show had taken a more grey view of Logan all along. Because if seeing him as an animal was a possible reading of the character, then seeing him like this would have more impact. Being fully honest (part of the reason these reviews are rambley is because I am), at first I thought it was a robot or clone or something that just looked like Wolverine. Because it matters so little that it's Wolverine; and even cuts against the story in one particular area: Wolverine doesn't die. I'm not saying they should have just left him to die, it would have been pretty hard to find him again if they did (at least practically, as a TV show they'd find him in an hour or two) and just be a douchey move; but at the same time I kept thinking that if it was a choice between their survival and his then save themselves and find Logan later.
I dislike this Jabba the Hutt guy (they said his name a lot, it went in one ear and out the other). This is actually kind of like what I was talking about last episode; these subplots don't all seem to inhabit the same world, much less feel connected to the larger narrative. Is this guy another mutant, or is he an alien? Does this world know about aliens or would this be too weird for people to believe? What makes the X-men special in a larger universe sense? It makes far more sense for there to be human (or mutant) run fighting pits and abduction/slavery rings because it's new and exciting to Earthlings, but on a wider scale why would it be that interesting?
I can't decide if this episode is a clumsy attack of reality TV or a clumsy rip off of Hunger Games which was a better thought out attack on reality TV (hmmm, looks like THG came out in 2008, which is cutting it close on it being able to influence this while it was in production so I'll lean towards the former). Not that it's a new concept either way, since pit fighting for the entertainment of the producers has literally been around for lots of human history, and I'm sure the concept has been done in comic books, it's been done in Star Trek and most other sci-fi shows. And yet there's something about this episode drawing attention to it being broadcast and having to fit in commercials that feels like it's drawing either from THG's well or the same well THG was using, and invites comparison.
This episode is a much better introduction to Wanda's character, and I believe this show was mine. But it's also frustrating how they don't use her powers. Why does Kurt need to keep throwing himself in to get electrocuted by the head gear when Wanda could probably just undo it from a distance? It should have at least been discussed if she doesn't think she has enough control. And what are her powers in this universe? Can she rewrite reality or do basically whatever the writers need her to do or is she more like MCU Wanda who has a smaller set of abilities (note that I do get the impression WandaVision is going to up her powers to a new level, but we haven't seen that yet)? Why can't she use her powers to hold on to Logan? Why can't they basically fly while they figure out what to do? This episode hints at her being really powerful, but never lets her unleash it.
As a side note, the introduction of Magneto's younger daughter might as well have flashing lights around it as something important. There is no point in that scene except to introduce this character. I don't know if this is sitting in the back of my brain or it's just the super obvious Doyalist conclusion, but I'm betting she has something to do with the messy future Charles is in. That has some flaws in that as an idea, but it was the first place my brain went. (Also, I have been having some thoughts on Watsonian/Doyalist/Extra-textual readings of things and how that plays into modern fandom's easy antagonism; I haven't quite worked out how to discuss them yet, but it's brewing.)
But back to Wanda; I don't think this ep was very consistent with her character. If she's a true believer in what Genosha represents, then saving other mutants should be a lot more important to her than it seems to be. But if we're supposed to see her as someone with compromised morals thanks to how she was raised, then we should see her as far more actively putting her survival above others. If the fact that she let Logan fall (and really the line between lost her grip and let him fall is pretty thin) then we probably shouldn't have seen her trying so hard to hold on to him. She should have actually made a wrong choice for there to be something she felt bad about and needed to reevaluate her reasons when she realized it was wrong; or to justify how judgey Kurt is (and Logan, but he's always judgey). Here's a way to fix it with minimal change; if they had shown her perhaps having a fear of drowning, and then Wolverine fell in the water she was willing to let him drown instead of facing her fear; then when she does it shows her putting others before herself, an ability to change the way she thinks about others and overcome problems in how she sees the world; shows her initial choice as a flaw she needs to learn from/deal with, but an understandable difficulty for her to overcome. You know, like a metaphor for accepting her father's word on what was best instead of the scarier task of thinking for herself (and being inspired by Kurt's heroism to become better).
Also, on my Emma check, still not feeling it; in this case I think it's her saying how long and difficult it will be to find Wolverine; which makes sense on its own, but it takes me back to how easy it was to find Storm in 'Africa' in like five minutes.
So I think on balance I did like this episode, a lot more than I expected because yet again the DVD icon has to show off Wolverine fighting someone and I wasn't in the mood for that. But everything I like has an asterix on it and that keep me from being able to truly praise it.
