Wolverine and the X-Men 1x17
Nov. 13th, 2020 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsWolverine and the X-Men 1x17: Code of Conduct
This is another episode where I have a hard time placing my feelings. It's a pretty good episode of a different show. If this was a Wolverine solo series that had him playing out iconic events from the comics and exploring his backstory and sometimes running into the X-men, this would be a good episode of that show; but it's not a particularly good episode of this show.
I'm kind of developing a theory that this speaks to the time this was made being an awkward time in animation/programs for younger viewers. This series does feel like a few different ideas smashed together and that process not going smoothly. One of those ideas was a character piece about Logan, hence why we keep getting episodes that are basically solo outings for him that don't bother with the rest of the team. Another idea was to be a telling of X-Men stories with Wolverine as the de facto main character and a rotating cast around him. Another was to have separate story strands for different characters that would circle around a primary storyline. The problem is that all of those are weaker by being jammed together than they would have been as separate series or divided arcs.
Even in the Wolverine focused show, this episode does a couple things that annoy me. I don't like the way Logan's enhanced senses are portrayed with him able to completely reconstruct scenes; him able to identify who had been there and/or track them, I'm okay with that, but how can he smell that Storm broke the window and not one of the ninjas? He should know that his old rival was part of the attack, and be able to use that knowledge to his advantage, but maybe not smell Scott's eye blasts. The other things...and this could have been done differently if it was the Logan focused show I'm suggesting as opposed to this series, I still hate the way they're using Charles' guidance. I wish there were basically two Xaviers. The one in the future who makes contact when he can with intelligence about how to change the future; and the one in the present who they can sometimes sort of talk to if the stars line up properly. The two different versions would have had different people that it was easier to communicate with, and therefore we could see him interact with people other than Logan. And this episode specifically, didn't need to be future-Charles who gave Logan advice and guidance, it just needed to be someone who could get in his head and help him remember what he'd forgotten. Cause that implies that future-Charles is just sitting around waiting for Logan to call asking for help; I think that running around an apocalyptic wasteland he probably has better things to do.
I want to appreciate the fact we got some Logan and Rogue action this episode, and to an extent I do, but I have some problems with that. Part of it is that Rogue's powers in this continuity remain undefined; I kept expecting her to get past the ninjas and absorb an offensive power from one of the unconscious X-men; but apparently she can absorb skills from regular humans too, complete with the ability to physically do it. While I do believe that this Rogue has more of her own fighting skills than we got with movie-Rogue (enough that I would buy she can keep up with Logan just about well enough and would have accepted her managing to be an ace in the hole as discussed earlier), I'd like a better primer on what she can do with her abilities. Another part of the problem is there's no focus on her and Logan's relationship through this adventure. Not their resent problems where there's either still tension or an appreciation for the lack of tension between them now; not of their long standing connection that would make her being captured any different from any of the others. It gets a little bit of a sibling vibe going with her snooping on his love life, but that's as close as it gets to being something that about their relationship with anything maybe (not even surely) less generic about them.
Of course that brings in the lack of consistency with Logan's backstory. How long ago was he in Japan? How long after he lost his memories did it happen? How much time was between that and him joining the X-men? This is something I do like about the movie version; it places it firmly in the post X3 continuity with some flashbacks to before Logan lost his memories. It doesn't try and shoehorn in a phase where he was perfectly civilized and trained as a samurai and then devolved into the loner trash he was at the beginning of the movie series.
One last niggle; saying they can't use powers during a duel is...dicey. I assume they mean not using the charging power or the claws, but what about Logan's healing factor? What about his enhanced senses that we see so much of in this episode? He's generally shown to be stronger than the average man (probably because of the healing factor making it so strain damage to his muscles isn't really a problem) and Silver Samurai seems like he might be too. You can't death by a thousand cuts Logan because they'll heal quickly enough that it won't stop him, and he can't exactly control that. (I also have a slight question if the sword being able to cut through anything includes adimantium, but the show doesn't answer that.)
I do kind of recall another problem that's an issue in The Wolverine too, but I don't know what to make of Mariko, especially her relationship to Logan. Honestly I think it's a mistake for this show to include it, since you know there's going to be no follow-through. This show can't handle developing a relationship between main cast members, it's not going to recall a guest star as a factor in his development.
This is another episode where I have a hard time placing my feelings. It's a pretty good episode of a different show. If this was a Wolverine solo series that had him playing out iconic events from the comics and exploring his backstory and sometimes running into the X-men, this would be a good episode of that show; but it's not a particularly good episode of this show.
I'm kind of developing a theory that this speaks to the time this was made being an awkward time in animation/programs for younger viewers. This series does feel like a few different ideas smashed together and that process not going smoothly. One of those ideas was a character piece about Logan, hence why we keep getting episodes that are basically solo outings for him that don't bother with the rest of the team. Another idea was to be a telling of X-Men stories with Wolverine as the de facto main character and a rotating cast around him. Another was to have separate story strands for different characters that would circle around a primary storyline. The problem is that all of those are weaker by being jammed together than they would have been as separate series or divided arcs.
Even in the Wolverine focused show, this episode does a couple things that annoy me. I don't like the way Logan's enhanced senses are portrayed with him able to completely reconstruct scenes; him able to identify who had been there and/or track them, I'm okay with that, but how can he smell that Storm broke the window and not one of the ninjas? He should know that his old rival was part of the attack, and be able to use that knowledge to his advantage, but maybe not smell Scott's eye blasts. The other things...and this could have been done differently if it was the Logan focused show I'm suggesting as opposed to this series, I still hate the way they're using Charles' guidance. I wish there were basically two Xaviers. The one in the future who makes contact when he can with intelligence about how to change the future; and the one in the present who they can sometimes sort of talk to if the stars line up properly. The two different versions would have had different people that it was easier to communicate with, and therefore we could see him interact with people other than Logan. And this episode specifically, didn't need to be future-Charles who gave Logan advice and guidance, it just needed to be someone who could get in his head and help him remember what he'd forgotten. Cause that implies that future-Charles is just sitting around waiting for Logan to call asking for help; I think that running around an apocalyptic wasteland he probably has better things to do.
I want to appreciate the fact we got some Logan and Rogue action this episode, and to an extent I do, but I have some problems with that. Part of it is that Rogue's powers in this continuity remain undefined; I kept expecting her to get past the ninjas and absorb an offensive power from one of the unconscious X-men; but apparently she can absorb skills from regular humans too, complete with the ability to physically do it. While I do believe that this Rogue has more of her own fighting skills than we got with movie-Rogue (enough that I would buy she can keep up with Logan just about well enough and would have accepted her managing to be an ace in the hole as discussed earlier), I'd like a better primer on what she can do with her abilities. Another part of the problem is there's no focus on her and Logan's relationship through this adventure. Not their resent problems where there's either still tension or an appreciation for the lack of tension between them now; not of their long standing connection that would make her being captured any different from any of the others. It gets a little bit of a sibling vibe going with her snooping on his love life, but that's as close as it gets to being something that about their relationship with anything maybe (not even surely) less generic about them.
Of course that brings in the lack of consistency with Logan's backstory. How long ago was he in Japan? How long after he lost his memories did it happen? How much time was between that and him joining the X-men? This is something I do like about the movie version; it places it firmly in the post X3 continuity with some flashbacks to before Logan lost his memories. It doesn't try and shoehorn in a phase where he was perfectly civilized and trained as a samurai and then devolved into the loner trash he was at the beginning of the movie series.
One last niggle; saying they can't use powers during a duel is...dicey. I assume they mean not using the charging power or the claws, but what about Logan's healing factor? What about his enhanced senses that we see so much of in this episode? He's generally shown to be stronger than the average man (probably because of the healing factor making it so strain damage to his muscles isn't really a problem) and Silver Samurai seems like he might be too. You can't death by a thousand cuts Logan because they'll heal quickly enough that it won't stop him, and he can't exactly control that. (I also have a slight question if the sword being able to cut through anything includes adimantium, but the show doesn't answer that.)
I do kind of recall another problem that's an issue in The Wolverine too, but I don't know what to make of Mariko, especially her relationship to Logan. Honestly I think it's a mistake for this show to include it, since you know there's going to be no follow-through. This show can't handle developing a relationship between main cast members, it's not going to recall a guest star as a factor in his development.
