Wolverine and the X-Men 1x21
Dec. 14th, 2020 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tori_reviewsWolverine and the X-Men 1x21: Rover
So here we have another episode that I like quite a bit as it's own thing, but it's got one huge flaw in it that way; and on a larger scale makes me think of a lot of ways this season/show could have been done so much better. And the two are sort of connected by the show's awkward handling of cross-time communication.
Let's start with the giant looming problem with this episode's plot: the characters have a terrible plan. It's really not even a plan as far as I can tell, it's more some loosely connected ideas that they seem almost aware they'll have plot armor to get out of trouble. (Not that it's clear if anyone besides Rover died, it teased several but I don't think this show would go through with it; and they were all barely defined caricatures anyway.) Did they actually discuss what they needed Rover (with Marrow) to do during the fight? Was it meant to be the kind of role where Rover would 99% certainly be destroyed, or was it to run around creating a distraction as needed and then get out? And when Marrow is so distraught over the 'plan' why don't they lay out what the plan is; so we can better judge who has the right read. Because this seemed like they were counting on being able to sacrifice Rover in order to get out of a death trap they were about to walk into face first; and in that I'm kind of on her side. If it was a better plan, they should have told us.
Yes, there is a kernel of a solid sci-fi idea in the debate over how to view Rover, but it's rushed and flaccid. Is Rover a tool? A pet? Or a person? I don't think we're given enough to conclude the last, because we don't understand what happened to bring Rover and Marrow back to the fight. Did Rover make that decision without her or even in defiance of her? Or did Marrow have a projection conversation that led her to change her mind/realize the right choice for herself (I would allow that that isn't supported by her later attitude)? If Rover was following her in the end, then I assume her betrayal is part anger at herself that she can press onto Xavier and probably Bishop. But if Rover can make independent choices, it makes them all guilty of dismissing Rover's personhood; worse by Xavier and Bishop, but also Marrow who didn't allow him to make his own choices. Though if we view him as a person, then we get into whether we should see Rover as an adult or a child; where I think the breakdown of guilt is similar. But also, if Rover can be made a person; then going around chopping up Sentinels takes on the Stormtrooper paradox; or at least the Matrix bystander conflict.
Partly because they spend no time actually planning this raid is why I got to thinking about how this season could have been done different; especially if Charles had lost the ability to communicate with the 'present' team early on. He'd given them some advice, and they knew there was a danger coming but not regular updates on the state of things. It would create a natural conflict for the people Charles hooks up with in the future, he's running on faith that he can find an answer and get it back to the X-men and change the future; while the people of this time hear a lot of ifs in his goals (if they can find and answer; if he can reestablish communication with the past, if it's something the X-men could stop). Some of them want to believe it, because it's worth fighting to create a better world and are willing to follow Xavier and sacrifice to try and make it happen; while others are more likely to say the future (especially since it's their present) can't be changed, if Xavier could have done it they wouldn't have had to live their whole lives in this hell world. And someone like Marrow who has faith in Bishop because up until now he hasn't seemed like a starry-eyed idiot and has maybe saved her life a few times but she's not willing to throw away her life or her pet/partner on a suicide run that she doesn't understand how others can believe will be worth it.
Basically I want to completely rework events in the future plot so this is sort of a mini-climax of their story; events have partially been building to this as camps emerged among the future factions and this was partly Xavier's chance to prove that maybe he could pull this off, and recruit a few of the unconvinced over to his side; and maybe in the attack they're also able to pick up so tech to help build his portable Cerebro which puts him on even stronger footing. But he also got the robot destroyed/killed, which loses Marrow entirely and some argue he's willing to sacrifice people in their time because he thinks they don't matter. And if they're going to make Xavier so creepy, maybe he has to admit (though maybe just to Bishop, his loyal follower) that they're a little bit right; for him the real world is back in the past and sometimes this is a world of chess pieces (I literally realized how fitting that metaphor was in the middle of that sentence) to fix the past. You know, give Charles a character arc and something to learn about himself, maybe even overcome by not being willing to sacrifice someone later on. Yes this would probably require at least twice the amount of screen time the future storyline has had, but drop some of those Wolverine stories that did nothing for the larger plot and give the time to the future arc.
Though, even in my reworked arc, I'm not sure Marrow's choice at the end makes sense (maybe in my version it would be more an alternate faction who is very opposed to Xavier's actions; maybe even revealed to be lead by a character we know from the 'past' who now believes Charles is bound to betray everyone – maybe Cyclops). Sure, sell out a group of people to the genocidal robots who have no reason to keep you alive once you've given them information; and certainly no reason to let you remain free.
Also, this episode complicated the timeline again. Bishop was born after the apocalypse? I thought that was like 20 years ago (still not sure how Xavier survived that long), and Bishop seems older than that. Most of the others I could buy as teens, but he's not presented that way. Also, I think this episode pretty solidly presents the world as not having a large number of survivors of the apocalypse and we've only seen mutants. So I'm guessing Sentinels survived the fire, along with some mutants who could protect themselves as the world burned around them. And so the Sentinels, with their programming still set to kill all mutants rather than protecting humans go on hunting down mutants even though they're the only survivors.
Back to the reflections on what might have been, this way would allow Xavier to have actual information before he contacted people in the past (maybe all he said at first were some encouraging words to all of them, a warning about the future, and how much they needed to stop a few events he found out happened even before the big apocalypse hit); I'm not sure how to make the timelines work together, but it might explain why he goes for Wolverine as the necessary leader, he can see in the records that the X-men need a leader, Wolverine is one in the future, and everyone else kind of crumbled in one way or the other. Or he already knows what this episode seems to finally take up for the story, that it's going to require a necessary evil and the only one he can trust to do that is Logan.
On that; I think they're too quick to latch on to the war as the cause of Jean's apocalyptic flip out. They don't know where she is at the moment; maybe she was displaced in time and as soon as she reappears she'll be put in a situation that unleashes all that power. Maybe Magneto is after her again and the team isn't there to help protect her. Maybe she sees someone she loves die and she goes nuts. Maybe she has amnesia (which the audience knows about) and she can no longer control her power since it's at full force and she hasn't had the practice. Maybe this goes back to 'Heroes' and for some reason Rogue absorbs the Phoenix power thinking it's to calm Jean down but she can't control it and it overwhelms her. Maybe (as far as they know) Jean is dead and that power had to go somewhere it will be Emma or someone else who actually destroys the world. There is a logic to assuming the war plays a part it, but that might require them to actually be at war and/or actually know that Jean is currently alive for me to not immediately point out the correlation is not causation and could be coincidence or only marginally connected. Or it could be Scott flirting with Emma that pushes Jean over the edge.
So here we have another episode that I like quite a bit as it's own thing, but it's got one huge flaw in it that way; and on a larger scale makes me think of a lot of ways this season/show could have been done so much better. And the two are sort of connected by the show's awkward handling of cross-time communication.
Let's start with the giant looming problem with this episode's plot: the characters have a terrible plan. It's really not even a plan as far as I can tell, it's more some loosely connected ideas that they seem almost aware they'll have plot armor to get out of trouble. (Not that it's clear if anyone besides Rover died, it teased several but I don't think this show would go through with it; and they were all barely defined caricatures anyway.) Did they actually discuss what they needed Rover (with Marrow) to do during the fight? Was it meant to be the kind of role where Rover would 99% certainly be destroyed, or was it to run around creating a distraction as needed and then get out? And when Marrow is so distraught over the 'plan' why don't they lay out what the plan is; so we can better judge who has the right read. Because this seemed like they were counting on being able to sacrifice Rover in order to get out of a death trap they were about to walk into face first; and in that I'm kind of on her side. If it was a better plan, they should have told us.
Yes, there is a kernel of a solid sci-fi idea in the debate over how to view Rover, but it's rushed and flaccid. Is Rover a tool? A pet? Or a person? I don't think we're given enough to conclude the last, because we don't understand what happened to bring Rover and Marrow back to the fight. Did Rover make that decision without her or even in defiance of her? Or did Marrow have a projection conversation that led her to change her mind/realize the right choice for herself (I would allow that that isn't supported by her later attitude)? If Rover was following her in the end, then I assume her betrayal is part anger at herself that she can press onto Xavier and probably Bishop. But if Rover can make independent choices, it makes them all guilty of dismissing Rover's personhood; worse by Xavier and Bishop, but also Marrow who didn't allow him to make his own choices. Though if we view him as a person, then we get into whether we should see Rover as an adult or a child; where I think the breakdown of guilt is similar. But also, if Rover can be made a person; then going around chopping up Sentinels takes on the Stormtrooper paradox; or at least the Matrix bystander conflict.
Partly because they spend no time actually planning this raid is why I got to thinking about how this season could have been done different; especially if Charles had lost the ability to communicate with the 'present' team early on. He'd given them some advice, and they knew there was a danger coming but not regular updates on the state of things. It would create a natural conflict for the people Charles hooks up with in the future, he's running on faith that he can find an answer and get it back to the X-men and change the future; while the people of this time hear a lot of ifs in his goals (if they can find and answer; if he can reestablish communication with the past, if it's something the X-men could stop). Some of them want to believe it, because it's worth fighting to create a better world and are willing to follow Xavier and sacrifice to try and make it happen; while others are more likely to say the future (especially since it's their present) can't be changed, if Xavier could have done it they wouldn't have had to live their whole lives in this hell world. And someone like Marrow who has faith in Bishop because up until now he hasn't seemed like a starry-eyed idiot and has maybe saved her life a few times but she's not willing to throw away her life or her pet/partner on a suicide run that she doesn't understand how others can believe will be worth it.
Basically I want to completely rework events in the future plot so this is sort of a mini-climax of their story; events have partially been building to this as camps emerged among the future factions and this was partly Xavier's chance to prove that maybe he could pull this off, and recruit a few of the unconvinced over to his side; and maybe in the attack they're also able to pick up so tech to help build his portable Cerebro which puts him on even stronger footing. But he also got the robot destroyed/killed, which loses Marrow entirely and some argue he's willing to sacrifice people in their time because he thinks they don't matter. And if they're going to make Xavier so creepy, maybe he has to admit (though maybe just to Bishop, his loyal follower) that they're a little bit right; for him the real world is back in the past and sometimes this is a world of chess pieces (I literally realized how fitting that metaphor was in the middle of that sentence) to fix the past. You know, give Charles a character arc and something to learn about himself, maybe even overcome by not being willing to sacrifice someone later on. Yes this would probably require at least twice the amount of screen time the future storyline has had, but drop some of those Wolverine stories that did nothing for the larger plot and give the time to the future arc.
Though, even in my reworked arc, I'm not sure Marrow's choice at the end makes sense (maybe in my version it would be more an alternate faction who is very opposed to Xavier's actions; maybe even revealed to be lead by a character we know from the 'past' who now believes Charles is bound to betray everyone – maybe Cyclops). Sure, sell out a group of people to the genocidal robots who have no reason to keep you alive once you've given them information; and certainly no reason to let you remain free.
Also, this episode complicated the timeline again. Bishop was born after the apocalypse? I thought that was like 20 years ago (still not sure how Xavier survived that long), and Bishop seems older than that. Most of the others I could buy as teens, but he's not presented that way. Also, I think this episode pretty solidly presents the world as not having a large number of survivors of the apocalypse and we've only seen mutants. So I'm guessing Sentinels survived the fire, along with some mutants who could protect themselves as the world burned around them. And so the Sentinels, with their programming still set to kill all mutants rather than protecting humans go on hunting down mutants even though they're the only survivors.
Back to the reflections on what might have been, this way would allow Xavier to have actual information before he contacted people in the past (maybe all he said at first were some encouraging words to all of them, a warning about the future, and how much they needed to stop a few events he found out happened even before the big apocalypse hit); I'm not sure how to make the timelines work together, but it might explain why he goes for Wolverine as the necessary leader, he can see in the records that the X-men need a leader, Wolverine is one in the future, and everyone else kind of crumbled in one way or the other. Or he already knows what this episode seems to finally take up for the story, that it's going to require a necessary evil and the only one he can trust to do that is Logan.
On that; I think they're too quick to latch on to the war as the cause of Jean's apocalyptic flip out. They don't know where she is at the moment; maybe she was displaced in time and as soon as she reappears she'll be put in a situation that unleashes all that power. Maybe Magneto is after her again and the team isn't there to help protect her. Maybe she sees someone she loves die and she goes nuts. Maybe she has amnesia (which the audience knows about) and she can no longer control her power since it's at full force and she hasn't had the practice. Maybe this goes back to 'Heroes' and for some reason Rogue absorbs the Phoenix power thinking it's to calm Jean down but she can't control it and it overwhelms her. Maybe (as far as they know) Jean is dead and that power had to go somewhere it will be Emma or someone else who actually destroys the world. There is a logic to assuming the war plays a part it, but that might require them to actually be at war and/or actually know that Jean is currently alive for me to not immediately point out the correlation is not causation and could be coincidence or only marginally connected. Or it could be Scott flirting with Emma that pushes Jean over the edge.
