Wolverine and the X-Men 1x23
Dec. 21st, 2020 09:09 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 1x23: Shades of Grey
I would have to give this episode a rousing success at being what it sets out to be, it is however working at a low level difficulty. This is what the show has largely succeeded at along; action, and the arc when it chooses to foreground it. I also have to laugh at myself a bit because midway through the episode I went '...well maybe I will have to trust Emma the rest of the season, maybe she was supposed to be untrustworthy eventually, but maybe they didn't get around to pulling that cord, but since we're in the endgame I guess I can trust her from here' and then all my suspicions about her proved true; I don't know if I should count it as a success that I never fully got over my suspicion of her, or call myself a dummy for falling for it right at the end. This also probably explains why in my limited memory of the series I recalled Arch-Angel connected to Sinister's lab; score about a tenth of a point for my memory not being completely faulty.
But, and there's always a but (or ten) with this show, I remain utterly perplexed by the pace of this show. How long had Jean been in the hospital? How long would she have not known she was a mutant and/or revealed her powers? Because her powers are pretty extreme, even without the Phoenix; and I sort of think given what we've seen before and again it this episode they probably would test for her being a mutant (we know they can; the Sentinels, even the first generation, can do it at a distance somehow), and I can see reasons it would be standard practice. Even if doctors in this world are required to treat mutants the same as anyone and not go looking for people to call the MRD on (and I wouldn't necessarily bet on that), some mutations are going to cause blood and organ anomalies that doctors would want to know before trying treatments. Not unlike last ep, in some ways this feels like a consequence of sticking different stories into a compressed timeline; bringing up the Sentinels ability to detect mutants and then expecting us to buy that hospitals wouldn't find them is a bit of an ask; if these plotlines were more separated the contradiction would stand out less.
And on the subject of the MRD...they just seem dumb after this episode. What is the goal here? If they're out to register mutants (already a bit iffy) they don't have to send the strike force in as a first step. If any unregistered mutant gets the full attack team sent after them, what do they do after? Are they arresting mutants for simply being mutants, because at that point they are definitely getting into a Holocaust parallels. I've been reading them as more iffy than evil, forcibly registering mutants is not the same as arresting them on sight; definitely overreaching on what constitutes a mutant threat but mostly dealing with ones who at least present a danger. But when this starts they could have sent someone in to talk to Jean, present the legal reasons she has to register, explain what that means and the consequences of not; are they chipping them with some kind of tracker? Again iffy but not the same as sending a strike force after a mutant who didn't even know to be afraid of them. If this is the standard MRD practice for any mutant that appears in the wild...I just don't believe there wouldn't be push back, same as with the teenager hauled out in front of news cameras a few episodes ago. And besides, aren't they supposed to be backing off a little bit after Kelly saw the future? This feels like an escalation of human-on-mutant violence, except this season hasn't done a great job showing what baseline is. Plot-wise sure, it needed to escalate quickly within this episode to push Jean early and get things going, but the world-building is still shoddy.
Probably my biggest plot gripe with the episode is the terrible car crash physics. That car would be more damaged after rolling over a few times; where were the air-bags; and while Emma can diamond-up and Jean can probably instinctively telekineticly help out, I don't think these people show enough reaction to the crash either. Also, Emma just should have done the diamond thing through more of the chase; unless she was using her telepathy to keep track of Warren, but she didn't seem to be doing that. I'm also shocked if she wasn't going to diamond form that she didn't try to do more to get in Warren's head, but I'm willing to let that slide as it could be that there was enough else going on she wouldn't have time/focus.
This is clearly the prologue to the finale so we're not going to ignore this for half a season and actually follow through on something; as such I am less inclined to dig into the minutia of of ways this doesn't work. It actually could work since the story is going to continue, part of why I get so annoyed with other episodes is I know it's not going to be followed through on quickly if at all.
I'd even like to compliment this episode slightly on Wolverine in the last scene. They do enough to convey that he isn't exactly happy that Jean is back, as that puts them on a course with the future and he's sworn to do whatever it takes to prevent it. That was well directed at least.
I would have to give this episode a rousing success at being what it sets out to be, it is however working at a low level difficulty. This is what the show has largely succeeded at along; action, and the arc when it chooses to foreground it. I also have to laugh at myself a bit because midway through the episode I went '...well maybe I will have to trust Emma the rest of the season, maybe she was supposed to be untrustworthy eventually, but maybe they didn't get around to pulling that cord, but since we're in the endgame I guess I can trust her from here' and then all my suspicions about her proved true; I don't know if I should count it as a success that I never fully got over my suspicion of her, or call myself a dummy for falling for it right at the end. This also probably explains why in my limited memory of the series I recalled Arch-Angel connected to Sinister's lab; score about a tenth of a point for my memory not being completely faulty.
But, and there's always a but (or ten) with this show, I remain utterly perplexed by the pace of this show. How long had Jean been in the hospital? How long would she have not known she was a mutant and/or revealed her powers? Because her powers are pretty extreme, even without the Phoenix; and I sort of think given what we've seen before and again it this episode they probably would test for her being a mutant (we know they can; the Sentinels, even the first generation, can do it at a distance somehow), and I can see reasons it would be standard practice. Even if doctors in this world are required to treat mutants the same as anyone and not go looking for people to call the MRD on (and I wouldn't necessarily bet on that), some mutations are going to cause blood and organ anomalies that doctors would want to know before trying treatments. Not unlike last ep, in some ways this feels like a consequence of sticking different stories into a compressed timeline; bringing up the Sentinels ability to detect mutants and then expecting us to buy that hospitals wouldn't find them is a bit of an ask; if these plotlines were more separated the contradiction would stand out less.
And on the subject of the MRD...they just seem dumb after this episode. What is the goal here? If they're out to register mutants (already a bit iffy) they don't have to send the strike force in as a first step. If any unregistered mutant gets the full attack team sent after them, what do they do after? Are they arresting mutants for simply being mutants, because at that point they are definitely getting into a Holocaust parallels. I've been reading them as more iffy than evil, forcibly registering mutants is not the same as arresting them on sight; definitely overreaching on what constitutes a mutant threat but mostly dealing with ones who at least present a danger. But when this starts they could have sent someone in to talk to Jean, present the legal reasons she has to register, explain what that means and the consequences of not; are they chipping them with some kind of tracker? Again iffy but not the same as sending a strike force after a mutant who didn't even know to be afraid of them. If this is the standard MRD practice for any mutant that appears in the wild...I just don't believe there wouldn't be push back, same as with the teenager hauled out in front of news cameras a few episodes ago. And besides, aren't they supposed to be backing off a little bit after Kelly saw the future? This feels like an escalation of human-on-mutant violence, except this season hasn't done a great job showing what baseline is. Plot-wise sure, it needed to escalate quickly within this episode to push Jean early and get things going, but the world-building is still shoddy.
Probably my biggest plot gripe with the episode is the terrible car crash physics. That car would be more damaged after rolling over a few times; where were the air-bags; and while Emma can diamond-up and Jean can probably instinctively telekineticly help out, I don't think these people show enough reaction to the crash either. Also, Emma just should have done the diamond thing through more of the chase; unless she was using her telepathy to keep track of Warren, but she didn't seem to be doing that. I'm also shocked if she wasn't going to diamond form that she didn't try to do more to get in Warren's head, but I'm willing to let that slide as it could be that there was enough else going on she wouldn't have time/focus.
This is clearly the prologue to the finale so we're not going to ignore this for half a season and actually follow through on something; as such I am less inclined to dig into the minutia of of ways this doesn't work. It actually could work since the story is going to continue, part of why I get so annoyed with other episodes is I know it's not going to be followed through on quickly if at all.
I'd even like to compliment this episode slightly on Wolverine in the last scene. They do enough to convey that he isn't exactly happy that Jean is back, as that puts them on a course with the future and he's sworn to do whatever it takes to prevent it. That was well directed at least.
