Wolverine and the X-Men 1x26
Dec. 30th, 2020 11:52 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 1x26: Foresight (Part 3)
So this show managed to find a way to surprise me with the finale episode; a lot of the character stuff worked, but the action was just boring as hell. I do get the feeling like this was the story they set out to tell and maybe had intended to do so over about 13-16 episodes and had no idea how to scale it up; but then they got to adding stuff in and ended up taking out some of the important stuff that would have made this conclusion a lot better than it is.
And somehow, I feel like that's the version I saw a decade ago. Not in the sense that I think it was shorter or actually had the better balance; but somehow when I first watched it, I only really paid attention to the parts that had value, and even somehow had more of a sense of what the focus was meant to be, than I did actually watching it. I'm not saying this very well, but I do think that in the right mood this show is a lot better than it actually is.
Take one of the last things we get in this story, the interaction between Logan and Rogue; it's clearly meant to echo their interactions in the first couple episodes but we have barely seen it addressed since then. And it doesn't make sense that it's happening now, she has to have apologized for her dalliance with the Brotherhood since she came back and that's connected to her feelings about Logan. If we had consistently seen her doubting his leadership or pointing out what was wrong with his plans (as in she went along on the missions but would be the first to point out if Logan was the reason it got messed up), including perhaps expressing doubt when he went off on his own to follow Scott and Emma, saying that he tends to make the wrong call; then she'd have had something to apologize for when he came through.
That said, this really doesn't prove he's a very good leader. He only does the right thing because Charles told him just enough to tee him up for success. And Emma doesn't do the right thing for any reason connected with him, as far as I know he never told her the whole thing about the Phoenix being the end of the world.
This is probably a larger point that I could try and work through in a season wrap-up (if I do one), but I think the future stuff in this finale was a bad idea. That or the last stand in the future should have mattered to the present. If Master Mold had been working on time travel for example, and after assimilating Charles' power could have the ability to possess present-Charles, meaning it could do a lot of damage in the pre-apocalypse world, then the fight in the future matters; because if they fail to stop it, things will likely be even worse (of course in my search for grey area; maybe it seems like the only chance of stopping the end of the human race, so they'd probably save a lot of lives if they let it happen but it wouldn't be making a good future). But the easier change would be to just not have it here, to only see Charles in a few snippets, leaving in the implication that shit is going down in the future and the people in the present don't know if that leaves any hope for the future; if we didn't immediately see what Charles was trying to say, that it was trust Emma, that would leave more room for suspense in those later scenes.
I also had a passing thought at the end of this ep that future-Charles might be using present-Charles' brain as a storage space for what the X-men know about the future, meaning future-Charles is aware of changes in time. This is not supported by the text since Charles and people fully in the future have all commented on things that supposedly change because of changes in the past. But it would save my sanity if the reason Charles could remember the previous version of the future (but not exactly how things ended I suppose) it's because he's backing up files in his past self's brain.
Plus I really didn't like the cliffhanger, not because the show didn't get picked up, but because it would have meant they were going to do the exact same thing for a second season. If there's one reason the show absolutely should have been canceled, it's that. The Magneto cliffhanger had a lot more potential with them not knowing what would happen. There would also be some question about leadership I would think, as Jean is probably the best stand in for Xavier (plus as a telepath she can probably do a better job communicating with him across time, if we're going to keep that), and Scott not being so broken without her would him back in the running for leading things; I still don't understand why Storm wasn't considered (aside from not being around at the moment Xavier needed to pick a leader). Angel is still out there, along with a large number of other plot threads of the season that had plenty of meat left on the bone (or, in a better version of this season, would have been helmed by members of the Phoenix Cult).
I kind of feel like in these four episodes (five if you count Scott's flashbacks) Jean is a better developed character than almost all the cast that was around all season. And as such there was a lot of weight in having the final fight seem to be between her and the Phoenix itself. There was also a lot of reason for Scott to not let that happen. I don't know that I think Emma's turn was earned, but if I squint a bit I can kind of go with it, it's almost fine in this episode, it just didn't have enough backing to actually work. And to further prove that Wolverine doesn't matter and just mucks everything up, this conclusion could easily have been written with Emma being able to escape by using her diamond form and choosing for herself to go and make the sacrifice play. Hell, say she escapes, Wolverine recaptures her and that's when she has to give the 'trust me' argument; she had already made that choice, and he could have screwed it up by not trusting her; it barely changes things and yet somehow it feels more like a choice on both of their parts (don't ask too many questions about why or if my brain is adding a lot more in than that surface level tweak to make that argument, it's not telling me right now).
They never did mention that unleashing the Phoenix Force in the premier probably killed a bunch of kids. And definitely a lot of people died this time. But I do have a less clear view as to how the view of mutants would be shaped by events here than I have in other episodes. There probably isn't a lot of evidence that Magneto turned the Sentinels on the human population; nor was he using mutants in the attack. Even if there is some evidence, if that survived then so would the knowledge that Genosha was attacked first so this was retaliation (which might not earn him a lot of sympathy but would be accounted for). I suppose if Kelly resurfaces and says Magneto was playing both sides they have a problem. There's also really no way that people at large know the the Phoenix is connected with mutants, do people would actually just see mutants stepping up to fight it.
We got our one other mention of SHIELD here, apparently fighting with the MRD against the Sentinels; so I don't think there should be a lot of judgment in that, the X-men are also fighting against the Sentinels so they're on the same side as the MRD...
My immediate reaction is that this left me on a good enough note that if I hadn't stopped to note all the ways this season fumbled I could have been left with a decent feeling about it. This opinion may change as I further reflect on it, but that's kind of the point when it comes to my memory of how I felt on first viewing; it didn't leave enough of an impression for me to give it a lot of reconsideration, I raced through it without dwelling on the problems and it left me with a good enough feeling that I didn't give it a lot more thought. I am not going to have that feeling after this viewing, and I don't know if I'll ever watch it a third time (maybe a trimmed down version of the season, I now have these reviews to note which eps are decent/relevant), but having gone to the end, I can see some of how I did think it was better the first time.
And that is...maybe the final word on that? (from editing: I think I'll just roll it in with the 2020 end thoughts)
So this show managed to find a way to surprise me with the finale episode; a lot of the character stuff worked, but the action was just boring as hell. I do get the feeling like this was the story they set out to tell and maybe had intended to do so over about 13-16 episodes and had no idea how to scale it up; but then they got to adding stuff in and ended up taking out some of the important stuff that would have made this conclusion a lot better than it is.
And somehow, I feel like that's the version I saw a decade ago. Not in the sense that I think it was shorter or actually had the better balance; but somehow when I first watched it, I only really paid attention to the parts that had value, and even somehow had more of a sense of what the focus was meant to be, than I did actually watching it. I'm not saying this very well, but I do think that in the right mood this show is a lot better than it actually is.
Take one of the last things we get in this story, the interaction between Logan and Rogue; it's clearly meant to echo their interactions in the first couple episodes but we have barely seen it addressed since then. And it doesn't make sense that it's happening now, she has to have apologized for her dalliance with the Brotherhood since she came back and that's connected to her feelings about Logan. If we had consistently seen her doubting his leadership or pointing out what was wrong with his plans (as in she went along on the missions but would be the first to point out if Logan was the reason it got messed up), including perhaps expressing doubt when he went off on his own to follow Scott and Emma, saying that he tends to make the wrong call; then she'd have had something to apologize for when he came through.
That said, this really doesn't prove he's a very good leader. He only does the right thing because Charles told him just enough to tee him up for success. And Emma doesn't do the right thing for any reason connected with him, as far as I know he never told her the whole thing about the Phoenix being the end of the world.
This is probably a larger point that I could try and work through in a season wrap-up (if I do one), but I think the future stuff in this finale was a bad idea. That or the last stand in the future should have mattered to the present. If Master Mold had been working on time travel for example, and after assimilating Charles' power could have the ability to possess present-Charles, meaning it could do a lot of damage in the pre-apocalypse world, then the fight in the future matters; because if they fail to stop it, things will likely be even worse (of course in my search for grey area; maybe it seems like the only chance of stopping the end of the human race, so they'd probably save a lot of lives if they let it happen but it wouldn't be making a good future). But the easier change would be to just not have it here, to only see Charles in a few snippets, leaving in the implication that shit is going down in the future and the people in the present don't know if that leaves any hope for the future; if we didn't immediately see what Charles was trying to say, that it was trust Emma, that would leave more room for suspense in those later scenes.
I also had a passing thought at the end of this ep that future-Charles might be using present-Charles' brain as a storage space for what the X-men know about the future, meaning future-Charles is aware of changes in time. This is not supported by the text since Charles and people fully in the future have all commented on things that supposedly change because of changes in the past. But it would save my sanity if the reason Charles could remember the previous version of the future (but not exactly how things ended I suppose) it's because he's backing up files in his past self's brain.
Plus I really didn't like the cliffhanger, not because the show didn't get picked up, but because it would have meant they were going to do the exact same thing for a second season. If there's one reason the show absolutely should have been canceled, it's that. The Magneto cliffhanger had a lot more potential with them not knowing what would happen. There would also be some question about leadership I would think, as Jean is probably the best stand in for Xavier (plus as a telepath she can probably do a better job communicating with him across time, if we're going to keep that), and Scott not being so broken without her would him back in the running for leading things; I still don't understand why Storm wasn't considered (aside from not being around at the moment Xavier needed to pick a leader). Angel is still out there, along with a large number of other plot threads of the season that had plenty of meat left on the bone (or, in a better version of this season, would have been helmed by members of the Phoenix Cult).
I kind of feel like in these four episodes (five if you count Scott's flashbacks) Jean is a better developed character than almost all the cast that was around all season. And as such there was a lot of weight in having the final fight seem to be between her and the Phoenix itself. There was also a lot of reason for Scott to not let that happen. I don't know that I think Emma's turn was earned, but if I squint a bit I can kind of go with it, it's almost fine in this episode, it just didn't have enough backing to actually work. And to further prove that Wolverine doesn't matter and just mucks everything up, this conclusion could easily have been written with Emma being able to escape by using her diamond form and choosing for herself to go and make the sacrifice play. Hell, say she escapes, Wolverine recaptures her and that's when she has to give the 'trust me' argument; she had already made that choice, and he could have screwed it up by not trusting her; it barely changes things and yet somehow it feels more like a choice on both of their parts (don't ask too many questions about why or if my brain is adding a lot more in than that surface level tweak to make that argument, it's not telling me right now).
They never did mention that unleashing the Phoenix Force in the premier probably killed a bunch of kids. And definitely a lot of people died this time. But I do have a less clear view as to how the view of mutants would be shaped by events here than I have in other episodes. There probably isn't a lot of evidence that Magneto turned the Sentinels on the human population; nor was he using mutants in the attack. Even if there is some evidence, if that survived then so would the knowledge that Genosha was attacked first so this was retaliation (which might not earn him a lot of sympathy but would be accounted for). I suppose if Kelly resurfaces and says Magneto was playing both sides they have a problem. There's also really no way that people at large know the the Phoenix is connected with mutants, do people would actually just see mutants stepping up to fight it.
We got our one other mention of SHIELD here, apparently fighting with the MRD against the Sentinels; so I don't think there should be a lot of judgment in that, the X-men are also fighting against the Sentinels so they're on the same side as the MRD...
My immediate reaction is that this left me on a good enough note that if I hadn't stopped to note all the ways this season fumbled I could have been left with a decent feeling about it. This opinion may change as I further reflect on it, but that's kind of the point when it comes to my memory of how I felt on first viewing; it didn't leave enough of an impression for me to give it a lot of reconsideration, I raced through it without dwelling on the problems and it left me with a good enough feeling that I didn't give it a lot more thought. I am not going to have that feeling after this viewing, and I don't know if I'll ever watch it a third time (maybe a trimmed down version of the season, I now have these reviews to note which eps are decent/relevant), but having gone to the end, I can see some of how I did think it was better the first time.
And that is...maybe the final word on that? (from editing: I think I'll just roll it in with the 2020 end thoughts)
