Well, it’s the long-awaited sequel. No, no, no, and I don’t just mean to last week’s episode. This is the day they’ve come for you. So I’m telling you right now, you don’t want to miss anything. Rogue’s on fire, a new villain is revealed, and all the things go off. What else could you possibly expect from X-Men ‘97?
I can’t even, man. I’ll tell you what, this one was heavy.
The Funeral, and Then Rogue
In the aftermath of everything that happened in Genosha, there’s a funeral. They have the funeral for Gambit, of course, and it’s sad. But the worst of it isn’t what’s happening there at the mansion. Hell hath no fury like Rogue scorned.
You saw the clip last week. She rips through everything, heading straight to the heart of a military prison facility, and she flat out says she wants Henry Gyrich. She wants to know exactly where he’s at. They can’t give her answers, so she starts wrecking the place. It’s unreal. Until finally they’re like, whatever you want to know, we’ll let you know, we’ll give you the information. Because she’s not playing games in any way, shape or form.
So I really love this episode. It solidifies the fact that Nightcrawler is definitely back. He’s part of the team as far as I’m concerned. And what you get is Rogue on a mission. She wants to find out who’s responsible, because she needs to hold someone responsible.
Genosha, and Emma Frost Under Pressure
Meanwhile, the X-Men do their very best. They head to Genosha to try to help. Scott tries to talk to the president, and the president’s having to play politics around everything. So when they arrive, it’s about at least showing people that the X-Men are still here, here to stay and help. And it’s horrific. The whole site, the whole scene, is horrific.
That’s when you get an amazing moment, and it’s the moment a lot of people were waiting for.
In the comic books, this major event in Genosha is called “E Is for Extinction.” And in it, the lone survivor of Genosha turns out to be none other than Emma Frost. It’s when she discovers she has the ability to coat her body in diamond, and so she survives. That’s a thing. Even Beast says it: “Diamond transmutation has never been one of Emma’s abilities. Perhaps a dormant mutation triggered by duress.”
“I’ve always done well under pressure.”
It’s wonderful. To see her, to see that part, I was like, okay, right on.
Get Out of This Woman’s Way
Follow back with Rogue, because this is where you get that moment. Oh, it’s the moment you’ve all seen, where Captain America’s shield lands at her feet and she’s face to face with him.
He’s also investigating. He’s tracking down Gyrich himself, because apparently he was transferred and something’s not right about everything. Rogue’s like, all right, well, let’s go. Let’s go find him, let’s go catch him. And he tells her he has to go by the book. He can’t.
And she gets mad, because to her it’s, oh, well, why? Because it’s not just some human? And he’s like, come on, be fair, my hands are tied. She says, oh yeah? Well, if your hands are tied, I guess you won’t need this. And she chucks his shield into the mountains.
Bro, get out of this woman’s way. Get out of this woman’s way, because you’re going to get hurt. She’s fierce.
She winds up tracking Gyrich down, and there’s some back and forth, because you find out that dude’s working with Sinister. That’s a red herring, if you will. The truth is there’s something far worse, and we’ll get to that in a second.
The Team Shows Up for Her
So finally Rogue wakes up. Nightcrawler has found her. And she’s real sad, she’s upset, and she has a good, solid cry, probably for the first time ever. It’s something else. Then she turns around and there are the X-Men. They’re there for her.
I really, really liked and appreciated that moment, because everybody’s ready to help out in any way, shape or form they can.
Trask, Sentinelized
What they do is they end up tracking down Trask. And when they get to him, he’s terrified, and not necessarily of them. He keeps telling them, I didn’t mean for this to happen, now I’m going to go down in history as the biggest genocidal blah blah blah, this and that.
And so Rogue has this moment.
“Same, sugar.”
Girl just dropped him. She’s like, uh-uh, if you’re no use to me. And literally everyone’s like, what have you done?
Dude comes back to life. It’s funny. In Star Trek, I would have said he’s been Borgified. In Doctor Who, I would have said he’s been cyber-ified. He has been Sentinelized. His body has just become this thing, it takes over, and he’s fighting them, and he’s fighting them pretty darn hard. At one point he just about blows up on top of a building, and Jean has to help and move. It’s this whole thing.
And after all of it, they’re no closer to finding out who’s responsible than they thought they were going to be.
The Button: Bastion, and Magneto Is Alive
Then you get the button. The very button of this thing is we finally see a villain. We see the man.
I have no problem saying my speculation and fan theory was wrong. Hopefully yours was right. A lot of other people have been saying what they thought it was, too.
It’s Bastion. Whether or not you know anything about the comic books, and again, they’re merging some storylines and that’s totally fine, that’s Bastion.
And not only is it Bastion, but we get the real coup de grâce. Magneto is alive. Magneto is alive, and it looks like he’s about to start being tortured by Bastion, which, if that’s not insult to injury, I don’t know what is. I’m telling you right now, if Magneto doesn’t come out of this just wrecking shop and wanting to take everybody out, I’ll be stunned. I’ll be stunned.
There you go, now you know, and if knowing is half the battle you’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.
The Verdict
X-Men ‘97 Episode 7 gets a 9 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
This is peak X-Men. So unfortunately, in the words of Captain America, my hands are tied.
Your turn. Tell me what you thought, and tell me whether you’re excited for what’s coming, because I know I am. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
