The series kicks off with a young mutant and trust fund baby Roberto, who has been kidnapped by the Friends of Humanity (FOH) and held in an abandoned building. Bishop and Storm roll in with posh new haircuts to rescue Roberto, along with Cyclops. A quick battle ensues between them and the FOH. The X-Men are victorious, but they discover the FOH have been using Sentinel technology to develop advanced personalized weapons. Not cool.
The next morning at the X-Mansion Gambit is serving both breakfast and looks, along with Rogue, as Cyclops details them in on what happened the night before.
Morph pops in, in the form of Professor X, soon followed by a very pregnant Jean, making you realize a lot has happened since we last saw this crew. Elsewhere in the mansion, Roberto wakes up in a bed to the sounds of Mozart in some type of lab where he encounters Beast and Jubilee. Storm and Cyclops also walk in to start interrogating him and inform him on why he is there. Roberto doesn’t seem pleased. But who can blame him? Being kidnapped twice within 24 hours would make me grouchy too. At the very least they could have brought him one of Gambit’s beignets.
Because being kidnapped twice isn’t enough, throwing Roberto into a scary simulation in the Danger Room should do the trick. Finally having someone her age to play with, Jubilee takes him there and creates a simulation with Magneto. Roberto, going from unimpressed to fearful, is then tackled by Wolverine from behind as his two outside claws pin his head down, ensuring the boy is traumatized.
Val Cooper makes her debut experience as she Zoom conferences Cyclops and Jean while on her Peloton. They discuss what occurred and deduce that Bolivar Trask must be behind it and they need to find him.
There is a disagreement on how to go after him, as Cyclops wants to see action and Val is about process. Cyclops gets snarky, Val gets firm, but Cyke finishes it with: “Professor X loved to say, trust happens when actions meet words.” He abruptly ends the call in a somewhat rude fashion, something Professor X would never do. Jean and Cyclops reminisce about Professor X and discuss the possibility of leaving the X-Men once the baby is born. Their conversation is interrupted as a basketball smashes through the window. They rush outside to find the team bickering. Apparently, Roberto ran away. Cyclops tasks the team to find him and bring him back. It’s apparent through different reactions, Cyclops’ de facto leadership is still a rough spot with many and he comes off as a naggy ninny.
Wolverine, Gambit, Jubilee, Morph and Rogue arrive at a dance club, where Roberto has been tracked down by Logan’s nose. As they search for him, Gambit and Rogue have a heart to heart moment, while Morph tortures Wolverine in the form of Jean Grey. Jubilee, apparently the only one focused on actually finding him, does. Jubilee talks to an apprehensive but dancing Roberto, letting him know they are there to help him as the FOH could kidnap him once again at any time. Seeing as you wouldn’t want to call attention to yourselves in this tense situation, Jubilee decides to dance while emitting beautiful fireworks from her hands. Lo and behold the FOH strut into the club smug and confident. Say what you will about them, but at least they like to dance. Alas no battle or dance off takes place, as the X-Men successfully take Roberto once again.
Cyclops, Storm and Bishop go to where Henry Gyrich is being held as prisoner and talk to him. They try to convince him to help them locate Trask, but Gyrich is too bigoted to provide them with any help. Cyclops realizes this means more drastic measures are needed to get it out of him.
Cue in Jean Grey, who from the X-Mansion uses Cerebero to go inside of his mind and get the needed information. Little did she know what she was about to see. She finds what appears to be her baby in a carriage alone in the desert. As she grabs it, she sees tombstones in the distance where a zombie devil beastly Mastermold head pops up, making her scream and pull out from Cerebro and from Gyrich’s mind.
Now that they know Trask’s location, the team (sans Jubilee and Jean Grey) flies to the Sahara Desert. As they arrive, the blackbird gets attacked in midair by a Sentinel, making all the X-Men fall from the sky. The team works together to ensure everyone lands safely, except for Cyclops who makes a badass move by beaming down and creating a parachute effect that leaves a crater in the ground. The team joins Cyclops in his crater, they pose, and then continue on.
As night breaks they arrive at the place they were looking for. There are remnants of Sentinels and the building where they were created. From the distance and next to the behemoth Sentinel Mastermold, Trask shouts at them that he has been standing and waiting for them, like some video game boss you need to beat. Trask activates the zombie Sentinels who start to battle with the X-Men (except Storm who is not there).
After an intense fight of working together, they are able to take the first batch of Sentinels down. However they all of a sudden become surrounded by more Sentinels leaving them looking around. Storm, who apparently was just hanging out on the sand dunes, walks into the scene like some music video diva uttering dramatic weather chants. With one blow of her power, creating a mega tornado, Storm is able to wipe out all the Sentinels easily and with little effort. However, why didn’t she just pop in at the very beginning and take them all down for the get go? Anyway, Mastermold is pissed that his deformed babies are all dead, so he takes matters into his own hands, but Wolverine quickly blows his head off. Val Cooper and her team arrive to take in the captured Trask. However, he has one last word for Cyclops: “You have no idea what it’s like to be left behind in the future.” Trask, just wait until you hit the 2020s. Just you wait.
Back at the X-Mansion Roberto is over it and decides he is leaving for good. Jubilee tries to convince him to stay. In a vulnerable moment Roberto reveals he feels alone as his rich family doesn’t care about him nor do they know he is a mutant.
He partially displays his power to her, revealing he utilizes solar energy for super strength. Even with that all being said, he still decides to leave. Let’s be real. Roberto’s probably on his way to Miami to attend Ultra. He seems like the type.
Later on the team plays another game of basketball and for the most part the bickering has stopped. After a poignant speech by Cyclops, they are all alarmed when someone breaches the security perimeter of the X-Mansion. The entire team pops into Professor X’s office (even Jean with her belly in tow) ready to confront the intruder. All are surprised to see that it’s none other than Magneto. He has come to inform them that he owns them. Like, literally he owns them. And it’s all thanks to a bald headed little telepath who used to hoover around in that very space.
OUR REVIEW
Our Rating: 3.5/5
A frenzied pace with many things happening at once, but a solid introduction to the show. You certainly feel the themes of bigotry and hate and how things are tense back in the X-Men world of 1997. It does a good job setting things up and giving viewers a sense of the state of the world the X-Men are in, which seems to be somewhat peaceful but also fragile with mutant human race relations easily shifting at any given moment.
As for new characters, Roberto’s introduction was average, as he doesn’t make an impressionable memory, but he’s likable enough that you don’t mind seeing him come back to see what else they do with him. Val’s introduction while brief does make you interested in how the X-Men and the government are partnering together and how that relationship will evolve.
OUR TOP 3 VISUALS FROM THE EPISODE
- Cyclops beaming down
2. Storm’s music video moment
3. Jubilee dancing to her fireworks
IF YOU LIKE THIS EPISODE CHECK OUT:
- Night of the Sentinels Part 1 & 2 (X-Men Animated Series)
- X-Men Vol 1 57-59 (X-Men Comics)