RECAP: X-Men 97 Season 2, Episode 8
So I’m going to be real honest with you, readers: I’m not entirely sure what happened in this week’s episode, the penultimate episode of Season 2. We got developments on the Gambit, Apocalypse, X-Force, and X-Factor mega-arcs, but in ways I did not expect, and in ways I did not find wholly satisfying. I think the characterization was overall solid — no complaints there. But from a plotline point of view, numerous decisions had me wondering what I was missing, as the stakes weirdly seemed smaller than what they have been building to for weeks and weeks.
Read on for my take on the episode, titled “The Dead Man’s Hand.” Warning: there WILL be spoilers! Read on at the end for speculation on where we may be going next, as well as some Easter Eggs based on someone who has been reading X-Men comics (and comics in general) since the mid-1980s.
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I’ll go through each character featured in this episode, from the most essential to the least.
Gambit
Remy is the central figure of this episode, and overall I thought it was a great showcase for both the character and the voice actor (we missed A.J. LoCascio — he was a guest panelist on our podcast’s Best X-Men Team Line-Up episode). I’m still not entirely sure if the reborn and empowered Gambit killed Apocalypse offscreen, or if Apocalypse chose to transfer his consciousness INTO his newly made Horseman. Both ideas are floated this episode, and even though Remy seems to be in control of the show here, the sequence on the Astral Plane suggests that Apocalypse is the one pulling the strings. I’m not sure why the decision was made not to show this pivotal moment. I assume to create viewer suspense. But one of the criticisms I have of this season is the showrunners are not doing a good job communicating central storyline concepts (like, for instance, what X-Corp is supposed to be doing, and how it differs from the X-Men).
Regardless, Deathbit as I call him seems to have a very specific plan: return to his home of New Orleans and use the Thieves Guild and Assassins Guild — key parts of Gambit’s origin, and seen in the original series — to summon The External. Gambit specifically wants to take from The External a gem that contains a piece of Apocalypse’s power (I am interpreting that to mean it’s Celestial tech), which Apocalypse bestowed upon her when they were a couple in ancient times, after which The External quickly ditched him and went on her way. Viewers with good memories might recall The Extrnal making a cameo earlier this season in Ancient Egypt, working aside Pharoah Rama-Tut AKA Kang.
Deathbit uses his dramatic new powers — which include charging people with negative energy and enslaving them — to take over both Guilds and then uses those pawns to take down the X-Men and X-Force, hot on Deathbit’s tail and on their way to New Orleans. There are several strong sequences with Rogue and Gambit, with Remy asking Rogue to trust in him as he is offering them a second chance at love and life. Rogue is mistrustful, especially after Deathbit also turns Nightcrawler to the dark side. But ultimately she acquiesces and joins him of her own volition, in part because her touch does not seem to affect Deathbit whatsoever. That’s a problem, as Rogue was the X-Men and X-Force’s major plan to stop Deathbit, as her touch previously freed Archangel from Apocalypse’s control in the original series. Not this time, apparently!
Deathbit uses the Thieves Guild and Assassins Guild to summon The External in the bayou, with controlled Nightcrawler and a seemingly willing Rogue along for the ride. The External is pissed that her rest would be disturbed, but that doesn’t last long, as Deathbit kills her with an energy scythe (badass) and promptly takes back Apocalypse’s power gem, which he then pushes into Rogue, causing her to fall unconscious. Again, unclear if this is a Gambit plan or an Apocalypse plan. I can’t see why Apocalypse would want ANY of this — it has nothing to do with his mantra of Survival of the Fittest, but it DOES allow him to be petty to an ex, which feels in character. But I also don’t understand why like the first thing Deathbit would do is to go through this whole process so Rogue gets the gem, given that she already appeared to be on his side.
The X-Men arrive and a fight ensues, culminating in Professor Xavier dragging Gambit into the Astral Plane, where he attempts to extract the real Remy from the mental domination of Apocalypse. Apocalypse is whooping Xavier’s butt (I find it challenging to believe that Apocalypse could rival Charles Xavier on the Astral Plane, but OK), until Rogue arrives in some blinding light and performs some kind of maneuver that seems to psychically separate Gambit and Apocalypse, but it also appeared as though both Rogue and Xavier were exposed to Apocalypse’s mind during it. I…don’t know. I really can’t tell you what I was supposed to talk away from that. Given how long this season took to make, it’s kind of crazy that we have storytelling this haphazard.
Later on, a de-Death’d Gambit is in coma in the X-Mansion, and Rogue and Xavier seem to be fine. Xavier says that Remy won’t be able to fight off Apocalypse’s influence for long, so presumably he’s still in there, just forced into a time out. OK, I guess? This all just seemed super anticlimactic to me, and I understand it’s not over yet. But compare this to how last season built to a massive crescendo and this one feels very quiet.
Rogue
Solid Rogue episode, though. She hasn’t been given much to do at all this season, and this episode she got to shine. The emotion around Gambit’s loss, and then her weighing her options once she was reunited with him, felt true to me. This show has done a great job establishing the strength of the bond between these two characters, made all the more impressive because they haven’t been together in like 10 episodes at this point. When Rogue showed up at the External summoning wearing a veil, I wondered if they were actually getting married. While Rogue was open to seeing what Remy was planning to do, she did try to stop him once he played his hand (pun intended) by killing The External.
As for this apparent power upgrade Rogue received via this Apocalypse gem — I have no idea. I have no idea what it can do, I have no idea what it means for Rogue, nada. I certainly hope they explain it next episode, because right now it feels incredibly random. Like, none of this happened in the comics. Read the Speculation Section for possible inspirations for this arc, none of which seem particularly relevant to what happened here.
Cable
Cable had an interesting role this episode. After X-Force reunited with the X-Men to present them with the Apocalypse husk (a reminder of the importance to moisturize, everyone), the two teams joined forces to hunt down Deathbit. We finally got some kind of closure with Cyclops and Jean Grey urging Cable to open up to them and try to be a family, and asking why he never revealed his true identity to them before this. I thought that scene was great.
I also thought his heel turn once Deathbit was on the ropes was also in character. Prior to this mission, Cable, Psylocke, and Archangel clearly made an offscreen agreement (again with important plot points happening off camera!) to kill Gambit wen given the chance, even if they promised the X-Men — and Rogue specifically — that was not the case. Once the moment at hand came, the X-Men sprang into action and took down the mercenaries, including Scott and Jean smacking around their own son.
We also got reference to Cable’s destiny being to end Apocalypse — explaining why he was so incredulous about the recent developments with his immortal enemy being, well, dead — as well as an acknowledgment of how powerful a psychic Cable can be. Be assured, Nathan Summers is naturally one of the most OP telepaths and telekinetics in the X-Men universe, but the techno-organic virus typically holds him back. It’s always fun to watch him cut loose with his powers.
Apocalypse
As I said, it’s difficult to know what of this episode was Apocalypse’s doing, and what was Deathbit’s. I believe the implication is that while Deathbit has access to all of Apocalypse’s history and memories, it’s still Remy as the decision maker. That’s…not satisfying, at least to me. This whole season has been about building up Apocalypse as this huge threat, and to have him ganked off camera by a card-throwing thief who he had just brought back from the dead feels really, really weak. Which is something Apocalypse should canonically NEVER be.
There is one other potential option here: the Apocalypse we saw with Gambit, and whose corpse is floating around in a giant-sized pickle jar, might not be the actual Apocalypse. At the end of the future-set episodes at the beginning of this season, we saw a severely weakened, sarcophagus-bound Apocalypse send himself back through time. We haven’t seen or heard from him since. This weakened version could be the one that found and empowered Remy, and the ACTUAL Apocalypse may still be out there, laying in wait. I really hope so, because if this is supposed to be big threat of the season, I don’t know why we’re all so scared.
Professor Xavier
A few developments for Charles this episode. We are introduced to Cerebra, the souped-up version of Cerebro that allows Xavier to be far more specific in his mutant searching. He also gets into the action in a big way by attacking Deathbit and Apocalypse on the Astral Plane, including his stylized psychic armor taken right from the comics.
I would point out that Xavier has again been touching the minds of very dark beings, and his demeanor has become steadily darker over the course of this season. That feels quite deliberate to me.
Jubilee
Although not given a ton to do here, Jubilee did explain that she’s been uncomfortable with X-Force’s methods as they hunted down Apocalypse, and seemed to imply she’s pretty much over the splinter team. That was solidified when she and Sunspot flipped and attacked their current teammates when they tried to kill Gambit. Jubes also got a nice moment with Rogue, which I appreciated.
X-Factor
At the end of the episode, the remains of X-Force — Cable, Psylocke, Archangel — plan their next move to take out Gambit, who they presumably know is convalescing at the X-Mansion. Out from the shadows strikes X-Factor, with Val Cooper telling Cable that his team is not their targets: they can work together to take out the X-Men/X-Corp and get Gambit/Apocalypse off the map. So presumably next episode is X-Men vs. X-Factor and X-Force. Again, not what I thought we were building to this season, but…here we are.
SPECULATION SECTION
Spoilers, including for things that have not/may not happen in the future.
-I think part of my feelings of confusion and disappointment his episode is that I assumed we were going to get Apocalypse and his Horsemen this season, and now it seems likely that we are not. I guess that’s on me. Nobody ever promised that. But when you have Apocalypse as the Big Bad, bringing back dead X-Men and empowering them as A Horseman, it’s only logical to assume he would create OTHER Horsemen. And why he picked Gambit out of everyone who died in Genosha — Banshee, Magik, Iceman, Sebastian Shaw, etc. — just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The dude can charge things with explosive energy, but those other characters are far more lethal. It’s just odd.
-I literally do not have a clue about this power gem and Rogue. I wonder if this is a take on the Krakoan-era Excalibur book, which featured Apocalypse, Gambit, and Rogue, and focused on mutant magic. The Externals were a part of that, and Rogue was central to it, in a way, as her powers interacted with the mystical elements in very strange ways. There is nothing I can think of in the comics that would lead to this, and Rogue is already insanely powerful in this series after permanently absorbing the abilities of Miss Marvel. I just don’t get what they’re trying to accomplish here.
-The Apocalypse/Gambit thing could be inspired by a few things, but NOT Gambit’s time as an actual Horseman. The most logical connection would be when Cyclops merged with Apocalypse and the two shared a body/mind for a while. Maybe they’re speedrunning that arc, which is interesting, because it was widely reviled and almost completely ignored as soon as possible afterward.
-The External as seen here, as well as earlier this season in Ancient Egypet and in the original series as the patron of the Thieves and Assassins guilds, is actually named Candra. She is AN External, but not THE External. External is a very specific offshoot of mutants that are immortal and more or less impossible to kill (except by mystical means, and even then, it can be undone). Other Externals include Apocalypse and Selene, who I do not think has been seen on “X-Men ‘97.” I guess I understand simplifying this concept, since the comics never really explored the Externals super in depth. But again, building her up and then icing her in seconds feels so anticlimactic. I just don’t understand why they’re doing this.
What do you think of “X-Men ‘97”? Are you happy with Season 2 so far? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
