X-Men '97 Season 2 Finale Review & Recap: "Survival of the Fittest"

Warning: This reappraisal contains afloat spoilers for X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 9!

At this point, it's officially harmless to accidental that X-Men '97 Season 2 doesn't unrecorded up to the modular acceptable by the first. The highs are conscionable arsenic high, arsenic we saw successful the stellar archetypal half. But the full happening fails to travel unneurotic successful a cohesive package. These last 2 episodes person truly mislaid the crippled wherever Apocalypse (Ross Marquand) is concerned, resulting successful a finale that hits immoderate of the close notes yet yet inactive fails to bring the play home.

It's pugnacious to marque consciousness of the handling of the Apocalypse storyline post-Episode 4. The quality was specified a driving unit of the archetypal 4 episodes, but helium faded into the inheritance aft that point. Not that each installment needed Apocalypse arsenic its focal point, but the bid has truly started to endure from the deficiency of attraction paid to the quality successful caller weeks. So overmuch astir his motivations and actions is unclear. That full backstory regarding his emotion matter with Candra was treated arsenic an afterthought successful Episode 8.

So it is that erstwhile Apocalypse yet resurfaces to face Professor Xavier (Marquand) and the X-Men successful the finale, that reunion falls a small flat. All the momentum Season 2 built up astir Apocalypse successful those archetypal 4 episodes has faded.

When we yet spot the reborn Apocalypse quadrate disconnected against the X-Men here, it's a precise little and anticlimactic conflict betwixt bully and evil. No sooner does Apocalypse get to agelong his caller Cajun-y legs than the power-boosted Rogue (Lenore Zann) shows up to prevention the day. This is the payoff to the full season? Compared to the epic spectacle that was the "Beyond Good and Evil" storyline from the archetypal series, this feels beauteous bland and tiny potatoes successful comparison. It's conscionable bizarre that Apocalypse's grand, millennia-spanning maestro program boiled down to stealing Gambit's (A. J. LoCascio) assemblage and hassling the X-Men for a fewer minutes.

It's truly successful the build-up to that last showdown wherever "Survival of the Fittest" really shines. There we get an existent epic throwdown betwixt the reunited X-Men connected 1 broadside and the combined forces of X-Force and X-Factor connected the other. The enactment flows blistery and dense here, but the existent joyousness is successful however this struggle pays disconnected connected a season's worthy of buildup for characters similar Cable (Chris Potter) and Polaris (Carolina Ravassa). Their conflicted loyalties adhd a nice, other interaction of calamity to the full battle. At a clip erstwhile human/mutant relations person truly soured, it's a unspeakable happening to spot the X-Men and their ilk warring amongst themselves. Awesome successful that Staurday greeting cartoon way, but terrible.

I'll besides accidental that, arsenic overmuch arsenic I was underwhelmed by Rogue becoming the deus ex machina that rapidly resolves the Apocalypse conflict, this occurrence does tug astatine the heartstrings erstwhile it comes to the Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough) twist. We're astatine archetypal near to presume that Rogue and Remy volition beryllium torn isolated erstwhile more, lone to recognize that Kurt sacrificed himself for the involvement of his beloved sister. The writers of this bid intelligibly emotion this quality deeply, and his past and top sacrifice feels similar a fitting extremity to his profoundly affectional journey. Assuming it is the end, anyway. Based connected however the Celestials operate, I would deliberation that they're little funny successful acquiring 1 small decease than they are a replacement for Apocalypse successful his relation arsenic cosmic gardener.

Ultimately, I find myself wishing that Season 2 retained the 10-episode operation of the first, which could person allowed this occurrence to absorption connected the X-Men vs. X-Force & X-Factor struggle and the finale to amended soma retired the Apocalypse broadside of things. Former caput writer Beau DeMayo has offered immoderate penetration into what the archetypal plans for Episode 10 involved, though, to beryllium frank, it sounds similar that would person compounded the occupation alternatively than addressed it. Perhaps it's champion that the bid simply hitch its hands of Apocalypse and effort to commencement caller successful Season 3. The post-credits country surely gives america immoderate thought of what's coming, but that's a taxable for different article.