X-Men: The Animated Series Review – “Till Death Do Us Part, Part One”

Previously on X-Men, we completed Season One: sentinels tried to take over the world thanks to Master Mold; Magneto teamed up with the X-Men to rescue Senator Kelly; and Senator Kelly is all for mutant equality now.

Not-So-Short Summary: We begin in the Danger Room with Wolverine battling Cyclops while wearing a tuxedo. It’s juxtaposed with shots of Cyclops and Jean’s wedding, and the hurt just keeps on coming for Wolverine. After defeating the first Cyclops, there’s a Cyclops sentinel that knocks him for a loop.

Cue the reception where everyone is happy and celebrating. Jean gets a quick flash of Wolverine being miserable, but easily ignores it, telling Cyclops she wishes everyone was as happy as she is. Cyclops asks the priest to stay, but he has plenty of things to do, including turning into a gaunt-looking Morph as he leaves.

We then see Senator Kelly becoming President of the United States, only to pan back to the mansion where Jean is throwing her bouquet. Beast catches it, showing that he’s free from prison. He goes on to explain that President Kelly has also cleared the name Dr. Henry McCoy. We pan over to Kelly doing this, only to see the Friends of Humanity, specifically Graydon Creed, screwing things up.

Wolverine wakes up in the Danger Room to Jean standing behind him. They discuss him missing the wedding and really bad romantic tension ensues. I’ve never quite understood the Wolverine-Jean-Scott love triangle in this cartoon; the movies did it a little better justice, but it falls flat in the cartoon. I’m getting side-tracked…

Morph is in a motel, struggling with his mind; there are flashbacks to the second episode of the series where the X-Men abandon Morph, and he’s wondering why they left him behind. He’s struggling against being hypnotized, but ends up siding with evil and plotting to destroy the X-Men.

Pan out to the streets where riots are taking place, orchestrated by the Friends of Humanity, including violence against both mutants and Morlocks. Jubilee asks Professor X why the riots are getting worse when things should be getting better and his resulting speech is very poignant. There’s a good line from it down in the “Best One-Liner” section. He gets a distress video message from Magneto with coordinates of where he is (Antarctica). Professor X takes off, leaving Storm in charge.

Wolverine is hustling pool while Beast gets noticed by the waitress in the bar. Of course, the Friends of Humanity show up to tick off the three mutants you really don’t want to annoy. Creed is there videotaping the whole thing and you just know he’s going to spin this in a negative light.

Morph waits in the bushes outside the Mansion, watching Wolverine take off. He’s messing around with everyone, posing as Rogue and showing Gambit he can touch her; posing as Storm to give Jubilee something to do off-site. The real Rogue is sleeping upstairs and Gambit kisses her like the sucker he is; Jubilee goes off to get taken hostage by the Friends of Humanity. Morph also poses as Beast to throw off Storm and Rogue while also messing with Beast’s workout routine in the Danger Room.

Rogue and Storm go off to find where Jubilee went and take down the better part of the FoH. Unfortunately, Morph is in the vicinity messing everything up. He poses as the police captain and tells his crew to open fire on Storm. She gets taken down and we pan over to a TV screen where finally, finally we see Mister Sinister in the flesh.

Best One-Liner: Less a one-liner than just a very good truth: “So often in our history, unhappy, misguided people have created scapegoats, blaming those that are different for the problems in their own lives,” says Professor X, explaining the FoH riots and the backlash of Kelly’s pro-Mutant stance.

Kickass Moment of the Week: This episode is surprisingly tame when it comes to huge battles, so let’s go with the fun one of Beast catching Jean’s bouquet at their wedding.

I always wanted Morph to show up in the movies, but it’s redundant with Mystique, especially with how much they have leant on her in the movies. Likewise, I’m still holding out hope for Mister Sinister to show up in X-Men: Apocalypse. I’ve always wanted Apocalypse, so to top the cake with Mister Sinister would make me die happy.

There’s a five-part story arc in a later season when Cyclops and Jean get married again because this first one is a travesty (apparently? I think they expand on that in Part Two). All I remember is that as they are driving off the mansion property, Jean gets kidnapped. I believe that’s another Apocalypse series and the same one where Bishop is stuck in the Axis of Time with that crazy dude. That’s one of my favorites. I guess my point is how many times do mutants have to get married before they are satisfied?

When the Friends of Humanity breaks up the pool-playing party of Beast, Wolverine, and Gambit, they sound like the pirates on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Walt Disney World who are sitting around in the “Buy A Bride” auction. (I have a huge love for Disney World, by the way). It’s a rabble-rousing crowd that just wants what they can’t have.

To Mister Kevin Nilson, who commented on last week’s article in regards to my question about Jubilee being much better in the comics: Thank you. That was thorough proof (which I assumed was somewhere out there) of her kickass-ness. I know she was designed to be the relatable character in this cartoon, whether I ever saw her that way or not, and I’m glad she’s great in the comics. Also, I’m failing at this technology thing and can’t work out how to reply to your comment. As a side-note as well, I did hope she would show up in the movies, rather than just those tiny little cameos they teased us with.

Come back next week when we finish this two-episode arc and say farewell to my X-Men: The Animated Series reviews until next summer. There will be a two-week break between these reviews and the start of season two of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In the words of Black Widow in The Avengers, “It’s gonna be fun.”