Just when X-Men ’97 seemed to be losing steam, the creators remind us what good can come out of character driven plots when they’re allowed time to flourish.
“Strange Land, Savage Heart” allows Nightcrawler to finally get a chance to prove his faith in others as well as reunite with longtime friend Colossus. Both Adrian Hough and Robert Cait nail the German and Russian accents respectively. Nightcrawler spoke up for his half-brother Graydon Creed after he was captured by The Acolytes of Magneto, mutants carrying on the legacy of Magneto’s beliefs.
The Acolytes have been set up via Steve Foxe’s prequel series, which I recommended here among other great X-Men reads. While it’s unclear whether the Acolytes will have more to do this season, adding a new mutant faction in the mix is sure to pay off in the long run.
The X-Corp team featured in this episode proves that any character can carry a story, hopefully opening the door for more mutant adventures with less conventional teams. They’ve already introduced enough mutants to have multiple teams, so what’s a few more?
It seems the writers have caught on to the chemistry that Bishop and Polaris have. While they weren’t the main focus of the episode, they shared a cute cliche moment that was extremely memorable.
The inclusion of Colossus was a very welcome one, but X-Men ‘97 fell into the same trap that many adaptations do: keeping Colossus in his metal form all the time. This might just be a nitpick, but Piotr Rasputin’s comic self does not perpetually exist as a metal man since he’s naturally quite gentle. The dedication to showing off his softer, artistic side was there but could’ve been driven home more by his usual appearance.
The finale is fast approaching, yet the show still takes time to give us character-focused plots with spectacular writing. The show excels when we see the characters drive the story. Much like last episode, this week’s installment felt very reminiscent of the “filler episode” that isn’t very prominent in television any more. However, unlike last week’s episode, the pacing was much smoother and felt more focused.
