X-Men'97 Season 2: Episodes 1-3: No one can escape the whims of time.

Now, the very first thing I will say is, the three episodes are structured perfectly, the end of the previous season split the X-Men in 3, future, past, and present.

And this three episode premiere does the same.

Now, I will say the major part of what I said in my YouTube video is wrong, because, those robots are not exactly Sentinels, they are apocalypse drones.

And that is immediately noticed by Forge as he goes into the future.

Or maybe, these are different?

I don't know.

What I do know is this season continues the last one's tradition of simply trimming out fat, although I do get concerned if that will play to it's detriment later on, because Storm an Wolverine are just... there...

So basically, the problem I would have with this is, usually something like "the team is scattered across time would have taken a much longer route to get the team to where they were initially.

But this season just does that in the premiere.

And while fast pacing is not something that is inherently bad, there is also the side effect of all the stories we did not get to see.

Not to mention, this overwhelming feeling that most modern stories have with trying to stick to the status quo or return to it as soon as possible.

Now, in the days of Television programming, this made sense, cause you could miss out on episodes and the network didn't want you to feel left out, but in the days of streaming, it is kind of your fault if you skip episodes, not to mention, it is not that they have so far skipped anything that cannot be filled in by your imagination, but they do come incredibly close.

So I am stuck in between two thoughts, are they potentially cutting out sections that could have maybe housed some really good stories that maybe can't occur now that the time has passed.

I don't know.

What I do know is that we learn very early on that like the previous season, this one will have quite a serious emphasis on cable.

You see this future in the first episode is of course ruled entirely by apocalypse, as the trailer said.

But Mother Askani prophesied that Cable has a destiny to say Fuck off to apocalypse once and for all, and the thing that surprised me the most, is that it was the X-Men's presence in this future that caused Apocalypse to go to the nineties to hit them at their weakest and not the other way round.

.......

So Askani kinda fucked them over then?

I do not understand Askani, maybe it is because I do about thirty things at the same time that my attention is split, but actually thinking about what she is saying raises some serious questions.

She doesn't want the people she pulled from the past to interfere with Nathan/cable's destiny, but she pulled them so they could help...

The questions are truly endless.

And then she needs storm to convince her that what is happening right now( i.e. those two running off with cable) is a part of the plan... Cool.

But it is interesting the way they went with it, because the next episode is the present in which discount cyclops, also known as Havok leading X- Factor, a team of Mutants sanctioned by the government lead by Cooper trying to round up mutants but saying that they are simply trying to fill in the hole the X-Men left behind.

And in the middle of all this Cable starts the X-Force.

Oh no not that one.

X-Force consists of Archangel, Psylocke, Cable and of course the latest couple, Sunspot and Jubilee.

There isn't much to say about the second episode except it further confirms what we learnt in episode one, that cable is on a quest to defeat apocalypse and so they go to hunt one of the horsemen.

Archangel has a unique insight into this seeing that he used to be a horseman himself.

The team faces all the problems it will in a society that still actively hates mutants and has a government sanctioned team rounding them up from someone claiming to be on their side, and the latter half is an escape mission for Jubilee with Polaris and the other Kid mutant, the point of this episode being: Kids are strong because cable was strong enough to send his parents back to their time(I really wanted to say back to the future before I realized we haven't touched the past yet Darn it!).

But that raises a question.

If cable connected with Jean, why was he so intent on sticking to Madelyn and totally offended when Jean looked into his mind?

Like yeah, Madelyn had time to connect with him, but as a baby, as a kid, he saw Jean as more of a mom than ever...

Its a little convoluted, but I guess that happens at times.

Oh wait now that I have seen this scene again, it turns out this was maybe more like, hey I just saw my mother die, and while I do have a connection with you and you are almost her carbon copy(I say almost cause they did lead different lives after all) you are not her... and this is just... messing with my emotions...

And not the way I remembered it where cable was like super super offended at Jean looking into his mind.

See your brain does that sometimes, distorts memories and perception because you expect things a certain way, but you know what, I will keep this section in, as a lesson for all those who want to do this as a job and for all the readers, always double check your assumptions before hating on something.

As you can see, the differences can be very subtle, but it can impact your enjoyment and perception of a show and its storyline greatly.

Now for the third episode, the strangest thing is its name, Rise of Apocalypse Part: I, which means the story is not complete.

Interesting.

But this story obviously follows apocalypse growing from the first Mutant into the force he is in the future, And like everyone had predicted, The X-Men are helping him in hopes of Turning him.

Stating the obvious, the current person ruling this era is the Pharaoh Rama-Tut who is a Kang variant, and Apocalypse and his armies fight against "these machines" to hopefully defeat Rama-Tut and take back their time.

The strangest thing: Apocalypse is actually quite redeemable at this point.

And I totally Understand Magneto's desire, I would personally have attempted the same.

And it is not like the Future has never been altered by time Manipulation.

Otherwise Bishop and Cable would just give up and sit it out.

Speaking of whom, Bishop does indeed take his sweet time to come to their aid and by the time he does, Apocalypse is already in a rage ending things on a cliff hanger, which seems mighty deliberate at this point.