Warning: This review contains full spoilers for X-Men ’97 Season 2, Episode 5!
It says a lot about the priorities of the X-Men ’97 writers’ room that we’re halfway through Season 2 and only just now getting our first Wolverine-centric episode of the series. That’s a far cry from the approach taken by the classic X-Men: The Animated Series, and one I’d argue has largely benefited the new show. But eventually, Cal Dodd’s Logan needed to enter the spotlight, particularly in light of his adamantium loss from Season 1. That’s why it’s a bit surprising that X-Men ’97 does so little with Wolverine’s post-adamantium status quo in the end.
As the title suggests, “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs” is basically a sequel to the original series’ “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape,” again turning the focus to Wolverine’s sordid history with the Weapon X program. This time around, Logan assembles a team to infiltrate a new Weapon X facility, only for his allies to discover he has ulterior motives for going back to the belly of the beast.
First, the good. Episode 5 is a clear throwback to classic ’80s action movies like Predator and Aliens, with direct homages to both films. Who doesn’t love a good story about a bunch of musclebound grunts charging into a mission, only to realize they’re in way over their heads? It’s not necessarily the way I would have expected characters like Sabretooth (Darin De Paul), Lady Deathstrike (Erika Ishii), and Maverick (Crispin Freeman) to be reintroduced for X-Men ’97, but it’s an approach that works. And there’s something fitting about Wolverine and Yuriko’s reunion again devolving into a conflict over alien invaders.
It also helps that Episode 5 is as much a Morph-driven story as it is anything else. This is a character who has never received the attention they deserve in the new series, and this installment goes a long way toward making up for lost time. It digs deep into the oddball bond between these two, further calling into question whether what Morph (J. P. Karliak) feels for Logan is pure friendship or something more akin to unrequited love. This episode only proves that Morph needs to be in the spotlight more often.
But again, not all is well in Episode 5, and a lot of it has to do with what I would consider to be X-Men ’97’s one real flaw. This series has a tendency to move too quickly for its own good, blazing through classic Marvel Comics source material with reckless abandon. That problem rears its head on more than one front here. As fun as it is to see the Brood introduced to this universe (complete with an homage to Marc Silvestri’s Uncanny X-Men #234 cover), it’s a little weird to see them treated as such an afterthought. They’re a means to an end to force Logan back into that adamantium bonding tank, when they should be a threat worthy of the X-Men as a whole. I suppose nothing is stopping the series from revisiting the Brood well down the road, but will it?
Worse is how abruptly X-Men ’97 wraps up Logan’s adamantium subplot. I feared this was coming when the trailer spoiled the fact that he was already getting his metal back, but that doesn’t lessen the frustration now that it’s happened. In the comics, Logan losing his adamantium was the catalyst for literally years worth of storylines as he grappled with the psychological and physical fallout. Not all of those stories were great, but you can’t accuse writers like Larry Hama of not exploiting that particular plot twist to its fullest.
The post-Season 1 time jump hasn’t helped matters on this front, but the point remains that the series doesn’t do much to dig into Logan’s mindset as he deals with being defanged. The downside to the Morph-centrc approach to Episode 5 is that it doesn’t actually end up focusing on Wolverine much, particularly the pre-infected version. The ultimate reveal that he feels he’s nothing without his signature claws rings true, to be sure, and I hope the series continues to pull on that thread however and whenever it can. But why couldn’t X-Men ’97 have dug deeper into Logan’s plight before bringing the adamantium back? Why couldn’t we have gotten a spiritual successor to Season 1’s “Lifedeath” episodes? There’s so much storytelling potential being left on the table here. Episode 5 is an entertaining romp, but it could have been something more.
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