X-Men ’97 – Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1 review S1 E4
A tricky thing is happening with X-Men ’97 that was again evident with Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1. The show is good. Really good, but showrunner Beau DeMayo is burning through years’ worth of quality X-Men storylines in 27-minute blocks.
Last week’s Fire Made Flesh condensed the epic 10-month Inferno storyline into one episode. It was fine, but could have been spectacular if the comic storyline was given more time — maybe just as a slow-burn (pun intended) subplot that plays out across the season?
Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1 takes a different approach using the episodic format to tell two different stories. Both largely focusing on a pair of characters. In the first chapter, Jubilee is celebrating her 18th birthday but Magneto plays party pooper. No big celebration or trip to the arcade apparently.
Jubilee commiserates in her room with Roberto when she notices a surprise game system — the Motendo — on her dresser. It does what Nintendon’t and whisks them away to a trip to Mojoworld. Mojo (David Errigo Jr.) is one of those characters where a little goes a long way. This shared episode format was a smart way to include him and his assassin right-hand, Spiral (Abby Trott).
While Mojo quickly becomes grating, it was fun to see a cartoon adaptation of the X-Men arcade game. And conveniently enough 1UP has a new X-Men ’97 inspired chamber of the game now available on Amazon (ad). Beyond that fun, it’s the standard Mojo episode.
He yells at Spiral, who is unbothered by his demands and eventually Roberto and Jubilee go home. This time, they encounter an older version of Jubilee who helps them navigate Mojoworld’s crazy game designs. Fortunately, this was just the first half of the episode.
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Lifedeath Part 1 was a stronger story that suffered from the rushed storytelling approach. Storm met Forge last episode. During some unexplained period of time, she’s come to trust him and his efforts to help her regain her powers. And maybe there’s something else sparking up that has little to do with Ororo’s mutant abilities?
The requisite Easter Egg this episode is a shot of Forge as a member of X-Factor (version 2) with the full roster of Havok, Polaris, Madrox, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy and Quicksilver. For the sake of not going full-on stuffy nerd, let’s ignore that the team was already under costume makeover and Quicksilver returned to the Avengers by the time Forge signed on. It was fun seeing a very well-written team of mutants.
Forge and Storm’s relationship is done Cliff Notes style so it’s hard to adequately capture the nuance of their time together. Lifedeath only shows one instance of Forge and Storm trying to get her powers back.
More importantly, it undercuts the sting Storm feels when learning it was Forge who was contacted by folks in Washington — likely Val Cooper — to come up with a mutant power deterrent. He mentions he didn’t continue developing the weapon, which was passed on to an associate in Scotland. Is X-Men ’97 foreshadowing House of X?
Feeling betrayed, Storm leaves Forge’s cabin only to get forcibly returned by The Adversary. On one hand? Wow, we’re getting The Adversary in this show! Buuut, man these rich storyline subplots need some time to breathe. Even on a cartoon show.
There’s no reason to suspect Disney+ is going to end production on this show anytime soon. It’d be nice to see the next showrunner take volumes from the Amazon Invincible series and let the subplots get their time to play out. There are always other stories to tackle in subsequent seasons.
Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1 was a different presentation for X-Men ’97, but the show would benefit from taking a breath to let some of these excellent subplots simmer before rushing to the next one.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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