X-Men ’97 Lifedeath Part 2 review S1 E6

Lifedeath Part 2 easily could have been a calm and relaxing cool down episode after last week’s wild conclusion. Apparently, that’s just not how X-Men ’97 is gonna roll.

This week we got another superb entry for a series that thrives on excellence. It’s telling that only one episode, or at least half of one, approached anything close to disappointing.

There’s two big subplots this week. Let’s start with the one wrapping up the Lifedeath Part 2 storyline.

The Adversary goes after Storm while Forge battles the poison bite. He recovers enough to cast a spell to send it away. The mental torment is still lingering with Storm who wonders if she is better off without her powers.

Lifedeath Part 2 had a ton of memorable lines, but this one from Forge was a gut punch “The worse weapon used by the Europeans was not bullets or blankets but a white lie that they could use to make us…”

Storm had gotten to a point where she was believing the lie. That her powers were a burden and would never be appreciated by a world that hates mutants. Still, she pushed past her doubts to try and find the ingredients that would save Forge in a cave.

This sequence with The Adversary twisting its neck full circle as it slowly chases Storm is one of the creepiest, horror-tinged scenes I’ve seen in a non-anime cartoon. Storm hears The Adversary and starts remembering that she’s above the chatter.

“You all are an echo of who I am. Let them thunder for I am lightning.” What a line! As Storm’s powers come roaring back, she’s also in her classic costume complete with tiara and longer hair. It’s a visual cue that she’s back to being a goddess. While Forge recovers, he turns the TV on and they’re shocked to see the report of the fallout in Genosha. Good thing one of the most powerful mutants is back!

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Far, far away Deathbird and the Imperial Guard, including Vulcan (!), attack a Kree fleet led by Ronan. It always felt like the original X-Men series was handcuffed to just using X-Men adjacent characters. Now with X-Men ’97 having full access to the MCU, all characters are fair game. Watching the Imperial Guard in action was incredible with Gladiator showing off his near perfect Superman impersonation.

Lilandra interrupts via Shi’ar broadcast to announces she is engaged…to Professor Xavier?!?!?.  So, he’s not as dead as we were led to believe. Or is this a case where the X-Men don’t actually know he’s still alive. So many enticing questions.

While he’s away from Earth, Charles is still facing many similar prejudices — just on a global scale. Deathbird goes for some lowwwww cheap shots calling Earth a “Milky Way ghetto.” Another issue talks about his “freak fluids” as an Earthling, not a mutant.

In order to be with Lilandra, the second-tier leaders want Charles to have his mind erased of all memories of his life on Earth. Interesting as that was a tact Charles used on Magneto at one point.

Worse, it’s gotta be Lilandra that does it. Lilandra pleads with Charles that if he refuses they won’t let us be together. Considering all the sacrifices she’s made for him, Charles agrees to do the same. He’s on board forgetting all the hateful humans back on Earth and his life there, but when he’s asked to renounce the X-Men? It’s trickier. Deathbird attempts a coup forcing Gladiator to get in on the action to stop her troops. Gladiator is undeniable in this episode.

Charles is tired and decides to hold a classroom session. This was tremendous. Saving the Xavier reveal for the second half of the season needed to be meaningful. This segment alone justified that decision. Charles calls the Shi’ar Empire a snake oil racket. One that pits different races against each other despite no real differences.

X-Men ’97 is such a great series because the dialogue can resonate with so many different sections of its viewing audience. From race, gender, sexual preference it’s a wide umbrella that covers so much.

Charles gets what seems to be the same mental pulse that struck down Jean, Madelyne and Emma. And he gets a vision of a dying Gambit. He’d been keeping an eye on them, but this was a shock to him. He doesn’t care about the Shi’ar’s stuffy traditions and doesn’t care if this is the end of his relationship with Lilandra. All that matters now is getting back to his children.

In the “epilogue,” Bolivar Trask is on the run when he gets blasted down. Mr. Sinister used his DNA to unleash Master Mold on Genosha. This was a Mutant Massacre on an even larger scale and one very fitting choice for the show.

Lifedeath Part 2 was a masterful follow-up to last week’s shocker. This season the hits have been coming hard and often. And showrunner Beau DeMayo didn’t even list this as one of the top episodes on the back half of the season. We’re on to something special with this series.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney