"Whatever happened, you're still part of the team! You're still one of the X-Men!"
Much like the comics from which X-Men: The Animated Series drew so much of its inspiration, season 2 would immediately see the show begin to double down on its history and build out an ever-expanding mythology. No longer obligated to present stories at an entry level, the show took full advantage of its serialized format to springboard plots off the backs of its own previous plots. To that end, season 2 opens with a bombshell: the return of Morph, long thought dead since the events of the series' opening two-parter. This came as a shocking and satisfying twist, rewarding loyal viewers for their continued interest. And if it came at the cost of invalidating the show's edgiest, most ground-breaking moment? So what! This was comics, after all, or at least comics-on-Saturday-morning. Further to that, Morph had proven to be an unexpected fan favorite based on initial impressions, so a reversal of fortune was arguably worth it not merely for a big reveal, but to offer a path back to semi-regular appearances for the character. The revolving door of death would be one of the many ways the show was brought more into alignment with the tropes of the comics. More direct echoes could be traced in the form of Scott and Jean's wedding, which would occur in the comics a mere four months later. Likewise, new anti-mutant antagonist Graydon Creed and his homegrown militia, the Friends of Humanity, had made their print debuts a little over six months prior to the airing of "Till Death," part 1. Henchmen the Nasty Boys are utilized prominently beginning in part 2 and throughout the season, despite having appeared in exactly one comics storyline from 1992 (and in lieu of an older and more infamous group that preceded them in the Marauders). All this, with little in the way of reintroductions to our principal cast. From a critical standpoint, this approach for a season premiere might politely be described as "inaccessible" to say the least. Owing to many of these changes was no doubt the arrival of X-Men line editor Bob Harras in an official capacity as Story Consultant. To Harras, inaccessibility was a feature far more than a bug. During his tenure overseeing the X-office at the height of the speculator era, the more tangled, sprawling, and convoluted the storytelling, the better. For the industry's many eager young collectors, the complex nature of the X-Men's history, combined with the present-day storylines whose conclusions typically offered more questions than answers, there was a desperate need to Make It All Make Sense.
Helping Jenny and Tim to Make It All Make Sense on this installment of X-Position is Keithie, not unlike Beast, joining the episode in progress. All told, this two-parter delivers a satisfying, intricately-plotted opening salvo that will be representative of the season as a whole. Thematically, the story makes excellent use of deception as a recurring motif. From Wolverine's brawl with a robotic duplicate of Cyclops, to the mutant-impersonating crisis actor disrupting President Kelly's inauguration, Graydon Creed's subsequent manipulation of the media, and right down to Morph's duplicitous divide-and-conquer scheme to use the X-Men to undo the X-Men, truly nothing is as it seems. And that's to say nothing of Morph's return from a seemingly certain death. It's fitting, then, that standing atop all of this subterfuge is the riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma known as Mr. Sinister. His presence will loom large throughout the series following this maleficent animated debut. To its credit, the script makes effective and logical use of Sinister as Morph's corrupting benefactor, and even manages to flesh out his ultimate motives more decisively over the course of 22 minutes than 6-plus years worth of comics appearances had managed. Though taking its cues ever more from the comics, this stands as an example of the finite nature of the animated series imposing a storytelling discipline that occasionally outshined its source material.
Comments