X-Men ’97 – Episode 10 Recap & Review

Episode 10

Professor X and Magneto are talking in a bar while they volunteer to help war survivors. Both talk about mutants, but hide the fact they possess special abilities. That’s until Xavier reveals his telepathy, urging his new friend to talk about his gift of bending metal.

Suddenly, Magneto hears Rogue’s voice and returns to his senses. The bar becomes empty, and Xavier demands Magneto restore Earth’s power, even if that means Bastion’s sentinels will work again. Back to reality, Magnus tries to resist, but the Professor is too strong and hijacks his mind. With that, everything on Earth goes back to normal.

Happy, Bastion discusses how Xavier has to pave the to the villain’s dream if he wants to honor his own. Looking more robotic than ever, he calls four Sentinels to him, which are holding Storm, Morph, Beast, and Forge. Then, as he says people are inherently good, he orders the Prime Sentinels to attack humans. The robots destroy streets and invade buildings as heroes try their best to stop them.

Luckily, Jean resurfaces from the water as the Phoenix and amazes everyone with her tremendous power. She easily captures Bastion and puts the collar on him, stopping all Prime Sentinels. Then, she releases her friends and destroys part of Sinister’s DNA. He looks horrified as Morph shows how he looks now, a decrepit version of himself.

Still, Bastion rises again to steal Cable’s metal arm and absorb it, becoming even more monstrous and robotic. He leaves the X-Men and rushes to Asteroid M to fulfill his mission once and for all. 

Magneto wakes up inside the bar again without remembering anything, not even who he is. The professor uses that opportunity to present himself as a teacher who’ll guide him to the right outcome. However, as Magnus regains his memories and feels anger, water crashes into the bar, flooding it.

Meanwhile, Bastion invades Asteroid M and tries to get to its power source. But Rogue punches him faster than he can think and demands him to remember Gambit’s name. When he attempts to hurt her, Roberto steps up. Now calling himself Sunspot, he unleashes a firepower so strong people can see it from Earth.

Unfortunately, as the Government doesn’t know exactly what is happening, many agents, including Captain America, urge the President to start the Magneto Protocol. He reluctantly accepts.

Bastion defeats Roberto and Rogue and returns to the asteroid. However, Nightcrawler, Jubilee, and Cyclops drown him in attacks, making him almost unable to react. He shoots a laser and competes with Scott’s optic blast, which wins and sends the villain flying. Still, the robot gets up once again.

Then, Beast and the others arrive controlling a giant Sentinel, which stomps Bastion. As the X-Men prepare to continue their fight, Scott stops them and talks about embracing the future. He and Storm want Bastion to unite with them, recruiting him as Xavier tried when he was younger. Bastion scoffs at them for trying to recruit him and at their hope, as humanity would rather die than have kids like him and the X-Men.

Suddenly, many missiles hit Asteroid M, making it start to crumble. Jean protects her friends with a force field, and Scott tries to extend his hand to Bastion. However, the villain refuses the help and dies. Then, Beast makes a plan for the X-Men to work together and stop the rock from crashing onto Earth.

Cable, awake on Earth, suddenly receives a psychic call from his parents. Scott says he always regretted doing what his father did to him: leaving without saying goodbye. He takes off his visor, and Jean uses her abilities to stop the optic blast, allowing them to see Scott’s eyes, which Madelyne always compared to Nathan’s. Then, Cyclop says he loves Cable and leaves.

Meanwhile, Xavier tries to convince Magnus to calm himself. He remembers that they have a dream that unites them like family, which unleashes all memories inside his friends and makes his mind clear. Magneto wakes up again and uses his powers to save the X-Men and stop Asteroid M.

However, the asteroid and everyone inside it suddenly vanish into nothingness, like they had never been there. Months later, as Forge looks for the X-Men, Bishop arrives and says it’s not a matter of where, but when.

Scott and Jean are in the future, where young Nathan and other people find them. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is in old Egypt and they end up saving En Sabah Nur, the young Apocalypse.

The Episode Review

X-Men ’97 had already established itself as one of the best comic-book adaptations during its previous episodes, but the season finale cements that. It delivers great character moments, action scenes, and incredible dialogue with ease, building them up from everything we saw before. 

If it has a flaw, it’s how it deals with the Phoenix. Jean simply regains her connection with it when she needs it. However, not to make things too easy, the connection is severed just as fast right after. It’s a hard concept to play with, so it’s understandable. Even so, it’s also sad seeing it only being used like that.

This episode wraps up a lot of things, including some that were a bit disappointing in the previous episodes. The return to the status quo in episode 9 felt like a “safe” path to go, for example. However, now that develops into Magneto and Xavier accepting each other (and their teammates) as a true family. 

We also had one of the most emotional moments of the season, Scott saying his goodbyes to Cable. Jean deactivating his optic blast so Nathan could see his eyes, and how that also ties into Madelyne is perfect.

Bastion, the villain of the season, also got more interesting in this episode. When Cyclops says compassion to him, the sentinel shows his fear of the humans, deepening his reasons. Almost as if to make his fears into reality, the government approves the Magneto protocol and sends missiles to the asteroid. Thinking there’s a reality in which he could’ve been one of Xavier’s top students, instead of the murderer he became is quite sad.

One thing is for sure, X-Men ’97 nails almost everything it can in its first season, marking a triumphing return for the characters. And, from what we have seen of season 2’s possible plot points, it’ll continue doing so.