With last week’s episode bringing us not only the conclusion to Storm’s “Lifedeath” story, but also the return of Charles Xavier, X-Men ‘87 fans were ready for the next big thing this series could deliver. And oh boy, did it deliver. Just, maybe not in any of the ways we were expecting.
The episode opens with Gambit’s funeral after the tragic events of Genosha. Nightcrawler, now reunited with the complete X-Men team, performs a service. The X-Men are also joined by members of the Thieves Guild, a criminal organization of which Gambit was once a part. Notably, Gambit’s brother, Bobby LeBeau, is present for the funeral. One character who is not present though is Rogue, which Jubilee points out through her tears.
Rogue storms a military facility somewhere in a desert and makes short work of all of the guards and defenses. Inside, “Thunderbolt” Ross reassures his soldiers that this facility was designed to contain the Hulk. It’s a nice crossover to the larger Marvel Universe. Rogue breaks inside and confronts Ross, asking him where she can find Henry Gyrich and Bolivar Trask, the creators of the Sentinels.
Back at the mansion, Cyclops has a conversation with the President who tells him they cannot spare any more resources in the search for survivors on Genosha. Cyclops pleads for him to reconsider but for political reasons, the President refuses. The X-Men head to Genosha themselves to help continue the search.
Beast meets with Amelia, a mutant from the comics who is helping to treat survivors. Trish Tilby, the reporter who interviewed the X-Men at the mansion a few episodes back, arrives to cover what’s happened at Genosha. She meets with Beast to take a walk. The two shared a romantic relationship in the comics.
Rogue arrives at another secret facility but this time her search is disrupted by Captain America. A brief look at the first Avenger’s motorcycle reveals the license plate AVN-A10, a reference to Rogue’s first ever appearance in “Avengers Annual #10″ in 1981. Cap leads Rogue inside the facility where she finds signs of an organization called OZT. This is a hint at “Operation: Zero Tolerance,” a plan initiated by a certain mutant-hating villain in the comics. More on that later. Cap tells Rogue they need to continue this search for Trask and Gyrich by the book and she responds by throwing his shield seemingly miles away.
Back on Genosha, Strong Guy warns Roberto and Jubilee that a war is coming. Yes, Strong Guy. He’s a member of X-Factor, that same team we saw photos of in Forge’s cabin. Roberto and Jubilee discuss this potential war before the topic shifts once again to Roberto telling his mother that he is a mutant. Eventually, he asks her to join him in telling his family who he really is.
Beast and Tilby discuss the loss in Genosha and Beast becomes frustrated, seemingly crushing any romance that may have been blossoming between the two. Meanwhile, Rogue arrives at what she refers to as “a damn resort” where Gryich is being kept. She confronts him and asks about OZT. He mentions making “friends in high places,” hinting at another big bad in the shadows. Rogue uses her touch to drain information from Gyrich and gets a quick glimpse of a man followed by what appears to be Nimrod, a futuristic Sentinel tasked with wiping out all mutants.
On Genosha, Cyclops and Jean clear out the citadel in search of survivors. Jean gets a psychic signal from a telepath lost in the rubble and Cyclops assumes it is Madelyne Pryor. Word gets out that a survivor has been found and everyone rushes to see Emma Frost being pulled from the debris in her diamond form, a mutation that is new for her in this universe. Cyclops is visibly distraught by the fact that it was not Madelyne they found and Jean comforts him.
The X-Men then get a message from Trask, who tells them Mister Sinister used his DNA to activate the Godzilla Sentinel in Genosha, but that he didn’t know what was going to happen. Trask gives the X-Men a location in Madripoor to come and get answers and tells them the vending machine “is never out of diet.” After some hesitation from the team, they head to Madripoor to meet with him.
Roberto arrives home with Jubilee to tell his mother the truth. When he finally does, she is relieved and reveals that she and his father knew all along but they waited for him to tell them. A sense of relief overcomes the mutants until she tells them they need to keep this private to protect their company.
Rogue wakes up to find Nightcrawler with her in Mexico City. Rogue is finally overcome with grief over losing Gambit and Nightcrawler reminds her (and us) that Magneto was also lost on Genosha. Rogue lets herself cry before she is embraced by Jean and turns to see the whole team is there with her.
Inside the facility, Gyrich, who is now hooked up to a respirator, is greeted by a mysterious man. His radio is turned to play the song “The Purple People Eater,” before the man smothers Gyrich and kills him.
The X-Men arrive in Madripoor to find Trask. Morph checks the vending machine and orders a Diet Pingo Doce, the same soda we saw Stan Lee drinking in The Incredible Hulk. Disneyland Resort guests can even order a Pingo Doce at Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure.
Ordering the soda opens a secret elevator, which the team takes to a secret lair housing all kinds of cybernetic bodies. Rogue finds an unconscious guard with an OZT patch on his vest. The team then spots Trask getting ready to jump from the building and rushes to save him. Trask reveals that OZT is a group that rose from his original Sentinel program. They also put together that Sinister is building a new type of sentinel, one that Trask calls “worse than what we saw in Genosha.”
Trask jumps from the building before being caught by Rogue. She asks him for more information but when he says he has nothing else, she releases him, letting him fall to his death. The team looks on in shock, seeing Rogue as a cold-blooded killer. They are interrupted though by an explosion cause by the seemingly reincarnated body of Trask, which is now some kind of new Sentinel.
Trask says his Prime Sentinel protocol has been activated and he attacks the team again. The team fights back but one by one they are taken down, clearly overmatched by this Prime Sentinel. As the Sentinel prepares to kill Scott, a grenade drops in next to him and fries him. Cyclops turns to find Cable has saved him. Jean reads Cable’s mind to learn the truth about his identity and the futuristic hero says “you’re not her,” pointing out that Jean is not his mother Madelyne. Scott puts together that Cable is Nathan, his son. Cable shrugs off the “reunion” and tells the team Sinister is working for someone worse and he needs to be stopped before the future is destroyed.
Sinister meets with the mystery man who killed Gyrich earlier and questions his plan. The man reveals Trask was just a "rough draft,” and he has more impressive designs coming. The man reveals that he knows about Xavier living with the Shi’ar. He points out that the X-Men haven been selling the world a lie, just as he has.
We then see the man enter a run down building and head to a jukebox to play “The Purple People Eater.” As he turns on a light, we see that Magneto is alive and this man is holding him captive. We finally get a good look at him in the closing moments and see that this man is Bastion, an X-Men villain from the comics who created the Prime Sentinels in hopes of wiping out all mutants. Bastion is not actually a man, but rather a machine hybrid of Nimrod and Master Mold. His Prime Sentinels take on the form of regular humans, rather than giant, easily-identifiable robots, making them much more dangerous. And as for the ominous children’s song he seems to love so much, it may be a loose reference to his somewhat purple appearance in the comics.
Through some more great character development and storytelling, the first season X-Men ‘97 has geared up for a climax. All of the pieces are falling into place for what should add up to an epic three-part finale over the next three weeks. The heroes are clearly overmatched already and the new big bad has only begun his plans. This is going to be very interesting.
Marvel’s X-men ‘97 is now streaming on Disney+.