Double episode premiere X-Men ’97the sequel to the Disney+ classic animated series, doing their best to win the favor of new and old fans. That’s thanks to the show’s beautiful animation, great voice acting, and such a great take on these beloved characters. Episode 3, aired on March 27, brings another adaptation of the classic X-Men Telling the Story to the Audience – While this was a solid episode, it also highlighted the shortcomings of the streaming model and how it limits the show’s storytelling capabilities.
“Fire Made Flesh” continues the suspense of the second episode. After Cyclops and Jean Gray gave birth to a healthy baby boy, an amnesiac woman who looked exactly like Jean appeared in the X-Mansion. The entire episode revolves around one question: Which Jean is the “real” Jean Grey?
like animated series That X-Men 97 As a sequel to “Fire Made Flesh”, adapted from the classic story in the comics: hell and legend Madeleine Pryor.The second episode of the series, “Mutant Liberation Begins,” shows just how great X-Men ’97 can be adapted by taking The Trials of Magneto story and turning it into a commentary on modern issues like the January 6 uprising, it shines a light on mutants’ timeless metaphors as marginalized people.it is X-Men At its best. Unfortunately, “Flesh and Fire” fails to reach the same heights.
The Achilles heel of this episode is the central conflict of Two Jeans. Almost as soon as the mysterious Joan appears, we discover she is fake, and the fake Joan (who we saw and assumed to be the real Joan in the first two episodes) is thrown into an existential crisis. In the most basic sense, this makes sense, but the audience doesn’t get a chance to invest in the character’s unique identity and dreams because it doesn’t really have emotional weight yet. The rest of the X-Men also immediately viewed the clone Jean as an outcast, with only Scott having a brief inner struggle over the discovery that the child’s mother was not the woman he loved.
Flesh from Fire seems to be adapting Madeline’s story purely because it’s an iconic story, but unlike Mutant Liberation Begins , it has no interest in making the story relevant to the animated show’s characters or the audience watching it.There is an assumption that the audience Know The showrunners didn’t tell them who this Jean Gray stand-in was – it was only revealed at the end of the episode that she was Madeleine Pryor, and it was done in a way that was clearly designed to create some kind of cliffhanger. X-Men Fans are anxiously waiting for the next episode. But the way it all unfolds feels very rushed—probably because the show doesn’t have many episodes in a season.
The reason Madeleine’s story is so beloved by comics readers is that it has been playing out for so many years. Readers take the time to follow her and her struggles, root for her and feel her pain when she learns that her entire life has been a lie. This connection cannot be made in half an hour.
lack of time is X-Men ’97The biggest enemy.While the animated series is able to take its time, as it did when it was adapted Phoenix Legend Five episodes in total, X-Men ’97 It’s quickly approaching its finale – there are only seven episodes left in the season. When Fake Jean reconciles with the X-Men and leaves at the end of the series and chooses the name Madeline Pryor, we don’t know what attracted her to that name or whether we’ll be there in the series See her again. future. Aside from showcasing the voice talents of Jennifer Hale as Jean and Madelyne, the episode was too rushed and failed to achieve the themes established and fleshed out in the source material.
X-Men ’97 Now available to watch on Disney+.
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