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- What Happened in X-Men ’97 episode 4?
- How does X-Men ’97 episode 4 end?
X-Men ’97‘s episode 4 took a break from its heavier stories to instead put most of its focus on the youngest member of the team, Jubilee. Along with Roberto, Jubilee is given the lion’s share of storytelling this week. Whether it was successful or not would depend on how viewers feel about the characters, but overall this was a lighter, breezier story, albeit one that ultimately felt somewhat inconsequential.
However, waiting the final third of X-Men ’97 episode 4 was more of the mature storytelling that viewers have likely become used to at this point. The story catches up with a fan-favorite character and a new face in the series, exploring the beginning of their relationship and digging deeper into X-Men lore.
What Happened in X-Men ’97 episode 4?
In what turns out to be a very brief appearance, the team is gathered for breakfast. Here, Magneto one-ups Gambit by knowing how Rogue takes her coffee (hinting again at their supposed romantic entanglement) before exerting his authority with the order of the day: the team is set to do drills in the danger room. However, it’s Jubilee’s eighteenth birthday, and the young mutant wants nothing more than to go to the arcade. That idea is quickly shut down by Magneto.
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X-Men ’97 Episode 4 |
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Title |
Motendo/Lifedeath – Part 1 |
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Directed By |
Chase Conley |
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Written By |
Beau DeMayo and Charley Feldman |
This introductory scene very quickly sets up the conflict of the episode, which boils down to the fact that Jubilee wants to go have fun on her birthday, and doesn’t care about growing up. It’s a fairly rote theme, and one that results in one of X-Men ’97‘s more basic storylines. Compared to the previous episode written by Charley Feldman and fired showrunner Beau DeMayo, X-Men ’97 episode 4 doesn’t quite hit as hard.
Jubilee and Roberto are unwillingly sucked into a video game world created by Mojo, a classic X-Men villain whose schtick is pitting people in dangerous situations for the amusement of an audience that is forced to watch. Mojo looks terrifying, and the voice work by David Errigo lends the character a humorous but dangerous edge.
Jubilee quickly takes to the idea of fighting sentinels and other enemies in this video game world, practically begging to stay so that she can have a little bit of fun. It doesn’t dawn on her early on that there is real danger in this video game world, and it again highlights how she is more focused on having a good time than taking anything seriously. On the flipside, Roberto (who eventually takes on the mutant name Sunspot) refuses to use his powers, as he still feels shame about being a mutant and worries about his family seeing him show his abilities.
Throughout their video game journey, the episode occasionally cuts to scenes rendered in classic 16-bit graphics. There was a lot of excitment for this stylistic shift (which features some brief mutant cameos), and yet it only appears very briefly a few times. However, there is also a very brief appearance of the original Konami X-Men arcade cabinet. The pair also encounter a mysterious figure in a suit of armor who helps them out of a few scrapes, including a brief trip to the early days of Genosha when mutants were enslaved by Bolivar Trask.
Eventually, Jubilee and Roberto wind up in a level modeled on Magneto’s old base. Here, Roberto reveals that during the days of Magneto’s villainy, he expressed hatred for mutants to his family so they would not know that he is one of them. An older version of Magneto attacks Jubilee and Roberto, nearly killing the latter before Jubilee fights back.
How does X-Men ’97 episode 4 end?
The fight against Mojo
Jubilee and Roberto are whisked away to safety by the armored figure, who turns out to be an older version of Jubilee. There’s no time travel or clone-based explanation here. Rather, this version of Jubilee is a digital duplicate created by Mojo to test out his video game world. She is the only one of many other duplicates to survive.
After imparting some wisdom about growing up and taking responsibility (all of which feels a bit perfunctory), the older Jubilee helps the young mutants to fight Mojo himself. Here, Roberto finally utilizes his powers to help win the battle, before he and Jubilee are spit back out into the real world. There, they share a kiss accented by Jubilee’s fireworks (naturally). Elsewhere, Mojo is put out of commission, but his assistant Spiral (who made a brief cameo last week when Morph changed into her for a gag) appears to take over.
Storm and Forge
While Jubilee’s story takes up the bulk of X-Men ’97 episode 4, the final third is dedicated to checking in with Storm and Forge. The pair have hidden away at Forge’s cabin, where he explains his powers to Storm (and, really, the audience). As Forge’s mutant abilities allow him to invent almost any form of machinery without any prior knowledge, Forge believes he has created something that can give Storm her powers back.
This sequence is loaded with some beautiful animation, particularly when the two mutants are riding horseback together through the wilderness. X-men ’97 continues to prove that it is aimed mostly at an audience that has grown up since the original series aired, as the impressive art is paired with the more advanced storytelling the show has been delivering.
Storm is distraught after Forge’s machine fails to bring her powers back. She becomes even more upset when Forge reveals to her that he is, in part, responsible for the power-dampening collars that have been used in earlier episodes to keep mutants at bay. It was this technology that was used to erase Storm’s powers back in X-Men ’97 episode 2, so her reaction here makes perfect sense.
In a dark twist that closes out the episode, Storm and Forge are attacked by the Adversary, a demonic bird-like figure that imparts nightmarish visions on Storm and appears to incapacitate Forge. The episode leaves off with a cliffhanger, which is to be expected when the title ends with “part 1.” It’s too bad there wasn’t more of this storyline peppered into the episode to help balance out Jubilee’s storyline. Still, it’s another thrilling development for one of the most powerful mutants in the world of X-Men.
X-Men ’97 is available to stream on Disney Plus.
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