Review: X-Men ’97 “Bright Eyes”

Overview

Cyclops focuses the X-Men on finding Bolivar Trask. However, when the team locates the Sentinel inventor, they realize they all have been played by the real mastermind…


Our Take

In the aftermath of Genosha and Gambit’s funeral, Nightcrawler delivers a dignified eulogy, highlighting the absence of Rogue, who is seeking answers about the Wild Sentinel attack that massacred a large portion of the Genosha mutant populace in “Remember it“, with an unexpected face offering to help her even if it’s not through the desired methods she wants to hear, with the only clue being three specific letters. Meanwhile, Jubilee’s attempt to help Sunspot come out as a mutant to his mother takes an unexpected turn.

Later on, Cyclops and his team aid in the aftermath efforts on Genosha, they stumble upon a surprising survivor, but not who Cyclops had in mind… Eventually the rest of the Team find Rogue in Mexico and get a lead on Boliver Trask and as they meet, I find it strange that after so many years of making the Sentinels for the singular purpose of hunting and killing mutants, that Trask is now having second thoughts? However, things begin to get really ugly when Rogue decides play interrogator and has zero fucks to give…

Overall, while the Storm episode was a bit of a small detour, it’s good to get back to the plot again as this was pretty damn intense. With a lot of cameo’s and unexpected characters making appearances left and right which I hope all play a major role in the last 3 episodes, or they all will do anything to further help Rogue or the X-Men, but one thing is certain, Lenore Zann consistently sells the drama of how flawed and emotional Rogue understandably is during the proceedings. Also, I loved the action sequence of Rogue fighting the military mechs using familiar frames of animation that feel lifted from the 2D Capcom Fighting games which I thought was a nice touch. As for the revelations Cable has shared, along with that shockingly unhinged ending and the other big reveals it had left me both excited and curious about where the plot will go and how true it’ll stay to the X-Men stories that have made this franchise so compelling.