angelophile | Sniktbub and the X-men

Spoilerific comments and breakdown of the episode under the cut. Written as I watched it, so be warry. i haven't held back on spoilers this time.

Not made it past the recap section yet as it just STRUCK me that Emma's voice is great but she has a weird HABIT of emphasising certain WORDS really OBVIOUSLY.

Also, the guy who does Chuck's really good at mimicking Patrick Stewart.

Also, MARROW! I hadn't notice before but that's totally her sitting front left in the title sequence where it shows a bunch of mutants in a prison van.

Also, okay, that was freaky. Proteus?

Hrm, so this is how it's gonna be? Chuck pops up, does the whole Obi Wan thing, and sends Wolverine on a mission to right whatever wrong occurs in the present to save the future? Was Sam Beckett not available? Also, where's Scott in all this? I hope some explanation is forthcoming why Logan's the one who's getting his strings pulled and not Scott.

Nice bitchslapping of Logan, Emma. Considering what a git he's been to the team in the past, it's a bit holier than thou for him to claim trust issues.

Wow, enjoying swanning around pretending to be Queen, Ororo? Don't worry, it doesn't show.

Scott moping again? Hrm. C'mon Scott, secretly you're fine and just working on something badass behind Logan's back, right?

The all new improved Forge continues to be awesome. The all old Wolverine continues to be a dick.

Yay, Scott!

Ororo's once again quick to show that she's not at all bigheaded. Give her a throne and get the peasants lining up to worship her and she's as happy as larry. But they want to pile riches at her feet, right? It's only polite to accept.

Okay, not Proteus. Hey thar Shadow King, have you been working out? Not sure I'm convinced by the whole Egyptian motif you have going on, but the fangs definitely work.

Sneaky bastard. Not a bad plan at that, although what does the Shadow King have against Africa anyway? Since he seems to be harbouring a grrudge against an entire continent, I wonder if they're going to mention quite why.

Now would be a good time to gly the Blackbird into the small of Ororo's back, guys.

And, indeen, that seems to be the plan.

Forge is gonna have your bollocks for this.

Emma was clearly repelling those shards of ice with a shield formed of pure bitchery up until now. But, daww, Kitty's worried about Bobby. Bless 'em.

"Shoot her!" "No, shoot me instead!" Yay, nice to see Scott barely hesitates before taking the opportunity to blow the crap out of Wolverine.

Frost vs Shadow King in a showdown of ultimate telepathic badassery. Holy crap. Go Emma go!

That.

Was.

Hardcore.

I'm not sure what I should take from this, but the fact that the villagers are running up and hugging the woman who almost killed them all a few minutes ago suggests that Ororo managed to find a part of Africa inhabited almost entirely by morons. RUN, kids, run for your lives!

But now would be a nice time for Scott to, y'know, say something to Ororo. But damnit, they're not giving the VA much work this week. Or any. Let's hope his VA's on a wage for the whole series, not a line by line basis.

Oh, that was rather abrupt.

Hmm, another solid episode, raised above the norm by the sheer amount of kick assery displayed by Emma. Aside from Emma, Logan and Ororo, the other characters get the short end of the stick as endings go, and mute, brooding Scott is starting to grate (I think his costume must have a built in razor too, as his stubble vanishes whenever he puts it on), but at least the focus wasn't entirely on Logan. I don't think the episode did Ororo many favours though - she's either setting herself up as the Queen of Sheba or being the Shadow King's bitch. Hopefully she'll get a more positive spin in future episodes.

But this was Emma's chance to shine and she did that superbly.

Rating - ****