X-Men - Evolution, the Complete 3rd Season, continues the adventures of the teenage versions of the X-Men. Season 3's first episode, "Day of Recovery," picks up immediately where Season 2's "Day of Reckoning, Part 2" left off. After a frenetic battle with Magneto and the giant Sentinel robot and with mutanthood having been outed on the media, the X-Men must now deal with the aftermath of an Xavier's Institute in ruins and team members still being held captive in Area 51. Magneto is possibly dead and the X-Men have just discovered that Mystique had been posing as Professor X. Things have definitely taken a momentous turn as the X-kids now must deal with mutant bigotry by the public, and the hostility and prejudice of their "normal" high school peers. The Brotherhood of Mutants certainly don't aim to make things easy for their rivals. Events also lead to the return of the ancient, all-powerful mutant, Apokalypse. On a personal level, Scott and Jean become even more close, and Toad grows ever fonder of the scornful Scarlet Witch (ie: Wanda kicks him and Toad replies with "Oww, the delicious pain of l'amour"; well, that's love, baby). Spyke and Rogue also go thru their own personal wringers here, and Mystique is again a major player.
It only took me the first episode of Season One to get pretty comfortable with the revamped X-Men, although, as the seasons went on, it was still a bit unsettling to think of Colossus, Gambit, and the Scarlet Witch as semi-villains. While I wouldn't go as far as to call the idea of casting most of the X-Men as teens a stroke of genius, it's certainly a smart and hip, demographically savvy move on someone's part. Watching the straight arrow Cyclops, the self-assured Jean Grey, the insecure and sullen Rogue, and the blue fuzzy elf Nightcrawler go thru their high school angst makes for an enjoyable change of pace. Throw into the mix the adult instructors Prof. X, Wolverine, Beast, and Storm, and there's definitely a new synergy in the team dynamics. Plus, in this series, there's no love triangle amongst Scott, Jean, and Logan (which might be a good or bad thing, depending on who you're rooting for). With a cast as large as this one, it's only natural that short thrift be given to peripheral characters. Still, it's fun to catch glimpses of young Multiple Man, Magma, Sunspot, Cannonball, etc. Some of the best scenes in the season involved our mutant students using their powers to rebuild the demolished school. And I got a big kick out of "Mutant Ball," the X-Men's version of baseball. One of my favorite characters is the grotesque, despicable, yellow-toothed, but hilarious Toad, and several episodes are dedicated to him and his continuing crush on the disinterested Wanda.
It continues to puzzle me as to why the earlier seasons don't have a complete season dvd. But, at least, they, more or less, did right with this season. The Special Features on this 2-disc collection include "Cerebro's Mutant Files: The X-Men - Heroes" - a file on the X-Men instructors, the Angel, and the Morlocks; "Cerebro's Mutant Files: The Acolytes - Villains" - a file on Magneto and his acolytes (Sabertooth, Gambit, Colossus, Pyro, Mastermind); an "X-Men Season 3: X-Posed" segment; and a semi-amusing "Mystique's Trivia Challenge" (Mystique is definitely not a congenial game show host).
This series contains excellent animation. Instead of typical, boring fisticuffs heroics, the writers and animators creatively incorporate the best usage and combination of each mutant's powers to craft frenetic, highly diverting, and immensely watchable action/fight sequences. Plus, the writers have developed enough emotionally rich storylines that you get a well-balanced show in every episode. And, as always - when chronicling the X-Men - there's a prerequisite message on the values of tolerance thrown in, which is always worth heeding. Here go the episodes and the SPOILERS alert:
"DAY OF RECOVERY" (episode 1) - After the climactic showdown between the X-Men and Magneto in Season 2's finale, the world now knows about mutants; with Professor X missing, Mystique takes charge and uses the X-Men and the Brotherhood to infiltrate a military base to free fellow mutants; meanwhile, anti-mutant sentiment rages nationwide.
"THE STUFF OF HEROES" (episode 2) - The mutant manhunt continues; as Juggernaut wreaks havoc in the outskirts of Bayville, Storm and Beast journey to the Senate hearings to try to change the negative public opinion on mutants.
"MAINSTREAM" (episode 3) - The X-Men students are allowed to go back to public school on a trial run, providing they don't use their powers, but they end up getting the Veronica Mars treatment; meanwhile, Kurt (Nightcrawler), still trying to fit in with his image inducer, separates himself from his mutant buddies; Colossus guest stars.
"THE STUFF OF VILLAINS" (episode 4) - High school continues to suck for the X-Men students, and Spyke is close to losing it; the Scarlet Witch searches for her father Magneto; Gambit comes recruiting the Brotherhood for Magneto's team.
"BLIND ALLEY" (episode 5) - As Scott and Jean grow more attracted to each other, Mystique escapes from the military facility holding her captive and seeks revenge on Cyclops, luring him into a trap and stranding him in a desert without his ruby quartz glasses.
"X-TREME MEASURES" (episode 6) - Crazy Kitty is looking for driving lessons but no one wants to volunteer; a sports drink called "Pow-R 8" proves harmful to mutants; Spyke's finding it harder and harder to control his powers, as well as his temper - especially in dealing with high school; and where do the underground Morlocks fit in?
"THE TOAD, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE" (episode 7) - Fun episode as Toad barges in on Kurt's dinner with Amanda and her parents, intent on stealing Kurt's image inducer; then, the two team up to rescue the Scarlet Witch from Magneto's clutches.
"SELF POSSESSED" (episode 8) - Rogue is suffering painful visions, which isn't alleviated by her jealousy over Jean dating Scott; then her powers run amok, as the personalities she'd absorbed take her over; the episode's ending provides a foreshadowing to Season 3's closing episodes.
"UNDER LOCK AND KEY" (episode 9) - Mesmero hypnotizes Gambit into stealing a relic from Warren Worthington's residence; this relic is one part of a device which will unleash the most powerful mutant the world has ever seen, Apokalypse; the X-Men battle Magneto's Acolytes for the relic; also, the kids play Mutant Ball.
"CRUISE CONTROL" (episode 10) - The kids go on a Bahaman cruise and end up sneaking off to an island when inclement weather forces their cruiseship to set anchor offshore; then an active volcano threatens the island.
"X23" (episode 11) - A deadly young girl, cloned in part with Wolverine's DNA and raised to be a Hydra operative, turns rogue and seeks out Wolverine - and not for a hug.
"DARK HORIZON PART 1" (episode 12) - As the Mesmero-controlled Rogue syphons powers off the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and Magneto and his Acolytes, graduation day arrives for the Bayville High School seniors and, of course, it doesn't go well; Logan, Sabertooth, and Gambit team up to track Rogue, while Xavier and Magneto's teams pursue Mesmero to Giza, Egypt.
"DARK HORIZON PART 2" (episode 13) - Most of the X-Men and the Acolytes are trapped underneath an Egyptian tomb and are separated and attacked by monolithic, animated Egyptian statues; meanwhile, Wolverine, Sabertooth, and Gambit track Rogue to Tibet; and, at last, Apokalypse - and another cliffhanger ending.
