Sandwiched around the more impactful “Remember It” “Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1” and “Lifedeath Part 1” wrap-up the Storm storyline, check in on the cosmic adventures of Professor X and his doomed cosmic romance, and offer the obligatory Mojo (David Errigo Jr.) appearance which apparently every X-Men cartoon needs.
“Motendo” centers around Jubilee (Holly Chou) and Roberto (Gui Agustini) being pulled into a video game. Several sequences from the episode are inspired by various X-Men video games, primarily the 1982 Konami arcade game, or digitized comic moments rendered in video game-style. I’ve never been a big fan of Mojo, and have seen versions of this story done many, many times, so the plot here doesn’t do much for me, but it offers a ton of fan service for those who grew up playing X-Men video games and there are certainly some fun visuals to enjoy.
Less than half of that same episode is reserved for “Lifedeath Part 1” which picks up the thread of Storm‘s (Alison Sealy-Smith) story which will be wrapped up in “Part 2.” The storyline features Forge (Gil Birmingham) explaining his unintentional part in the technology that stole Storm’s powers, offering to try and help get them back, and an attack on both former X-Men by a creature that is never fully explained to be the Adversary. This ticks the expected boxes of Storm forgiving Forge, admitted her own mixed feelings about being human, and fighting and overcoming her claustrophobia before regaining her powers. The only real awkward moment is the prolonged celebration Storm takes flying around and enjoying her powers while Forge slowly dies in the cave.
The other thread of “Lifedeath Part 2” gives us Professor X (Ross Marquand) in the Shi’ar Empire considering marriage to Empress Lilandra (Morla Gorrondona), even if to do so he must give up his connection (and memories) of Earth and the X-Men. The sequences offer several larger Marvel Universe cameos including Ronan, Gladiator, and Deathbird. There’s no great surprise to his decision to return home, and the episode does feature a segment of the Professor mansplaining to the Shi’ar about their own culture which comes off a bit cringe for my taste.
The series continues the trend of cherry-picking big moments and stories from the X-Men’s run over the years and fitting them together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Some of these have worked better than others, and some feel a bit forced together at times. On the positives, Storm is back. I expected about one episode of this story for her and it was stretched to what adds up to be about an episode and a half. The Professor appears to be on his way back as well. Both will be needed given the events in “Remember It” and a world where mutants are being hunted once again.
