1x01: Hindsight Part 1
I'm rewatching Wolverine and the X-Men because I never really finished it and it was fun. (Netflix has all of the X-Men it's awesome.) I figured I might as well offer my thoughts, so rambling and caps ahead.
Starting off with a bang, so to speak, was an interesting choice. One the one hand, it grabs the viewer immediately, and makes them want to know WTF happened. On the other...I think it makes things a bit difficult if you're not familiar with the X-Men already. You don't know what, exactly, these people have just lost - Charles, Jean, the school, the team. There's a nice sense of camaraderie and closeness in the glimpse we get, though.
It's a good enough way to have Wolverine start out on his own, too. And while "saving a little girl from a burning wreck" is a bit cliché, I really liked said girl - Erika - and how she interacted with Logan. (And it was pretty cool to have an interracial family.)
I kind of hope we see her in Charles' future as a human ally to the mutants. I'm glad we're already seeing sympathetic people, even though the neighbours' reactions ranged from hesitant to hostile. Someone calls the Mutant Response Division, who basically seem to be legalised mutant hunters. (I'm not sure what everyone's getting arrested for, exactly, since mutant registration hasn't passed yet.)
Of course Wolverine ends up having to save them, which is when he goes back to the burned out husk of the Institute to get Beast's help.
I really like his characterisation; I think it hits all the right notes, and balances them well. He's a shrewd scholar with a playful sense of humour, and while he'd rather not fight you he can and will toss you into a wall.
Logan, meanwhile, is balanced pretty well too. It's clear he still thinks more with his claws than anything else, which will be touched on a lot as the series goes on and he tries to be a leader. He can be both compassionate and callous, heroic and ruthless. And, of course, he's a hothead.
Together, they stage a rescue - just in time to save Erika from being tortured, of course. (Her dad already was, and he was a complete badass about it. Seriously I love this family.)
They rescue the mutants as well, which leads to some awesome cameos.
None of them join the team, though. I like to think they're living in a flat somewhere, fighting crime.
Wolverine gets the family home, and says goodbye to Erika.
Back at the mansion, Logan and Hank discuss just how bad things are getting. "We both know what's going on, Hank. There's a war coming." So, naturally, it's time to bring back the X-Men.
Now they just have to find them.