Wolverine and the X-Men
I finally finished watching Wolverine and the X-Men. It managed to be worse than I feared. It was a wonky idea from the start: loner Wolverine is so popular, let's make him leader! It was a strange blend of the familiar and the revisioned. It was built around a problematic implementation of time travel. But it still could've overcome these obstacles, if only it had better writing.
But instead, the show foundered under the weight of three primary writing problems:
Neglecting foundations. Wolverine and the X-Men wants drama, but isn't willing to build up to it. The show sometimes feels as if it relies on viewer knowledge of the original comic stories.
For one example, Cyclops's character is now defined by his loss of true love Jean Grey at the very start of the first episode. This loss cripples Cyclops. Where comic fans expect him to be the calm and canny leader, he's presented as an obsessive basket case who is often a menace to his own team. While Cyclops fans would likely never warm to this portrayal, the show might have sold it to a wider audience had any of them seen a functional Cyclops, or a loving relationship between the two characters, or any real concern from any of the other X-Men. This failure might yet have been forgiven, especially considering that many of his teammates are given far less screen time, had the series not placed Jean's return at the ultimate climax of all the major plotlines. The show's big payoff is the reunion of lovers in whom the show has never invested. Hooray.
For a second, simpler example, Emma Frost joins the reunited X-Men in the first episode. No one trusts her, although the series never explains why or how any of the characters know her at all. Comic readers know she originally battled against the X-Men as a member of the Hellfire Club, but said Club is never mentioned or shown in the series until the last few episodes, and none of the X-Men had any clue they existed! Mistrust of Emma is a plot element that recurs through the series, but the writers can't be bothered to explain it?!?
Surprise Ending. Wolverine and the X-Men spends most of its episodes building up two opposing factions: Senator Kelly's Project Wideawake (acting as if it's the entire U.S. government) and Magneto's Genoshan mutants. The very first episode shows us a future devasted by conflict and dominated by the giant robots created by Project Wideawake, still intent on exterminating mutants to save a humanity that seems to have already perished. So viewers will mostly likely conclude that the global catastrophe will be caused when these two factions escalate their current cold war.
But, surprise! It's not their fault at all! The true cause of the global catastrophe is Jean Grey and the Phoenix! Unleashed by the Hellfire Club! Who suddenly pops into the narrative without the slightest hint of its existence, and drops a bunch of exposition to explain the Phoenix, about which the viewers know nothing because hasn't been in the show before because Jean Grey's been off camera all this time! And for extra surprise goodness, the Hellfire Club's evil plan is, itself, a dramatic twist -- they initially claim to be heroically trying to save the world from Phoenix armageddon, but then, scant minutes later, they say they were just kidding and really want to use the Phoenix to take over the world. And for super-mega-surprise goodness, the mistrusted Emma Frost has been working with the Hellfire Club all along, and was just pretending to be a good X-Man to find and capture Jean, but she's inexplicably fallen in love with Cyclops and was left out of the Hellfire meeting where they decided to rule the world, and so must save the day by sacrificing her own life!
The series climax is almost entirely about characters who had not previously appeared in the show.
Viewers may be forgiven for hurling various bits of profanity at their televisions. I certainly did.
But instead, the show foundered under the weight of three primary writing problems:
- Neglecting resources.
- Neglecting foundations.
- Surprise ending.
- The X-Men.
- The future X-Men.
- Senator Kelly and Project Wideawake.
- The Mutant Response Division.
- Magneto and his family and enforcers.
- The Brotherhood of Evil (?) Mutants.
- The Weapon-X Project.
- Mr. Sinister and his Marauders.
- Special surprise villains, the Hellfire Club.
Neglecting foundations. Wolverine and the X-Men wants drama, but isn't willing to build up to it. The show sometimes feels as if it relies on viewer knowledge of the original comic stories.
For one example, Cyclops's character is now defined by his loss of true love Jean Grey at the very start of the first episode. This loss cripples Cyclops. Where comic fans expect him to be the calm and canny leader, he's presented as an obsessive basket case who is often a menace to his own team. While Cyclops fans would likely never warm to this portrayal, the show might have sold it to a wider audience had any of them seen a functional Cyclops, or a loving relationship between the two characters, or any real concern from any of the other X-Men. This failure might yet have been forgiven, especially considering that many of his teammates are given far less screen time, had the series not placed Jean's return at the ultimate climax of all the major plotlines. The show's big payoff is the reunion of lovers in whom the show has never invested. Hooray.
For a second, simpler example, Emma Frost joins the reunited X-Men in the first episode. No one trusts her, although the series never explains why or how any of the characters know her at all. Comic readers know she originally battled against the X-Men as a member of the Hellfire Club, but said Club is never mentioned or shown in the series until the last few episodes, and none of the X-Men had any clue they existed! Mistrust of Emma is a plot element that recurs through the series, but the writers can't be bothered to explain it?!?
Surprise Ending. Wolverine and the X-Men spends most of its episodes building up two opposing factions: Senator Kelly's Project Wideawake (acting as if it's the entire U.S. government) and Magneto's Genoshan mutants. The very first episode shows us a future devasted by conflict and dominated by the giant robots created by Project Wideawake, still intent on exterminating mutants to save a humanity that seems to have already perished. So viewers will mostly likely conclude that the global catastrophe will be caused when these two factions escalate their current cold war.
But, surprise! It's not their fault at all! The true cause of the global catastrophe is Jean Grey and the Phoenix! Unleashed by the Hellfire Club! Who suddenly pops into the narrative without the slightest hint of its existence, and drops a bunch of exposition to explain the Phoenix, about which the viewers know nothing because hasn't been in the show before because Jean Grey's been off camera all this time! And for extra surprise goodness, the Hellfire Club's evil plan is, itself, a dramatic twist -- they initially claim to be heroically trying to save the world from Phoenix armageddon, but then, scant minutes later, they say they were just kidding and really want to use the Phoenix to take over the world. And for super-mega-surprise goodness, the mistrusted Emma Frost has been working with the Hellfire Club all along, and was just pretending to be a good X-Man to find and capture Jean, but she's inexplicably fallen in love with Cyclops and was left out of the Hellfire meeting where they decided to rule the world, and so must save the day by sacrificing her own life!
The series climax is almost entirely about characters who had not previously appeared in the show.
Viewers may be forgiven for hurling various bits of profanity at their televisions. I certainly did.