X-Men: Evolution "Mindbender" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Discuss this episode of the fan-favorite X-Men: Evolution animated series!

Episode #25 - Mindbender
Original Airdate - January 26, 2002

A mysterious hypnotist named Mesmero kidnaps some of the X-Men and brainwashes them into committing crimes for him.

Comments?

[Naraht]

Whoa...they're bringing in Apocalypse....Kick Ass!

Funky ep...missed part of it as my mom called me here @ work..*sigh*

Nice seeing the X:Men LOSE for once...damn kids..=D

[Watagashi]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised when they said that Apocalypse was coming back. I hope they'll have more like it in the future.

[James Harvey]

Now this was an awesome episode! The best part of the whole episode...Apocalypse! We don't actually see him, but we find out at the very end of the episode of the sub-plot that will last throughout the rest of the season. Awhile back, Boyd Kirkland said this season would provide hints for season 3's big villian. Well, the hint at the end of the episode doesn't get more obvious. The series has really picked up from last season. This was a dark and moody episode, and was very well done all around. Not only that, the animation was top notch! In the end, where we see close ups of Cyclops and Jean, you can see the rain falling off their face, and small little drips. It looks really, really good.

A really, really good episode.

[Vin]

Originally posted by naraht
Whoa...they're bringing in Apocalypse....Kick Ass!

Funky ep...missed part of it as my mom called me here @ work..*sigh*

Nice seeing the X:Men LOSE for once...damn kids..=D

APOCALYPSE?!? Oh geez, I got to start watching this show again...

[Failure]

Very nice episode. Like you said DG, a very dark and mysterious episode. Season 2 has been way better than season 1. I'm really glad they stopped doing those happy, group hug type endings they did all the time in season 1. I'm also really impressed at all the little subplots they're building. I mean, first of all we have Apocalypse, who could add to the X-Men eps an emotional punch kinda like Darkseid added to the STAS eps. We also have Mystique who's loose and stealing blueprints for some scheme. We have the B-team of X-Men causing ruckus. And of course, Magneto's out there planning whatever he's planning. It should be really interesting to see how these plotlines end up.

My only complaint: No Gambit!

[JustJack]

I think Gambit would be a nice addition to XME, maybe he could get Rogue's mind off of Scott for awhile!

I'm hoping Apocalypse will look good...hmm...XME style...I gotta wonder..

[Jowy Blight]

It was a nice episode, too bad there's no Gambit.

I hope they don't weaken Apocalypse too much, like they did with Juggernaut(sp?).

[Vin]

Originally posted by JustJack
I think Gambit would be a nice addition to XME, maybe he could get Rogue's mind off of Scott for awhile!

Speaking of Rogue, when is she going to drop the whole Gothic look? It's not very becoming on her...

[JustJack]

Originally posted by Vincent Benenati


Speaking of Rogue, when is she going to drop the whole Gothic look? It's not very becoming on her...

You're kidding me? Haha. I think she looks really good in her goth cloths. It also fits the character...well..at least use to. Hmm...now adays, she seems more "in the loop", and her personality doesn'tfit the goth cloths to well...hmm...

[DR. BELCH]

--Rogue looks better. I think she uses less makeup these days--doesn't look like somebody popped her in both eyes any more. Though her accent's still a wee bit off--she's a Louisiana girl, but she has more of a Texas twang to her. Plus she's got a little crush on Scott, which has softened her up, so she's not that angry little brat cliche.

The look in Jean's eyes--cold, distant, not all the way there--chilled me. I half expected her to do worse to Scott in the hallway. Plus the transfixed look in Nightcrawler's eyes when she entered his room--it was like he was looking into the face of a beautiful vampire who would either seduce or murder him, and he didn't seem to mind which.

Can't say I like the look of the hypnotist, though. Sort of a cross between Pinhead and that bald guy in The Mummy--what a mug. :shudder: Rogue seemed genuinely afraid of him--like she knew him from more than a nickel-and-dime carny booth.

[batE]

OK, I liked this (especially the beginning. I have an all-emcompassing fear of clowns, and the beginning with Jean's dream and then the Jack-in-the-Box was just . . . wooo! Spooky!) And when Prof X went head-to-head (bad pun alert!) with Mesmero, I was all for it, because Charles looked so bad-[explentive deleted] right then. The "youth-gone-wild" quartet of Jubilee, Berzerker, Bobby and that other blond kid, though, is starting to get old. But this ep confirmed my absolute, positive undying love for MULTIPLE! Jamie is my third-fave Evo character, and, wow, he was very awesome in this.

My complaints: Again, a woeful lack of Brotherhood action. I need my Quickie, darnit. All we got was that bogus three-second shot of the bording house and Kitty whining to (an unseen) Lance. But at least we know for a certainty that Lance is back with the BH after his X-Men trangression, so that's good.


And, I'm sorry, but Jean is getting entirely too much ink. We already HAD a Jean episode in Power Surge. Here we have ANOTHER [explentive deleted] Jean Grey-focused episode. Geez. If Mesmero wanted a mutant that could steal the rings with relatively little fuss and muss, why not hypnotize Kurt first? Or Kitty? Also, what happened at the end? At the end, thought the spell was broken, that did not change the fact that Jean (and later Kurt, Kitty and Evan) STOLE stuff. AND used their powers. AND were SEEN using their powers. How's THAT gonna be explained? Is Prof X gonna do a general mind-wipe again?


All in all, this was a nicely dark, very spooky ep, but it suffered in that it was too short (since we know that Apocalypse is the baddie, why not save this ep for the season finale and make it a two-parter?) and the Jean-ness just really ruined a lot of it for me. But a good ep, nonetheless.



batE

[Lonestarr]

Originally posted by Vincent Benenati
Speaking of Rogue, when is she going to drop the whole Gothic look? It's not very becoming on her...

You're kidding, right? Rogue is just fine the way she is; I consider her one of the most attractive animated ladies I've ever seen. If I may wander off-topic for a sentence or two...I have a thing for redheads as well as Goth ladies, and our dear Rogue fits the bill.

About the episode, it was a good one. The ending was a bit cryptic, though (I don't read the comics, so, I'm lost). My favorite bit: Wolverine vs. Kitty.

[optimal321]

This was a very nicely done ep. My favorite part was the fact that Apocalypse was behind the whole thing. I can't wait to see more of him!

Also, it was nice to see that Beast is an actual X-men, and not just a teacher. I was a little confused about that until this ep.

Another complaint is: where's Storm? She had one ep (that was just as much about Spyke), and a few minor parts in other ones. She hasn't really been a major character ever in this show.

[James Harvey]

I was wondering that too, Optimal. Although I don't think she'd have much to do in this episode, with all the characters that were already packed in the episode. Hopefully we'll see more of her. She's been underused overall so far in the series, and it would be nice to see some more of her. She's a great characrer if used right.

[Supernovametalstar]

My only complaint so far is that I still don't know who most of the new recruit members are by name. I know about Iceman, Multiple Man, erh, boy, and Wolfsbane from their powers but that's it. I don't have a clue who the mohawk guy is or the other two girls (which seems to be down to only one in recent eps). I thought that once Mystique stole that data disc with all their info on it we would see her try and recruit them. Perhaps later on.

Oh, and they made Spyke look menacing in this episode with the large spikes coming out of his back.

Rogue seems to be more in control when she absorbs someone's abilities. I wonder if they'll be bold enough to do what they did in the other X-men cartoon and have her drain someone (Ms. Marvel) to the point where she keeps their power permanently and puts the poor mutant in a coma. They could even have it be another mind control incident like in this one since the culprit got away.

Which brings me to another question. Since they introduced Warren Worthington already, would they have Apocalypse turn him into ArchAngel? There are so many things they can do with the series at this point.

[Luminous]

I feel this is the BEST episode to date. It's starting to dig a bit deeper with characters and plots. And yes, I love the multiple plot lines as well. And the animation was TOP SHELF!

Also, it would appear that our favorite telekinetic is getting stronger. I can remember the episode where Blod kidnaps her and she has a hard time moving some bricks and a filing cabinet. Now she's tossing around police carS (PLURAL) at once. I like IT!!

The one thing that was a bit weird was when Kurt was multi-porting with Hank and we could hear Hank talking when he was in-between 'ports. I think it would have been better played out for him to be in the middle of the sentence and have it finish out only when they were in "real" space, not 'port space --- "Why" <BAMF> "are" <BAMF> "you" <BAMF> "doing" <BAMF> "this?"

Oh, and what's up with Logan taking a kick to the shins and wimping out?? For goodness sake, it's KITTY???? I could have understood it a LITTLE better if it was, say, Juggernaut! But Shadowcat kicked Wolverine in the shin! If ANYONE should have been jumping around in pain, it should have been her when she hit that Adamantium bone!!! What's up with THAT???

And how about when when Prof. X get's "nasty"?! .. "you may have been able to handle their minds, but can you handle mine?" ... or something to that effect. AWESOME!!


Great plot, great action, great dialog. Just a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT EPISODE all around!!!!

It seems oddly "cool" in a way that the controlled X-Men were really kicking some butt. It goes to show that when prompted properly, there's really nothing they can't accomplish!!!

[Naraht]

Wolv. vs. Kitty....

He likes her (not like that!) and tries to be her protector...so it was a very uneven fight...I think he was rubbing his shin more as a wounded pride (pardon the pun) than a wounded shin...

[James Harvey]

I laughed at that bit. Wolverine knew he couldn't fight her, which is why he didn't pursue. I thought it was completely in character of him. He has his pride, and it was wounded a bit when Kitty took her boots to his shin.

[Sandoz]

Any episode that has Jean as a focused character isn't on my fav list, but this one was ok. The animation and season 3 foreshadowing was cool, even though I'm wary of how the writers will handle Apocalypse. Sadly, this was another Brotherhood-free episode, which is a shame because I would have liked to see what went on in the B'Hood boarding house with Kitty. >_< Speaking of Kitty, what was up with that kick? Wolverine was still rubbing his leg after the fight! Totally lame.