XTAS Review
Jun. 30th, 2010 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisI'm having a good week - two XTAS reviews in two days!
Episode: Beauty and the Beast
Brief summary: Hank cures a non-mutant woman of her blindness, they fall in love, but unfortunately FOH and other bigots won’t let them be.
- I love love love this episode! Why? It illustrates the pain of being different in a hostile world. The bigotry of FOH and others. The X-men banding together. Hank being gentle but strong – and we get to see his romantic side for once. And it shows hope. It sums up everything the X-men is about.
- I’ve always envisioned FOH as being racist on top of being anti-mutant. After all, the two (racism and hatred of mutants) seem to go together. But I have to say that I’ve been doing some wishful thinking. In fact, nearly every time we see FOH, they have members who are not Caucasian.
- I like this quote from Hank directed at FOH: “Your inexorable alienation at late 20th century life is sadly misdirected”.
- Jean and Wolverine have a good conversation about the best way to deal with FOH. It shows there are definitely no easy answers here. I also have to applaud Wolverine’s strategy (infiltration) and how he executes it. Although part of me would love to see Gambit undertake that instead; it seems more up his alley than Wolverine’s.
- During our brief interlude in the Savage Lands, we see that Magneto and Xavier can swim with their hands tied behind their backs. Wow. Most folks would sink to the bottom of the pit pretty quickly without being able to use their arms.
- Twice there are these two doctors or scientists who leave the room when Hank enters and/or whisper about him. All these little indignities have to make it have hard to live your life.
- I love when Hank calls FOH what they are: bigots. And I got a lump in my throat when
he tells his colleague “I’ll leave”. He sadly realizes he has no choice but to do what’s best for Carly, minimize any potential disruptions to her surgery, and do as the Board demanded.
- Carly makes a comment about recognizing Hank’s aftershave. So, Hank shaves? What does he shave, given that his entire body is covered with fur? Does he shave parts of it every day lest he be any hairier?
- I loved the scene where Hank and Carly discuss his being a mutant. “How did you know?” he asks, realizing that she had already deduced it. “And you don’t care?” he asks. She responds, “Of course not”. Greatness.
- I think one of the best scenes of the entire series takes place in this episode. Hank looks at old pictures of himself. We see his gradual transformation, over the years, into his current appearance. Jean, deeply concerned, brings him something to eat. He smashes a mirror in angst, lamenting that this has happened to him. He also verbalizes something that most fans have suspected: that he threw himself into his work as a means of avoidance.
- I also thought there was another interesting tidbit in here. Hank says he can’t be close to his family, “his brothers and sisters”. So he comes from a big family, one that - based on this quote – had at least three sons and two daughters.
- I love when Carly tells Hank that he’s beautiful. Such a contrast to her dad, who explodes that Hank is a “disgusting mistake of nature”.
- Wow, FOH is powerful! They have the resources to break into a hospital and kidnap someone. Scary.
- Also scary – what Creed says to “John Logan”. That although “you’ll never hear me say that in public”, extermination is what he wants to do to mutants.
- I’m curious about something. Is Carly biracial? A few times it looked to me like her skin color is a bit darker than the way XTAS usually draws white people. Maybe I’m seeing things, I don’t know. Maybe she and her Dad are Greek or Italian.
- I love Jubilee’s observation towards the end of the episode: uncharacteristically Wolverine used his head and Beast went “berserk”.
- Speaking of berserk, wow – Creed has problems. He freaks out completely at the public revelation that Sabretooth is his father. He breaks down – and we don’t see FOH again until the fifth season episode “Bloodlines”. I’ve said it before, but FOH is the enemy I love to hate. Evil as they are, I miss them.
- Nice touch that Carly’s Dad comes around.
- Pimp moment! I had to write some Carly/Hank fanfic of my own, and did so in Captive Hearts
- Rating: Five stars – I think this is one of the best
Episode: Beauty and the Beast
Brief summary: Hank cures a non-mutant woman of her blindness, they fall in love, but unfortunately FOH and other bigots won’t let them be.
- I love love love this episode! Why? It illustrates the pain of being different in a hostile world. The bigotry of FOH and others. The X-men banding together. Hank being gentle but strong – and we get to see his romantic side for once. And it shows hope. It sums up everything the X-men is about.
- I’ve always envisioned FOH as being racist on top of being anti-mutant. After all, the two (racism and hatred of mutants) seem to go together. But I have to say that I’ve been doing some wishful thinking. In fact, nearly every time we see FOH, they have members who are not Caucasian.
- I like this quote from Hank directed at FOH: “Your inexorable alienation at late 20th century life is sadly misdirected”.
- Jean and Wolverine have a good conversation about the best way to deal with FOH. It shows there are definitely no easy answers here. I also have to applaud Wolverine’s strategy (infiltration) and how he executes it. Although part of me would love to see Gambit undertake that instead; it seems more up his alley than Wolverine’s.
- During our brief interlude in the Savage Lands, we see that Magneto and Xavier can swim with their hands tied behind their backs. Wow. Most folks would sink to the bottom of the pit pretty quickly without being able to use their arms.
- Twice there are these two doctors or scientists who leave the room when Hank enters and/or whisper about him. All these little indignities have to make it have hard to live your life.
- I love when Hank calls FOH what they are: bigots. And I got a lump in my throat when
he tells his colleague “I’ll leave”. He sadly realizes he has no choice but to do what’s best for Carly, minimize any potential disruptions to her surgery, and do as the Board demanded.
- Carly makes a comment about recognizing Hank’s aftershave. So, Hank shaves? What does he shave, given that his entire body is covered with fur? Does he shave parts of it every day lest he be any hairier?
- I loved the scene where Hank and Carly discuss his being a mutant. “How did you know?” he asks, realizing that she had already deduced it. “And you don’t care?” he asks. She responds, “Of course not”. Greatness.
- I think one of the best scenes of the entire series takes place in this episode. Hank looks at old pictures of himself. We see his gradual transformation, over the years, into his current appearance. Jean, deeply concerned, brings him something to eat. He smashes a mirror in angst, lamenting that this has happened to him. He also verbalizes something that most fans have suspected: that he threw himself into his work as a means of avoidance.
- I also thought there was another interesting tidbit in here. Hank says he can’t be close to his family, “his brothers and sisters”. So he comes from a big family, one that - based on this quote – had at least three sons and two daughters.
- I love when Carly tells Hank that he’s beautiful. Such a contrast to her dad, who explodes that Hank is a “disgusting mistake of nature”.
- Wow, FOH is powerful! They have the resources to break into a hospital and kidnap someone. Scary.
- Also scary – what Creed says to “John Logan”. That although “you’ll never hear me say that in public”, extermination is what he wants to do to mutants.
- I’m curious about something. Is Carly biracial? A few times it looked to me like her skin color is a bit darker than the way XTAS usually draws white people. Maybe I’m seeing things, I don’t know. Maybe she and her Dad are Greek or Italian.
- I love Jubilee’s observation towards the end of the episode: uncharacteristically Wolverine used his head and Beast went “berserk”.
- Speaking of berserk, wow – Creed has problems. He freaks out completely at the public revelation that Sabretooth is his father. He breaks down – and we don’t see FOH again until the fifth season episode “Bloodlines”. I’ve said it before, but FOH is the enemy I love to hate. Evil as they are, I miss them.
- Nice touch that Carly’s Dad comes around.
- Pimp moment! I had to write some Carly/Hank fanfic of my own, and did so in Captive Hearts
- Rating: Five stars – I think this is one of the best
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 07:06 pm (UTC)I love your reviews, they are such a trip down memory lane. :D
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 07:49 pm (UTC)