X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 6 Review: That Jaw-Dropping Final Twist Changes Everything

Spoilers ahead for X-Men ’97 Season 2, Episode 6.

Charles is still dealing with the loss of Magneto, and honestly, you can tell that it is really weighing on him. He keeps replaying Magneto’s death over and over again in the Danger Room, blaming himself and saying that he wasn’t strong enough. Charles just wants to feel his friend’s presence one more time.

But the Danger Room has other plans. The Danger Room changes things up on him, and Charles almost gets crushed by a fake Apocalypse. This episode does a great job showing how much Charles is still grieving while also setting up what is coming next. Meanwhile, Polaris is stopping one of Stryker’s Purifiers, and this entire scene was AMAZING! It was supposed to be a covert intercept, but things quickly get out of control. The Purifiers start shooting at her, and Polaris is about to take them all out until Havok shows up and stops her.

Dr. Cooper is obviously not happy about the situation because the entire thing was televised. The news starts calling Polaris the next Magneto, which she understandably hates. Cooper eventually lets her go, realizing that she has become a liability.

Alex offers her a place to stay, but Polaris says she already has somewhere to go.

She returns to the school. Storm is now the new headmistress, and Polaris is welcomed back with open arms. They even kept her room exactly the same. As Polaris meets with Charles, we see Morph in the background as Mr. Fantastic playing double dutch with some of the kids. I love Morph so much. The character always brings the perfect amount of comedy to every episode.

Polaris tells Charles that he was more of a father to her than Magneto ever was, which is a pretty powerful moment considering everything that has happened between them. Then, of course, the Danger Room starts acting up.

A kid goes down inside the Danger Room, and Bishop has Storm charge him up with some of her power so he can give the kid a good shock. That was one of the more interesting uses of Bishop's powers that I have seen. Storm, Forge, and Morph are called away, leaving Bishop, Polaris, and the others behind. That is when the Danger Room literally starts attacking them.

It uses the same assessment protocols Charles uses when testing new students, but this time, the Danger Room is trying to take them out. It even uses Bishop’s memories against him. Bishop was never a student at the school, but he says the streets were his Danger Room.

The Danger Room then starts messing with Polaris, showing her images of Magneto and telling her that she is destined to fail just like her father. That power surge she gets from Polaris allows the Danger Room to manifest a new body, and things get even crazier from there.

The Death Bot takes one of their jets and heads toward Genosha, where Charles, Beast, Jean, and Scott are. Bishop and Polaris head there to try and save them. Jean using Wolverine’s claws made from her energy to scatter Scott’s blasts was SO DOPE! I love the creative ways this show continues to use the characters' powers.

The Danger Room Death Bot refuses to listen to Charles. She is literally holding an axe to this man's head, but Polaris shows up at the perfect time. Because she is a wild card in the Danger Room's protocols, she is able to get through to it.

Charles shares his memories of Magneto with Polaris, and that fully powers her up. He tells her that she needs to embrace every part of who she is. She doesn't need to fear her power, and she doesn't need to be controlled.

That is a huge moment for Polaris. Charles also officially launches X-Corp and warns the team that he can feel Apocalypse's threat growing by the day.

And speaking of Apocalypse... HE RESURRECTS GAMBIT AS ONE OF HIS HORSEMEN!!! WHAT?! That was an AMAZING way to end the episode. This episode gave us emotional moments, great action, a hilarious Morph moments, some really creative uses of the characters' powers, and then ended with one of the biggest cliffhangers of the season.

GAMBIT IS BACK! Well... kind of. But seeing him become one of Apocalypse's Horsemen is going to cause some serious problems for the X-Men. Another amazing episode of X-Men ’97. This was a GREAT way to end an episode!

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