Wolverine and the X-men: Episode 22: "Aces and Eights"

[The Rose]

"Aces and Eights" was a fun episode!

Here's a plot breakdown:

Spoiler

• Kelly and Trask have heard that Genosha has closed its borders, and Kelly suspects that Magneto's closing ranks to prepare for war. He asks when the sentinels will be ready for an attack and Trask tells him that they won't be ready for 2 weeks. Furious, Kelly tells him that they need someone inside Genosha.
• On the astral plane, Xavier tells Logan that a mutant spy will steal Magneto's helmet, paving the way for war. On Genosha, we see Gambit arrive and approach the palace. He catches Polaris's eye.
• Scarlet Witch and two mutant guards approach Gambit. Wanda denies Gambit's request for an audience with the king. Gambit takes out the two guards and Magneto shows up.
• Gambit confesses to having been hired to steal Magneto's helmet, but he insists that he's not interested in that. Instead, he apparently wants sanctuary. Magneto trusts him but Wanda does not.
• Gambit is confined to the guest headquarters, though he's not locked in, so that Magneto can keep an eye on him. While at the window, he sees Lorna in the garden. She's reaching for a rose - he throws a card and cuts it loose so she can catch it.
• Wanda argues with her father about Gambit while Wolverine and Nightcrawler board the blackbird for Genosha. Logan tells Kurt that Kurt is going in alone.
• Gambit enters Polaris's quarters and starts wooing her, saying she should meet him on the bridge later. Elsewhere, the blackbird arrives near Genosha and Logan tells Kurt that he should enlist the aid of "(his) girl, (Wanda)" (Wolverine gets her name wrong). Kurt says that she's not his girl.
• Kurt approaches Wanda and warns her that someone has come to steal Magneto's helmet. She tells him that the situation is under control and that Gambit has been detained. She's suspicious of how the X-men know so much, and ponders if they have a spy on Genosha.
• Wanda bursts in on Gambit and warns him not to step out of line, or he'll have to worry about her. Gambit goes to meet with Lorna and they look at the waterfalls on Genosha. Lorna points out the various landmarks to him, and while they're on the bridge, she kisses him.
• Wanda sees the kiss and attacks Gambit, then has him thrown into a cell. Another prisoner tells Gambit that he shouldn't expect to get out anytime soon after being kissed by Lorna!
• Wanda confronts Lorna about Gambit and Lorna tells her that she knows about the secret prisons, and is more clued in than any of the others think. Wanda tells her not to free Gambit but Lorna mocks her, pointing out the irony of Wanda being in love with an X-man.
• Kurt tells Wolverine that it's Gambit they're dealing with. Kurt had been warned by Wanda to leave the island immediately, but he's still there. Polaris frees Gambit from his cell and suggests that they leave Genosha. She packs her stuff, while Gambit plants a series of bombs and spots Magneto's helmet, unguarded.
• Nightcrawler catches Gambit in the act of planting a bomb. They've never met before, but Nightcrawler knows who Gambit is. Gambit escapes and meets Lorna at the shore. We learn that Polaris has never been outside of Genosha.
• Wanda discovers that Lorna is missing and goes looking for her. At the shore, Gambit gets in the boat and starts to depart, leaving Lorna standing there, confused. He tells her that the world is a lot like him and he's not the man she thought he was. He's also got Magneto's helmet.
• Heartbroken, Lorna uses her powers to lift Magneto helmet out of the boat and slam it into the boat, stranding Gambit where he is (that's the way it looks, anyway, though he might have escaped).
• Magneto appears and Lorna apologises to him. Suddenly, there are explosions all over the island (because of Gambit's bombs) and Wanda is caught in one of them. Kurt rescues her. Magneto tells Lorna that he's going after Kelly, not Gambit.
• Kurt tells Logan that Magneto's going after Kelly. With no time to spare, Logan contacts Hank. Magneto and Blink teleport into Kelly's office and Magneto wastes no time attacking Kelly for threatening his family. Shadowcat and Rogue burst in and Rogue touches both men.
• Magneto and Kelly awaken in the mansion, where Xavier's body is. Xavier contacts them on the astral plane and shows them what the future will be like if they go to war.
• Kelly makes a live television broadcast announcing that they have to consider their next course of action, since one has to wonder who will walk the earth when the war ends. Magneto is watching this broadcast and he tells Blink to fetch his son.

I decided to go all-out on the spoilers for this episode since I won't have enough time on my hands next week to post in-depth spoilers for episodes 23-26. I think I'll just type up reviews for each of them instead.

There was some great humour in this one, courtesy of Gambit. I prefer the X-men: TAS version of the character, but his wisecracks here were good, like his, "... she got her daddy's power... and her sister's temper" line.

The twists towards the end were enjoyable and considering that Magneto and Quicksilver had a fallout in "Backlash", I'm curious as to why the former is summoning the latter...

I'm glad that Lorna was afforded more screentime here, especially since her romance with Gambit was hilarious! I doubt it was the intent, but it made for some good laughs, particularly when the other prisoner remarked on Gambit's little disposition. To be thrown in jail for that!

"Aces and Eights" beats "Thieves' Gambit" hands down, and it really helps that this one isn't a mere filler episode. I can even forgive the contrived Gambit/Polaris fluff on the basis of Lorna's claims that she's never left Genosha. It's still creepy, though... He looks about 10 years older than her (then again, it wasn't a mutual thing).

There have been a number of shaky, average or merely decent episodes, but things have been picking up since "Guardian Angel". Roll on "Shades of Grey", on monday!

 

[Cyma]

Don't want to sound annoying, but was anything cut out? I've been impatiently waiting for this episode and Shades of Grey

 

[The Rose]

Don't want to sound annoying, but was anything cut out? I've been impatiently waiting for this episode and Shades of Grey

I'll be checking later today. However, I doubt that anything was cut; the only real fight scene was the clash between Gambit and the guards shortly after the beginning of the episode, and nothing strange caught my eye.

 

[warmachine300]

I don't believe so. There was nothing really to cut. It was more of a romantic episode. OMG! Gambit cracks me up. It was nice to see Wanda and Lorna fighting. Magneto needs to wise-up though. Great episode. I give it another 8 out of 10.

 

[The Rose]

Doesn't look like anything was cut from this episode!

 

[warmachine300]

I'm starting to think a lot was cut that we didn't know about. Its just struck me that all the Canadian episodes I've watched are 22 minutes and 30 seconds plus. Thats episodes 1-19. The UK aired ones I've seen were Breakdown, Rover & recently 'Aces & Eights' all three ending in 21 minutes and 29 seconds. So now I'm starting to wonder a little now

 

[DMRadz]

OMG!!!!! I loved this episode. Gambit throwing 52 cards up in the air and landing on Nightcrawler was freakin' awesome. Seeing Gambit pretty much weakening everything Genoshia has, ruled. Yea, I'm a Gambit fanboy, what else you expect from me? Really glad it wasn't a filler ep.

 

[The Rose]

I'm starting to think a lot was cut that we didn't know about. Its just struck me that all the Canadian episodes I've watched are 22 minutes and 30 seconds plus. Thats episodes 1-19. The UK aired ones I've seen were Breakdown, Rover & recently 'Aces & Eights' all three ending in 21 minutes and 29 seconds. So now I'm starting to wonder a little now

Nothing was cut from this one or "Rover" (though about 2 seconds were cut from "Breakdown"). My reasons for this claim:

1) The non-english version can be found on www.veoh.com. I watched the non-english version of each of the new episodes with the sound off and compared them to the BBC versions. That's how I know that nothing was cut from this episode or the one before it, and how I know that only two seconds were cut from "Breakdown".

2) TV shows in the UK are broadcast using PAL, while in the US and Canada, NTSC is used. This means that American/Canadian shows play faster in the UK, since they are sped up as a consequence of the new format. The episodes are only slightly sped up here in the UK, but enough so that a 22 minute and 30 second programme from overseas will play as a 21 minute and 19 second programme because of PAL. Also, the end credits of Wolverine and the X-men are shortened in the UK.

 

[Dread]

I'm starting to think a lot was cut that we didn't know about. Its just struck me that all the Canadian episodes I've watched are 22 minutes and 30 seconds plus. Thats episodes 1-19. The UK aired ones I've seen were Breakdown, Rover & recently 'Aces & Eights' all three ending in 21 minutes and 29 seconds. So now I'm starting to wonder a little now

Episodes 9 and 10 were both under 22 minutes uncut. It happens sometimes.

 

[bryanss3]

I really liked this episode there was one thing I found odd though.

who was suppose to be talking to Gambit in the cell?

Nightcrawler would make sense, but it wasn't his voice. I'm a little confused by that I hope they answer that question, but it doesn't look like anymore episodes will touch upon that.

 

[TheVileOne]

Nice to get so many episodes in such quick succession after Latin America blew through the show in like a month.

 

[FVD]

Yeah these past 3 episodes have been rather entertaining.

So Shades of Grey is this Monday right?

 

[CaptainCanada]

Phil LaMarr's Gambit continues to sound less like a Cajun than he does Sebastian the crab, but otherwise, fun episode (though the idea that Magneto quarters ambiguous figures like that in his own house is a bit contrived; even if he wanted to keep an eye on him, surely he could do that elsewhere).

 

[TheVileOne]

I like Phil LaMarr a lot, but I agree that I think he was mis-cast as Gambit.

 

[usagicassidy]

Mmmm lovely episode. Would've liked Blink to actually DO something...tho at least they used her again. Anyone wonder what happened to her? Ok, so she pops Mags into Kelly's office - then Rogue and Kitty take both Mags and the Senator out (wow, convenient that it was so easy this time, yet they got beaten by ninjas) and bring 'em back to the Xavior mansion. Real loyalty there, Blink, you couldn't just pop Magento back out?! She wasn't in the mansion scene so it's safe to say she just blinked herself back to Genosha, where we found her in the last scene.

Way to go.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I thought Kelly folded rather easily (from his perspective, there's not really any distinction between Magneto and Professor X, so why he'd take their word that this is the truth is a bit of a stretch; Magneto believing Professor X is, of course, completely realistic), but given how cartoonish he's been to this point, it's nice to see him written as reasonable.

 

[The Rose]

Yeah these past 3 episodes have been rather entertaining.

So Shades of Grey is this Monday right?

Yeah, it's airing tomorrow.

 

[CyclopsSummers]

Gambit is really awesome
Glad to see him in 2nd season as a new x-man recruit
Also Archangel in next episode Shade of Grey will be awesome, guys!!!!!!!

 

[Neptune]

Oh man, as a Gambit fan boy i gotta say this is one of my fav' episodes. I like his shadyness. He always leaves you wondering wether he's on your side or not. They guy has some serious balls. First he seduces Magneto's daughter, then he steals his helmet and to top it off, he blows up half of Genosha. AWESOME!!!

Also the intro was hilarious. Wolverine's "what mutant would be stupid enough to go after Magneto's helmet anyway?" line. And then we see Gambit casually setting foot on Genosha while whistling.

 

[Dread]

Episode 22 is of course named after playing cards, which means it is a Gambit episode. "Thieves Gambit" had to go down as perhaps the worst episode of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN so far. That isn't to say that it was dire rubbish like, say, some of the worst episodes of THE BATMAN were. It was merely mediocre, a 5 out of 10, that I virtually forgot after it was over. Even some of the worse-than-expected episodes of the first 11 or so episodes at least would be graded a 6-7 out of 10. "Aces and Eights", though, works a lot better all around. Rather than play sidekick to Wolverine, Gambit has most of the episode's focus and proves to be what many characters in this show aren't; FUN. He has some witty wisecracks and he doesn't take every situation uber seriously. He's a guy who can make a wry quip even as he is in a small boat that is sinking in the middle of the ocean. And frankly that has proven to be unique in the overly serious tone of W&TXM, which is the spiritual opposite of FANTASTIC FOUR: WGH, where everything was for a laugh.

The only downside is that Phil LaMarr, while usually an excellent voice actor who has done other work on this show besides voicing Gambit (he also voices Bolivar Trask, who also appears this episode), he is a bit miscast in this part. He uses his "Hermes Conrad" voice for Gambit and it merely sounds like a very bad attempt at Cajun. Quite frankly I am trying to decide who is a worse voice actor for Gambit; LaMarr or Tony Daniels, who took over voicing Gambit in the final season of the 90's show from Chris Potter (who also voiced Gambit in the STREET FIGHTER VS. X-MEN Capcom game) and wasn't nearly as good as Potter. To this day Chris Potter is my voice of Gambit. Alessandro Juliani was cast as Gambit in X-MEN EVOLUTION, and he was better than Daniels or LaMarr are. I mean it isn't as if LaMarr isn't trying; he is. I just think he was miscast, or at least could have tried to fake a Cajun accent better, rather than confusing it for a Jamacain one.

Spoiler

The plot of the episode basically has Sen. Kelly being disturbed that Genosha has closed it's borders and seems to be preparing for a war. When Trask reveals that he can't get a fleet of Sentinels operational for a fortnight, he turns to more underhanded tactics. Basically, that means hiring Dr. Zane's mutant sneak thief, Gambit, for a little espionage mission on Genosha.

While some fans miss Gambit on the X-Men (especially as he was a member of that iconic 1992-1997 series that birthed a generation of X-Fans), he did start out as a thief and I do like the idea of having a few mutant characters who aren't affiliated with either Xavier or Magneto for a while. Circumstances can always cause Gambit to join the X-Men (such as befriending Storm, like he did in the comics), but right now he is a sneak thief who uses his powers for the persuit of his own profit rather than an idealistic general philosophy, and that works for me for now. Makes him interesting.

I should also note that while Gambit is a bit of a scoundrel, he hasn't come off nearly as dishonorable as Cyclops has in episode 20. He felt genuine sympathy for having to manipulate Polaris to get his job done, and never attacked anyone unless he was provoked directly. He never hit anyone in the back or crumbled like a little baby when no one was there to stroke his ego. He just cuts his losses and knows when to escape. I can respect that.

Future Xavier has another conference with Wolverine giving him information gleamed from Master Mold's junk drive, basically that a possible trigger to the upcoming war is the theft of Magneto's helmet from Genosha by a spy. While it seems petty, it has some tactical signifigance; it leaves Magneto vulnerable to psychics, and it gives the impression that he is not infallible (which is vital to his reputation). Wary of leading a team into Genosha after the botch job doing so in "HINDSIGHT PART 3", Wolverine prefers a more stealth approach by having Nightcrawler sneak in. The fact that he and Scarlet Witch are sweet on each other is mentioned quite often. Kurt, to his credit, mildly questions Logan's orders but follows through on them. This leaves Logan playing commander in the Blackbird for the entire episode. In some ways, this makes Logan a bit boring, but some could say that has happened with him being leader; rather than him being a reckless, amusing brawler, he now has to be the glue that holds the team together, and worry about everything. He's Duke from G.I. JOE basically, only with bad dreams. And no one liked Duke. Everyone liked Snake-Eyes, and he never even spoke.

Gambit, however, uses more creative tactics. Hired for his job, and after defending himself from Melloncamp and Senyaka, he confesses his mission to Wanda and Magneto and seeks sanctuary, although not before noticing being checked out by the shy, reclusive Lorna Dane. Part of me was reminded of how Logan seemed to have a similar scene noticing Jean watching him from a window in episode 20, and I did wonder if the parallel was intentional. Gambit's kinetic powers are used in interesting ways; he can charge his bo-staff to increase it's blunt force without making it explode, and can even "charge" water (or at least a shallow fountain's worth of it). I thought his fight sequences were amazing; they really helped sell him as a unique combatant here. Confined to his "guest quarters", Gambit begins to exploit Lorna's schoolgirl crush on him to learn more about the structural defenses of Genosha, such as their power generators, their communications network, and even their irrigation waterfall system (Lorna's favorite make-out spot). While Magneto is willing to give Gambit enough rope to hang himself (since he doesn't trust Kelly), Scarlet Witch is furious about allowing Gambit into their midst and watches him closely.

Liza De Mundo's Lorna/Polaris gets a bit of focus here, at least in the present day (her crazed future self was in "Badlands"). Lorna is a shy, sheltered girl, but also not as naive as Wanda or Magneto believe; she is aware of the prisons that Magneto has below, and occasionally disobeys his orders of remaining inside the palace. Gambit encourages her to leave Genosha, or at least to be aware that "a pretty prison is still a prison" basically. However, after he has exploited her information to steal Magneto's helmet and plant a series of explosives around Genosha (which Nightcrawler proves unable to stop), Lorna confronts him, and Gambit regrets using her, as well as the fact that she has fallen for a rogue such as he (pun intended). Lorna reclaims the helmet and sinks Gambit's boat before sobbing in her father's arms, but not before the explosions rock Genosha (Kurt was there to save Wanda from being caught up in them). It was good seeing Kurt and Wanda interact briefly, as the two have a very interesting relationship with each other. Wanda here seemed more militantly with her father than she was in "HUNTING GROUNDS", but granted, that was in defending the island from a spy, not debating Magneto's overall tactics. It is natural for Wanda to become more xenophobic in dealing with an outsider who wants to, basically, steal from her father and seduce her little sister.

Speaking of which, while the ages of characters are never clear, Lorna definitely seemed like jailbait here. There is no way she is as old as Iceman, who is 18. That said, she was the one who initiated the kiss with Gambit; while Remy was exploiting her crush to escape jail and steal things, she was the one who saw him as a dashing prince. It isn't too uncommon for teenage girls to fall for romantic older men. And, again, Remy did regret that Lorna had fallen genuinely for him. He's a thief, but he doesn't lie to himself about himself.

This leads to a very busy climax where Magneto decides to angrilly confront Kelly in his office over the attack (using Blink as a subway, basically). Knowing that the situation needs to be nipped in the bud once and for all, Logan summons the X-Men, or at least Rogue and Shadowcat to intervene. One tap and Magneto succumbs to Rogue, and frankly for me that has been something that has never worked, even in EVOLUTION. You need to appreciate Magneto as a threat, and you can't do that if he flops unconscious at the slightest tap to the cheek by Rogue. He would prove to at least be a little resistant to Rogue's touch, as he was in "ON ANGEL'S WINGS" in Season 2 of Evolution, which I should note neither Kyle, Johnson, or Yost wrote or directed. I know full well that it was a vital story contrivance, but it will be hard for me to judge Magneto as a threat after that. Something as monumentous as rendering Magneto unconscious shouldn't be something that can be done in about one second. Otherwise, why is he a threat at all? Just use Rogue every time! Rogue's power is one that can make her almost invincible in a fight; X-MEN EVOLUTION had her save the day about 10-15 times within 52 episodes, including the series finale, with it, and it did breach the point of being predictable and overpowered (and this is stated considering the fact that I absolutely adored the Evolution version of Rogue and still consider that version to be among the best ever done, print or screen). One touch and she can beat everyone from Wolverine to Juggernaut. Care needs to be taken that things aren't this easy for her, to keep it interesting.

It is at least for a defined purpose. Deciding to cut out the middle man, Wolverine lugs Kelly and Magneto into his chamber with Xavier and has Future X show them directly the future consequences of their war with each other; a world where both humans and mutants are enslaved by Sentinels. It was a very powerful message, which naturally gets Kelly to change course and call a halt to the fighting as well as to the Sentinel production. There was a part of me that wondered why Kelly bought Xavier's story so eagerly instead of maybe wondering if it was a mere parlour trick, but then again in the comics as well as in prior cartoons, Kelly has often gone from zealot to mutant-ally with far more contrived sequences than this. Plus, it wasn't as if Kelly is suddenly the "mutie hugger" he was as President in the 90's X-Men series; he merely was claiming that a full on war with Magneto and mutants may trigger deadly consequences for everyone, and had to be re-evaluated. The episode ends on a effective cliffhanger with Magneto asking to contact his son, although for what is unknown. Is to try to extend an olive branch, after selling him out to the MRD in "BACKLASH", or to give him another "chance" for a mission now that he may see the humans as vulnerable, esposing their belly? It is unknown, which is why it is an effective cliffhanger. Give this show credit, they have often known how to end some of their episodes well, even if someimes it is the middle that can be problematic.

I was hardly clamouring for more Gambit, but I ended up enjoying this episode more than I expected. Mostly solid writing, good action, well done characters. LaMarr being miscast is an annoyance, but at least for this episode wasn't a deal breaker, because it was strong and really moved the plot forward. The question is, of course, is that without the conflict with the MRD and the Brotherhood to trigger Phoenix's wrath, what is it? We have another four episodes to find out. The only caveat was that if all that was needed to end the whole war was to have Magneto and Kelly get a psychic lecture from Future X, why the heck wasn't this tried about ten episodes ago? Oh, well.

Not much more to say about this one. Not the best episode the show has done, but surely better than quite a few prior episodes, and was vital to the plot on most levels. Definitely a successful episode, and one not to be missed.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Plus, it wasn't as if Kelly is suddenly the "mutie hugger" he was as President in the 90's X-Men series; he merely was claiming that a full on war with Magneto and mutants may trigger deadly consequences for everyone, and had to be re-evaluated.

Well, in the 90s show, the X-Men saved him from assassination and then having his brain hollowed out by Master Mold, so I don't think gratitude was out of place there.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Such a phenomenal episode, plain and simple. Just overall awesomeness.

 

[Dread]

Well, in the 90s show, the X-Men saved him from assassination and then having his brain hollowed out by Master Mold, so I don't think gratitude was out of place there.

I never said it was. I was just stating that Kelly's 180 turn in this episode wasn't as far reaching as some of the others in prior incarnations.

 

[Deaths Head II]

The 90s switch felt pretty natural to me, but maybe that's just me.

This shift wasn't the worst, but it felt kind of added on to the end while Kelley's transformation in the TAS really took place over several episodes. At least it was hinted that things were heading in that direction for several episodes. The reason for the change in this show makes sense, they could have just led into it a bit better.

 

[Dread]

In some ways it reminded me of something that happened in JLU season two. By that I mean we have an entire season of tension mounting between a war between Camdus and the Justice League, and then BOOM, within like ten minutes, Luthor is the big bad and Waller is teamed with the League, and that whole conflict degenerates into a big fight with a cybernetic villain. Now, while that was so awesome no one cared, it was a shame that conflict with Camdus became a diversion for it.

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN faces the same problem, although they at least have 4 episodes to sort it out, so it may not feel as jarring (although if they make it awesome like JLU did, no one will care).

Hopefully this minor nitpick of mine doesn't overshadow my overall opinion here. I did like the episode. It did have a few contrivances but I didn't think they were deal breakers. I was expecting a ho-hum episode and was surprised, in a good way.