Well, season 2 is in the bag and I have a lot of thoughts. I'll try to keep them brief, but I don't know if that is a promise I will keep. I'm doing away with my list format so I can let these thoughts flow out. Be warned, there are spoilers.
Anyways, what did I think of this season? It was okay. I did not love it like the first season. I borderline almost didn't like it. There are specific things that save it for me and I will get into it. I know this show went through turmoil with it's showrunner and you can look that up online. I won't get into it here. I bring it up because this season just doesn't have the FEEL of the first one. It felt very disjointed.
X-Men has a long history and this season felt like they tried to cram twenty years of story beats from the comics into this season alone. What do I mean? We got X-Force (a modified team). We got X-Factor (pretty much intact). We got the look of the Grant Morrison New X-Men. We got some time travelling with Apocalypse. We got pieces of the "The Adventures of Cyclops and Jean Grey", a story where they help raise Cable (their own son sent into the future) when THEY themselves get sent into the future. The Danger room becoming sentient and trying to kill them, first introduced by Joss Whedon in his Astonishing X-Men run a few decades ago. All of this I named are crammed into this entire season. Oh! Wolverine has a side quest with some of his Weapon H team in an episode that comes out of nowhere.
This season was overly ambitious and they blew through all of the above stories that they could have saved for future seasons. They moved quickly like the rent was due. The show also does something that is a big pet peeve of mine. Taking a team of characters and scattering them about, so they're not together, only to have them show up later on in some kind of climax. X-Men is about those between the battle moments and this show (with it's 9 episode length), doesn't take the time to slow down for that.
There are some character deaths that I won't spoil, but remember, I'm a comic fan that's been around for a while. I don't think for one moment that any of these deaths won't be undone. One in the first few episodes feels big. The one in the finale, doesn't.
I also have to admit one other thing and this colored my opinon of the show. As X-Men villains go, I do not like Apocalypse. They out of of their way to try and give him depth, but in the end, he's a mustache twirly villain. He's never been compelling like a Magneto or Doctor Doom. Mr. Sinister gets a pass because he's motivations are weird and creepy. Apocalypse feels like a big guy to get punched in the face. This season is heavy on Apocalypse, hence my annoyance.
I know I'm piling on at this point, but another thing is that this cast has gotten too large. They've introduced about every X-Men you meet in the 90's and then add more on top of that. They got away from their core.
I just did a lot of complaining, but let me say a few things that I do like before I get back on the negative train. The animation is gorgeous and the fight scenes are imaginative and lively. There is anime level fight choreography here. The previous X-Men from the 90's wishes it could have fight scenes this cold.
I spoke about more human elements outside of the gloom and doom. Like they did for Cyclops in season 1, they made Jubilee awesome this season. Way to level her up. I also liked this Bishop/Polaris thing they got brewing. A rare case of a sub plot actually happening.
The other thing this show does really well is the opening credits will change (most of the time) depending on who is in the episode. Additions or omissions are a clue to look out for. It's a cool element they've added.
I will close with this. They need to replace Cal Dodd as Wolverine. I understand tying back to the past, but he sounds hella old. Steve Blum would be a great replacement, as he's done Wolverine in just about everything but this show. Lenore Zahn also sounds real old as Rogue. The voices are not lining up with the characters any more and it takes me out of it.
Now that I've talked this out, I was disappointed in this season. There were some good things, but there was too much that just felt empty and without the heart of the first season. They were checking boxes here and whether or not they want to admit it, this show was chasing moments, not building a good story.
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