Yesterday, 01:03 AM
Finished up the second season of X-Men '97. Like the first season, it retains the overly rapid pacing - they try to cram way too much into just nine episodes and that hurts. And the behind-the-scenes drama of the showrunner's firing absolutely hamstrung the story. The first four episodes are on par with the best of the previous season, then it just gets really unfocused, incoherent. The ending is good in and of itself, but it feels like the culmination of a completely different arc than what the season started with. It's still a good show, and I'm overjoyed that one of my childhood favorites has been revived with both maturity and unabashed love for the original series. But they really, really need to have a cohesive creative vision for every season going forward. The second-to-last episode had four credited writers, and ran least than 40 minutes - way too many cooks in too small a kitchen. Also, they are severely under-using and misusing Wolverine. This should not be possible, yet they found a way.
I'd still recommend both seasons to anyone who enjoyed the original series. If you haven't, it's right there on Disney Plus (with the missing Season 3/4 episodes that were animated as part of 5 put in mostly-correct order). I think there's enough exposition for newcomers to jump in at Season 1 of '97 but you'll be missing out on the preposterous amount of story callbacks and high quality fanservice.
I'd still recommend both seasons to anyone who enjoyed the original series. If you haven't, it's right there on Disney Plus (with the missing Season 3/4 episodes that were animated as part of 5 put in mostly-correct order). I think there's enough exposition for newcomers to jump in at Season 1 of '97 but you'll be missing out on the preposterous amount of story callbacks and high quality fanservice.