X-Men ’97 S2 Ep. 8 Review: “Dead Man’s Hand” Lacks Clear Focus or Threats
Ever since the end-credits teaser of S1 of X-Men ‘97, fans have been waiting for the return of Gambit as “Death”, the newest of Apocalypse’s Horsemen. After 7 episodes and several teasers, “Dead Man’s Hand” finally sees this happen. One thing I expected with Death that I didn’t expect the show to lean so heavily into was the aesthetic contrast. It’s a distinctly mid-2000s design, and all his goons and mind controlled minions lean heavily into it too with their weird motorcycles, altogether feeling quite out of place surrounded by the early 2000s style New X-Men costumes and X-Force’s 90s inspired costumes. This really brings home the lack of focus this season has had in my opinion, refusing to truly move on from the 90s era and aesthetic from which the show gets its name no matter how badly it needs to. Another example of this is the show leaning into the Tarot card aesthetic for Gambit as Death instead of his usual playing cards, but really not leaning into that any further than generic “mind-control” powers as they do what literally every Gambit story line does, and brings him back to New Orleans, this time to recruit the Assassins and Thieves Guilds as his mind-controlled minions, not that the show bothers to explain who these people are.
After a brief appearance in the 3rd and 4th episodes, we get the return of Candra, another staple of Gambit stories and an External, a special type of Mutant that cannot die. We get a brief recap of the original series lore around her, being an ancient being that empowered the Thieves and Assassins Guilds, who was referred to as the “X-Ternal” for some bizarre reason, followed by an equally bizarre reveal that she was bestowed with some of Apocalypse’s power after marrying, then betraying him because she was still mad at him for overthrowing Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt. I’m not going to try and pretend the comic version of Candra is some sort of well-rounded, well-written character, but what we see here is still somehow laughable in comparison, revolving entirely around men, only able to gain power by marrying then betraying one, and then unceremoniously killed by another. Not to mention how laughably badly the exposition of this wedding is delivered, without even a line of dialogue, just a generic evil laugh from Apocalypse. I wonder if the marriage decision stems from the coincidence that X-Men: The Animated Series’ Candra redesign (presumably to separate her from the fact she just looks like a blonde Scarlet Witch), happened to resemble Genesis, the recently created wife of Apocalypse? Either way, even by ‘97’s standards it’s an insanely rushed plot development.
There are things to like in “Dead Man’s Hand” though, as we focus once again on the highlight of the season, the relationship between Cyclops, Jean and Cable. I can’t help but feel there’s a version of this season that realises this and shapes the whole thing around it instead of wasting time on side plots. Cyclops and Jean are eager to reconnect with their son now that they’ve reunited in the present day, while Cable is too obsessed with the path of prophecy they set him on in his past and their future. Putting the two generations at odds after finally reuniting is an interesting development, but ultimately falls a little flat at the end of the episode when Cable betrays them, largely due to the show not showing Gambit as Death as a real threat, or making it entirely clear what he actually wants beyond marrying Rogue? Even with the reveal that Apocalypse is inside of Death, there’s never enough of a distinction between who is who and what Apocalypse is doing to make him feel like a threat that Cable HAS to kill. If the direction they’re taking is to ultimately oppose the prophecy that has defined so much of Nathan’s life, that would be fine, but even that detail feels at odds with his portrayal last season, and doesn’t seem like the direction they’re heading overall.
While I have my issues with Gambit as Death and what exactly he’s trying to do, the actual stuff with Rogue works really well, with her being willing to somewhat overlook the dark turn in Gambit to finally be able to be with him. It would have been good to test the limits of that, but unfortunately the show’s lightning fast pace strikes again and Gambit is forced to fight Professor X in his mind, ultimately revealing Apocalypse has been in control all along. The scene of Rogue breaching this fight to be the one to ultimately pull Gambit back into himself is a real highlight of the episode, and brings up one of the real highlights of the season, the consistently great work of the Newton Brothers on the score. “Dead Man’s Hand” is far from their only great work, X-Factor and X-Forces themes are other highlights that come to mind, but it is some of their best yet.
Gambit finally returns and the series threads largely start to come together but the pacing issues get worse and worse along with the show’s lack of a real focus in our penultimate episode. Even after 7 episodes of build up, it’s unclear what Death’s evil scheme is, and where he ends and Apocalypse begins, leaving the stakes feeling lower than ever as we go into the finale pitting our X-Men against the combined forces of X-Force and X-Factor for the fate of Gambit.
Check out our review of the first few episodes!
