Court is in session as Nightcrawler mounts a defense of his bigoted half-brother in a court of metal men, fire fists and French crusaders in “Strange Land, Savage Heart.” X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 7 was written by Brian Ford Sullivan and Beau DeMayo and directed by Emmett Yonemura.
The seventh (and antepenultimate) episode of X-Men 97‘s second season is, ultimately, of a piece with the episodes that came before it. It features a cast of X-Men but has a point-of-view centered on one specific character (in this case, Nightcrawler). Its plot is a loose adaptation of one or more comic book stories. And it’s packed with cameos that are fun, obscure and obscurely fun (Rusty “Firefist” Collins, represent!). Yet while not functionally all that different from the preceding six episodes of this season (or the 10 episodes of Season 1), for whatever reason, “Strange Land, Savage Heart” feels especially constrained by the limits of its form as 1/9 of a season of a half hour-ish per episode streaming series.
After a quasi-cold open that revisits the attack on Genosha from last season’s “Remember It” to show what the Rasputin siblings were up to (Illyana – dying, Piotr – howling with grief over Illyana dying) it jumps to the present day and a political rally being held by the anti-mutant Graydon Creed (we don’t need to see the guys in the crowd with the red hats to get the parallel, but I appreciate the desire to not be coy about the allusions). Creed’s stump speech is interrupted by the arrival of the Acolytes of Magneto, a group who is presented as new even though they appeared in the “Sanctuary” two-parter of the original series.
Among their number is Colossus, channeling his grief over Illyana’s death into a little casual anti-human terrorism, as in the comics, and Exodus, who is leading them in Magneto’s stead. The Acolytes kidnap Creed, bring him back to their Savage Land sanctuary and demand all of the mutants X-Factor captured (I guess Jubilee just freed the young ones) be released or else Creed will die. Because Creed is Nightcrawler’s half-brother, Kurt feels compelled to make an effort to save his life, and a squad of X-Men journeys to the Savage Land, where Nightcrawler challenges Exodus to a mock trial for the life of Creed, with Colossus as the judge and jury.
Again, the broad strokes here are all solid. The Colossus/Illyana/Acolyte stuff is a great example of the series adapting a story from the comics in a way that captures the spirit of the original while adjusting the details to fit its own narrative. The animators put in the work stuffing the backgrounds with assorted Acolytes, from the classic (Voght, Unuscione) to the 2000s edition (Tempo, Random) to the weird (Barnacle). (And did I mention Rusty?!?). And Nightcrawler’s challenge — how to argue for the application of grace to a man who hates everything about him and the people he needs to convince — is a convincing one.
But the episode nevertheless doesn’t quite come together. Some of that is due to the fact that Colossus is positioned as a central figure in the drama, and yet, the Colossus of the animated series is more or less a non-factor. He’s never been a part of the team, and only appeared in a handful of previous episodes, which makes both his “betrayal” and his eventual “return” to the X-Mansion less impactful. It’s not the first time X-Men ’97 has coasted on the (likely correct) assumption that many viewers are drawing on their own knowledge of X-Men lore to fill in characterization gaps, but it feels the most obvious here. You could do a whole multi-part series dedicated to Colossus’ arc in this episode, and it’s still just one of a half-dozen things happening in it, because with just nine episodes in the season, the narrative real estate is limited.
Which is another reason this episode feels particularly strained: After it, there are only two episodes left in the season. And with just an hour or so left to go, it’s still not really clear what this season is even about. “Apocalypse,” sure, he’s clearly the main antagonist of the season, but we still have no idea what he’s after (aside from “kill the X-Men”) or what his motivations are (if they’re anything different from his usual “the strongest shall survive” routine). For all that Season 1 felt like it was speed running through X-Men plots, there was a sense of arc and momentum to it. Here, after the opening episodes established the threat and stakes of the season, it pivoted away for three episodes before (presumably) returning to the Apocalypse of it all for the final two. And while plenty of the things it’s doing in those episodes — including this one — are entertaining and well-crafted, there’s simply not enough room for them to breathe.
The end result is an episode that feels more like the CliffsNotes version of the story than the story itself. Colossus’ grief, Nightcrawler’s faith and Creed’s self-loathing are all compelling foundations for storytelling, and I’d love to see any of them expanded on and developed further, but the series simply has no time for that. As with Morph and Wolverine (neither of whom has even appeared since their spotlight episode), all it can do is bring these ideas to the surface, then quickly dispatch them in the most elegant way that the limited time will allow.
It’s difficult to fault any creative team for being overly ambitious in its storytelling; certainly, I’ll take “overstuffed and overreaching” over routine pablum. But it’s also important to recognize the limitations of form to the story you’re telling. The days of the 22- (or even 12-) episode season are, apparently, gone. While the desire to say, “damn it all” and try to cram 22 episodes’ worth of story and character development into nine is understandable and perhaps even admirable, it can lead to episodes like “Strange Land, Savage Heart,” episodes that feel like a tease of something of bigger and better rather than a satisfying installment in its own right.
X-Traneous Facts
- Opening credit watch: Polaris has been added to the roster, though still wearing her X-Factor uniform. We also get a shot of Mystique getting ready to chuck baby Nightcrawler, and the shot of Creed and Apocalypse from “Time Fugitives.”
- I have no idea why Illyana in the flashback is wearing an X-Men training uniform when she’s never been one of the X-Men and the New Mutants don’t exist. I’m also not sure why she doesn’t teleport away rather than get blasted by the Wild Sentinel.
- Creed’s presidential run was mentioned in the Season 1 finale.
- The two-part finale of the second season of the original series (where the Mister Sinister power inhibitor in this episode originated) was titled “Savage Land, Strange Heart.”
- Exodus is originally a French crusader, explaining his vaguely French accent in this episode.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him @austingorton.bsky.social.
