Much like Lifedeath Pt. 1, I found this episode severely lacking. As someone who is reading the comics for the first time and is nearing the end of the Claremont Run, I loved the Lifedeath stories and was excited to see a proper adaption for this season. The end result, however, was two rushed, half-stories that were more an homage to the conclusion of The Fall of the Mutants. We didn’t get a chance to see Storm and Forge’s relationship blossom and their proclamations of love felt entirely unearned. For me, these points only serve to engender underlying pacing issues and a sense of confusion relating to the characters—including the Adversary—and their motivations. I think if both story lines were given full, dedicated episodes, they would have been much stronger.

Also, maybe I’m in the minority, but I wanted to see Storm struggle with and accept herself for who she is while being without powers, and returning to the X-Men to lead—or at the very least co-lead—the team. I was interested in seeing an adaptation of the famous duel between Cyclops and Storm for leadership, with Storm claiming victory despite being ‘powerless’ and the team welcoming her back with open arms. I wanted her to get her powers back, but I wanted that moment to feel more meaningful and to have happened at the end of the season at the earliest.

As for Xavier and Lilandra’s story, I liked it, but I think it happened too soon. Personally, I would have preferred a season or two of X-Men 97 without Xavier, giving the team a chance to cope and grow without their mentor/father-figure present.

So as not to be completely negative, I’d like to add that I loved last week’s episode and am excited to see what happens next. I’m glad to see Nightcrawler in the intro and now I wonder if Forge is also joining the cast.