"Ascension, Part I"
Writer: Greg Johnson
Director: Doug Murphy
Original Air Date: October 18, 2003
Synopsis/Review: The Eye of Ages
(the teleporter-thingy, remember) teleports above an area of the desert
with seemingly nothing of note there except sand dunes. However, this is
quickly proven wrong- a beam of power shoots down from it and unearths
another pyramid underneath the sands. It activates it, just as it did with
the others, and Apocalypse drifts out before the pyramid is encased in
an energy dome.
Mesmero is in his circus
tent, reading the newspaper and laughing. Wolverine suddenly slashes through
the tent, though, and chases Mesmero out onto the fairgrounds, where’s
he’s held in place by Jean. They want some answers. Mesmero tells them
that it’s too late, though… the evolution of the world is at hand, and
there’s nothing that anyone can do to stop it…
Of course, the X-Men
pay him no heed and take him pack to the Mansion, where he’s restrained
to a chair and psychically probed a bit by Jean. She can’t discern much,
though, other than that Apocalypse has abandoned Mesmero. Xavier tells
Mesmero that he’d better tell them what they want to know, or HE’LL probe
Mesmero’s mind, and he won’t be near as gentle as Jean. Mesmero refuses
to, spouting off his rhetoric, and Xavier tells him that Apocalypse has
gotten rid of Mesmero after the latter’s usefulness was gone- isn’t it
obvious? There is no “great reward” for Mesmero. Mesmero sighs and reluctantly
tells them that Apocalypse is going to turn the entire world into Mutants
as a result of all this. Xavier prods him to say more, but Mesmero catches
himself- he’s already said too much. Xavier basically just says “suit yourself”
and probes Mesmero’s mind. Although we get brief glimpsing images of what
Xavier uncovers, it’s not really anything we don’t already know. However,
what Xavier tells us afterwards we don’t- the Sphinx controls the three
pyramids, which are power sources for controlling the cataclysmic event
that is to happen shortly.
Later, we learn that
Xavier is planning to go over to Apocalypse himself, to try to talk things
out. He’s bringing Storm with him. At first, I thought that this was pretty
darn stupid, until I realized that it’s an act of desperation. Xavier has
absolutely no idea how to thwart Apocalypse, so he’s hoping that maybe
that 0.00001% of a chance that Apocalypse will stop his plan might come
true. Jean begs him not to go, as they both know what will happen. Xavier
tells her that he must, and tells Jean to hold down the fort if he’s gone…
and if he never comes back.
Meanwhile, in Egypt,
Apocalypse teleports back into the main underground chamber we saw the
X-Men in in “Dark Horizon” via the Eye
of Ages. He activates some stuff inside it, and a HUGE pyramid
rises up
out of the ground, with the Sphinx on top of it. Heh. Apocalypse then touches
some device in the Eye of Ages that turns him into… COMIC-ACCURATE APOCALYPSE!
Well… almost. He’s got a few minor differences, like light blue electric
lines running over his body, and no stupid A on his belt. (Instead, there’s
the Egyptian sign for Apocalypse there- nice touch.)
At about this time,
Xavier and Storm arrive at the Sphinx via the Blackbird, and get out. Xavier
puts on Cerebro interface headgear, which sends signals back to Cerebro
at the Mansion so that they can see what’s going on. Xavier then sends
a mental prodding, via his enhanced mental abilities, to Apocalypse, who
floats out. Predictably, Xavier tries to convince Apocalypse that this
isn’t way to do things, but to no avail. Apocalypse takes Xavier and Storm
and does the same thing to them that he did to Magneto. Oops.
The students see what
happens back at the Xavier Mansion, and Jean runs out of the room, weeping.
Scott tries to comfort her, and is met with minimal success.
Meanwhile, a S.H.I.E.L.D.
helicopter lands outside the Mansion, and Nick Fury walks out of it. He’s
“greeted” by Wolverine, who tells him that they’re a tad busy at the moment.
Fury says that he knows- he’s been watching. He tells Logan that the X-Men
CANNOT retaliate against Apocalypse immediately, though- S.H.I.E.L.D. has
got a few plans of his own, and having other Mutants there would just complicate
matters. Fury tells Beast to call up camera feed from outside the Sphinx
pyramid, and we see three Sentinels making their way towards it. Logan
is furious at Fury (heheh) for bringing back the Sentinel program, but
Fury says that it wasn’t his choice. However, they should be able to do
their job.
The Sentinels start
shooting at the pyramid, and out floats Apocalypse, again. He transforms
an arm into a plasma gun and shoots at one of the Sentinels, but it deflects
off them. The Sentinels shoot back, knocking Apocalypse to the ground.
‘Poccy gets mad and flies up and INTO one of the Sentinels. Somehow, he
takes control of it, and the Sentinel starts firing into the other two
Sentinels.
Beast turns back to
Fury and asks him if THIS was his best defense!? Nick Fury replies that
actually, they’re just distractions. He tells Hank to call up images of
the three domes, and he does. Sentinels are gathering at all of the domes
and starting to fire on them. Fury tells him that the Sentinels actually
have some slight modifications made- their flak cannons are now equipped
with atomic subdividers, which should destabilize the dome force fields
after enough hits, bringing them down. Beast is impressed, but Wolverine
says that he KNOWS it’s not going to be that easy…
Meanwhile, Apocalypse
finishes dealing with the other two Sentinels, and destroys the one he’s
in. He gets mind flashes of the other three domes, though, with the Sentinels
attacking them. He activates four pillars inside the Sphinx pyramid, and
out of the pillars come… Xavier, Storm, Mystique, and Magneto! However,
they’ve got the same electric blue lines running through them that Apocalypse
does, and their eyes are glowing green with black bands surrounding them.
Oh, and Xavier can walk. They walk out of the pyramid, and the X-Men are,
obviously, shocked at what they see. Apocalypse tells his “four horsemen”
that they are needed. Out of four horse engravings in the stone, four ethereal
horses come out, and the Horsemen get on them and ride to their destinations.
Xavier goes to the dome
in Egypt and starts taking out the Sentinels via some new powers of his.
Namely, he can create psychic energy blades (think Psylocke), and he can
also use telekinesis, like Jean. Storm goes to the dome in China and creates
a huge tornado which starts to rip apart some of the Sentinels. Magneto
rides to the dome in Mexico and starts tearing apart the Sentinels via
his powers. Mystique… well, she hangs out around the main Sphinx pyramid,
for some reason.
Nick Fury sadly turns
to the X-Men and tells them that it doesn’t look like the Sentinels are
going to make it… so they’re his last resort. Logan tells Fury that he’s
already way ahead of them. He tells Shadowcat to go and see if she can
recruit any Brotherhood members to participate in this. Nightcrawler is
supposed to go and find Spyke, while Jean and Scott are to round up “anyone
else they can”. He tells Rogue that he has a special mission for her, though…
So, Shadowcat goes over
to the Brotherhood house and tells them the situation. Avalanche and the
boys decline, though- after seeing what Apocalypse did to Magneto, they
sure as heck don’t want to get involved. Let the world become Mutants,
it’s no biggie to them. Wanda refuses to stand by and just let things happen,
though, and comes with Kitty.
Meanwhile, the Sentinels
at least manage to partially succeed- all three domes manage to dissipate
around the pyramids before Xavier, Storm, and Magneto take them all down
at their respective locations. Beast has been watching the battles via
broadcast, though, and tells the others that make no mistake, the Horsemen’s
powers are greatly enhanced. They are in for the fight of their lives…
A short while later,
a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter lands down at each of the three dome sites. Coming
to face Xavier are Jean Grey, Magma, Multiple, Colossus, and Boom Boom.
At the main pyramid, coming to face Mystique are Wolverine, Nightcrawler,
and Cyclops. Coming to face Storm are Beast, Berzerker, Iceman, and Spyke.
Finally, Shadowcat, Sunspot, the Scarlet Witch, Havok, and Angel are going
to face Magneto.
To be continued…
Last Words: This episode certainly left me counting down the days ‘till the next ep. Awesome storytelling, excellent dialogue, and some great surprises as well. However, I also expected, with all honesty, the ranks to be beefed up a tad. Wouldn’t Forge want to get it on this too? Heck, what about Mastermind, Gambit, or Pyro, if it meant stopping Apocalypse? Destiny would also be a big help, as she could predict upcoming events. Other than this, though, this was pretty much a perfect ep, well-orchestrated. I couldn’t wait for next week’s conclusion! No, really. I COULDN'T. WAIT. Definitely one of Evolution's highlights.
Overall Rating: 10/10 …Wow.