"Uprising"
Writer: Bob Forward
Director: Doug Murphy
Original Air Date: September 27, 2003
Introducing: Leech
Synopsis/Review: It’s nighttime in
Bayville. A news report is going on all over the place that a SECOND dome
like the one seen in “Impact” has appeared- this
time over a pyramid in China. A little boy- obviously a Mutant, from his
green scaly complexion- is watching the news report in an apartment, but
his mother comes in and turns it off, saying that she knows how much these
things upset him. As soon as his mother leaves, the boy turns the tube
back on and continues watching.
Skip over to a restaurant,
where the same television coverage is playing- people are saying how much
they’re beginning to despise Mutants, etc. An interiew is being held with
Duncan, who is now making his living as a miner. He talks about how bad
Mutants are, blah blah blah. An employee takes some leftover food out to
the trash bin in the back and dumps it, locking the bin before going back
inside. Once he’s gone, out comes Lucid. He uses his powers to see through
the lock, picks it, and takes the bag of food. He’s stopped, though, as
a bunch of anti-Mutant thugs spot him, and get ready to beat the stuffing
out of him. They’re stopped, though, by a couple of flaming bone arrows-
and down comes Spyke! He’s changed, though- LOTS. For one, his voice is
noticeably deeper. He’s slightly taller. He shoots not just bone arrows,
but FLAMING bone arrows. And, oh, yeah, 95% of his body above the waist
is covered in bone plates and spikes. Awesome. Anyways, he quickly dispatches
the thugs and sends them running. (Interestingly enough, though, one of
the thugs is one of those guys from Mexico in “Blind
Alley”- how’d HE get there?) Lucid just responds to Spyke that he was
just gathering some food, and Spyke tells Lucid not to worry- he’s not
blaming Lucid for anything. They go back down into the sewers.
The next day, Xavier
asks Beast if he’s uncovered anything else about the new dome in China.
Beast says that they’re not just domes, they’re spheres- they encase the
ground below the pyramids, too, so digging a way under isn’t going to work.
As if it were that easy. He also tells Xavier pretty much what we expected-
that both pyramids date back to about 3,000 B.C., about the time of Apocalypse’s
reign. Anything else besides that, Beast says, is unknown. They’ll just
have to wait and see. The Chinese military have evacuated everyone from
the province around the new dome and have surrounded it. Since nothing
will be able to penetrate said dome, and only further damage can come from
this, Xavier responds that this will not be able to help the anti-Mutant
situation in the least…
Later that night, Magma
and Cannonball are walking out of the library. Sam’s complaining about
how long this project is going to take, since they’re not allowed to use
the Internet. But Magma responds that that’s pretty much the point. Duncan
and his crew are watching the Mutants from a parked jeep, though, and soon
enough, they get their excuse to go after them- one of Cannonball’s books
falls out of his hands, and in his hurry to get it, he shoots forward,
accidentally slamming into a building wall. It’s just a small hole, and
Amara comments that there goes Sam’s allowance for the next month, but
Duncan and his crew pull up. They’ll just extract Sam’s pay from his hide,
thank you very much. Spyke comes to the rescue, though, and Amara and Sam
run away (at Spyke’s behest) while he deals with Duncan- extremely easily.
Oh, and he also ruins Duncan’s car in the process, just ‘cause. Heheh.
Before he leaves, though, he kicks Duncan’s cell phone over to him, and
tells him to call up his friends, and let them know that the Mutants are
NOT going to be targets of discrimination any longer. Then he pops back
into the sewers, and Duncan angrily dials up the police.
Back at the Institute,
Magma and Cannonball have told Xavier about the earlier incident, and he’s
scanning for Spyke’s powers. He’s found him, and Storm volunteers to go
after him. Xavier responds with a negative, though, telling her that Spyke
is a rebellious teenager- it’s very unlikely that someone from his own
family will convince him to do anything. Much to Logan’s chagrin, Xavier
asks him to do it, since he’s Mr. Tough Guy and all. Logan agrees, but
he says don’t be surprised if he actually JOINS Spyke is taking out creeps
who deserve it, anyways…
Xavier gets a brief
mental message from Beast though, requesting that he come to the main console
room immediately. He does, and Beast shows him some dire news- the Chinese
have dropped a couple of bombs on the pyramid dome in their country- presumably
nuclear, although they don’t outright SAY it for obvious censorship reasons.
The dome was left standing, but everything else within a several-mile radius
from the blast zone has been leveled.
In S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters,
the door to Dr. Trask’s cell is opened. Nick Fury tells him about the pyramid
domes, and tells Trask that whatever danger these things may represent
to humanity, they’re going to need his help. Fury wants Trask to build
some more Sentinels to face whatever threat these domes may present in
the future. Trask smirks and nods.
Meanwhile, Logan finds
Spyke, and they have a little chat, with an understandably stiff edge to
it. Spyke refuses to stop what he’s doing, though, even after Logan tells
him that tensions are high with all that’s going on in the world and people
don’t need this right now. Spyke says that without him, the Morlocks wouldn’t
be able to survive in what the world has become. He’s their protector,
and he’s NOT going to just “stop”.
Later that night, Spyke
walks into a grocery store, and picks up some food. He takes it to the
counter, and asks how much. The grocerer says that he’s going to exercise
his right to refuse service, on the grounds that Spyke is “bothering” the
other customers by being there. Spyke angrily throws down the food basket
and leaves. However, the lady with the scaly-faced kid was in the store,
too, and another woman yanks the kid (who, for simplicity's sake,
I'm just going to tell you is Leech) away from her, angrily telling Spyke
to take this freak with him. The kid’s mother responds that he’s not a
Mutant- he’s… he’s just sick, that’s all. It’s a see-through lie, though,
and nobody buys it. They’re about to advance on Leech when Spyke intervenes,
blasts a hole in the wall of the grocery, and hurries the mom and her kid
out. He then picks up his fallen grocery basket and places the correct
amount of money on the cashier’s desk before leaving.
Stories of Anti-Mutant
protests continue to pour in, though, and both the Xavier Institute and
the Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House become surrounded by angry mobs,
held back by only a minimum amount of police officials.
Duncan and his friends
have HAD it with all these Mutant "shenanigans" themselves and get their
hands on some electricity-spouting device-thingies that they had been using
to mine earlier in the episode. “Let’s see how well their Mutant powers
will protect them from THIS…”
So, the next night,
Duncan and a bunch of other thugs go around in cars, zapping off the sewer
covers with their electrical guns and throwing explosives into them before
driving off. One comes dangerously close to wiping out the Morlock base,
and off goes Spyke to save the day. These guns present too much of a danger
to him, though, and he has to retreat. The news gets broadcast throughout
the area of a large group of guys hunting down Spyke, and one of the viewers
is Leech. Upon hearing Spyke’s name, Leech has a huge headache, and it
interrupts the television signal slightly. He gets up, though, and heads
out. His mother discovers his disappearance a few seconds later.
Spyke is soon helped
out by the Morlocks, and even some of the X-Men on top of that. Needless
to say, they’re easily able to drive Duncan and company back, and the police
arrive soon afterwards by helicopter. However, Duncan refuses to surrender
his weapon, spots an approaching Leech, and fires on him. Spyke sees the
guy fire and gets in front of the kid in time, but the electricity burst
hurts him quite a bit. Leech gets another headache and screams. This huge
energy wave pulsates out from him, and all the power in the entire city
goes out. Spyke’s powers, as well as the others’, also stop functioning.
Spyke, now without his bone plates, goes up to the kid to ask him how he’s
doing as his mother, who caught up with them after Leech screamed, leads
Leech out of there. The kid’s about to respond- as his headache is now
better- but his mother interrupts, telling Spyke that thanks to HIM, everyone
now knows that her son’s a Mutant! What chance does he have of living a
normal life now? Spyke sighs and responds that… there IS no chance. The
mother leads her son away as the police come onto the scene and take away
Duncan and his friends. The power also comes back on, as do the various
Mutant’s powers. Storm comes up to Evan and tells him that he doesn’t need
to go back with the Morlocks- he really should come back to the Institute.
Evan shakes his head, and tells her just what he told Logan- that the Morlocks
need a protector. Storm tells Evan that she IS proud of him, though, and
Evan smiles before disappearing back into the sewer.
Also, just as the mother
and her scaly-faced son are about to go back into their house, they see
Xavier wheel up to them. He tells the mother that he knows that this is
a difficult time for her, but there IS a place for her son. Whenever she
feels the need arises, the Xavier Institute is there, and would be happy
to provide for Leech. With that said, Xavier wheels away. End.
Last Words: This was, in my opinion, the best X-M:E episode yet, and that’s saying a lot. Absolutely perfect from beginning to end- the dialogue, the animation, the storyline, everything. The sheer hopelessness exhibited from the atmosphere of Spyke, the Morlocks, and Leech actually clouded my eyes at certain parts- it was THAT moving and well-put-together. The new Spyke also kicks as well. If you watch only one X-M:E episode, watch this one.
Overall Rating: 10/10 …Wow.