Episode #44 - Impact
Original Airdate August 30th, 2002

With Apocalypse now resurrected, Magneto attacks, promising that one of them will not survive...

Credits
Written By: Greg Johnson
Directed By: Gary Graham (II)
Music Composed By: William Anderson
Guest Starring: Pauline Newstone as Agatha Harkness

Review: With the final seconds of Dark Horizons playing out as they did, we were finally getting somewhere with the story that had been nearly 2 seasons in the making, ladies and gentlemen, we now have Apocalypse. To be honest, I was actually really looking forward to seeing another villain brought in at this point. Sure, we’d had one shots, like Juggernaut, but everyone else was pretty much a member of whatever organisation/group and pure villains were getting rarer and rarer. It’s sad to see Mr. Sinister never appeared, but eh, no use crying over spilt milk…

The episode in question is a belter, not doubt about it. I love the arcs style of storytelling, with each episode providing a story but branching into a bigger one throughout the season. To be honest, a lot of this season is one shots and sends off to characters we’ve spent three seasons worth of watching, and oddly enough, introduction episodes that were setting up new arcs but unfortunately went nowhere. It’s an odd season to be sure, and it was basically only here to give the show a send off and get the series up to the magical 52-episode mark.

As with most Apocalypse episodes, the man himself barely appears here, but he’s not needed, only the aura of his threat and how everyone was now dealing with the new big bad in town. The aftermath of this episode was certainly interesting, as the only two villains were killed off in this episode, leaving us with a shattered group of Acolytes and The Brotherhood, who hadn’t been portrayed as villains in a long time. It was defiantly a great opportunity to do something a little different, and the chance was defiantly taken, as early as the next episode with the excellent No Good Deed. Truth be told, this was easily my favourite season of the show. The episodes were so much more fun for whatever reason, and there are no real stinkers to be found, just great episodes of a great cartoon.

Magneto attempting to destroy the orb around the Pyramid was filled with some outstanding visuals. There’s just something so indescribably cool about him bringing satellites down from space and sending them crashing into the sphere. Equally impressive was Apocalypse’s utter annihilation of the Master Of Magnetism, as he effortlessly ‘killed’ him without thinking twice. The real sense of excitement kicks in, as he returns to his orb, looking at Xavier as if he is absolutely worthless, nothing to the great En San Enhur.

Many people were shocked by Rogue’s actions in the final scene, but I actually saw it coming. I couldn’t help but sigh at the revelation that “only Rogue” can perform the task, cause seriously, in this show, who else was it going to be? If Rogue wasn’t there, The X-Men would’ve probably all be dead by the 2nd season finale. It was always Rogue who could do what no one else could! Truth be told, I found the scene to be very well done, as she doesn’t push her until the last possible section, but I couldn’t help but snigger as Kurt screamed “Nooo!!!” and still sounded castrated even in super slow motion!

Don’t let an annoying voice actor fool you though, this episode was pure class right the way through, and left me thoroughly looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season would play out!