Episode #48 - Uprising
Original Airdate September 6th, 2003

When Mutant Hate crimes start in Bayville, Spyke returns to stop those commiting them.

Credits
Story By: Greg Johnson, Boyd Kirkland and Craig Kyle
Written By: Bob Forward
Directed By: Doug Murphy
Music Composed By: William Anderson

Review: With this season wrapping up a lot of the loose ends from previous seasons, now we are to see the return of Spyke, who is back and better than ever. Whilst I�ve no doubt that some Evo fans would be glad if he dropped off the face of the Earth in X-Treme Measures, I thought the character at least deserved a conclusion to his story but I couldn�t have predicted that he�d get a better send off than this.

The biggest theme in X-Men is the prejudice that comes with being a mutant. This was oddly absent throughout Evo (thank you once again Kids WB) but it�s done here, and it�s done oh so well. It�s pretty amazing how they could make an irritating character like Spyke and turn him into someone you�re rooting for in a single mere episode is truly a sign of great writing.

Whilst I was glad to see the prejudice theme incorporated into the episode, one can argue that they went a little overboard with it with the scene in the store. I find it difficult to believe that a handful of grown men would attack a little boy simply because he is green. The rest of the prejudice theme was done extremely well, particularly with the Morlocks who were simply looking for food. It�s hard to argue against Spyke when all he�s doing is defending a group of people looking for something to eat.

What really made me think about this episode is how easily they made Spyke so likeable, whereas before I always thought they were trying too hard to make him cool and it backfired completely. The skater boy attitude, the haircut, constantly showing his boxers and his hideous �hip� dialogue, they really went overboard with a lot of it. It seems getting him straight to the point made him all the more watchable. I apologise for the horrible pun, you�re right, that was below the belt.

I thought Duncan was used well here. Whilst he�s never been anything but a two-dimensional jerk, one does have to applaud the creative team here, he was exactly what the villain of the episode needed to be. Whilst I could�ve done without the proton packs (busting makes me feel good!) I thought that he made perfect sense in this episode. One must question why he was still wearing his Varsity jacket, but alas, pivotal things like this shouldn�t stop anyone a great episode like this.