Warning: This review contains full spoilers for X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 8!
I have to wonder if it was the smartest idea for the X-Men '97 crew to telegraph the resurrection of Gambit (A.J. LoCascio). At the time, that stinger scene was a great way to cap off Season 1 and tease what was to come. But now that we've finally arrived at Season 2, is having that knowledge working against the show as it actually brings Gambit back into play? All I can say for sure is that something is missing in Episode 8. Gambit's resurrection doesn't pack quite the emotional punch his death did back in 2024.
Maybe part of the problem is that we don't get a great sense of what Apocalypse's (Ross Marquand) larger goals are here. The obvious assumption was that he was assembling his latest and greatest team of Horsemen with which to dominate the world, and Gambit was his Death. But there's no indication that En Sabah Nur has been gathering other minions. He simply revived Gambit and then turned into a desiccated monkey corpse for some reason. I suppose we're meant to assume his spirit now resides within Gambit? Whatever the case, now back among the living, that simply leaves Gambit to assemble his old posse of thieves and assassins and do… whatever it is Apocalypse wanted him to do.
Part of that seems to involve punishing Candra, the X-Ternal to whom the two guilds have been paying their tithes for all these years. In what is easily the most disappointing element of Episode 8, we learn that Apocalypse and Candra were former lovers, and the latter stole a piece of his power before forsaking him. That all of this backstory is conveyed through a brief, matter-of-fact flashback sequence does this episode no favors at all. The Apocalypse/Candra dynamic needed to be a lot more fleshed out than it is, particularly with the previous foreshadowing in Episode 4.
Not to mention that, if the series really wants to dig into the concept of Apocalypse having a long-lost lover, the character Genesis holds far more storytelling potential. We can only hope this show sticks around long enough to tackle a proper House of X/Krakoa adaptation.
None of this is to say that Episode 8 doesn't sink its emotional hooks at times. While the long-awaited reunion between Rogue (Lenore Zann) and Gambit isn't quite what I hoped for, the two characters do have some strong scenes together. Rogue's opening nightmare is a strong start to the episode, and her entrance into Gambit and Xavier's (Marquand) psychic battle also stands out as one of the better moments of the episode. But again, too often throughout "Dead Man's Hand," I was left with the feeling that something is missing.
It's telling that I wound up finding more weight in the Summers family drama than Gambit's return. Episode 8 makes the most of the fleeting alliance between the X-Men and Cable's (Chris Potter) team, along with all the awkwardness that comes from father and mother being reunited with their now much older son. That plays right into Cable's more ruthless nature and his struggle to still be the man his parents (briefly) raised him to be. The Summers family tree is so stupid and so convoluted, but somehow this series makes us care about all of it.
It's also fun seeing the X-Men fully reunited after spending nearly all the season split into different camps. There's a small part of my fanboy brain that dislikes seeing the team simultaneously decked out in a mixture of classic '80s costumes and more modern New X-Men suits, but I'll allow it. In what is definitely the highlight of Episode 8, we see the combined might of the X-Men and X-Force take on Gambit's forces, only to get absolutely wrecked by Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough). It's a blast seeing what happens when this normally benevolent hero finally cuts loose.
"Dead Man's Hand" certainly has its moments, but this episode doesn't come together as well as I would've liked. And that's a little worrisome now that we only have one chapter left in Season 2. The show has an awful lot of ground to cover in terms of reestablishing Apocalypse in the present and orchestrating this final showdown between rival mutant teams. As strong as Season 2 has generally been, it would be a huge shame for it to collapse at the finish line.
