‘X-Men ’97’ Episode 4 Recap & Review: Welcome to the MojoVerse

Warning: Spoilers ahead for X-Men ’97 Episode 4.

After last week’s explosive and emotional episode, which left us with a new Jean Grey, aka Madelyne Pryor (Jennifer Hale), and Baby Nathan off to the future with Bishop (Isaac Robinson Smith), we now turn our attention to Jubilee (Holly Chou) celebrating her 18th birthday.

Excited to enter adulthood, the young mutant’s dream day quickly turns into a nightmare when she is sucked into a murderous video game. Will Jubilee be able to escape and enjoy her birthday? Will Magneto (Matthew Waterson) ever lighten up? Will Gambit (A.J. LoCascio) get more crop tops? All of this and more on an all-new episode of X-Men ’97 now available on Disney+.

Jubilee Takes Center Stage in X-Men ’97 Episode 4

We begin this episode at the X-mansion on Jubilee’s 18th birthday as the team discusses what to do for the special day over their morning coffees. Jubilee comes in excited to celebrate and offers to have the team go to the arcade, which Magneto quickly shuts down in favor of more training in the danger room.

Roberto (Gui Agustini) and an upset Jubilee go to her room, and she vents about having to deal with the X-Men all the time and just wanting one day to be a kid. While venting, the two discover a gaming system called Motendo, and thinking that it is a gift from Rogue (Lenore Zann), Jubilee starts the game, and it attacks them, pulling them into the virtual world.

Jubilee and Roberto wake up in the Motendo verse and are attacked by sentinels. The two fight them off and get away before being transported to Genosha prison camp and realizing they are trapped in the video game.

Mojo’s Favorite Show Is Always X-Men in ‘X-Men ’97’ Episode 4

We are then introduced to Mojo (David Errigo Jr.), a psycho-interdimensional alien TV producer who has trapped Jubilee and Roberto in this video game world based on Jubilee’s memories to feed off the energy generated by the ratings. 

Now trapped, Roberto and Jubilee begin their way through the game, which turns into a 2-bit graphic game. The two battle through the levels, including classic X-Men adventures such as Days of the Future Past, Savage Land, and Asteroid-M.

While making their way through the levels, Mojo discovers a bug in the system that interferes with his plans and gives Jubilee and Roberto extra lives.

Jubilee vs. the Master of Magnetism in ‘X-Men ’97’ Episode 4

On Astroid-M, Jubilee and Roberto encounter a boss battle in the form of Magneto. Magneto quickly takes out Roberto, and Jubilee is left alone to face the Master of Magnetism. Using her video game knowledge, Jubilee finds the patterns in Magneto’s attacks and beats him.

Jubilee finds an extra life and uses it to bring back Roberto. Magneto comes back, and just before they battle again, a giant hand comes to save Jubilee and Roberto and bring them into the gaming server.

The mysterious hero is revealed to be a digital replica of Jubilee, who Mojo created to test the game in its beta stage. Once Mojo destroyed the beta, Digital Jubilee managed to escape and was the bug in the Motendo system that helped them through the levels.

Mojo discovers them in the server and faces them for the final boss battle. Digital Jubilee uses her experience of the game to weaken Mojo quickly, and the two Jubilees combine their power to destroy Mojo and escape. Now out of the game and alive, a relieved Jubilee and Roberto share a kiss as the sparks fly.

What’s Next for Storm and Forge?

We then give Jubilee and Roberto some alone time and catch up with Storm and Forge (Gil Birmingham) in Texas. As Storm struggles to regain her powers, we find that she and Forge have grown close, having romantic dinners and horse rides together.

Forge explains that to reverse what the X-Cutioner (Lawrence Bayne) did to Storm; he needs to create a machine that can channel the inverted radiation. Forge thinks he’s found the answer to making it work, and they test it on Storm, but it fails.

While returning to work on the machine, Storm asks Forge why fixing her is so important to him. We learn that after the war, the defense department enlisted Forge to make weapons that could be used against mutants and that his designs are what the X-Cutioner used to take her powers.

Storm is disgusted by this and goes to leave before Forge confesses his love to her. Storm slaps him for making her a fool with his lies and rides off into a thunderstorm.

While riding, Storm sees something strange and is transported back to Forge’s house, where a giant owl monster confronts the two. The beast throws Forge across the room and captures Storm, telling her it feeds off of misery and calls itself the Adversary before lunging at her.

‘X-Men ’97’ Continues To Exceed Expectations

X-Men ‘97 Episode 4 is the perfect amount of drama and fun from the X-Men. The first half of this episode with Jubilee in the Motendo verse is pure fun and will surely bring a smile to everyone who grew up in the 90s playing the X-Men Nintendo and Game Boy games.

The second half of this episode has all the juicy drama that comes from these characters and gives the show more depth. This series continues to fire on all cylinders from the score, performances, writing, and production.

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