In Short

A substantial increase in quality from Seasons One and Two, Season Three of X-Men: Evolution sees the characters graduate from high school and really start dealing with a world that hates and fears them. Larger scale super villain threats outside of a high school setting make the show much more appealing to those who enjoy action scenes, and this season shows off some of much better character drama than either of the previous two Seasons.

The Good: Epic, world threatening events. Excellent character drama, especially involving Nightcrawler relying on his image inducer to pass as human after mutants are revealed. Wolverine’s cloned daughter, X-23, appearing in an episode by the same name, is surprisingly interesting and showcases the sorts of depravity present in the world that the X-Men fight against. The presence of mutants in politics is well done, and Principal Kelley makes a wonderful villain.

The Bad: Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, receives too much screen time for the narrow issue attached to her (being abandoned by her father). A mystery unfolds during the season that culminates with the release of Apocalypse, but lack of use of foreshadowing makes it difficult to understand what’s going on at times.

The Physical Thing

At $19.98 for 13 episodes on 2 discs, this collection solves all of the problems of the previous two Seasons. Six to seven episodes per disc is much more reasonable than 3 or 4, the case is higher quality, and the Season is inexpensive for the content provided. A simple menu with a “Play All” function provides adequate functionality. The extras, as with Season Two, are sadly lacking. Trivia, profiles on various mutants, and a discussion of X-23 (Wolverine’s daughter, who became a character in the comics after appearing here) are all provided.

My Take

At the start of this season the Institute has been destroyed, mutants are a constant topic on TV, fear and hysteria are spreading, Professor Xavier is missing, and evil mutants are rampaging. From this fantastic start the series becomes notably darker. At school the characters have to deal with the fear and hatred of their students, often expressed as bullying and derisive comments. Principle Kelley orchestrates dangerous situations and tries to make the mutant kids look even worse, all in an attempt to call even more attention to the mutant menace. Nightcrawler suffers. He doesn’t want to give up his image inducer, which allows him to appear human. Unlike the other kids, he’s strangely deformed and has already lived in fear of mobs.

All of the episodes here have a darker theme, often calling attention to the worst human nature has to offer. In X-23 we see a clone of Wolverine who, as a 12 year old girl, was put through the Weapon X process after having been trained to be a soldier from birth. In “The Toad, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” we see Magneto have his own daughter’s memories of abuse radically altered through mental control. The season finale involves Apocalypse, perhaps the most powerful mutant to have ever lived, being freed from a millennia of confinement.

The only dud here is one episode that involves the characters on a Caribbean Cruise. The entire episode suffers from poor structure, no overall theme, and is instantly forgettable. I think the writers were striving for some levity after many dark moments, but the episode is far too silly and disorganized. Nevertheless, one weak episode among 12 other excellent ones is a small flaw.

If you’ve made it through Seasons One and Two then you absolutely want to watch this Season. While it does end with a cliffhanger, the Season as a whole is far superior to the previous two and makes working through some of the bad episodes ultimately worthwhile.