An aptly named episode, tolerance is extinction indeed, because you don't tolerate your neighbour, you don't tolerate your family, you don't tolerate your friends(well actually you do, but that's besides the point.) you accept them as fellow human beings.
Tolerance inherently implies that there is something to tolerate, as in there is an issue. A mutant's existence shouldn't bring forth tolerance, it should bring forth acceptance. It is when tolerance comes into picture when the problem happens.
Because whatever you tolerate always has a breaking point, and that breaking point is arbitrarily set from person to person and when that breaking point is reached, that's when people go towards radicalization.
I also like how, even though this show is set in the nineties, it manages to make a statement on present day online radicalization by mentioning dial up message boards.
And it seems most of the people turned into prime sentinels volunteered to be there, even though bastion does leave out the finer details of what exactly he is doing to them and he does wipe their memory making them into sleeper agents that will kill mutants on command.
I see no real world parallels there.
And this episode finally gives us the backstory of bastion, an organic sentinel, who has been working his way up by talking to world governments and manipulating events and general mutant hatred to further his own agenda, again, NO REAL WORLD PARALLELS THERE!
It is revealed that bastion was born of the union of a man infected by Nimrod and a normal human woman, a sentinel that is born, and wants to convert all of humanity into prime sentinels as a means of survival via upgrade.
Creating a new master race that will usher in a utopia for humans by enslaving mutants, Xavier's dream came true, in a very twisted manner.
Much like mutants Bastion is simply a human with enhanced abilities who claims to care for regular humans as they are being "replaced" by mutants and then turns them into sleeper cells against their will.
It is interesting that Bastion makes a difference between humans and mutants, as master mold did not in the original series, he simply intended to replace Humanity in its entirety with a new master race, and that is what is happening exactly.
So Bastion is someone who fights against Mutants while in essence being on himself, also the reason he stated for causing Genoshia was to overload people's senses, resulting in apathy, because, bullying an underdog too much leads to sympathy, just like mutant acceptance went up after the "assassination' of Charles Xavier. However too much destruction and people just don't want to associate with it, it just becomes a number.
Again, NO REAL WORLD PARALLELS THERE.
You know what I like? This episode is layered deeply with social messaging and wider real world parallels and not a single one of those online trolls who claim that the MCU is trash because of social messaging and feminism and what not can speak a thing, because it is freaking amazing and entertaining as fuck.
Bastion reveals that Charles is alive and as usual William Stryker is on the case, making baseless claims as to how Xavier will bring the entire Shi'ar army here, only he uses much more... Colorful words... Shocker, an anti-mutant bigot is bigoted towards aliens.
We also see potentially the leader of the Friends of Humanity coming on a debate, showing the Media's oldest Logical Fallacy, Equal-Sideism, kind of the opposite of a preconceived Bias, where a reasonable and an unreasonable argument are given equal platform as if they are both Equally-Viable.(This is what lead to Anti-Vaxxers, I'm sorry guys, but Vaccine's don't cause Autism.)
And then OZT is set into motion, as every single prime sentinel is activated, leading to a three action scenes, one at the X mansion where wolverine and Nightcrawler fight a battery of prime sentinels to protect an unconscious rogue, one is a chase from a mall to the "fundraiser" for Genoshia set up by Roberto's mom, and the third is Cable, Scott and Jean escaping Bastion's home town which he turned completely into prime sentinels.
Seriously, this man uses every thing, thinks of every angle, even the murder of gyrich, which seemed to be a stereotypical bad guy doing bad guy thing moment, turned out to be a calculated move to frame the X-Men for supposed murder, again, in the court of public opinion a flimsy enough accusation, is enough.
And quite similarly the show wasted nothing as well, the techno organic virus that sinister used to infect cable and make him "perfect" as a baby is what is used by bastion to turn humans into sentinels, which seems to be the reason that he funded sinister to do that.
I love just how much interconnected this show is, even the random unrelated episode: Motendo, had a connection to storm, and simultaneously played a role to bring sunspot and Jubilee close together, which leads to sunspot telling his mother about his mutation and in turn revealing her true nature as to where she doesn't really care for mutants and shows a more soft form of bigotry, which again, is a problem.
And come on mom da Costa, I trusted you!!!
This scene where these two prime sentinels power down and act as authority figures here to "save" mutants, seems to be a comment on policy brutality and how do many people are just willing to stand by and let things happen simply because an authority figure told them so.
Speaking of terrible families however, we have an amazing family on the other side of the world where, Cable, Scott and Jean play the stand in for the perfect family with many religions parallels, such as in this scene, where Jean puts her arms in a T-pose(no this ain't a glitch, she ain't T-posing, I mean she is just not that kind of T-pose), and forms a Christ like image.
The father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Also, Jean tells Cable off and he give a typical teenager response.
They began this episode with Jean unsure of her memory and motherhood, and Scott and Cable having an estranged relationship, as Scott put it, a future so bad he came back to change it.
Speaking of which, his apparatus, shows a very T.V.A. like imagery of the sacred timeline and branches forming, even though it's not like that any longer...
Strange...
On a much stronger note, Dr. Strange is canon to this universe
as beast says...
That aside, this episode is jam packed with so much in thirty minutes and yet doesn't feel rushed at all, it's just very well and very efficiently done.
And what is the result of all the events, Ms. Cooper finally has a moment of clarity and releases Magneto, giving her thoughts on how people just feel a strange sense of Deja Vu and move on with their lives whoever something like Genoshia happens, but Magneto knows this, he understands humanity better than anyone else, even Charles, and he knows that humans know better, they simply choose the easier option.
And this, fed up with all this, Magneto goes to the magnetic North pole of the earth and releases the most powerful electro magnetic pulse ever, which travels planet wide shutting down all electronics and the prime Sentinels, who fall to the ground...
Question is, are they dead?
Cause trish is a prime Sentinel, and in the comics, her and beast get it on, yes that is my biggest concern, not the potential loss of millions of lives and a declaration of war by Magneto against humanity, Sex, Sex is the main concern.
But regardless if all the prime sentinels are dead or not, Magneto did declare war on all humans, as he does his best to prevent a repeat of Nazi Germany, which is a trauma that he has and the episode reminds us of as we see his concentration camp number tattoo as he is hung by his hands and feet, nearly naked and battered in another bit of religious imagery as he looks like Christ hung on a cross, which is deliberate, as he died trying to save as many Mutants as he can, and now is back, and uses his godlike power to stop the war finally.
Which by the way, why was Bastion keeping him alive? I presumed it was to make him into a prime Sentinel as well... But that doesn't seem to be the case... Unless it is, and he is a sleeper agent, and Bastion planned all this, and along with him, Cooper is also a sleeper agent... Two people trusted by the mutant community as they are their saviours in a sense.
Speaking of religion, the most religious X-Man namely Curt or Nightcrawler makes a profound statement on found family and the nature of memory, tying neatly into this shows theme of harmony and coexistence, and he also gets a scene where we see a first person view of his teleportation, and it seems like some sort of space warping, unlike an earlier explanation which was that he went along the Earth's Magnetic fields, allowing him to be stopped in days of future past by an EM field outside a truck that also blocks Jeans psychic abilities.
This first person teleport scene occurs when he is trying to protect rogue, I who it seems will be the key to bringing Magneto back from the brink as he declares a full on war against humans as she too will fight her own battles against the darkness that's building up inside of her.
And speaking of battles, the silver samurai is shown in the scene where magneto wipes the globe with an em pulse and this pulse that shute down all electronics also frees omega red from his prison and Spiderman witnesses this happen, while doctor doom and baron zemo are amongst the world leader bastion is in contact with, so it seems the X-Men will be facing far more threats moving forwards and the universe is indeed larger than just the x men, it has all the heroes in it.
Even the Sony ones it seems.
And the episode ends with Xavier finally coming to earth and delivering the iconic line...
This is the first part in a three parter finale so it will be interesting to see which way this goes.
