Wolverine and the X-men(TV) - episode 9 - "Future X"

As predicted, the majority of this episode spends time with Professor X, showing us what the post apocalyptic future he's living in is like.  Before that though, we get both a "previously on" intro and then what seems to be a flashback of "Thieves Gambit" but turns out to actually be the Professor and Logan walking through his memory of the event together.  It's a pretty clever way to both reuse some footage and show the essential information for anyone who may have missed that episode.  They see a project called Master Mold on Bolivar Trask's computer and know it must be important.  Wolverine is going to bring the X-men back to the compound to investigate, and the professor will see what he can find out in the future too.

This is where we find out that up to this point, the professor has literally just been hanging out in the deserted mansion all alone in between the time that he's been contacting Logan.  I'm afraid to know what he's been eating.  He turns to a few books nearby to try to start researching when sentinels swoop in and capture him and Cerebro and bring them to a mutant prison camp.

The inhibitor collars we saw in "Thieves Gambit" are being used here in the future, but the professor does a quick telepathic mind trick on the captain of the guard and so he only thinks he turns the professor's collar on.  He calls him Captain Moss, and if that's a reference to a comics character, I'm unaware of it.  He does strongly resemble Ahab, but that's not his real name.  The professor is recognized by Bishop, who tells him that Wolverine gathered together the current generation of X-men and told him all about the professor.  Bishop is currently leading a group as Wolverine has disappeared, and they got themselves intentionally caught so they could help break other mutants out of the camp.  Among his group are Domino, sporting a different haircut, and Marrow, who is playing the plucky, rebellious young mutant for this team.

What's kind of silly about Marrow is that she's got the inhibitor collar on, but yet she's still got bones sticking out of her all over the place.  I say it's silly because there have been story lines in the comics where she got better control of her powers and was able to control her bone growths, so you would think that once her powers were gone, the bones would stop growing.  But I also know the point is to have a character design that will be consistent even after they break free here, so I guess they just decided those bones are there for now and she just can't grow more with the collar on.

As you might expect with the prison camp angle, there's a lot of cameos here.  There's Firestar going around with a great flaming hair design, Hellion who is referred to only by his real name Julian Keller,  Berzerker, the Vanisher, and Kamal, a minor Acolyte that I have to admit I had to look up because I didn't recognize him.  There was also a mutant who looked a lot like an alien, and I'm not sure if he was supposed to be someone or just that they wanted to draw a particularly odd looking mutant.

The Professor enlists Bishop's help to reclaim Cerebro, which the sentinels have put inside a tower that they also bring mutants into from time to time.  They find Julian inside, and realize that the sentinels are running tests on the mutants to learn how to adapt to their various powers.  The professor rescues Julian while Bishop takes on the sentinels, who are already adapting because they learn how to deflect his energy beams.  Deep in the compound, a machine that looks an awful lot like the robot version of Cerebro, but I'm pretty sure is supposed to be Master Mold, discovers that the professor is a telepath and wants him captured.  Apparently, there are no more telepaths left at this point in the timeline.  Unfortunately for Master Mold, the Professor, Bishop, Julian, and all the rest of the X-men are able to escape the compound with Cerebro.

The Wolverine subplot appears a couple times in the episode, but it's really just comic relief, as Scott continually teases Logan's methods of doing things, and Forge is super excited to see combat for the first time - to the point of covering himself in camouflage paint.  It's just a nice bit of humor to help break up the darkness of the future. Of the future crew, there's an interesting dynamic between Marrow and the Professor that reminds me highly of what they often did with Jubilee and him in the 90s, a conflict that you know will end up turning into respect in time.  I also like that even in the middle of all the danger in the tower, the professor is guiding and encouraging Julian to use his powers effectively.