Wolverine: The Lost Trail 1, first impressions [spoilers]

[Disclaimer: I’ve never seen any Wolverine films or read any comics. I have not relistened to last year’s Wolverine: The Long Night, so my series and genre knowledge are limited to a vague memory of that. Also, I am making no comparisons to Hugh Jackman; I’ve only seen in him in Kate and Leopold and Oklahoma.]

TL;DR: I admit that I started this with a certain amount of fatigue from last season, which as you may remember I did not enjoy very much. This started off way better than the last one — with a lot of Richard Armitage! Yay! As he is still the only reason I’m listening, this was a huge relief. His U.S. accent is sounding great here with some exceptions for the rhythm of speech. There’s so much of more of him — frankly, this is what I was expecting to be enchanted by last season and didn’t get. Richard Armitage has a fantastic growl! It’s a mild negative that these “New Orleans” characters sound Southern, but don’t really sound Louisiani-ish. Still, that’s a very distinctive (and hard to imitate) sound and they all sounded convincingly southern.

In terms of the episode: it’s well paced, and has a good overall trajectory. I wasn’t constantly watching the clock, and I thought that it (a) incorporated some actual emotion this time, as opposed to last season; and (b) set the arcs of those scenes up well in terms not only in terms of writing but atmosphere / aurally. It sets up an interesting (if basic) problem, and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be the constant fridging of last season. I’m — in contrast to my expectations — looking forward to more.

***

2.1: Among the Missing

The episode opens with a series of calls from Logan to Maureen (who we remember as a reference in 1.2). She isn’t answering — as he tells her he’s leaving Burns with Mallory, he’s in Japan, he’s back in the U.S. (Mallory left him in Thailand), and as she is not answering, he’s going to come to New Orleans to look for her.

After the cut, we hear a bar with zydeco music playing in the background. After an exchange between Burl (Willie Carpenter) and Marcus (Rodney Henry) about what Marcus should be doing in the bar, clearing tables and shucking oysters. We hear Logan faintly in the background, ever louder, until he breaks into the kitchen, scaring Burl and Marcus while looking for Maureen. We hear Logan growl, and Burl tells him to stop acting like “a damn animal.” They go out on the back porch for a drink — Burl gets a glass of bourbon and Logan says “just give me the bottle.” This is surprisingly funny.

Logan shares a picture — Burl recognizes the woman, not as “Maureen,” but as someone who’d sung in his establishment — “silenced the crowd” but working through some hurt. Burl doesn’t want to reveal her identity given Logan’s disruptive entrance / behavior. Logan notes that if he could track her her, so could “they,” but won’t give Burl any more specific information than that. He suggests Burl close up shop and leave town. Burl refuses; his place “helps people.”

Flashback: the last time Burl saw Maureen was about a month ago, when she was late and appeared as if she might be drug addicted. Burl offers to find a substitute, but Maureen (Rachael Holmes) insists; she “needs this.” In retrospect, Burl regrets letting her play. On stage, she performs a song she wrote called “Lost.” Her playing is clumsy. According to the song, what she’s lost is “the sense / to leave you behind.” She breaks off because she hears “whispering” (the audience is supportive; they want her to go on). She abandoned her guitar mid-song and left; Burl chased after her but she beat him to the parking lot and was gone.

Back in the present, Burl gives Logan Maureen’s guitar. “Do you play?” he asks. “Do I look like the kinda guy who plays?” Logan replies. As he gets ready to leave on a motorcycle, he’s approached by Marcus. Logan accuses him of eavesdropped on his conversation with Burl. Marcus says that whatever took Maureen also took his mama: they left, following the “whispering,” which is like “ghosts in your ears.”

It turns out that his Mama disappeared in their hometown, Rockville, a community of about thirty people that she started with both humans and mutants who “had each other’s backs” because she wanted it that way. She had “a green touch” which let her touch things and make them grow, wildly. Marcus is not a mutant, but he describes several others who were, noting that they’re all gone now. They all disappeared on the same day while he was selling chanterelles at a farmer’s market (cue conversation from nosy customer, a chef who wants to know where his source is). He gets a strange customer — something’s “off” about him; he has mutton chops that connect to his beard and is wearing a suit despite the heat. The weird customer holds a squalling baby, then calms it with an ice cube he produces from his palm. He overpays for the mushrooms but asks about the mutant community and a tour, claiming sympathy. Marcus doesn’t know how but next thing, they are there.

Bad weather is blowing in, and Marcus sees his mama barely through the rain: “It was like she was getting erased.” He could also hear the whispering — like every crazy wish he had was arguing with itself. A big branch brained him; after he woke from his unconscious spell. He was lying on the ground and his clothes were dry; it was like there hadn’t been any storm at all, but everyone from Rockville was gone — vanished, including his mother. He goes there now periodically to see if anyone’s returned. Marcus relates that the man never said his name, and had disappeared when he woke up.

Marcus wants to team up with Logan and figure out what happened. Logan refuses; dangerous people are following him and Maureen and “he’s not the hero” Marcus is looking for. He takes off on his motorcycle.

Cut to the sound of Marcus shucking oysters and being questioned by a woman with a light southern accent about Logan. Marcus denies having spoken to him (contradicting Burl). Then he tells a self-aggrandizing story; he challenged Logan with his oyster knife when Logan attacked Burl, but didn’t talk to him. I didn’t recognize the voice, but it is Agent Sally Pierce (who is being played by a different actress this season, Christina Bennett Lind). She notes that there’s a security camera in the parking lot and offers him the chance to rethink what he said about the previous night while she gets him a glass of iced tea.

To be continued. Continues here.

~ by Servetus on March 25, 2019.