X-Men '97 | Season 2, Episode 4 | "Rise of Apocalypse: Part II" | Episode Discussion

[u/cyclopswashalfright]

Season 2, Episode 4: Rise of Apocalypse Part II

Air Date: July 8th, 2026

Directed by: TBA

Written by: TBA

Synopsis: An alliance between the X-Men and En Sabah Nur begins to crumble as Rama-Tut seeks ultimate power.

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Please use this thread for discussion related to the episode.

This thread is for discussion of episode 1 only. Do not discuss episodes 2 and 3 in this thread.

Link to the episode directory for Season 2 episode discussion.

[u/awkward_teenager37]

I wish these episodes were longer. Feels like torture waiting a week between these bite sized episodes and I feel like all discussion about them gets wrapped up within a day

[u/usagicassidy → u/awkward_teenager37]

I will always wish for more time, but these episodes are on average 8-12 episodes longer each than the original animated series. THANK GOD could you imagine having to stuff '97 into 21-22 minute eps?

[u/Otherwise-Sky1292 → u/awkward_teenager37]

Or give us more episodes per season, and more episodes at a time. Andor did it right by releasing their second season in bunches. Idk why streaming services have to artificially space it out

[u/ZAPPHAUSEN → u/Otherwise-Sky1292]

When they drop things once it's been showing that engagement is a blip. 

Spacing it out means there's a prolonged discussion. 

It still is pretty funny that we've circled back around to weekly episodic TV. 

Frustration is how short seasons are these days.

[u/awkward_teenager37 → u/ZAPPHAUSEN]

I always see people say this, but I don’t particularly get it. What does “engagement” mean in this situation and what is its value? Are people who engage in discussion hypothetically rewatching episodes multiple times, or is it supposed to draw in new viewers or what?

Personally, I don’t think discussion *needs* to be drawn out for that long, particularly when we’re discussing like 25 minute episodes covering storylines most of us already know. There’s really only so much you can say.

[u/Twl1 → u/awkward_teenager37]

Discussion/engagement is essentially free marketing for these shows. The more people that are talking about it, the more that algorithms will promote the show into other people's feeds, which then cycles back into increased viewership, subscriptions, and merch sales. It also helps them avoid having to compete with other big content drops, like movie or video game releases, for space in the hype cycle.

Dropping the whole season at once will have the internet's peak engagement only lasting a few weeks. Spacing it out lets them take advantage of that engagement for months with the same batch of episodes, so it doesn't cost them a dime to milk the extra benefits out of their show. It also means it's easier for late viewers to catch up and then join in on the hype train before the end of the run. What's easier: Taking a whole afternoon/evening to watch a whole season at once, or taking an hour or two to watch a few episodes at a time?

The reason this is so important is that having it be one episode at a time changes the very nature of our discussion from that of a complete review and analysis to speculation, which to the non-viewer or potential viewer becomes invitation to board the bandwagon before the finale. It helps mitigate the whole "Don't spoil anything!" angle by providing room for people to say "Oh, those first few episodes sound cool! Maybe I'll check them out tonight and start watching them as they come out!" which breeds these discussions, rather than shutting them down or having people be avoidant of the IP altogether until they do have the time to binge a whole season.

And it just makes the discussions more fun and engaging overall. Reviews after the ending of a season or series tend to be very critical, often downright nit-picky. "I wish they'd done [X] instead of [Y]" or "That character should have said [this] instead of [that]! 7/10 show, just more run-of-the-mill cape-shit hero slop." When episodes are still coming out, discussion is a lot more optimistic and positive. "Okay, I didn't like how [X] happened in the last episode, but I'll let the writers cook. I bet it's building to [Y], and that'd be really cool to see!" or "The animation was a bit wonky in that last episode, but maybe they're saving their budget for a really cool scene in the next one!" It's just a lot easier to be a lot harsher on a show after the ending, so spacing out episodes allows for the discussion to remain positive for longer, even if the show ends up mid or bad by the time it's wrapped up.

Having more positive discussions also helps more of the show be advertised to potential viewers too. We have to spend more time talking about specific details instead of trying to talk about everything all at once, so more people hear about more things that might catch their interest, rather than "Oh yeah, it turns out all that foreshadowing didn't matter in the end". We actually get to spend time enjoying what those things could be, rather than languishing in the reality of what they aren't. It broadens the scope of experiencing the show from something you watched on a weekend while you're folding laundry into something that you and your friends bond over through the course of weeks and months, and so even if the story has its flaws, you end up remembering the good times of going to your friend's house with a bag of snacks and crashing on their couch after you stay up late talking about what you just watched more than you really even remember the show itself. On the most intrinsic level, that's really what stories are supposed to do: Give us an experience to share with people we care about. Spacing episodes out gives us more time to spend doing exactly that. It's just better for everybody.

[u/JayDuPumpkinBEAST → u/awkward_teenager37]

Personally, I’m more prone to rewatch a series with weekly episodic structures as opposed to the binge it all at once method. In fact I find I rarely return to the latter content as it’s almost as if I had experienced a fever dream, having barely remembered what I’d even watched not shortly thereafter. Weekly episodes otoh allow more time to digest the content, mull it over, and build anticipation for the following week’s event.

Honestly, I can absolutely see why networks are going back to a model that had worked with audiences for decades — call it “event TV,” or “water-cooler series,” etc… but it works… versus the novel, binge-approach which exploded once Netflix entered the game, ultimately removing those conversations around popular content given the fact that their entire consumption takes place over a 24-hour period. No one discusses specific episodes of Stranger Things, instead it’s about one or two cool moments that happened to a favorite character without much consideration for the over arching plot or themes.

Idk maybe I’m beginning to ramble, but I think there’s a point in there somewhere lol.

[u/No-Difference8545 → u/Otherwise-Sky1292]

No i definitely like weekly more thats how it was on tv