The X-Men return to the Tohoku region and the U-Men are alerted to this.  Beast, assisted by Kyouko, begins vaccinating mutants and is stunned at how many there are, especially since Cerebro cannot detect them. Cyclops, Emma, and Hisako go investigate a report of a mountain bridge being destroyed, which would appear to be the work of Magnito except that he’s in prison.  Storm and Wolverine investigate reports of a river filled with dead fish and trace it to its source where the stench from gases coming from the ground is overpowering. Returning to Hisako’s family residence, the group discusses their findings. It is decided that the group will head to the center of the circle where everything seems to be happening and investigate further.

The X-Men take the SR-71 to the center of the circle when Emma is hit with telepathic noise. The controls of the aircraft fail and it is then shot down with an anti-aircraft missile. Making a successful crash landing, the X-Men walk away when the noise because audible to the others and the snow grabs their craft. The noise stops and Emma recovers as the U-Men then launch a direct assault. Despite only having one opponent, the mecha the U-Man is in is able to easily counter Cyclops, Wolverine, and Storm based on the collected data. Emma turns to diamond to deflect an attack from the mecha and Hisako uses her armor form to attack while Beast plants an explosive that drops the mecha’s defensive barrier, freeing Wolverine from his trap.

The X-Men renew their attack on the weakened mecha as Cyclops blasts it open, revealing the U-Man inside. The U-Man tries one more attack but Wolverine takes out the mecha’s legs and ends that. Beast sees that the U-Man has a portable device like Cerebro and is amazed that this mutant detector works. The U-Man tells the X-Men that there are worse things than mutants and self destructs. The X-Men are left wondering as Mastermind isn’t happy at the loss. The X-Men trek back in a blizzard when Wolverine smells someone and they find a luxury cabin. The woman there allows them to stay and as she serves tea, Hisako recognizes her as SASAKI Yui, her sensei from when she was a child. Hisako finds it odd that she’d forgotten about Sasaki-sensei when Xavier asked her when Sasaki-sensei was such an important part of her early life.

I’m not sure where the writers are going, but it seems to be in an interesting direction.  It made sense to me that the Tohoku area would be blocked from Xavier’s scans with Cerebro, especially if experiments are going on with mutants there.  I haven’t figured out how this toxic gas plays into things nor how the damaged bridge works into things though the implication is that mutants are doing this.  Hopefully, things become clear but at the moment, for some reason, I’m just not seeing where some of these elements are fitting into the larger picture.

Sasaski-sensei’s introduction may be an element to figuring things out.  It is odd that Hisako would not really remember Sasaki-sensei when Xavier asked about her but then when the X-Men are stranded at her cabin, suddenly Hisako remembers.  Why did Hisako forget?  Is Sasaki connected with the U-Men?  Or is Sasaki actually Mastermind in disguise?

Some other questions.  How did the U-Men get advanced noticed that the X-Men would be returning to Tohoku? What does Mastermind want?

While I find I don’t have a ton to say here for some reason, I did like this episode well enough.  I like seeing Emma and Hisako fitting in (though the story still hasn’t mentioned what Emma’s second power is so thanks to those who told me it is a diamond form).  Hopefully, future episodes will continue to put the pieces together for me and to be good both in terms of story and characters.