Wolverine – 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Hideki arrogantly boasts on TV the location of the imprisoned Yukio, knowing that she’s contained in a large cuboid metal box with very thick walks and entrances covered by Vulcan-like cannons.  Logan wants to go take care of this problem but Koh reminds him of his agreement to assist Koh. Logan is annoyed with Koh’s putting revenge over his granddaughter but listens to the briefing on how “Hell Road” will take him straight to Dragon Palace. Unfortunately, it is filled with traps and none of the forces sent down that road have ever returned alive. Meanwhile, Yukio takes an opportunity to break free of her bonds when Hideki’s men fall asleep but Hideki arrives and shoots her with a dart before she can do anything.  He instructs his men to use the full-potent darts on Logan, which had successfully knocked Logan out in Japan.

Logan is spotted on the security cameras as he travels down isles of crushed cars astride a motorcycle.  He avoids the falling car traps so Hideki’s men open up with the Vulcan cannons. Logan uses any large scrap he can claw and slings it at the weapon emplacements, taking them all out.  Arriving at the abandoned warehouse and finding the special, metal room inside, Logan discovers that his claws can’t even scratch it.  However, he comes up with a plan using the ammunition from Vulcan cannon and causes enough damage to claw his way in. He takes out both thugs guarding the bound Yukio and frees her.  After she is sarcastic about his taking too long to reach her, she thanks him.  Logan sees one of the spent darts used on one of Hideki’s men as a demonstration and remembers its effects on him.

Word reaches Koh regarding Logan’s success and at the same time, word reaches Hideki, who is being fitted for his wedding suit after Mariko was fitted for her wedding kimono.  As Logan and Yukio travel on the motorcycle, she learns that Logan has met Koh.  As such, she expresses some irritation that Koh’s ambition lies in taking control of Madripoor from Hideki rather than avenging his son and daughter-in-law.  Koh had trained Yukio with all the skills she has now but when Yukio realized that Koh only wanted power and not revenge, she left.  Logan tells Yukio that he doesn’t care about her family business and as far as he’s concerned, she’s there to avenge her parents and he’s here to rescue Mariko.  With that, they arrive at the famed Hell Road and start the next phase of the journey.

Thoughts/Review:

I’m not really sure how Logan managed to get into that metal room where Yukio was trapped (and how convenient that it just happened to be there and equipped with computer equipment).  Wolverine’s claws are supposed to be able to cut through almost anything.  So, his claws couldn’t cut through whatever metal this was, but the explosion from several 20mm rounds is enough to do the trick?  The only thing I can think of that happened is that the rounds are supposed to be SAPHEI rounds (though this is never specified) and that the explosion heated the door enough to soften the metal and allow Logan to claw his way in.  However, that’s just a pure guess on my part as the episode doesn’t explain things (and doesn’t have the time to do so).

When Yukio freed herself, I was surprised that Hideki arrived to put her down again. At the same time, I expected Hideki to quite possibly show up again when Logan arrived to shoot him again with one of those darts.  He didn’t but then I suppose we have to wait for a confrontation between Logan and Hideki until the end of the series.  Anyway, I don’t know why Hideki looked so afraid when he shot one of his thugs with the dart.  A dying man that is rapidly turning into a withered corpse even as it flails around a bit doesn’t seem like anything to be afraid of.

Shigen’s prediction to Mariko of Logan’s arrival is certainly going to come true.  Hideki has been shown to be the normal, incompetent villain boss when dealing with the Wolverine problem.  No doubt he’ll die first (maybe Logan injects him with that toxin) and Logan will then kill Shigen.  Koh takes over as leader of the criminal empire of Madripoor and Mariko ends up taking over her father’s organization but with plans to make it a force for good with Yukio serving as a bodyguard.  That’s my prediction at least.

In the end, the episode was entertaining enough but there’s not much to comment on as things are pretty much action-oriented with only Yukio getting any decent character development.  Onto “Hell Road.”