The most interesting thing about this issue is that Gillen lets us see a glimpse of an older (or, I guess, technically, younger) version of Scott, a guy who believes that a school could teach his cellmate to learn how to use his gifts and a somewhat implicit belief that he would use those powers for good rather than evil. It seems unlikely that his cellmate has any intention to be a good guy, but it's a revealing moment of naiveté on Scott's part. It implies that he hasn't forgotten all the lessons that Xavier taught him, that at least the goal of helping mutants understand their powers is worthwhile, even if he's less enthused about the "co-existing with humanity" part of Xavier's dream. I wonder if it suggests his next act, forming a school with possibly a less "accommodationist," if you will, approach to educating mutants. In the meantime, however, he hasn't gotten there yet, since we still see him preferring to die as a martyr than escaping and doing something else with his life. But, this glimpse into the old Scott definitely makes me anxious to see where we find him at the end of this mini-series.
The rest of this issue shows us a variety of small moments involving several characters. The most notable one to me was Hope trying to assimilate into a normal life. I loved how Gillen framed it as a letter that Hope writes to Laurie, since it serves as a touching tribute to the cast of "Generation Hope." I feel like it's pretty clear that Hope is less annoyingly rage-filled than she was now that she has the Phoenix burden off her shoulders, so it's nice to see her making amends with Laurie. Gillen seems to be reminding us that this generation of mutants will take over the X-Men one day and is doing his part in keeping their group dynamics alive. I'm also interested in where he goes with the Cable sub-plot. I'm actually not sure what happened to Cable after the events of "Second Coming" (and why he's still alive) and I'm still curious why he didn't play any role in "Avengers vs. X-Men." I guess we'll learn more in the next two issues.
All in all, it's another strong issue that continues to flesh out Cyclops and hints at his future while at the same time wrapping up some Hope-related loose ends. I really can't ask for more than that.
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