There wasn’t a dry eye here at Sisters Assembled.
After a sort of ‘meh’ Episode 4, Episode 5 came with a vengeance. I would argue it actually is one of the best pieces of TV I’ve ever seen, nevermind the fact that it’s animated. The storytelling was amazing the entire episode but the last 5-10 minutes is where they get you, leaving the audience holding their breath as one horrible thing happens after another. While it’s difficult to form words to describe our feelings, we try our best during our full reactions episode, out now on your listening platform of choice or live in this blog post.
Scott and Jean – Trouble in Paradise
Episode 5 gave us an update on all our favorite love triangles. Scott and Jean continue to struggle to rebuild after finding out that Madelyne had replaced Jean and Scott had built an entire life with her. In the meantime, it appears Jean is becoming confused about some of her own feelings. Could X-Men’ 97 be gearing up to destroy one of the most iconic X-Men couples?
Let’s start by saying, both are in the wrong about different things. On Scott’s end, Jean discovers he shares a telepathic link with Madelyne and that he has continued to use it to talk with her. So while Jean definitely reacted to a few things out of Scott’s control, this was probably not one of his smarter moments. Not disclosing that he was still talking to the clone of her, the one he had a baby with and married, is definitely not going to help rebuild their relationship and Jean was rightfully upset.
Yet on the other end, Jean can’t continue to hold it against Scott that he was with Madelyne when she was quite literally a clone of her. Of course, our good friend Logan likely didn’t help this, as we see him tell Jean how he would always have just chosen her, implying Scott chose whatever version of her he could get and never cared if it was not actually her. After sharing a kiss with Logan, Jean sort of loses at Scott with this being part of the crux of her argument. Now the question from earlier is raised again on what is their fate? Could we actually see Logan get the girl? I think it’s unlikely, as Logan never actually ends up with Jean at any point in the comics. However, I wouldn’t be entirely shocked to see Logan used as a partial pawn in this until he and Scott go at, as Scott is bound to realize he, either purposefully or not, has been whispering a little in Jean’s ear. I don’t think fans should expect to see Scott and Jean on any sort of okay terms for the rest of this season, but I do expect to see more blowouts, with some involving Logan, as Scott discovers the possibility of Jean’s feelings changing.
Gambit x Rogue x Magneto Takes Center Stage
While so much happened throughout this episode, the main b-plot that drove a good portion of the episode was the love triangle between Gambit, Rogue, and Magneto. Naturally, you know I adore talking about this drama and this episode did clear some things up regarding not just where Rogue stands, but the history she and Magneto share.
Rogue shares with Gambit that she met Magneto originally when she had only just gotten her powers and was with Mystique. She was young and impressionable, and as far as I gathered, it seemed like there was a little bit of a strange power dynamic between the two. The two began to see each other, yet she left Magneto when she realized they both had too many demons to share together. Later, whenever they would see each other or interact, Magneto pretended the two of them never had shared a past. They were a fire that burned until they snuffed each other out.
While we all knew the strange vibes the two of them were giving off, it was still quite a shock to have Magneto ask her to be his queen on Genosha, essentially asking her to choose him permanently and leave Gambit and the X-Men in the dust. And with the way she talks to Gambit about her and Magneto’s history and the entire first part of the dance scene, you really do think she’s going to do it, all because she can touch him and can never touch Gambit. Yet, when she kisses Magneto and to summarize this in the nicest of ways, she realizes she doesn’t actually feel anything for him, she was just blinded by being able to have skin-on-skin contact. Now, that should be a win for us Gambit girls, as it implies Remy is the man she will choose because she has real feelings for him that go deeper than skin level. Of course, the episode had other ideas.
Cable Makes His Return
By now, Cable is arguably one of the most interesting characters we have seen in the show. We have seen his birth and his growth, along with being a parent of his own. And with the way this season has been going, it’s not too much of a surprise that he showed up right before a massive genecide. Cable should be seen as equal to time travel, just like Bishop, so when his character appears, you know there’s a strong likelihood that the events unfolding will either by undone or altered. Or at least if you’re me who is still mourning the loss of my favorite character in the show, it’s the biggest hope I have at the moment.
Cable’s appearance is important for not just the possiblity of this tragic event being undone, but also because he interacts directly with Madelyne, his mother. In what may be the final few moments of her life, Cable tries to warn her of the attack and she recognizes him, realizing her son Nathan does in fact live. It’s important this happens because it helps us see that the likelihood of Cable knowing his mother isn’t actually Jean Grey is much higher, but also that Madelyne gets closure regarding the fate of her son. If Madelyne is to perish, she did so knowing that Bishop taking her son into the future was the right call, which has to have been extremely validating for her, as the rest of her life fell apart.
The Fall of Genosha and the Perpetrator
At the end of this episode, beyond just the pain and sadness felt by viewers, another critical question began to rise: Who attacked Genosha? Who would do such a horrible thing and kill so many innocent people? There are three possibilities, each with their own reasons and all genuine possibilities.
The first is Gyrick, arguably one of the most anti-mutant characters that exists in the X-Men universe. He has used the Sentinels before to attack the mutants, so it wouldn’t be entirely shocking to see him do it once again. Gyrick hasn’t yet been in the reboot of the show, so it’s possible this is his way of making his official entrance. Every time he would use the Sentinels to attack, they would be upgraded with a new feature that makes them more difficult for the X-Men to destroy them. He may have finally hit the motherload with the mega-Sentinel that we saw drive the mutant genecide on Genosha.
The second is another mutant. As shocking as this sounds, another mutant might be trying to make a martyr out of the mutant race, just as Professor X’s ‘death’ did before. After he died, the mutant/human relationship shifted more positively, as the largest voice in the room for mutants was attacked and, to the public, later died from it. However, we see it even at the beginning of X-Men ’97, that not only is not everyone happy about it, but that this time of somewhat peace isn’t going to last. A martyr can only last for so long before something else happens. So could another mutant have decided to take the mutant cause into his own hands? Originally, there was no telling what exact mutant could have done this. But since the episode has been out, one user commented an interesting theory on one of our vidoes. Shoutout to brandonweary28 for suggesting Magneto might have been behind this attack, which could check out considering he’s trying so hard to play the hero. Let’s just say if this pans out, it would be actually insane.
The final possibility ties us back to what we know about the season as a whole. Mister Sinister is on paper as the villain of the season and so far, he has only appeared once in Episode 3. He also slightly fits into the bucket of a mutant who did this because although he isn’t officially a mutant, he believes in furthering the mutants scientifically, creating the next generation of mutant race. This is his whole driver behind constantly kidnapping Jean and Scott and also creating Madelyne. It’s possible he thinks the only way to further the mutants is by murdering a large number of them and starting again.
Those Final, Heartbreaking Moments
Words can’t describe the horror of the genecide on Genosha, but then the show had to go and twist the knife. We have lost two of our best, and yes, Magneto is one of the best. He is an omega level threat, who went out giving his life by trying to protect the Morlocks. While we always discuss the possiblity of Magneto switching back to his usual way of thinking, it was nothing but heartbreaking to see him do everything he could to save not just all the mutants, but then Gambit and Rogue when he knew he couldn’t do anything else. Our hearts broke to watch this villain turned hero, who was doing nothing but trying to fulfill his best friend’s wishes, perish. In all of this, though, we have to realize that someone has consistently been trying to take down Magneto, as we can’t forget that he was the target of the blast that stole Storm’s powers. While currently successful, as mentioned before, there’s a very low likelihood that the events of this episode will stick entirely, as it would be bold to kill off Magneto in a series where you already don’t have Xavier. It’s with true belief in which I say he will make his return and it will be with a vengeance.
Then we move onto one of the worst heartbreaks for me personally after coming out of Episode 5. You could say Gambit truly went out with a bang, as his sacrifice is what took down the mega Sentinal that had been attacking Genosha and had just killed Magneto. And while it already hurt so much, then the last few moments of the episode leaves us with Rogue holding Gambit’s body, telling him she can’t feel him and calling back to WandaVision with that horrible line. But as with Magneto, I strongly don’t believe this is the end for Gambit. For one, he is an original X-Man (in this series) and it would be quite bold of the show to kill him off 5 episodes into the reboot. The second point is that this attack as a whole has left the series without quite a few of their important characters, including Gambit. With all the directions they might want to go in the future, it would be quite shoehorning to leave all these characters completely sidelined. I do believe Gambit will return, although rumor has it he might come back as one of Apocalypse’s four horsemen. With this, we’ll get a Gambit back, just not quite the way I think we all expected. We’ll just have to keep an eye out in the next few episodes to see how this plays out.
The Watcher
The final thing I want to touch on is the fact the Watcher appeared throughout the episode. It is said that the Watcher appears when a univese is going through a Nexus event or is about to perish. While I don’t believe this specific universe is going to perish, the Nexus event portion should be the most concering for all viewers. I have spoken this entire blog post about undoing this event. However, if the Nexus event portion is played out, then it’s very possible it could never be undone. For reference, think about the fact that in What If? Season One, Dr. Strange could never avoid losing Christine, no matter what he did. New episodes will only either confirm or deny, but it’s important to keep this in mind as we continue to watch and also keep an eye on that sky to see if our buddy the Watcher appears again.
Image: “X-Men ’97 Episode 5”, Christian Bone, We Got This Covered
Sisters Assembled 