The Reel Rejects - X-MEN '97 1x06 Breakdown & Review

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Starting point is 00:01:26 Message privately with everyone. This video is brought to by Astoprobe. Coy, my friend, my sick, sick, poor friend. Are you ready? Let us, ironically, life death, two for COVID, take two. All right, buddy, let's do it. All right, another solid episode of X-Men, where a woman gets transformed and gets a new hairdo. That's usually what you got to do, right?

Starting point is 00:01:58 When a woman goes through an emotional arc That's one of my favorite tropes I didn't even think about it until right now When the transformation happens Then the hair changes and everything I love it You look great though Real life, that's true

Starting point is 00:02:13 Sometimes a breakup leads to a haircut I've been through it I know a lot of women do it, it's great I'll usually shave my head entirely That's my way Metamorphosis You're a phoenix from the ashes Greg It makes sense

Starting point is 00:02:24 There is a Phoenix It makes sense Coy there's so many things that happened in this episode um what is the first thing that you want to talk about you you take the lead on here um i'm so impressed at the dichotomy between space and its infinite void and the vast openness of the desert both feeling like they fit together like there's always this interesting you know we use star wars and desert and we have like these vast hundreds and it was really cool in an animated series to see that land because i felt like it was really emotionally transiting and i and i really like

Starting point is 00:02:57 those transitions between the two sets of relationships and how the birth of the forged storm relationship felt like it really was rocky and this episode was that growing and then the charles's grand return immediately going into the growth of their relationship and all of the monologues felt like they were serving their greater character and i love the through line of teaching someone to walk teaching someone they have to do with themselves walk on your own like there was a lot of walking visual metaphor and also half the monologues were about walking and then charles having to leave behind the legs that have allowed him to walk like he has to abandon his assistance he has to take his own advice and walk on his own and that was such a beautiful landing and i i just the storm uh

Starting point is 00:03:38 you know she flew again and that there's just these amazing transformations and it just felt so strong like it was such an empowering episode it's a power an episode yeah i agree a lot of great monologues too throughout i loved uh Xavier's final monologue at the end when he when he has the she are in the classroom as well because both of these storylines the duality that well not actually duality but the dueling storylines uh dealt so much with them both having to accept how they how they really feel you know and i really like how it was like storm was more of like the obvious set up trajectory one that is still cathartic that by the time she does get her powers you really feel that and to have like this joyous flying sequence and for her to accept who she is and her strengths

Starting point is 00:04:26 kind of it's pretty like spider man too toby mcguire to say you know of like no i'm still like a a strong human being and i don't need my powers for strength i have the resilience in me and i still have an inner strength and then the physical strength the powers is an extension of her and so i loved seeing that illustrated and for charles uh to be in this dichotomy. It was a fascinating one. Going off of, you know, with my memory of what happens in the animated show, the original, when Charles and her fall in love, it is very like grandiose and soap opery, but it does kind of just feel like it's more of a psychic connection mumbo-jumbo thing, not really a true love story. That was like the way how I

Starting point is 00:05:20 I felt about it. Like, I remember when it got introduced and then they, they've said they love each other. They feel the love. I guess so. Yeah, I have a love. I have a subtext, I guess. Yeah. They said it.

Starting point is 00:05:32 So sure. And I thought what this episode did really well was demonstrate their love and where I could feel how, how much of a conflict it was for Charles of which way do I choose? So I sacrifice my, because that's what was really boiling down to, right? is not just do I go return to my X-Men or do I rule here with this Shiar and you know fight the Cree and whatever it was really do I give up the love of my life or do I go back to my X-Men and before if it was just the animated it's the original I honestly would have been like just go back to your X-Men but you've loved them this love doesn't feel I don't really feel this love but I actually thought they didn't I thought they did a really good job there on selling

Starting point is 00:06:19 I bought into it significantly more here. In one episode. Yeah, than I did in the prior ones. And, you know, there is also the aid of passage of time from graduation day to where we are now, to being like, all right, well, I don't know what romance has happened with them in the past year. But in the dialogue, you did feel the weight of time. It didn't feel like we just caught back on. And I do, I already gave Charlie some love, but Charlie's been such a fan of X-Men for so long,

Starting point is 00:06:49 and she loves the weird connections between characters, and I think this was a great showcase of that. She showed how well, because I think this is the first episode, I've seen her as head writer, and the way she was able to show the Shiar's tactical minds while showing love between Charles and Lelondra, mixed with Lelondra and Death Bird feeling like betrayal was always going to happen.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Like, there was just so much history, and it was 30 minutes. And then that wasn't even a, this was the opposite of Life, Death One, where it felt like these two stories enhanced each other. Whereas I, and Life Death One, I was like, Jubilee Arcade episode. I wanted those as two, whereas this one wouldn't feel whole without the other one. And I think that was a really beautiful part two, because now I want to rewatch Life Death Part 1 into this one.

Starting point is 00:07:36 And that's what I wanted out of it. I immediately reread Life Death Part 1, the comic, which had come out six months before Part 2. This has that same like, grr. So this stuck the landing in a way that now I'm like, okay, every episode keeps building and building, building and building, because the last episode was so relentless. I was so worried this one would be like, all right, back to the cow poaks.

Starting point is 00:07:55 And it wasn't. We went to space. We brought Charles back. The storm moment delivered. This was such an impressive feat. It really was. It really was. And I love how it both storylines end with, because they're having this trajectory of struggle.

Starting point is 00:08:12 And then they get to this place of acceptance and strength and self-empowerment on their choices and then it ends with both of them realizing the tragedy that they were not present for you know and knowing who these characters are are a storm and professor x they're immediately you know that running through their head must be if only i was there if only i have my powers there if they're experiencing at the same moments theoretically the way you feel that chronology yeah yeah and i got to give it up to this uh because You know, like the Dark Phoenix storyline, that is a comic from that I actually have read, but also like revisiting in the show and watching, you know, like the cosmic politics of it all, for some reason I'm not really that drawn to it sometimes when it comes to when it comes to the medium of television or sometimes even a movie. It depends on it.

Starting point is 00:09:13 But I remember specifically with the X-Men animated series, I'm like, yeah, I like it, but I don't, it's not particularly my flavor, the way how it's being adapted. Whereas here, I actually found myself really buying into the stakes because I think they did a great job at intertwining the immediacy of making it feel really personal. I know I'll get pushback for that with like, what are you talking about? They have like Gene Gray and the Phoenix storyline and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How you felt, though. Yeah, yeah, that is just my feelings on the matter. And it's, and maybe because I'm not, there's like the Phoenix storyline, there's also a sense of familiarity because I was aware.

Starting point is 00:09:48 They've only done it twice in live action in 12 years. There's also a live action storylines, but they're not the most accurate, but here I was like, I don't know what's going to happen. This is really unexpected to me. I have no idea where this is going to go. I mean, obviously Charles has to eventually return, but it's the manner and how they decide to go back to it, which I thought brought a lot of stern. because so much is like falling apart and you know the like charles is in such contemplation throughout this episode of are they really fine without me you know like i know they some they have to learn to walk on their own obviously but are they really fine and as we saw in the last

Starting point is 00:10:24 episode they're not you know like even when it comes to like leaving scott as a leader like that's really in shambles right now yeah right now he's very big cyclops is righty he's about to get real messy and I think it's deserved like they've set them up to break and I think it's going to be interesting to see Charles come back and maybe not have his precious student be who he left and and will he feel that guilt of like I left them to walk on their own too soon and I really love that Charles got the return to my X-Men line and Scott got the to me my X-Men line I love the play on that because it's usually Charles saying to me and my X-Men and it's him returning to his X-Men and that was just a fun little play with it because it is it's not his right now

Starting point is 00:11:06 Like he's got to go back and rebuild. Shout out to Ask the Pro for sponsoring us. So some fun facts about me. I've been seeing an E&T the past couple of months. Got a CT scan done for my allergies, and right now I'm trying to find time to get deviated septum surgery. So like many of you, I am someone who's tried pretty much every nasal spray you can think of. Because I have difficulty breathing through my nose,

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Starting point is 00:12:30 of nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and itchy nose due to allergies. Thank you again, Asapro sincerely. I really did love the poetry of this episode. I love the themes. I really love Storm's monologue at the end. Yeah, me too. Talking about like the demons being reflections of our fear and shame because... Did you catch that the bird's voice, I think, was hers?

Starting point is 00:12:50 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the first episode, I was like, oh, that's a really clever way to manipulate the audience to have a familiarity, but also like it's distorted enough. It was playful. Yeah. Well, the thing is, though, is... Um, I'm, I'm, I'm especially one of those people who's really under the belief that if you block anything, it, it actually blocks you from feeling like even happiness or like if you, if you block the fear and the shame, if you block, if you, if you push all these things down, these quote unquote demons that we have, that also if you build a wall to that, it also builds a wall to the other emotions that bring a more positive reaction within you, you know. and so I really like talking about like the poison and the hearts of how these things like they they are insidious they build up in you they're like it germinates and so uh throughout the years of everything storms dealt with like it's I really thought that that was actually quite powerful so much of what they talked about that was that was a true I thought they really earned the embrace of that it's like and and on his side forged the poison being like the lack of forgiveness and then him for his hurt forgiving him like dissolving it like obviously the cactus was the visual metaphor, but that being a rot

Starting point is 00:14:03 of him feeling responsible for her and then it's sustaining when she said like, you know, she forgives him and then him curing it when she's like, I love you. Like that was such a beautiful visual for that metaphor, the poison. A couple of little random tidbit notes. I find it really interesting how you know, so much of the, I think

Starting point is 00:14:21 the visual of X-Men animated is Wolverine. He's barely in this show. I think they should teach a class on the bravery of Marvel going. Hey, who's our most bankable guy? Remember, he's not the leader. Yeah, yeah. I think that's cool because I often don't think about it. Just for some reason, popped into my noggin right now. Yeah, he wasn't in this episode at all. And what a gift. It would have been Wolverine as the Gambit skull a hundred times out of a hundred.

Starting point is 00:14:48 Oh, yeah. If it was any other, like Marvel coming out and being like, yo, yo, Gambit earned that. Like, that's amazing. Yeah. And the other part, my one little criticism is, when it comes to this life death storyline i don't really buy into the romance between forge and storm it's really yeah i don't really buy it i get so back and forth that's one thing with these with the world of animated series of x-men as a whole is sometimes the romance storylines just sometimes i really buy into it and sometimes i really don't and to me this this was a part that i did feel was rushed and i thought like the weight of some of their exchanges would have been more felt like i think in isolation and a lot of the themes

Starting point is 00:15:35 that we were pointing out um obviously still hold weight and are still strong i just think the impact of it would have been even a little stronger if i bought into the actual love of them other than being told like yeah they're in love okay look at them see it yeah like jean and madeline and scott feel more real and and magneto and rogue even feel more real than that and i was like there's such opportunity so i i agree with that yeah yeah But other than that, man, I thought it was another great episode. I'm really loving this show. You know, it's like, there's a reason why we make it work and why Koi is still puts forth his best effort in spite of Vegas.

Starting point is 00:16:14 In spite of COVID, he will still be here. Honestly, if this was, I mean, I love you, Hawkeye, but if this was Hawkeye. You've seen a lot of solo Gregor reactions here. The 98% Rotten Tomatoes is how your boy feels too. and he's here at midnight at 1 a.m. now wrapping out because I do think this is something I want to share and I'm like really enjoying you and I getting to share

Starting point is 00:16:36 our exposure to the show you've had more recently and the exposure to the comics that like like for example last week I was talking about the Krikoa saga which was like how they reinterpreted the E is for extinction. I had talked about the EIS for extinction stuff

Starting point is 00:16:52 at the beginning of our watches but I hadn't thought about it again. I was like oh the Grant Morrison new X-Men run like I think that's going to be important but the visuals reminded me so much for Kerkah last week that I completely forgot that the wild Sentinel wasn't like part of Kroa the storyline I was talking about the Tri-Sentanyl isn't even part of that but I was like okay it's got three heads it must

Starting point is 00:17:11 be the tricentanyl my brain was just enjoying all the visuals and it was so nice to like then go back and rereadies for extinction which they adapted beautifully and mixed in Krakow elements and I really love this show is allowing comic fans what Civil War did which is an important iconic story but remixed like it doesn't It doesn't feel like they're just animating one thing. So I think it's really been a cool treat for comic fans to feel like they did with X-Men 92, where it's like, oh, we're seeing that saga, but it's new-ish. And they're doing such a good job appeasing everyone that I haven't met anyone that I actually value the opinion of that doesn't like the show. Yeah, and if they don't, they're wrong.

Starting point is 00:17:49 And that's it. It's simple. Black and white. Two percent of these people don't need them. No, but it's usually there's like some, you know, just opinion people have. Like, it's not because they're bigots, some of them. But no, it's nice to hear this universal love and it's been deserved. Oh, man.

Starting point is 00:18:05 The amount of people that were clickbaiting with all that, you know, X-Men going, woke, it's already ruined. Where are you all now? Yeah. Didn't take down those videos, but scroll far enough down. Oh, look at you monetizing your, oh, this is great reviews. Yeah. Where did you all go? You know what?

Starting point is 00:18:27 I felt, I felt good about my YouTube growing. I started getting those people in my comments going like, keep blah blah blah's name out of your mouth. And I was like, I am growing a page because now I got haters. Yeah, there you go, buddy. There you go. Felt great. X men, go woke.

Starting point is 00:18:41 I'm a stay with you. Stay woke. You've been woke. Stay woke, X men. You've been woke since. 62. So many decades of me. Stay woke.

Starting point is 00:18:52 All righty. Well, guys, I had a fantastic time. What did you guys? think about this episode coy thank you for being here with me uh in spite of how you are currently feeling so thank you buddy and thank you to aneye for helping out too with all the setup and john too with helping out with set up so you guys rock additional help uh all right well let's close us out leave you guys leave you guys leave your thoughts down below on what y'all thought about this episode and subscribe click that bell keep a look out for our new x-men shirt and we will

Starting point is 00:19:26 catch you all very, very soon rejects.

The Reel Rejects - X-MEN '97 1x06 Breakdown & Review

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