The Reel Rejects - X-MEN '97 Season 2 Episode 8 REVIEW – ROGUE’S WORST NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring this video. More on them in just a bit. Guys, I'm interrupting this video because maybe you didn't get the memo. But this Saturday, August 8th, I'm going to be hosting a panel of the media nights, their first ever live event. I'm also going to be hosting the Heroes Reforge panel afterwards. And I'm going to be doing a panel with my brother, Jabby Kauai from SinaPals afterwards. Where's this panel at?

Starting point is 00:00:20 It's at Multicon, LA, August 8th Saturday. You can get your tickets in the link in the description box. All proceeds. All right. Dicket. But goes to run. directly to mental health causes to charities. And plus you get to say hi to us and hang out and take photos if you want or whatever the heck you want to do.

Starting point is 00:00:37 Anyway, let's go back to that video. But link in the description box and pin common. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have just watched X-Men 97. Is this the penultimate? Pen-ultimate episode 8 of 9. What a weird number. It's usually 10, but it's 9. So 8 of 9.

Starting point is 00:00:53 It's either 8 or 10 or 6. 9. I think like cut 1. It feels like that was meant to be 10. They didn't were in confident in that. You're like a knife. No one's gonna make it past that. We got a budget cuts.

Starting point is 00:01:06 We're gonna shoot out here. But guys, you can get the full reaction one. The full reaction one. Swash, I play Rocky too many times. And get to choose your mutiny. So you guys have bought one. Join the occult of the choose your mutiny. Or the da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.

Starting point is 00:01:27 We got X-Men shirt. See a player. It's clever. So walk man because he can't. Coy, we have seen this coming all season. Yes. About horsemen of death. Did not play out how I expect.

Starting point is 00:01:38 I expected at least four horsemen. Yeah. Wasn't expecting that. I liked the ending reveal with Apocalypse actually being in there though. Yeah. That was neat. And then now he has to contain him.

Starting point is 00:01:48 And I think the stakes are cool of cable feeling like I like that they managed to make these big stakes feel personally. We have to kill Gambit because apocalypse is in there. But how do we save Gammon? There's a lot of cool stuff. How do you feel like the episode? ties, you know, the stakes of him reuniting a family in that, like, you know, weeks building reveal of like, why didn't you tell me? Like all those things culminating to keep the emotions high. I really like that rogue, you know, a person who can't touch is able

Starting point is 00:02:13 to save him through touch like that. That was really beautiful. Like, you know, Charles can't do it because it's more intellectual, but physical in that being rogue. Um, I sure. Yeah, she gets the physical. He gets the mental. Yeah. So I like that. Like, you know, that's what replaced the moment and how she could actually save him was what is usually her weakness. I really enjoyed that night crawler fight that mirrored season ones that like throw down and seeing him take on all the X-Men and how powerful Nightcrawler is. I feel like he doesn't. I feel like he's one of those beloved mutants.

Starting point is 00:02:42 And I think we talked about this in the episode with him like kind of presiding court, how night crawler's really loved, but it doesn't feel like he ever gets to be like a list. Like I feel like he's a favorite, but this was really cool to see like just his power scaling. But as far as the story itself, I love Gambit. I think Gambit was the big hit of season one. It does feel like they wanted to bring him back to kind of bring that energy back for season three. I definitely expected more horsemen though. So it does feel like it feels like them killing apocalypse was like what would have been the four horsemen and apocalypse episode that maybe that's what got cut because there definitely does feel to be like a time jump. Because we saw his body

Starting point is 00:03:24 and I assumed it was like, that's gonna be a bait and switch. But then the episode was like, no, he did. So obviously we have one left. We've got an alive apocalypse coming in some form, I'm sure.

Starting point is 00:03:33 But it is interesting to see a very different take on how his like horsemen work. It's interesting to see Gambit gets to kind of lead a story. I'm a big fan of the guild and the intrigue and New Orleans as a setting,

Starting point is 00:03:46 especially with how different it feels from Westchester, right? Like New York and that energy is so different than Nola. And right now, actually there's a gail simone's x-men title i think it's uncanny x-men there's uncanny and regular x-men currently uncanny x-men is led by rogue and it's set there and it's very supernatural very spooky and like a lot of the villains are very like undead coded and and those vibes so i thought this was a really cool way to have that setting and bring that energy back

Starting point is 00:04:12 because that is something that's kind of always tied into gambit like the darkness in his eyes and like that undercurrent of you know he's a thief and he's betrayed and he's never quite trustworthy and like all those things so to to have a full to him. I think it's a cool way to bring him back. And they clearly wrote this with that in mind. Like it's called Dead Band's Hand. The X-Pen-266, co-created by Jim Lee. Those little details show this was meant for that. I only wish we got the episode that feels like preceded this where we see him take out

Starting point is 00:04:42 Apocalypse or we see four of them. But maybe that's the betrayal. Maybe Apocalypse didn't get taken out by Gambit and that's a mislead the whole time. Yeah, it seems like he's just hide. in Gambit right now. Yeah. So like the, maybe if they'd shown

Starting point is 00:04:57 too much, it would have been ineffective. But I, it just does, it feels, you know, we were away from apocalypse for a while.

Starting point is 00:05:03 Um, so this one was a little bit of like, okay, catching up like putting us back in the A plot when we've been B plotting for a bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Like I think this is the definition of an episode that I think is fun,

Starting point is 00:05:15 but ultimately rushed. This felt like we need 10. This, this whole storyline should have been two to three episodes. Yeah. especially like it really hit me when they learned about gambit being back that should be such a moment and such a scene for that for us two years for us they lost so his death cast a pall over this entire from that episode moving forward cast a pall over everything especially for rogue and when they learned he's back in some way it's it just seems like another mission ultimately with like a little bit of dramatic lines in order to go I started with the rogue things that was the heart I felt in it but that was I was looking at it's I was looking at it's But they all should be. All should be like, what do you mean?

Starting point is 00:05:56 Like that should be like a fucking like debate of like what are we dealing with right here. And cable should be the only one on the other side of it. Yeah. That's what I mean. There should have been like a real dramatic tension. I felt like because of runtime, because they were cramming a lot in this one. His return ultimately wasn't the exciting episode that we were all hoping for. I mean, personally like it's fine.

Starting point is 00:06:17 It's fun. It's good enough. I suppose. And that's all him. Sure. That is something. Yeah. I do I do think though this was one that was missing a lot of the impact and weight that it could have had.

Starting point is 00:06:28 If they let this one, this one needed to breathe, especially because this could have been one of the more personal ones they were told. And they were aiming for that. Like I like I like the rogue touching him and feeling like maybe this is the chance I could actually get to marry him. But if this was two episodes and if you're going to do the return of Gambit after that was a lot of people hail that episode of when he dies. I think it's the best episode of season one. I think it's one of the best episodes of Marvel cinematic television. Yeah, a lot of people consider it that. So if you're going to bring him back like this,

Starting point is 00:06:55 even though they've been teasing it, it just missed a lot of the weight and the pause and the absorption and the pontificating over what they're dealing with. And the debate, there was just so much they could have dealt with that just got jam packed into like this one episode and then a big finale fight. Yeah. So I do feel like this was kind of our concern that I feel like we've been talking about.

Starting point is 00:07:17 Since like episode five. Yeah, once we get the halfway point, I was like, can we finish this? Yeah, because I keep introducing like, new comic story line every episode, which is cool. But they're condensing them all until like a short graphic novel. And this was the one I'm like, but for your show that really were so much of the excitement was so much of the loss was from Gambit. Yeah.

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Starting point is 00:08:27 I use it all the time. You can check it out at Shopify.com slash rejects. Because with Shopify, nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make one. Start your free trial at Shopify.com slash rejects. Once again, start your free trial at Shopify.com slash rejects. I wonder if this felt like that for other episodes of people that are like dedicated to certain. storylines, right? Like, sure. People that are obsessed with the externals and I'm not like,

Starting point is 00:08:54 that's not, like, if that was like, they did it earlier, you know, like, uh, the brood storyline, like I would have liked a little bit longer and I would, I definitely felt the rush back to animantium energy, but like, I'm not so tied to the brood that I was like, should have been three. But this one, I wonder, you know, if we're the, if everyone's been saying that about each episode, because we're so tied to Gambit, we're noticing. But like, I'm sure people that really care about Exodus might have been like wise like you know so it's it's interesting to feel that this season has done eight graphic novels and eight episodes and sometimes it works but sometimes you're like whoa well the differences with those other episodes like the brood for example i think a side mission a lot of people

Starting point is 00:09:35 would a lot of people who would want longer episodes i mean i get it from just experiencing and we're not having familiarity with the brood but for ones who would really want more episodes to explore more feel like something's missing are people like you who are who are very familiar with the comic of it. Gambit is more than just mainstream. He's a big part of the actual storyline of the show in season one. No one else is yelling why is in Chamber spoken yet.

Starting point is 00:10:00 Yeah, but I still haven't heard Chamber. But this one was like, we got evil Gambit here. Yeah. And he's doing evil stuff. And everyone who touches turns a little, it's just like fun and spooky. Well, they touch on big ideas often and they're touching on so many. Like, they shout a big theme once in a while. Yeah. But they It's like, but living in the theme is the big part. Like X-Corps and all the, I feel like pontificating on X-Corps versus X-Factor and X-Men is something we've done. And I thought that by the time we got to the penultimate, that would be a conversation in the show.

Starting point is 00:10:30 And them coming together clearly says something. But it's just at this point being used for action, right? Like I really hope because I feel like Polaris got a lot of nuance this season. And I feel like we did get to do fathers and sons and, and, you know, generational trauma. and in my opinion, they did do a what the different X-Men teams represent and how loyalty and betrayals and what your truth is and what your legal is and what your rules are. Like, they did all those elements, but I don't feel like they actually like address them. Yeah, no, I'm right there with you.

Starting point is 00:11:06 I feel like there's a feather like touching the edge of these ideas that I really wanted because that's the beauty of the X-Men comics is they go hard in the paint for big, ideas and sometimes it's rough and sometimes it's a hard read and I don't know if it's because of the speed I don't know if it's because of um the nature of the medium of animation if they feel like they can't but like something feels different about these same exact storylines in this medium but I've also never read like nine graphic novels and like it just feels it's an interesting feeling when you see x factor and x force come together and you're like but we haven't addressed why yeah and we've been focusing a bunch of other things that for them to come together we're not it has

Starting point is 00:11:46 hasn't been this the season ultimately just hasn't been this focus and X force and X factor coming together I get narratively it's because they don't believe in X men or X core and like I get I'm not down but there's so much more to it than that yeah that that's what I'm I'm kind of what we haven't spent much time with the it's like I guess a way to like you it would be if they did Civil War and they introduced the Socovia Accords at the very beginning of the same movie and then they never bring it back until the very end you're like oh yeah the Socovia Accords That's why we're here.

Starting point is 00:12:17 And that's kind of like the dividing debate of like which side do you fall on. And yeah, it hasn't really been too much of like a clear focus. And if you were someone who reads the comics, I can see how you're able to fill in a lot of that and still be excited and all that. But if you don't or don't have that much familiarity, I feel like there's definitely a missing piece to it. It's like season one, we didn't. I rewatched season one before going into this and we watched it together last time. And I think there was only like, we thought the storm episode was a little. rush when they cut it in half of the video game episode.

Starting point is 00:12:48 Yeah, that that one was the only one, but most of it we thought was like great and everything we're saying about the themes. It really settled in and let it come through in the characters. And sometimes I feel like they're sacrificing stuff to get a big action scene in here. I feel like this season is an interesting, really solid B, which if we hadn't had season one, A, A plus would feel like such a gift. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, this is better than the average X-Men.

Starting point is 00:13:11 And I'll say even this is better than not 90. 75% of the X-Men movies. Sure. But since we had that season one, and since we have that 25% of incredible X-Men movies, plus the comics being, I'd say like 70%.

Starting point is 00:13:26 There's some rough X-Men comics, but you don't think of the ones that are bad. You think of the highlights. So when you look at the overall just experience of X-Men, it is hard when it's like, man, I know there's so much more right there.

Starting point is 00:13:35 And I know that they know it because the writing is good, but it's just not letting us go here. And I do, we've added a decent amount of negatives or at least like trepidation with this penultimate episode, but I do also want to give flowers to the acting.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Because I do think Gambit in this episode had to do a lot of heavy lifting, Rogue had to do a lot of heavy lifting. Like the performances of this episode. Professor X, regardless at the speed, all the performances, even though it felt like,

Starting point is 00:13:59 you know, at times it was like sonic speed running a level. We're really powerful even when it's like, the next scene's here. Yeah. Yeah. Like the wedding scene, I think the wedding scene is going to be

Starting point is 00:14:09 the visual and memory I have for this episode, even though narratively so many other things happen to happen. that imagery was so strong like the painted weeping willows and that that ominous tone and that like dreary undercurrent like that that was all masterfully captured in my opinion my the image i'll probably stick in my head is when she reaches for gambit inside of his soul yeah the yellow light the sun coming out you know i thought that was a beautiful moment so i thought that was really touching the three colors i just put together the three colors of like in the souls merging and also the three colors of the telekinetic those don't directly relate but i like that we have such visual imagery of different energies and different like characters and the animation's cool the fighting is cool yeah and night crawler's like i love that banff deck just uh you know the emotional substance is more of what just kind of craving right now um it's when when like it's i'm rocking like after five it like just plummeted but no there's been episodes after five that we absolutely love

Starting point is 00:15:02 yeah but there was these other concerns that were creeping in and i'm like okay they've really now that we're here now that's really shown itself here yeah this main concern is like oh no it's now it's really showing the lighter yeah can't in 30 minutes It's really do all the things that we've set up. And we had a little sprinkling of like maybe it was an hour. Yeah. But now that it's 30, I'm like, oh, where? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:23 But still, we're going with an open mind. As always, overall, she's still been really good. Yeah. Excited to see the finale. I'll see what unfolds. If they just kill Gambit again. There he goes. Crush his face and Sentinel just steps on him by accident.

Starting point is 00:15:33 Sorry, Remy. Been a run. I'm ready for it. It's a bad hand. You've been dealt, moan on me. Oh, cool. But I overall, I want to make it clear. I overall am so.

Starting point is 00:15:44 happy this season is telling stories that hopefully make people want to pick up the stories themselves like oh that would be really cool for me if people are like what are i mean people have dm me like what are the brood like those moments i think are really rad if that is the you know the cost of doing so many episodes i do think people are discovering the x-men and i do think this is an entire new generation getting to find these stories so i i want to also like thank you for that because i think that's special amen to that anyway guys thanks so much for being here and we'll see you for the finale. Thanks for ready for helping us out with this shoot. And see you guys next week. Peace out. Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this back to school season.

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The Reel Rejects - X-MEN '97 Season 2 Episode 8 REVIEW – ROGUE’S WORST NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE!

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