TWO Jean Greys? The X-Men are seeing double as the machinations of an old foe come to light, leading to Cyclops and Jean having to make an agonizing decision in X-Men ’97 season 1 episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh,” written by Beau DeMayo & Charlie Feldman and directed by Yomi Yonemura.
The first two episodes of X-Men ’97 suggested a new storytelling approach for the series, one that left behind the previous series’ approach of doing done-in-one stories or rigidly constructed multipart sagas for something more akin to the comic book style of the stories they’re adapting in which characters and plotlines ebb and flow in and out of the spotlight from episode to episode. Those episodes also suggested a series more willing to play fast and loose with the status quo of the series, pushing characters and the configuration of the team in new, less regimented directions. Magneto joined, Storm got depowered and left, Scott and Jean had a baby. Anything could happen next! Unfortunately, with the subsequent episode, “Fire Made Flesh,” what happened next makes it seems that the creators’ approach to X-Men ’97 may be significantly more staid and traditional than the initial episodes let on.
Picking up where “Mutant Liberation Begins” left off, “Fire Made Flesh” quickly reveals that the mysterious fainting duplicate of Jean Grey that appeared on the mansion doorstep is in fact the real Jean, and that the Jean who’s been hanging out with the X-Men and having a baby with Cyclops is, in fact, a clone — one created by their old foe Mister Sinister, which Beast learns thanks to the “style” of the cloning work. The X-Men all accept this turn of events at face value with astonishing speed, allowing the episode to quickly move into a very loose and very abbreviated adaptation of “Inferno” as the Jean clone, rightfully feeling cut off from her teammates, is tempted by Sinister, transforms into the Goblin Queen and sets about tormenting the X-Men with hellish telepathic illusions before delivering her son to Mister Sinister. This in turn leads to a loose and abbreviated adaptation of X-Factor #68 in which Cyclops and (the real) Jean must send baby Nathan into the future to save him from a techno-organic virus with which Sinister infected him, a trip facilitated by Bishop, who uses his repaired time travel armband thingee to return to his future timeline with Nathan.
That is, quite simply, A LOT of story to burn through in a relatively short amount of time. In the comics, “Inferno” was a massive crossover involving three X-Men books (even before taking into consideration all the ancillary tie-ins) that represented the culmination of plotlines and character arcs that stretched back years. Here, all of that gets compressed into thirty-ish minutes, and it’s to the episode’s credit that — personal quibbles aside thanks to the esteem in which “Inferno” is held — it mostly works in terms of the story being told.
The Goblin Queen’s attacks on the X-Men are effectively creepy, as the creators take advantage of the medium to render some truly trippy images, such as Roberto’s mother climbing out of a TV and becoming a physically twisted multi-limbed spider-lady, or Gambit watching his suspicions about Rogue and Magneto take physical form as the pair come together, their flesh melting them into one puddly being (Gambit gets the delivery of the episode, when he emerges from that sequence and declares, “Gambit can never never unsee that”). Even if her descent to super-villainy feels rushed (yet also justified given how quickly the X-Men turn on her), the Goblin Queen is effectively vampy, effortlessly switching between being arch and campy and menacing. While perhaps not as revealing as her comic book attire, her animated look still speaks to the virtue/vice tension at the heart of the comic book story (this episode likely features the most cleavage of any episode of X-Men: The Animated Series ever).
But far more concerning than the speed and brevity of the “Inferno” adaptation is just how big a reset button seems to have been pushed by the end of the episode. Cyclops and Jean are still married (?), but baby Nathan is gone, as is any talk of them stepping back from the X-Men. Bishop gets a little more to do in “Fire Made Flesh,” but unfortunately, that also includes him leaving the team, in a manner that suggests he was only around in the first episodes to set up the finale of this episode, which means we’re back to a core roster that looks an awful lot like the one in place at the very beginning of the original series, save for the presence of Magneto and the absence of Storm. Magneto seems likely to stick around, but given the closing minutes of “Fire Made Flesh,” in which a powerless Storm is approached by a young Forge (as well as the title of the next episode, “Lifedeath“), it seems she’ll be back soon. As recently as last week, it felt like Storm being depowered, if not off the team, might last for the entirety of the season; now, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see her back with the X-Men, her powers restored, by the end of the next episode.
Once upon a time (ie [checks watch] seven days ago), X-Men ’97 was a series that improved on the original in ways beyond simply taking advantage of advances in animation, a larger budget and more creative freedom. Unfortunately, for as entertaining and effective an episode as “Fire Made Flesh” is as a singular unit of story, the way it burns through so much story so fast and hits the reset button to roll back some interesting developments so hard does not bode well for the future of the series.
X-Tra Facts
- Jean’s clone — who goes from “fine” to “spurned” to “evil” to “fine again … mostly” in the course of 30-odd minutes — takes the name “Madelyne Pryor” in the end, which is obviously the name of the character in the comic but which is given absolutely no justification in-story.
- Morph gets a little more to do this episode beyond being the meme/funny guy. His reaction to Sinister’s return, as the person outside Scott and Jean with the most direct experience/trauma with him, is handled well. It’s nice to see the series acknowledging its own continuity so directly. Having him morph into various forms of Illyana Rasputin during the fight with Madelyne is a fun wink at the comic book story as well.
- In terms of hoping the events of this episode won’t be entirely swept under the rug going forward, a lot of the pre-premiere material talked up Sinister as the big bad of the season, and if that’s true, it seems likely he’ll be back. Also, appearances from Cable have been teased; given the ending of “Fire Made Flesh”, hopefully that means the comic book connection between Cyclops and Cable will be directly established here. Plus, of course, Madelyne is still out there; wouldn’t object to seeing her again (Let’s skip the adaptation of the “hooks up with Nate Grey” story, though).
- Roberto is now in the “running from a mob, trapped by a fence” spot in the opening credits that Jubilee used to occupy.
- Speaking of Roberto, he magically appears in the X-Men’s living room between episodes, being present for Jean’s arrival now when he wasn’t last week (so he can get caught in Madelyne’s later attack).
- Scott and Jean’s wedding photo is taken from the cover of X-Men (vol. 2) #30, when they got married in the comics.
- During Madelyne’s attack, Bishop is tormented briefly by his sister, Shard (who, in the comics, was revived as a hologram, joined X-Factor and romanced Wild Child). She made a few minor appearances in the original series.
- Other pictures shown in the episode are inspired by the closing pages of X-Men (vol. 2) #11 and the covers of Classic X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #136.
- The X-Men splitting into a smaller group is classic original series, though at least here, we actually went back and checked in with the group left behind at the mansion.
- Storm is at a bar named “Tequila Mockingbird.” Top-notch punnery there.
- She has now donned the leather garb of comic book Storm to match her mohawk and powerless state.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
