Mutants are more popular than ever: Trish Tilby is doing puff pieces from the mansion, and the mutant nation of Genosha is about to be admitted to the United Nations. So let’s throw a big mutant party! What could possibly go wrong in “Remember It,” X-Men ’97 season 1, episode 5, written by Beau De Mayo and directed by Emi Yonemura.
What a spectacular episode of TV.
If the two-part series premiere of “To Me, My X-Men” and “Mutant Liberation Begins” was an illustration of the ways the new show is able to break out of the narrative and formalist confines of the original series, “Remember It” shows just how far past the original this series is able to go. It is multilayered, complex, character-driven yet action-packed. It showcases smart adaptation choices. The animation is, in places, absolutely gorgeous. It features multiple gut-punch moments, before concluding on the most absolutely devastating gut-punch moment of them all.
“Remember It” begins, innocuously enough, with Trish Tilby reporting from the mansion, doing some sort of quasi-profile on the X-Men on the verge of Genosha being admitted to the U.N. Meanwhile, Magneto, Rogue and Gambit arrive in Genosha for a meeting with their governing council before the big party celebrating the establishment of a mutant nation. Here, the creators blend several stories into one, from the late ’90s rule of Genosha by Magneto to the start of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men to the present-day Krakoa era. It’s notable because it marks the first time the series is really pushing past its titular year to adapt story elements from “the future.” Thus far, most of its big adaptations have been stories from before the time of the original cartoon: “Lifedeath,” the trial of Magneto, “Inferno,” etc. Here, the series is looking to “the future” for inspiration, and in doing so, creating a wider, more expansive setting for itself, one that deals with more complex angles to the human/mutant conflict than the original series tackled.
At the same time, amid all the political and thematic wrangling and the big action, “Remember It’ is built around two key love triangles: Cyclops/Jean/Madelyne and Gambit/Rogue/Magneto. The former makes it clear that the events of “Fire Made Flesh” were not one-and-done; Madelyne is back, Cyclops is still grieving his son, Jean is still trying to straighten out her mind. Madelyne is on the governing council of Genosha, and in a plotline also lifted and then tweaked slightly from Morrison’s New X-Men, Cyclops is more or less having mental therapy sessions with Madelyne, something Jean likens to an affair when it’s discovered. It also gives Cyclops a chance to do something he never got to do in the comics: mourn his son (the moment when he quietly says he can’t see color but can still see the color of his son’s eyes and hair gets overshadowed by all the gut punches the episode delivers later, but is heartbreaking). My biggest concern with all the story that got burned through in “Fire Made Flesh” was that it was being done to wipe the slate clean and reset the series to a neater status quo. “Remember It” makes it clear that isn’t the case, and both episodes are better for it.
The latter triangle forms the emotional heart of the episode, as the pull Rogue has been feeling almost all season between Magneto and Gambit comes to a head. The previously hinted-at backstory between Rogue and Magneto is revealed, including the fact that teenage Rogue was romanced by a decidedly not-teenage Magneto (which sure is a choice). Thus, in addition to being torn between the sensual (the man she can touch) and the spiritual (the man she feels a deeper connection to), Rogue’s conflict is framed as one between her past and her future. She seems to choose Magneto, agreeing to serve as his “queen” on Genosha and arriving at the UN gala in a moment beautifully rendered by the animation and music. But in the end, she tells Magneto that Gambit was right, and she needs to be with him, not Magneto. Rogue chooses the future, on the same night that mutantkind is celebrating their bright new future.
Until they’re not.
The final third of “Remember It” is utterly devastating and engrossing, a gorgeous and electrifying rendition of the attempted genocide of mutantkind and the efforts of three X-Men to save as many lives as they can. At the height of their revelry (just like in 2023’s Hellfire Gala), a massive “Godzilla Sentinel” blasting energy and dropping off a rash of smaller Sentinels arrives to decimate the population of Genosha (just like in New X-Men #114). Before long, Magneto is using a train like a whip, Gambit is once again proving that crotch rockets are the coolest motorcycles for sci-fi action, and Rogue is hurling chunks of Sentinels at other Sentinels.
And not long after that, Magneto and Gambit, Rogue’s metaphoric past and future, are dead.
Beau De Mayo, the showrunner and head writer of the series who was surprisingly fired for largely unknown reasons just before the series debuted, recently broke his silence to discuss “Remember It.” He says the episode was the centerpiece of his pitch to Marvel. The idea was to have the X-Men go through a similar experience as fans of the original series who were kids in the early ’90s, growing up in the wake of 9/11, the feeling of having safe spaces destroyed by events like the Pulse nightclub shooting, and the damage wrought by COVID-19. “Remember It,” then, is meant to be that turning point for the X-Men.
To their credit, the creators pull out all the stops in selling it as such. Longtime comics fans know that any time mutants gather on an island and/or are feeling generally pretty good about things is a recipe for disaster. But anyone with just a passing familiarity with storytelling can get the sense of mounting unease building throughout the episode. The immediate attack is disorientating, cutting from Rogue and Magneto’s dance to their confusion as they regain consciousness amid the rubble — literal and metaphoric — of the infant mutant society. Their counterattack is exhilarating, from Rogue and Gambit flying into action side by side to Magneto drawing on his past experiences with this kind of violence for strength, all scored to a propulsive riff on the theme song. The animation here is arguably the best the series has ever looked.
Then everything turns on a dime, and the counterattack is thwarted. The music drops out, and we’re left with only the dialogue and sound effects, the sizzle of energy and the monotonous declaration of the Godzilla Sentinel as it announces its attacks. In “To Me My X-Men,” the identification of an omega-level mutant ended with Storm demolishing the Sentinel threat. Here, it ends with the fall of Magneto, killed trying to save the Morlocks. Then Gambit falls as well, but not before getting in one last quip as he blows up the Sentinel. “Remember It” concludes as Rogue, her ungloved hands touching Gambit’s body, declares she can’t feel him anymore.
If there’s a quibble here, it’s that, once again, the series is packing entirely too much story and incident into one episode. In much the same way “Fire Made Flesh” adapts a half-decade’s worth of stories into a 30-minute tale, “Remember It” is, essentially, telling the rise and fall of mutant culture over its runtime. Once again, the blame for this probably falls on the shoulders of the streaming era’s insistence on short seasons. An episode to show us life on Genosha pre-attack, maybe an episode set entirely away that mentions the political machinations of the ruling council, then the episode in which everything comes tumbling down would have given the pre-attack status quo a little more room to breathe. Which would have made the attack all the more impactful, if it wasn’t destroying something we’d only learned about in the same episode.
There’s also the question of whether this will all be rolled back somehow (the answer to which is, almost certainly). The tools for doing so are placed throughout the episode for all to see. Moira is pointedly on the council, so Moira X is a possibility. Will we see a naked Gambit & Magneto tumble out of golden eggs by the end of the season (Oh, the irony if X-Men ’97 introduces Krakoan plots and themes to a wider audience at the same time the comic books are running from it)? Time travel is always on the table with the X-Men and this series. Cable is right there in this episode, making his X-Men ’97 debut as he tries to warn everyone what is about to happen (while Madelyne recognizes the eyes of her son in another touching moment), just before he seemingly bodyslides away. There’s even the Watcher, the universal comic book symbol for “big stuff is going down,” making a faint appearance in the skies over Genosha; could a cosmic undoing be at hand?
Ultimately, should a reset occur, it will all come down, as it always does, to execution. There are ways to undo some of the events of this episode without robbing it of its power. Nothing can change the impact of “Remember It” — for viewers or for the characters — even if narrative shenanigans retcon it. Nothing can take away the impact of Magneto’s last stand, the grim triumph of Gambit’s final attack, the cracking despair in Rogue’s voice as the screen fades to black. Whatever comes next, “Remember It” has earned enough trust that the series is capable of handling it.
X-Tra Facts
- In one of this week’s rotating additions to the opening credits, we see the ending of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” from the comics (Cyclops crying out as Phoenix destroys itself), which is interesting only because the animated “Dark Phoenix Saga” ended very differently.
- The Trish Tilby/Beast flirtation is a nod to their long romance in the comics.
- Nightcrawler, who appeared in one episode of the original series which went all-in on the religious elements of his character, is present on Genosha. He’s handled much better here, in a way that is consistent with his previous appearance but a more well-rounded and accurate representation of his comic book self.
- I’m not the biggest Wolverine/Jean Grey shipper, but their scene together in this episode is also really well done. In an episode filled with great, well-delivered lines, Wolverine’s response to Jean kissing him is a sleeper pick for one of the best.
- Cyclops’ breakdown and mini-rant to Trish when she probes him about his son shows hints of the more radicalized “Cyclops was right” Cyclops of the Brian Michael Bendis era (There are also “Magneto is Right” posters visible on Genosha).
- Not surprisingly, this episode is packed with tons of cameos. Offhand, in addition to the ones I’ve already mentioned, I caught Glob Herman, Pixie, Nature Girl, Dazzler, Madrox, Exodus, X-Factor/Fallen Angels-era Boom-Boom, Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost (who gets in a good zinger about Val Cooper’s dress), Banshee, Avalanche (during Rogue’s flashback), Squidboy, Archangel and Marrow. Hit me up on my socials with anyone I missed.
- Did Madelyne survive the attack on Genosha?
- Val Cooper is totes Mystique in disguise.
- “Happy Nation” is a 1992 song by Swedish dance-pop group Ace of Base. This is the first time music has been licensed for the show.
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
