Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff

[00:00:00] Hi friends! Welcome to Charlie and Steve Watchtuff and today we are watching X Men 97. My name's Steve Selnick and joining me as always, he just got done cleaning those extra hard to reach places, it's my good friend Charlie Peppers.

Charlie, how are you doing

I'm good. I'm even better now that they're putting respect on Jean Grey's name. Can't wait to talk about this damn episode.

And if you think I'm not going to talk about that moment with Morph coming up, you are sorely mistaken, because

we're, we're, we're definitely, we're gonna get up in there in all those hard to reach spaces.

wide, baby. Anyway, we're getting right in right away. We are here today to talk about the third episode in this new season of X Men 97, currently airing. On the place of the mouse, Disney plus. If you haven't watched the show up until this point, we highly recommend that you stop whatever you're doing [00:01:00] right now and go and watch yourself this show.

We reviewed the first two episodes of this season of X Men 97 in our last episode that actually released on the day that we're recording this one today. So go back, watch the first two episodes, listen to our first episode. We are going to be jumping straight. Into the third episode of this season of X Men 97. This one is called fire made flesh. It was released today, technically March 27th, 2024, written by Bo DiMaio and Charlie Feldman directed by Emmy. Yonamura and the plot of this episode, very general synopsis. The team is propelled into a tragic confrontation with an immortal mad scientist. Now, Charlie, before we get going, would you like a moment on your pedestal of saying that you were right?

Oh, about Mr. Sinister?

Good ol Mr. S?

Yeah, yeah,

I, well, the writing was on the [00:02:00] wall. They released the action figures before the series come out. And not only did we get a Goblin Queen action figure released for Marvel, in the opening credits we also see Mr. Sinister. In all three versions of the credits we see Morph trying to shoot him and him appearing in Morph's eyes.

I think the way that this show cleverly sets up all of its easter eggs in the opening credits is fantastic and I want more. I want more!

I knew that you were right, but I didn't think that you were going to be this right this quickly. You were right, very right, very immediately. I mean, if you, if you're up on the action figure releases, then yes, you are on a different level of understanding than Many of us could hope to possibly be you're just you're floating on that that next that professor x level plane of knowing man Smoke him if you

me

All right, let's get into

me Cerebron. Watch me go.

pass that pass that [00:03:00] cerebro, baby Pass it you have to pass it to the left. Don't don't fuck up cerebros rotation. let's get into this episode We we pick up right where we left off It was kind of funny to get it previously on, because it was pretty much just, here's everything that happened in the last episode.

Okay, now here we are at the start. Gene is reading quote unquote, New Gene's memories, and you'll see why I'm putting New Gene into quotations here. And they're super fragmented, seemingly created only yesterday. And that, like, this person is just reawakening, and seems very lost and very confused, but there's a lot of pain there, then that's all she really understands. And to make things crazier, upon DNA testing, Beast claims that, and he, I like how he's just like, Okay, everyone, buckle the fuck up, because it's about to get

He could have been a lot more sensitive about this. That's like my biggest gripe about this scene. This isn't some shit

sensitive than,

than [00:04:00] denouncing it to

In the group? Like, dude, I, yeah, I definitely side eyed him in this part. Like, dude, this is a, oh, I don't know what I found quite yet. Let's take a moment. I would've pulled Scott aside.

I would've told Scott

Not Jean?

Well, I, mm, you don't know, like, tell Scott first so that Scott can get his bearings together to know how he's gonna act. Then tell Gene.

Or gene quotation marks. I just think that there was no finesse in this, but again, we only got 33 minutes, but I was so annoyed.

Well, there was no finesse, but there was high drama, for

sure. And if the drama is what they were going for, the drama is what they got. Jean is just devastated to find out that the woman laying on the bed is actually the real, genetically, the real Jean Grey. And that by her biological makeup, the Jean Grey that they have known, the Jean Grey that was pregnant in [00:05:00] the last episode and gave birth to Nathan, is a clone of the quote unquote original Jean Grey. We're gonna get to it at the end. I'm gonna save all of the What do you what do you take of because this is

It's complex.

how do I put this

this it's complex It's also a little bit lore busting.

lore, it's lore busting. Also, I think a lot of moral questions came up for me, like, I argue any less of a person because you're a clone. And I think that you

are not any less of a person. You are alive. She's making decisions. and at the end of the episode, I'm going to put out my theory for when exactly in the timing of the show, I think the two genes were replaced.

Cause I think Madeline Pryor has been the gene that we've been with for over half the show's run. So in my mind, that is gene. That's like

the gene. I also think that she was the Phoenix. [00:06:00] So I, I have a lot of thoughts about Madeline Pryor and how they handled her, and most of them are positive.

Well, let's let's keep digging we we have this moment where even Scott you can tell is very hesitant and he's rattled

at his

course he is, yeah.

Of course he is, Of course he is And it's a, as you say, a very impossible situation that he, everyone gets put in right there. And Jean elicits Storm's name because she goes, Storm wouldn't believe me, at the very least.

Do you think that's true? Do you think Storm wouldn't believe her?

I think Storm would be trying to process as much information as possible, because the original Jean would be the one that she bonded with first. if Storm had only met the clone and not the original Jean, she'd be quick to be like, oh no, but when you have deep history and memories of somebody, you, you feel a little cheated.

I think Storm would have a very balanced response to this.

Yeah, I think it would be more I [00:07:00] think it would be more, okay, like, let's take a step back and figure it out. I think she would be at least a balancing Because at that moment, everyone's very tipped on the side of, who is this like, this person is suddenly foreign to us. We don't know this Jean.

This is this is a stranger in our home all of a sudden, and she steals away with Nathan. Scott tries to get in there and, and, and talk to her, but it's not going to work yet.

It looked,

he gets pushed off.

Oh, go

looks like he was trying to get the baby away from her.

You

Yeah, it looked like he was like, oh no, I'll take care of the baby. It looked like he was afraid of her being alone with their child, which Yeah, for the first

But he, but he let her take him though.

There was no Darling, how are you feeling? Let's sit down. Let's talk about this. Let's figure out. It's like no I can take the baby that looks us and like that and the only thing that I could headcanon this around is if all of them thought that [00:08:00] she was some kind of spy This entire time.

I think at a certain point somebody should have jumped in and been like, oh wait, are you a spy? Who are you working for? I could have wrapped my head around it a little bit more then but yeah, this just felt like From zero to very skeptical and cold

turns out she's the clone, everybody. There's, the, the skepticism and the wonder gets put to rest very quickly. Mr. Sinister makes himself known, lets her know that she is the clone, was created by Sinister to sire the child. As you said in the last episode, one of Sinister's schticks is that he's obsessed with the DNA of Jean Grey and Scott Summers, and And he literally said, I wanted the DNA and the spot of Jean Grey and Scott Summers in this episode.

So it's like pretty spot on for what the, you expected the character representation to be. Here's the thing that I didn't expect to be so surprised by. He looks [00:09:00] scary and I just think that I love Marvel, man. I love the MCU. It's been a long time since I've been scared by a Marvel villain. And so I think the establishment of Mr.

Sinister, the transformation of Cologne Jean into, I think we'll refer to her as Madeline from now on because you get this incredible animation scene of her changing into the Madeline Pryor outfit and getting that, like, blue green fire

It was very Sailor Moon. Ha ha

Super Sailor Moon, whoo, yep, huh, huh. That's, that is how Steve hit

puberty.

And so that's probably not true. I was probably a little young, And we, we get, get Madeline Pryor in the house. So that, that kinda closes out the first act. We get the establishment of Mr. Sinister, Madeline Pryor. We also get Beast figuring out that it's Mr. Sinister all at the same time, [00:10:00] but it's too late. the, the power of Madeline Pryor is released into the mansion. Now before we get this horror turn in sort of like the second act of this episode, we get Morph continuing to be

the best part of the show.

I know what you're about to say.

He's, he's with, he's with Gambit and, and Wolverine coming out of the danger room, and he's going through the schedule, and is like, damn, Magneto and Rogue sure have a lot of time scheduled. They must be really working on their agility. Also, if you go back and look carefully, it's like, 8 to 10pm, 10 to 12am, like, 12 to 2am, like it's clearly like they're doing this stuff overnight.

Come on! Come on! Come on! And so, that shit set me, and Gambit's like, Maybe Gambit go find Rogue Writer First of all, I forgot how much I missed how Gambit talks. His third

person, like, broken French Creole English. but like, here's the thing. And I [00:11:00] guess I'm skipping

around a little

okay.

The show insinuates that he hasn't, like, confirmed it. That he still, like, is fearing that they're getting together. Like, my dude, they're getting together! Like, this isn't The fact that you're still wondering means you're a little dumb. I'm sorry, I love you.

Gambit. But, like, You're a little You're cute, but you're

dumb.

cute, but you're slow. I I Maybe he's in denial. I'll give him that. Also, I

May I guess.

like, are are Rogue and Gambit actually official? Are they Do they have a title? Is it just them kind

Oh, no, not at all. I mean, he just really loves her. And I think that she, to some extent, loves him too, probably. But it just, like, can't physically

It can't physically

That's always, that's always Rogue's issue,

is that it just can't

I stand by what I said.

So she has to turn off

I stand by what I said in our last pod, get it girl, I'm all about Rogue. [00:12:00]

Oh yeah! Oh, 100%! I just love Morph giving him

shit for it. And Wolverine being like, careful dude, like, not everyone's me.

Like, not everyone can handle

your humor. And suddenly weird stuff is happening all over the mansion. We We get a shot of Sunspot still at the mansion, watching a movie, reaching straight into Jubilee's crotch, I mean, bag of popcorn,

was this a

and

situation.

it was a, come on, dude, like, the way that they were sitting, come on, yes it was, a

hundred percent, that, that's, I mean, they're making the light bursts, they're making the light bursts, that's for sure but it starts with, these characters start seeing.

Things that they fear. And, and, it's, it slowly starts to come together. But before we get that Was Morph insinuating that he wanted to help Wolverine clean his taint with his claws?

I mean,

Cause I can't think of any other hard to reach [00:13:00] places.

no, but the internet's losing their damn mind about this today, by the way. Everyone's like, Morth is into Wolverine. I'm like, aren't we all into Wolverine? Like, everyone's into Wolverine, except Jean. Is pretty much how this show Is landing with me right now, but he could be joking. He could

not be joking. It seems like 50 percent of a joke 50 percent like if logan just said nothing and let it happen. They would be boning

again, Not no

100%. I was just like, when, when he said that and started walking forward, I was like, the only place that that could be, could be down there, cause you could reach pretty

much anywhere else. So. I love you Morph. You're, You're,

the Dion Waiters

never

It's the, he's

really great comic relief.

So, but all of a sudden weird stuff starts happening and people start seeing like these monstrous amalgamations of things that they fear. Sunspot sees his disapproving mother speaking [00:14:00] in Portuguese being like, you're not a part of this family. Gambit sees Rogue and Magneto sort of like gooey melting into one another.

And I think this is maybe a little bit of where the, A little bit deeper of the beyond rogue being with somebody else is the go back to the swamp where you came from. The, the fear that he is, he's just

essentially a swamp rat and could never, that he's not good enough, exactly. these demons start, Attacking them Cyclops gets a distorted professor judging him, giving him demerits. Bishop sees someone from his timeline claiming he abandoned them, and that they're all dead because of him. And I see here in the notes that's his sister from the future, so that's a nice nod. To a little bit of Bishop's Timeline. And we get, they, they kind of all get pushed together. Also, what, do you, did you [00:15:00] track on what Beast's fear was?

Or was that just a random blob?

that was probably a really random b movie that he saw one time. I don't think that that was a fear of Beast. Also, that,

from his textbooks.

textbooks, but Beast is usually the most well adjusted of all of them, which plays really well with how he looks, so I wouldn't be surprised if Madeline had to dig a little deeper to find out what Beast is scared of.

He's all, he's definitely not

scared of sharing sensitive news. In front of everybody in the beginning of the

fucking episode. That's not a fear. That's not a fear.

not scared to stir in the pot whatsoever. Not at all. Also, he wasn't really scared of the blob. He was like, oh, I guess I'm on the wrong floor. And so, it was just like, wasn't that freaked out by it. But we, they all get pushed into the same room, and we get this incredible fight scene. All of the X Men seemingly fall into hell. Morph claims that they're in hell. They start fighting off all of these demons until Bishops [00:16:00] like charge me up Cyclops hits him with his beams. And if

you watch the

post, if you watch the post credits afterwards, you can see that Bishop has the ability to absorb and expel energy. And so he absorbs Cyclops's concussive beams and says, it's time for an exorcism punks and goes full Rambo and takes out all of, well, most of the demons. And then this moment afterwards, where they both land at this and look at each other and say, you're welcome to each other at the same time was a plus. As some of the comedic moments in this fight were awesome. Also Wolverine after Beast saves his life being like, you smell like. Burnt hair. It was so good. I just, I love the throwaway comedy in this. It's really, really good. Cause they don't, they don't sit on it for too long.

It's so

quick. And It's and it always feels, it's really quick and it always feels in character. Like that would, that I just, it's, it's, the writings are so [00:17:00] good in this show. And then all of a sudden we get real Jean coming in literally through the rafters with her blue light of psychic power. And she gets rid of the rest of the demons, and they're gone, and she passes out. as you say, this is the most capable we've seen Jean across the entire series, because Do you want to do this now? Do I Cause I It's one of my questions. is when do you think she got switched?

Oh, I think she got switched in the early part of Season 2. Maybe the second episode of Season 2. When Scott and her got married, I believe. Because that's when Mr. Sinister kidnapped Scott and Gene to copy their DNA. So that is when Mr. Stinister would have had her for long enough to have swapped them out.

Which means

that we've only had the

And how many, how many seasons was the

original?

So

Madeline [00:18:00] is rightfully pissed. Like, I don't care if I'm a clone or not, I was with y'all for a good amount of time.

That's crazy to think about. So that's just like a long time.

Long, long time.

So, I don't know, I just feel like fanboys, and I don't use fanboys as a compliment,

what are you about to say?

I just feel like fanboys always get upset when creators of something new do something that inherently changes something old. And my, my thought that comes to mind is how all of those fucking neckbeards hated The Last Jedi, even though it's objectively one of the best Star Wars movies

Mm hmm, agreed.

I will, I will fight you if you disagree with me. I'm looking straight into the camera as I say that, I'll fucking fight you if you disagree with me. The Rise of Skywalker is shit. Anyway. and I haven't looked at the discourse online for this episode yet. But I can just imagine, and, and this is a comic storyline as well, so maybe [00:19:00] there's some precedent for this. can you see a world where Someone is upset because they go, Three years of what I thought was I was watching is now you're telling me was not real. Or was like, inherently not like, genuine in

I mean

this wasn't actually Gene the whole time.

It's X Men, and this is such an old comic book story that I think people aren't mad. I think we're just excited that it's happening at all. You know, and the fact that it was done this early

You don't think there's like, cart old X Men animated series stands that are like, Fuck you for ruining my

Well, one What I said, it's an old story. Also, too, nobody's that big of a fan of this version of Jean Grey. She kind of sucks. So them doing this much work with her in this episode does a lot for me to really like her. I actually like Jean. Like both [00:20:00] Madeline and Jean in this episode because of how much autonomy they show and what happens to both of them and how they take their power back.

love it. Alright, well let's take it home. Thanks for letting me detour for a

second there. So after, after Madeline kicks their butts and steals the baby, And gets out of there to go hang out with Mr. Sinister. Rogue and Magneto return Morph gives a quick download on Sinister, who he is, where he comes from, what he can do. Magneto rounds up the troops and tries to reactivate them to, to go after things. Rogue, Wolverine, and Beast stay to take care of Realgene and Magneto, Cyclops, Morph, and Bishop go to pursue Madeline and Sinister who, Has just zero problem handling them. But before we get the fight between Madeline and the mutants, we get Mr.

Sinister tossing the baby in a green tub, claiming that it will be used to create a whole new race of super mutants, but he needs to be made [00:21:00] immortal first. So that's not foreboding at all. And as we. As we said, we, we get that fight scene between Magneto, Cyclops, Morph, and Bishop, and Madeline just, just absolutely handles them all.

Like, takes Magneto out, starts possessing Cyclops, actually possesses Morph. Who does he turn into there? You're the one who, like, is usually on

top of all the X Men that he's turning

morphs into somebody who was really instrumental in the 1989 Inferno arc. That's actually Colossus little sister, Eliana Rasputin, whose codename is

Oh wow, very cool.

Was given literal magic and the ability to open up portals and I believe she opened up portals to a place called Limbo Where some of the demons may have been pouring through also I don't think that the demons that Madeline was conjuring were actual demons I think I'm gonna go on a limb and say that they were telekinetic constructs because this show jumping all the way [00:22:00] to demons

and not explaining it would be That's stretching it That's stretching it a bit.

that I wouldn't buy.

did you ever watch Agents of S. H. I. E. L.

I haven't.

It's actually, like It's good. I liked it. It's one of Erin's favorite shows. It's like her, one of her go to comfort shows. It's on Disney you can watch it whenever. But they they have this whole arc where some sort of space time continuum gets ripped and essentially these like, fear demons start coming into the base.

Like, essentially like this, like amalgamations of things that people fear. But. Even though they were psychic images or, like, apparitions, they were still very much so physical and could hurt them. So that was, that's sort of the parallel that I'm drawing between these. They're, yes, they're psychological, yes, they're created by Madeline, but yes, they could also fuck your shit up. So it's like both of, both, both of the worlds, I suppose. Anyway, [00:23:00] We get this moment while the fight is happening. And this is actually one thing, we talked about this in the last episode a little bit, and I think that this moment is the show re opening this door a

little bit. Is Jean coming back to her senses by reading Logan's mind? And in reading, in reading Logan's mind, And his feelings has a moment of realizing just how deep his feelings are for

Mmm, I like, I

actually, I

I think,

moment.

I think it's going to open the door to the triangle becoming a thing again, because you now have, if, if your theory is correct and they never got married and she was gone for a long time, and one of the first things that she experiences is the deep love from somebody else that she knows.

Yes. And Scott has now had this whole thing happen where if [00:24:00] we know Scott, he's gonna be cold and distant. I think it's gonna be hard for him to connect with this new Gene. Cause his world is totally flipped

upside down. I think it's back. I think

we're back.

the comic books, Scott usually runs right back to Gene. I, I'll be surprised if he's not all like, Gene! And she's not all like, Scott! You know, cause that's usually what they do in the comic books, but maybe

we're doing something different

the shot that I'm calling is that Gene's gonna be a little bit less Scott. And maybe a little bit more Logan. I just don't know.

It would make her

I don't know, maybe It'd make her more interesting, but it w Maybe I'm just course correcting really hard from the first episode, but I feel like the first episode told us what it was doing so clearly that now I'm reading into this so deeply. I just, I just feel like they wouldn't have had that moment if it's not gonna matter later. nothing has been a throwaway in this

Yeah, I get it. I just [00:25:00] maybe the biggest hat trick that this show will do will actually be making me care about Jean and Logan. I just Since I was a child, Steve, since I was a child, I've had a bad taste in my mouth for how on Jean Grey's dick Logan really is all the time. He's just, leave that woman alone!

Leave her alone! And it's just so, I get it, like, Jean is canonically, in every version, super attractive and has her shit together and I could see Logan being drawn to her, but It just,

it annoys me. It's like, dude, move on. But if they're able

to make me to care about it, and if his feelings are very deep, My god, I'm gonna sound like such a bastard.

I also question how deep they are if it's not reciprocated. Like, because I don't think that that's really love, I just think that's infatuation. To be honest,

it's like a deep [00:26:00] infatuation. If I were Gene, I'd be flattered. And it would pique my interest to building something more. I would be more interested in her showing him more interest.

And her being a little bit more of the pursuer. I think that would. Make me kind of go, hmm, maybe, because for all these years, the movies, the video games, the cartoons. Ah, what's Gene doing? I'm so sick of it. Storm is right there. Storm is right there. Where she was. That's all I'm saying.

you said last time.

fair. I mean, we'll see. I just, I think they're going to, I think it's, there's going to be more conversation about it. And I just feel like they opened the door a little bit for it to go in the other direction potentially. So I'm, I'm keeping an eye on it. I got triangle watch, love triangle watch, but anyway, it's over very, very quickly because she realizes that Scott is in danger through some sort of mental connection that she has with Madeline and she, she jumps in mentally to protect him from, from Madeline.

[00:27:00] And we get this series of. of flashbacks of Jean showing Madeline their, their first memories of meeting professor Xavier and the, the tragedy that happened. So it's a little bit of like Jean gray exposition, how she, her origin story very

quickly wrapped into a

well done.

Very well done.

And then Jean could actually, as you said in the note here, Jean could actually feel her dying thoughts as her friend got hit by a car, which was the thing that unlocked her Psychic abilities for

the first time and then I didn't I didn't totally get this but then we get a Tear in space that can only be defined as an astral vagina sorry, mom if you're listening to this and and it leads into the memory of their son being born which is what breaks sinister's influence over Madeline and Yeah, I don't know.

I just so I guess it's the love of the child That is more powerful than the evil of a mastermind [00:28:00] is, is what we're

getting here, I suppose. Do you have a different

read on

no, I think that that was, I think also deeper than the love of the child. I think this is the Jean Grey that I'm here for. Jean could have psychically throttled Madeline. I think she could have throttled

her because I think that there's something in the original that is able to just figure out the chink in the armor for the clone in a very unique way.

So I think The fact that Jean chose to show her compassion and grace and love and understanding shows that Jean Grey is the heart of the X Men, the heart and the soul of the X Men, and that she is very much willing to say, Hey, I see your humanity. I see the love you've given to Scott and the team. You are also Jean Grey.

You are not Jean Grey period. We are both Jean Grey. Like, let's put our heads together and figure out how to save this child that we both care [00:29:00] about deeply. I think it was very, it was so beautiful, and I like, that's how it got handled, because going into this arc, I was very scared that Madeline would just be disrespected. Oh, Steve, did you know that in the original comic book run, Cyclops brother? They have this whole thing, and at a certain point, who's also hot, Cyclops could get it, and his brother could definitely get it. They're both sexy. But,

and at a certain point, Madeline was willing to sacrifice her baby, Nathan, to keep bringing demons through the Limbo portal.

It was a mess. It was such a hot mess of a story, but I was here for it.

this feels better for sure. Well, Madeline and Cyclops fight back and defeat Sinister, but not for good, but they get Nathan back. And after Sinister fades away, Nathan starts coughing and these very strange, like almost techno y green lines start to grow all over him and they rush him back to the mansion and beast upon [00:30:00] examining Nathan says that it's a techno organic virus that he wouldn't be able to cure at this time, not with the technology that he currently has, not currently.

quick enough to help it from the damage that it's doing to their son. And so they turn to Bishop and ask him to take Nathan back to his timeline in the future because he seems to know somebody in that future that can cure him. And Scott has a meltdown about

abandoning his son cause he was abandoned as a child. I didn't, I, and I, I told you this offline, but I, I got up early this morning, and I watched it quickly before going to work, and then I watched it again, after getting back from my first bit of work, and sort of wrapped my head around the fact that this means that they're not gonna see their son again, because Bishop essentially only has enough juice for a one way

Oh, they'll see him again. They've already met him. They just don't know that they've met him already, but I digress.

s Right, they think that they are sacrificing their life with their son [00:31:00] in order to save his life and that the fact that he's going to the future will be it. And because they have some exposition talk of Bishop, like something isn't fixed all the way. So he really only has enough juice for one more jump. Now we never know why Bishop's in this timeline. Maybe we'll find out in the next episode why Bishop has chosen to go back to the past, but he seems very okay with just suddenly jumping back to the future. To help this kid. So he couldn't have been up to anything that important in this timeline. I guess if he was that willing to go and the beautiful moment of Madeline putting this like mental message into her son that like, this isn't because we don't want you. This is quite the opposite. You're perfect to us. We want to give you the best chance to live possible.

So whenever you're feeling lost, whenever you're feeling alone, just remember how much that we love you. This is, this is just so we can help you live and so we don't want to do it, but we're going to do it and Bishop takes [00:32:00] Nathan and walks into the portal and it closes and the show fucking slaps and Madeline and Jean have a super interesting conversation, says that she can stay, but, you know, Madeline needs to go off and do her thing and figure out who she is.

Jean now has to go back and figure out who she is. And there's this whole acknowledgement that neither of them really know when the other started existing. Neither of them know which one married Scott. Neither of them know which one is the Phoenix or was the Phoenix. And do you think this show is going to tell us,

or do you think it's going to leave it. up to our imagination?

it's more interesting if it gets left up to the imagination, because then we're placed in Gene's position of not knowing. I also love, and you

wrote this in the notes, and I'll answer right now, I love Gene being a blank slate. I am here for, I want Gene to be single for a second.

I want her to figure her shit out, and I want her to continue being a [00:33:00] powerhouse. Because every time she fainted, she fainted in Scott's arms, and now I'm ready for Jean to be somebody who catches herself and who just does the thing for Jean.

it does seem like that's the direction. And before we go, we get a final scene. Can't forget about our girl, our Omega level storm, even though she might not be an Omega level threat. Currently she is sitting in a hot bar in Texas, having a beverage where she is visited by Forge, who claims to be an old friend of Charles Xavier and wants to help her get back what she has lost. That little joke about man sure wish someone can make it rain and she's like what the fuck who are you who what do you

know? Who are you who sent you that's like definitely Fighting words, for

was ready to pull a

Be like, okay,

I'm surprised she didn't grab a bottle

of Jack from behind the bar and just break it and just hold it up to his

Go full

full roadhouse. Yeah,

So good

and that and that's gonna do it. And that's [00:34:00] gonna do it for this episode of X Men 97. Still lovin it. Still having a really good time with it.

to keep up our tradition of last episode. I'll go quickly and you go quickly Who in this episode did you most want to hook up? Like which characters did you want to hook up the most? And also, what was the most badass moment? I have my answer. I can go first if you want time to think

Yeah

go first. I I think I know my answer, at least for the first question. But go

All right I am here for Jean just being in her body, the real Jean being in her body figuring out what she likes. That, to me, is like the greatest sexual tension of the episode. Like, oh! Choices. What am I gonna do? I'm here for Jean just being on the market and being able to choose for herself. And the most badass It doesn't mean it has to be Wolverine.

Maybe she's gonna get with Morph. Don't get too excited. Don't get too excited.

Oh, see, I thought you were insinuating that she [00:35:00] was just gonna go Emma Stone and poor things and just masturbate a bunch.

that. Also that. Yeah.

I mean, that shit got her an Oscar,

so

did. It did. I would say the most badass moment to happen in this episode is the moment where Cyclops charged up Bishop and they both looked at each other and said, you're welcome. Love the bromance. I love that they have respect for each other. It's really

Love the bromance. See, it's too easy for me to say Morphine Wolverine again,

even though there is like a clear

Okay.

the first episode. Like, I've already said it. So, I guess if I'm going to go different, because, like, there is clear, like, Morph is trying to go inside of Wolverine in that shower moment I gotta, I gotta go for the, I gotta go for the teen love of, of Jubilee and Sunspot.

I gotta give it to him. I just feel

I gave that to them. The first

if that creepy crawly Portuguese mom didn't come out of the TV, I think that would have been a very different scene in about five

minutes. [00:36:00] Well, that's gonna do it for this episode of X Men 97. We covered fire made flesh. Charlie, I'm sure you agree with this before we get into our Sentinel ratings for this episode, but I can't remember, probably since The Last of Us is the last time I've, like, really had trouble waiting a week for the next episode. I was really excited to get these next, this next episode in. So kudos to expat 97 for just getting me excited about looking forward to a certain day of the

week, just given, giving me something to live for, man.

for sure, for sure. Yeah, I stayed up till midnight to watch it.

That's commitment

right there. You're getting people into their 30s, staying up past their bedtime, so that's when you know it's

good. Well, without further ado, let's get into our Sentinel ratings for this episode. Charlie, please do us the honors. What would you like to give out of 5 Sentinels for Fire Made Flesh?

I'm gonna give this one a [00:37:00] 4 out of 5 Sentinel rating. I think that it was pretty packed. It was definitely dense for one episode. I, at first, I was a little scared that it was moving at too steady of a clip. But then I remembered that this is comic books, baby. And this is how fast comic books work. And it's also X Men.

I'll guess, like, ending on a cliffhanger. But I think What got the episode to go from being maybe a three and a half to being a four Sentinel rating is the gene psychically talking to Madeline Pryor at the very end. That was such a beautiful, eloquent way to tie up that arc. And also leave me open to, I also really like Madeline's character now, did you notice that their voices are different at the end when they're talking to each other?

Madeline has a deeper. Inflection and gene is at the same level. I think it's, it's fascinating. Would you rate it?

I'm actually also out of four out of five sentinels [00:38:00] for this one We've we've been on the same page on this one for sure I I think I I'm still definitely incredibly curious about where things are going. I feel really good about where things are going I think I'm walk away from this one with a little bit less like holy shit fist pumping That was the best shit ever, but that's you know, not every episodes gonna be like that But we're we're still firing on all cylinders.

Honestly, I love this show so far so Four out of five sentinels

That ain't bad. That's excellent. It's

Well, that's going to do it for this episode of Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff. We watched Fire Made Flesh from X Men 97. The beautiful thing is that I don't have an episode title for next time. We're just going to come back with our next episode covering the following episode of X Men 97 when it drops this time next week.

So, take care. These episodes are going to be dropping essentially a week after they release. It's just the way that this podcast is going to [00:39:00] be working. So you can go and watch the next episode after you've gotten all of our download on the last episode on the day that they release. So for myself, Steve Selnick, and my good friend, Charlie Peppers, thanks for hanging out and we will see you on the next one. Bye friends.

​