Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff

[00:00:00] friends! Welcome to Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff, and today we are watching X Men, the animated series. My name's Steve Selnick, and joining me, as always, he just finished the Street Fighter Sentinel level in the X Men arcade video game. It's Charlie Peppers! Charlie, how you doing today, man?

I'm doing well, man, and I do agree with Jubilee, the only people who hate video games are bad at video games.

I couldn't agree more. They're, they're the kind of nerd that isn't the cool kind of nerd like us. You nerds. We're here to watch X Men 97, the fourth episode in the season so far, just having a lot of fun with X Men 97.

I was just talking to my friend, Jonathan London, who spoilers, we're going to have on the podcast soon to talk about X Men 97. And he said that the only thing That could make this show better is if they are releasing it on Saturday mornings, instead of midnight on Wednesdays, because that would just make the full circle of the nostalgia feel really, really good.

Do you agree with [00:01:00] that? Charlie, if, if these were on Saturday morning, would you just be transported back into your childhood again?

I get the sentiment, I get wanting for the pure nostalgia. Factor having Oh shit, there's a cartoon that I love coming on on Saturday morning. Fun fact, Joe Russo, who we had on for our Two Face episode, feels the exact same way, but I'm gonna disagree. I like that I have something to look forward to in the week, not the weekend. And I like that I can just discuss it throughout the week. also I think I don't really look at this as a cartoon I think this is like a soap opera for adults that just happens to be a cartoon

I agree, and this episode especially felt very X Men soapy, so we can get right into it. Also, a little sidebar, another fun fact that we've never actually addressed on the podcast because we found out after the fact, which is just hilarious, but that guest Joe Russo that you referenced there we went to the same high school?

We, we grew up in the same town. He graduated a few years before [00:02:00] me and his sister actually, I think was in my graduating class and we didn't put it together until a mutual friend of ours on Facebook was like, wait, do you guys like know that you grew up in the same town in Connecticut or is this just total coincidence?

So shout out to Joe Russo and shout out to Cheshire, Connecticut. Cause we, we both grew up there and we had no idea. Yeah. Like one of my closest friends that I still stay in touch with was like, yeah, this dude was like my neighbor. So that was a, a funny, like, Oh, how did we not catch this moment? So anyway, Cheshire, Connecticut, shout out.

It's a, it's a terrible place otherwise, but some good people come out of it. So let's jump, let's jump right into the episode without any further ado. We're going to be reviewing the X Men 97 episode Motendo slash life death part one, it was released on April 3rd. 2024. It was written by Bo DeMaio and Charlie Feldman and directed by Chase Conley.

And the plot of the episode is on the morning of her 18th birthday, Jubilee and Roberto, AKA Sunspot are transported into [00:03:00] a video game by Mojo. Meanwhile, Storm heads to Forge's ranch to undergo a procedure meant to restore her powers. So Charlie, I'm going to let you. I'm gonna let you take our hands and guide us through this episode.

Yeah, yeah. Yes, and to what you said about the episode being broken into two parts, it also felt like a soap opera, yes, but also a classic cartoon. You remember Looney Tunes and how Looney Tunes one episode would be like two different episodes inside of it or three shorts inside of it? I sorta got that feeling from this episode.

Obviously, the storytelling is on a different caliber than Looney Tunes, but we still got the sense that this is a show with multiple spinning plates and they very wisely split the time between a lighter story and a heavier story. But first, we're going to jump into the lighter story because it is Jubilee's 18th birthday, baby. [00:04:00] So we are at the X Mansion, and at the X Mansion, Rogue and Gambit are sitting at the table when Magneto comes in with coffee. He levitates three spoons to put three sugars inside of Rogue's coffee, cause he knows just how she likes it. We'll unpack that later. Gambit says, Oh, since you're taking orders, I'd like a cappuccino.

And Magneto has what is probably my favorite flex of his so far. He says, No, luckily, I'm just giving them. Daaamn! Alright, so Steve, I think, I think my, my opinions changed, and I want your thoughts on this. I'm still all about Rogue and Magneto getting it on. The internet is calling them Rogue neto. Not sure how I

feel about that couple name, It rolls off the tongue. I don't know if they're having an affair. and just like I said last

episode,

and Rogue are having an

Yeah, also, I wanna I wouldn't even call it an affair if they are [00:05:00] having one because it's never been confirmed nor denied if Rogue and Gambit are official, but this seems a little too convenient, and it they're dragging it on for so many episodes That I think Rogue would have said something by now, or Gambit would have confronted her But I'm sure that Magneto is aware of the dynamics at play, and he's kind of fucking with Gambit at this point What do you think?

Yeah, this is the first time that it felt, like, more playful by Magneto than the, like, the what if or the getting into Gambit's head about it. I think they really threw me off, personally, with the touch that they shared at the end of the first episode.

Because you just, I don't know, maybe I'm just that starved for cartoon characters banging. And I was just like, well

Aren't we all? Aren't we

Aren't we all, right? We'll get to it later in the episode. so yeah, I, I think you're right. I think they maybe pulled back a little bit in terms of like, this [00:06:00] is more of a, a triangle that hasn't really been confirmed in either direction than you think it is.

Yeah, I completely agree with that. I completely agree with that, Steve. Things get even more fun when Jubilee comes in and she's all like, It's my birthday! I can't wait to celebrate with all of you! Let's go to the arcade! And what's really fun about this scene is that everyone looks at Magneto to see his reaction. And just going off of his reaction, you know it's gonna be a hard no.

So funny. Also, slight easter egg. Morph says, in reaction to Magneto, Somebody's daddy didn't get him a pony for a sweet sixteen. That is a line from Batman Returns.

oh my god,

The Catwoman. In their,

I, I flinched so hard when he said that, cause if you know, if you know his backstory, you knew that that next line was coming

You did

[00:07:00] like, yeah, my, my parents died in the fucking holocaust, dude, like, what are you talking about?

Know your

audience unhinged. I loved it though. I loved it

It was good. It was, I mean, Morph continues to be the best comic

He really does he really does so cut to Julie's room Jubilee's bitching about Magneto to Roberto, talking about how she always does what everybody else wants to do, and it's her birthday, why can't she do what she wants to do? It's very teenager like, but also, don't we all feel this way on our birthday?

Like, Steve, if you have to do really boring adult stuff on your birthday, are you a little eye roll?

Here's the thing, my birthday is on New Year's Eve,

Huh.

so, no one does shit on my birthday, it's awesome. Like, everyone wants to get down and party, and no one wants to do adult things on the last day of the year. So, I don't have that issue, per se, [00:08:00] because my birthday falls on a, like a celebratory holiday, so everyone's very predisposed into wanting to celebrate that day.

My partner Erin is born five days after me on January 4th,

Oh, when things are starting

shit. Things are starting up, everyone's in their like productive new year new me mode, and Everyone's too productive and busy to want to like do like go to the arcade the Thursday after New Year's Eve You know, so I I get it by proxy for sure

Ah, that is annoying. That is annoying. My birthday is July 11th, so it's right in the middle of summer. So it goes two ways. The pendulum swings hard in either direction. If I don't plan early, people are either doing other summer shit because it's really hot and gorgeous outside,

or if I hit it the exact right moment, everyone's down to do something because it's gorgeous outside. So it's kind of that, I just have to plan in advance [00:09:00] if I'm gonna do shit for my birthday.

and you have travel to contend with too. I you know, people are at it out of town in the summer

Absolutely, absolutely. And you know who else is gonna go out of town? Fuckin Jubilee and Roberto cause they get sucked into

Transition King So, they get sucked into Motendo, which Easter Egg, the cartridge for Motendo looks like the Super Nintendo game, X Men Mutant Apocalypse, which is the first video game I picked as a kid to go at that console.

I still remember the day. I remember what store we got it from. I remember how hard the levels were. I remember the music. Just memories.

Isn't it just funny how like For you and me, people who love video games, and again, I just want to reiterate, people who don't like video games are fucking nerds that are bad at video games. But, for people like us, who love video games, who pick them up early, isn't it funny how you just like have those visceral memories of those first games that you played that you like really connected with, or [00:10:00] the first game that you got to take home?

I feel like a lot of people have. And I'm getting way off the beaten path here, but it's, it's one of those episodes, I think where people have very clear memories of like the first album that they bought the first CD, the first cassette player. I mean, us being sort of elder millennials or elder ish millennials having more of like those analog days, but yeah, man, like.

The first time I got an N64 and I used my own money to buy Super Smash Bros. And I took it home and like had all my friends over and we played Smash like literally all day and all night and stuff like that. And just the kind of like the pride that gets wrapped up and being able to be like, I picked this and I'm so entertained by it.

And it is the source of. So much of our fandoms and our, our Hobbies and our, where we like go to spend our spare time as adults So I just, I have a lot of love for a moment like that So I just wanted to kind of double click on that a

No, I love, I love double clicking on things. I'm gonna validate you on that, yes, I do, [00:11:00] because when you're a kid, your sense of time is slower. I would

say, you know, life doesn't go by as quickly because you're not as busy. And when you're an adult, you have so much going on, that time just Avade

It's fucking April

I know, I can't believe it dude.

I can't believe it. Yeah, I remember every system I got. I remember every video game that I picked. I remember, Like now when I get a video game, I kind of lose sight of when I got it. I think I still have God of War Ragnarok, and I haven't played it yet. I

I have an embarrassing amount of games on my Xbox that I've never touched

Cause you're busy, you have stuff going on, we don't have the time to dedicate to that. That's why I love Christmas break, even though I don't know if there really is a Christmas break when you're an adult. Cause all I do, aside from going to the gym, is I sit in my pajamas, and I just play video games. What I love about Jubilee and Roberto getting sucked into this game is that [00:12:00] Seconds ago Jubilee was bitching about being an X Men, but now we see her X Men instincts kick in. She is so good at knowing what to do in terms of hitting the Sentinel, grabbing Roberto, finding cover. She bitches at him for not using his powers. Cyclops would be so proud of Jubilee in this moment because she's come such a long way, and I think she doesn't realize that she's All of those hours she put into the danger room really paid off. This is somebody that This show is giving it to do to just like they're giving it to do to Cyclops because I've never seen Jubilee take out a Sentinel by herself before so I was definitely like whoa Okay, get it girl That was really cool. I I also love how they're being transported to different memories of Jubilee and the first instance we see of that is Jubilee and Roberto being transported to [00:13:00] Junosa and Junosa that was an island where mutants were enslaved by Bolvertrasque in I believe the first season of the original X Men animated series and They're being shot at but a mysterious figure Appears in the distance and saves them. Steve, who did you think this figure was?

Honestly, I had no clue. I was just like, all right, there's a bug in the system. Let's see who this is. Some Tron shit. But yeah, I didn't know. I had no idea. And I actually like, I didn't fully wrap my head around. Full circleness of it until I had read some stuff after the episode and what went back and watched a second time So I mean just my own pure ignorance.

I had no idea who it was the first time around.

Yeah, I thought it was Dazzler. And Dazzler, do you know who Dazzler is?

Nope

Yeah, so I think, I think you actually do, you do know who Dazzler is. Do you play the X Men arcade game? The one where four

or [00:14:00] six players can play?

Yes.

you know the red haired, or no, no, no, she's a blonde. The blonde white woman that you can pick as a character?

Oh, yeah. Okay. That's

That's Dazzler, and her power is that she can convert sound into these blasts of light that are dangerous. And she kinda has a Jubilee vibe, like, if Jubilee represents the 90s, then Dazzler represents the 80s. In a very, like, disco, like, lightly punk kinda way, and Jubilee represents, like, the mall rat video game culture. Fuck the police attitude of the 90s.

I

But yeah, I thought it was gonna be Dazzler , that would have been fun. Mojo, who is such a fun character, Mojo pops up, he's like, Hey girl, so here's the tea, I built an entire video game around you because I am obsessed. It took a long time for me to get this together, but also you should be flattered because you don't [00:15:00] want to be an adult, clearly.

Look at all the other shows I would have built around these adults. I would have had Who's the boss, A Different World, and Divorce Court, Summers Vs. Gray.

That one

That took me out. That took me out.

that it took me out, but also, I think this is because again, I don't think this show does anything by accident. I think this lends more I think this is gonna put more fire under the belly of my theory that the Logan Scott Gene triangle is gonna be alive and

Mmmmm.

So, again, I don't, because the power struggle with Magneto, absolutely a thing, a different world, absolutely a thing, divorce court, I definitely think it's gonna be a thing, mark my words, I like, I'm, a couple episodes, I'm telling you, I'm gonna be

Yeah, I think it's just gonna be awkward for both of them. How is that

not awkward? Like if you,

hypothetically, hypothetically, Steve. If you found out that [00:16:00] Half the time you spent with Aaron Was with a clone of Aaron and the real biological Aaron showed up. How would you feel?

intrusive thoughts aside, pretty confused.

Yeah,

this at the end of the last episode of Fire Made Flesh, like you saw the shot at the end of the episode where they're standing on either side of the bed and you can just see this distance between them because it's two people that don't really know each other as well as they thought that they did.

And that the, Scott's looking at a Jean that he thought he knew, but he doesn't. And Jean is just coming around to life again. Without really knowing how long she's been gone for. So yeah, of course, it's gonna be weird. If it wasn't weird, I would feel weird.

and i'll turn that question back on myself if I found out that Cody was a clone for half the time we've been together I'd feel conflicted Not just because I would feel that it's a violation of me You [00:17:00] And what I thought was really happening. I also would think that it would be a violation of that clone in the life that they think that they're leading. But yes, and to that, I would feel closer to the clone. Because if we spent the latter half of our time together, that is the one that I bonded with more. That I have been with more shit with like I've been through more shit With that clone and we've had our fights and our disagreements and we've forged a greater understanding of each other I would almost feel bad like oh shit,

Yeah, to cop it to the show, you had a baby with that clone.

You

You didn't have a baby with the original Cody.

I didn't I didn't have a baby with the original cody

That's right. So that's, that's a hard hurdle.

I just want to say really quickly, and you're probably gonna laugh at me, Mojo's, not how he looked, but How he [00:18:00] spoke and his attitude and how he presented himself. It reminded me a lot of one of our podcast guests, H Allen Scott.

Really? Oh, that's so funny.

gave, he gave H Allen Scott in just the way that he was like, Perfect. And we're going to do it for this episode and I'm going to get all the ratings. And I just. If you go and watch Parting Shot or just like listen to his little clip that he played in our last, in our Oscar Predictions episode, I just like, I was like, Oh, this guy reminds me of H.

It's just like the, the attitude just came from H. Allen Scott. So shout out to, to H. Allen. Come back

what a delight. What a delight. I I love that Jubilee's like It also seems like you Lost some weight Oh, you noticed! That was just so Oh my

A little dip, a little

A little dip, a little tuck. It out.

I actually thought it was really cool that it was actually the lack of ratings, which was, and we'll get to this, like when he started getting ratings again, he blew right back up, so it was actually the ratings that gave him life and made him [00:19:00] happy and Jubilatious if you

Absolutely. Mojo is happy that the ratings are gonna go up with Jubilee, and we get this really fun homage to the X Men arcade game that we spoke about a couple of seconds ago, where Jubilee, she's fighting sentinels, she does this incredible super move, which in the arcade game, everyone had a super move, and at some point, I think she loses her health. But again, the mysterious figure comes in and gives her help. So, they're definitely being helped by somebody, don't know who it is yet, but we'll get to that. And it's really fun because the big boss battle that we get to is on Asteroid M. And, Jubilee and Roberto are having to face Magneto. Before we get to that though, there's something that I want us to talk about.

It's the moment where Roberto is speaking about how [00:20:00] he overcompensated for his own self hatred by saying that he loathed mutants, that there were no good mutants when he and his mom were talking about it. This took me back to moments of my own childhood where I knew that I was a queer person, but I don't know if I quite did it to the extent of, Oh, I hate gay people.

I think I was just really quiet if the topic or Any gay rights issues were brought up. I just went inside myself But this really this felt true to life and it made Roberto a little bit more authentic to me jubilee. Is having to stand up to Magneto all by herself. I thought that this was really sick. And again, you see her X Men instincts click in.

She uses her video game knowledge to win the fight. She recognizes that Magneto has a pattern of attack. She waits for it. Then [00:21:00] she fucking wails on him. I got up and I cheered in this moment. Because, again, Jubilee's destroying Sentinel. She's standing up to old Buckethead. She's just doing a lot of Hot girl shit in this episode.

I am here

for it. BB.

Me too.

So just before Magneto catches his second wind and another attack happens Jubilee and Roberto are taken into what I think is a pocket dimension within the world of the video game And the mystery woman is unmasked The mystery woman is an older woman Digital replica of Jubilee and apparently she's one of many digital replicas that were created to kind of beta test the video game to work out the kinks in it. Love this. Also love that this season has a theme of clones and people having

Mm hmm.

Duplicates of themselves to learn more about themselves. Cause I think one of the biggest [00:22:00] points of greatness in this show is the self reflection all the characters are going through. And what makes you reflect more than having a conversation with yourself.

And a fun Riddler trophy for that is that they brought back the original voice actor of Jubilee from the X Men animated series way back in the 90s to voice that digital copy of Jubilee. So you get a nice little nod to that original voice actor as well, giving a little bit of wisdom to current Jubilee.

That's incredible, I didn't know that. How cool. That's fan fucking

That was, that was the thing that I found out by reading a little bit, like some reviews and stuff like that, is that they brought back original Jubilee's voice for, to, to like kind of play older, wiser digital Jubilee.

tastic.

Let Let me read something that actually hit me in the feels. Old

Jubilee says, Jubilee, I know a part of you wants to hang here, it's nice knowing how every stage ends, no [00:23:00] surprises, no twist, it always stays the same, but that's not living, living doesn't get cheat codes or extra lives, love, loss, and heapings of hope, life's a total risk and it's on you, take it. That was beautifully said.

Oof. I just got goosebumps

Right? Cause it's real. It's fucking

real. And I think Jubilee started as the audience proxy of what if you were a kid thrown into this world, but we're not kids anymore and we've grown up with Jubilee and for Jubilee in particular, she's the one character who she's kind of like Bart Simpson, you remember how in the nineties Bart Simpson really slapped for everybody. Because he was

really symbiotic with the 90s and what that decade meant. Do you

think anybody's really crazy about Bart Simpson now though?

I literally wore Bart Simpson socks all [00:24:00] day yesterday. That's not even a joke. I wore Bart Simpson socks all day yesterday.

right, is anyone but Steve Selnick crazy

about Bart Simpson? I don't know, I don't

Old Simpsons fans are, like myself. That's for sure.

if we really break it down, what does

No! I mean, the answer is

yeah.

He was, I mean, he was like the, He was like the, don't have a cow man. Like, chill out. Let's, let's, Let's break some rules. Let's have some fun. He was the, he was the mischievous youth that I think a lot of us miss.

And that a lot of us identified with when we were younger watching it.

Yeah, yes and to that if Bart Simpson were made today, he would be he would have a vocal fry he'd be on his phone he would be like Very much into calling people fascist. He would be a different character

Bart Simpson could exist now because of all the technology in life right now. It's actually amazing [00:25:00] that The Simpsons still happen. And that they can, like, because life has changed so much, and they try and keep at least, like, the fundamentals of those characters the

You know who could still exist though? Lisa Simpson.

Oh, hell yeah. This is Lisa's

this is Lisa's time. You know,

Lisa

she wasn't president in the future for

Ha! She wasn't, she really wasn't. But yeah, I, I really do think that that I feel that same way about Jubilee. She was like that mischievous troublemaker, and the show's done a really great job to make her a more active character in this show, and I'm here for it. She teams up with the older Jubilee to do this combo firework on Mojo when he comes to attack

them.

It's very anime, very Sailor Moon, it's giving Dragon Ball Z, and Roberto even, being inspired by Jubilee, steps out and uses his powers for the first time. And he shoots some solar energy, some solar fire at Mojo, which [00:26:00] gives them an opening to do what they do. This was a great moment,

and it ends with birthday sex, birthday sex.

Go, you

Ah, yeah, you know yeah. Hey,

I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it

Continue the Charlie and Steve are thirsty for cartoon characters to fuck.

I think the animators are, we didn't draw the shit

That's true. That's true. They, they hung on the closeup of the mouths for like An extra couple seconds.

they really did, they really did. The second half of the episode is focused on Storm and Forge, Storm is at Forge's ranch, and This is a different story. If the other story was about growing up, this story is about moving into another phase of life after you've already grown up and kind of dealing with a crisis of identity. Like, what happens when you've already had the coming of [00:27:00] age? And you're on your shit, then you lose the thing that made you you. That's something that adults, at some point or another, go through. A breakup, losing a job, having to move somewhere. Transition is a part of life. Life, love,

loss, and heapings of hope.

Just like the Older Jubilee said. The Older Jubilee could have also easily said that to Storm in this situation. Which is why this episode is very well balanced, and I'm impressed by it. So Storm and Forge are enjoying a nice bowl of bison chili. Forge apparently owes Charles Xavier his life. He wants to repay the favor by helping Storm restore her mutant powers.

And speaking of Storm, she looks so gorgeous in this scene. Did you just Her outfit was cute. I like the jumper with the shorts and just her bone structures. They really knocked it out of the park with the animation. Everything was just [00:28:00] top tier.

Agree.

Absolutely.

Hard

Hard to agree. Did you,

intended.

did you like the chemistry between Storm and Forge?

Because they're an old school comic book couple.

Let's get to the end of this because I want to talk about this scene as a whole.

Okay, I have thoughts too, and you probably already read

it in the notes. So Storm and Forge go horseback riding, Storm pretends that she's flying for a moment, Forge playfully ribs her for just being childlike in the moment, The scene ends when Storm nearly rides off the edge of a cliff, because again, this is a woman who's lost her identity.

She's lost what she was able to do with her powers. And we get this beat of foreshadowing that we don't know is foreshadowing at the moment. She says, I've seen him before, circling. Perhaps he is like the winds. The moon affects tides and temperatures, guiding wind across our planet's surface. The [00:29:00] winds here never shift.

They always go east. Stuck. Like that owl. Love how the show has Storm speaking through the weather. It's kind of like how, when you love something, you use it as a metaphor for everything. We also, slight easter egg, we get Forge at the end of the scene, he says, You of all people know how fast the weather can change. That is a line from Sir Patrick Stewart in X Men The Last Stand. He says that to Holly Berry Storm. So, again, Bo DeMaio, or it could be his co writer, Charlie Feldman, really taking lines from some great shows in nerd culture.

It's smart. Super

It's very smart. So, later Storm gets into Forge's machines to restore her abilities. An hour later, she tries summoning the weather to no avail. It's really sad to see her abilities appear to be gone for good. And she [00:30:00] breaks down crying. This was pretty painful. What did you think of this scene? Just seeing her try to get her mojo back.

I felt weird this whole story. And, and we can do this now a little bit. I just wish the episode ended or had like a different sort of closure after the Jubilee stuff. And I was just like, why are we forcing this all in right now?

And, and I get it, and your connection between like, Jubilee story of coming of age, and then Storm story of, you've come of age but then you've lost the thing that defines you, so what do you do? I think bridged that gap a little bit more in my brain to me. But. It just felt so fast. I just felt like we were moving through it so quickly.

And I would have really liked to sit in this for a full 30 minutes.

We're gonna get it.

we're gonna get to it. And I know that there's gonna be a part 2. I mean, I would assume there's gonna be a part 2 if there's a part 1. [00:31:00] I just wish that it was all in one episode. Because I felt like they really squeezed this first part in.

And we're gonna get to sort of the, the climax of this episode, where some other things felt forced and rushed. so we can, so we can, we can go there if you wanna go there.

Yeah, so her powers aren't back and we get the big reveal that Forge struck a deal with the US Department of Defense to create the, well he didn't create, he had rough designs for anti mutant technology that Bolivar, not Bolivar Trask, but somebody, Took and ran with and that is ultimately what got used to create the gun That shot Storm and took away her abilities So this motherfucker This motherfucker After this revelation happens, he and Beast have something in common Because, like, [00:32:00] Beast, not knowing how to pick his damn moments, Forge is like, Oh, BT dubs, I love you, and you're like a goddess. I was so happy that Storm smacked the fucking taste out of his

mouth. She smacked him. For all the ways that the Fox movies mistreated Holly Berry and didn't put justice on her storyline. She Smacked him for Bryan Singer. She just, she Storm

Smackdown for Bryan Singer is incredible. Ha ha ha.

Storm just Storm was all of us. Storm was like, can I get some respect in this universe? She smacked the molecules out of his body.

[00:33:00] Yeah. I actually should. I was like, what?! Since when? Like, what the fuck? It was the first time that I was just like, okay, what are we doing here? And I know that like, there's only 33 minutes. This is why I just wanted it to be Why not put Life, Death, Part 1 and 2 into its own fucking thing? Like, I just it just felt so rushed.

Super rushed. Cause I and I get it, she's a goddess. How could you not fall in love with her right away? It just made me feel like, A, Is Can he do all the shit that he says he can do? And B, like, what are is he so is he just operating on guilt? Like, what's happening here? So, I'm just Maybe the next episode will explain a lot more to us, but I just I was just kinda like, what?

How did we get here?

He's been in the show, not even for a full 33 minutes.

This dude has been in the show for 16 minutes. He's like, oh, I love you, but at the [00:34:00] same time we all love storm It's not that I don't

believe him I just don't care about him enough

But even in the way that, like, He gathered her in and they got close to each other and seemed to Be able to like get close to each other in a way that I feel like strangers Wouldn't have that sort of comfort and i'm just sitting here going Where did that come from? we went from bison chili and a horseback ride to like Noodling to snug it up real close, but then when and then dropping the I love you bomb I just I couldn't connect

couldn't connect it.

either. It felt too quick. Also, that's not love it's infatuation Like that is

not It's guilt. Yeah, it's guilt it's And, and in factuation, it's like a lot of things. I hope that Storm is like, as soon as I get my powers back, I'm electrocuting your ass.

Storm tries to [00:35:00] leave Forge's cabin, but a dark force throws her back there. This is a demonic entity that feeds off of mystery. It's known as the Adversary, and I can't wait for Life Death Part 2.

Cause I think that Life Death Part 2 is gonna make up for this rushed storytelling, which is gonna bring the episode's rating down for me a little bit, not too much. Cuz I still think it's a good episode,

I agree with you, I actually, after the second watchthrough that I did this morning, A, I noticed all of the owl hoots a little bit more readily. the show told us what was gonna happen and I didn't notice when she's talking about the owl I didn't think anything of it other than just her like being a poetic goddess of the elements And then all of a sudden we're looking at a big demon owl from Death Note staring us in the face I did do some research on the adversary and I am Very interested in how Life Death Part 2 is going [00:36:00] to happen based on the relationship of Forge and the Adversary.

So I'm, I'm curious how they're gonna make that play, but again, like, I didn't get excited about it until I did some Wikipedia ing and some X Men stuff. background digging. So that's cool. I'm glad that we're going to get some sort of revolution resolution to it. But yeah, this also is going to drive my score down a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, I feel that for sure. For sure. So before we get to our ratings, and this is a good time to talk about foreshadowing, because the credits do it all the time. A few things are different in the credits. Steve, did you notice that Jean Grey's hair is no longer loose? It's in a ponytail now? And her title card?

I noticed because you said it

Yeah, yeah, I'm like, oh shit. Okay, that's to show that that was Madeline in the credits. And now we're back to the original Jean who had a ponytail

in the credits. That was a very nice subtle touch. I didn't notice it [00:37:00] the first time, but I noticed it after reading it online. Storm's card is still MIA. We have a clip of Jubilee fighting Mojo, which is great foreshadowing for what the episode's gonna be.

We show Lalandra, who is with the Shi'ar empire. Lelandra is with the Shi'ar empire who wanted to bring Jean Grey in for trials as the phoenix force. We see the dark phoenix again Which we keep seeing the dark phoenix so I can't help but think that that's either going to be brought up Soon or maybe the phoenix is going to make a cameo I wouldn't hate that because I thought that story was really well done in the cartoon We see forge with members of x factor In, in this shot, we see two members of X Factor, we see Polaris, and Polaris, canonically, in the world of X Men, is a clone of Magneto, or she at least has some of Magneto's DNA, and she can control magnetism as well, and she, canonically, in the [00:38:00] comic books, is in a relationship with Havok, Alex Summers, Psycopse's brother, And, So, that's interesting.

Maybe we'll see Polaris in Havoc soon. Also, in that shot that was panning up to Forge in the credits, we see Iceman off to the right hand side. So, one of the original five members of the X Men. I wonder if he'll pop up again. You never know. Lastly, we get a shot of one of my favorites, Emma Frost, who is part of the Hellfire Club. Charles tries to read her mind, but she blocks him from her thoughts, and that's cool, because Emma Frost is also one of the villains that we see running toward the X Men before the big collision at the end of the credits, so Very fun! Goosies!

to the credits for the X Men 97, right? Didn't she replace

She did. She did.

I feel like that means we're gonna have to see her at some

Absolutely.

the thing, this show just got renewed for a third

Mm hmm.

Like, not even the second season, it just [00:39:00] got greenlit for season three.

So, I feel like they are probably planting seeds all the way down the line. But, that said, everything that's happened in those intro credits has happened sort of quickly. So, I would probably say that this is all stuff that's being set up for season one, but who knows? Maybe they're playing with a little bit more space now that they know that they have two extra seasons to work with after this

Absolutely, and we're still seeing more shooting at Mr. Sinister, so Sinister's gonna be back.

he's definitely coming back, and

we still got Bishop being thrown through time, so time is still gonna be a factor.

and I don't think we're done with this Motendo stuff either. Like, first of all, Motendo is just so good. I don't think we ever gave the nod that the Motendo Nintendo is good. It's just subtle enough of a difference is that it makes it good, but I mean like after Mojo is quote unquote fried Like his his tech support was there to push him over and be like, it's my show now, baby So who [00:40:00] knows we may even get some of that down the line.

This show is so good at just leaving doors

It really is. It really is. speaking of good, Steve, I'll leave it to you. What's your Sentinel rating?

I'm giving this one three and a half Sentinels. I really That ending really knocked me down, man. I just, I, and maybe I'm going to eat my words when we come back next week and life death part two, hopefully proves me wrong, but I was just so thrown off by it. And it's funny. I was just, I think this is the second time we've mentioned John London on this episode, and he's going to come chat with us soon.

He was actually talking to me about how he really didn't like the Jubilee stuff and really liked the, the forge storm stuff, because I think that's more of. His comics knowledge where I'm on the other side is like like I I was like grabbing my hair being like this is exactly the arcade game the entire time I was riding a high from the Jubilee Motenda stuff and then I really felt like life def pulled me back into a place where I'm just [00:41:00] confused and not really sure what's going on so it pulls it down to a three and a half for me hopefully I'll eat my words soon.

But that's just where

Yeah, I I just looked it up. The episode that we're having next week is an episode called Remember It. And I believe that Remember It is gonna be focused on Cyclops and Jean going to The UN, because I believe that Magneto's Mutant City or what have you is becoming part of the United Nations and the UN starts digging up all of the X Men's dirty laundry. So I think

that'll be a break from LifeDeaf, then we're gonna go back to LifeDeaf for Episode 7. But, I'm excited.

Yeah, very very excited. And not us having the same rating, I'm also giving it 3. 5

No way! Dude!

I wanted to smack the shit out of him too! Like, how dare you?

I'm just, haven't, haven't we rated every episode the same

We [00:42:00] have, we have.

I

And we don't even talk about this beforehand. That's

We don't, it is incredible. Like, his bison chili wasn't that good. . All right, and that's it!

We did it. Another, another amazingly perfect episode from us, everybody. That's going to do it for this episode of Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff. We reviewed the episode Motendo slash life death part one on X Men 97. We're going to be coming back to you next week with our takes on episode five of X Men 97.

Charlie, you said that one already had a title. What's the title for that one?

it.

Rip. Well, I should have remembered it. So we'll be back next week with Remember It from X Men 97. And for myself, Steve Selnick and my good friend, Charlie Peppers, we will see you on the next one. Bye

Bye!