Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff

[00:00:00] Hi, friends. Welcome to Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff. And today we are watching X Men 97. My name is Steve Selnick and joining me as always, he just got done throwing Cap's shield like a fucking gold medalist. It's my good friend, Charlie Peppers.

Charlie, how are

you

doing well. Can we just say that Rogue is acting like Uma Thurman and Kill Bill in this episode? I mean, like, daaamn.

straight without a doubt. And someone who agrees with you wholeheartedly. If you're watching on YouTube, you just saw that reaction. It's my good friend joining me from the trenches of berries itself. Keith Jones, Keith. Thanks for joining us today, man. It's so good to have you.

to be here. I've been a fan of you guys since like the first episode. So like, I'm truly honored to be here. So thank you guys for having me.

Oh man, it's so good to have both a friend and a fan on the podcast. And so really quickly, I just want you to kind of jump into a little bit about how we met. We've been working at Barry's together for gosh, how long has it been? Like almost [00:01:00] three or four years at this point. Cause you were there when I started there.

So

way back when I first moved back to San Francisco you had, Weird old me, working on live workouts in the back of your studio. You're like, who the hell is this guy? And, lo and behold, much like my friendship with Charlie blossoming, we figured out that we had a love for nerdy things. And we actually spent a lot of time talking shit about the X Men, specifically Cyclops.

So Keith, I would love to just hear about You know, just, I'm, pretend I'm not here. First impressions of your, your, I actually, I get referred to as people's heterosexual life partners on more than one occasion. I'm very proud to be one of your hopefully many heterosexual life partners because that's the way that life should be. yeah, give us a little, a little history on, on our relationship and then your relationship with fandom, X Men, all of that good stuff.

well, we met because we were always like, usually like the opening people there. So we were like, usually the first ones there at the studio. You would always call me out because you could always tell that I was the one who had control over the ox at the [00:02:00] studio. Anytime you, as soon as

you opened up the door,

do we put the meme on our Instagram?

I don't know. We should that.

I'll make, I'll make Keith send that to Charlie afterwards. I'm not allowed to send the meme. K Keith is going to send the meme.

Charlie, just for the record, it features Uncle Ruckus from the Boondocks. but we became good friends. Just like started talking about everything from movies to music to them. Like once we hit comic books, we were all like, Oh, we're friends now. And then like, we've kind of just like, from then on, just kept building and building it.

And then, Once he told me about like, Oh yeah, we're doing a podcast where we talk about Batman. I was like, Oh, you mean my favorite character ever? Hell yeah. actually I kind of really fell in love with the podcast when you guys talked about my favorite Batman movie, Batman Returns.

Let's go! Let's fucking go!

favorite live action Batman movie. There we go.

you know what, we're just gonna do this now, cause you've been dying to give your Batman and Robin takes on [00:03:00] the podcast, so I just wanna clear out and give you a moment to, to fire off your Batman and Robin takes for Charlie, cause I feel like he's here for them.

now am I going to,

You're so ready!

all right. Okay. Now, am I going to, and this also goes for Batman forever as well. Now coming off of Batman and Batman Returns, they went to Joel Schumacher completely different total tonal shift and Tim Burton. I kind of still rock with those because they kind of do rock on like this kind of campy larger than life aspect to which I'm all like, okay, I get it. Is it the grounded thing that we got later on with Christopher Nolan or, I don't even want to say grounded with Tim Burton, but a Tim Burton esque level? No, but it's, know what, screw it for what it is. Batman and Robin is just super gay. I just can't deny it. It's super

it, it's, it's ultra gay.

from Uma Thurman's drag basically, she's basically playing a drag queen, And Batman and Robin, which their kind of simpatico love thing is even more evident [00:04:00] because instead of Batman and Robin being like a kid and an adult, they're both like adults. So you're just all like, yeah, y'all are lovers, aren't

I mean, the whole plot of Batman and Robin is that Robin wants to be Verse, and Batman's like, no, I'm not here for that. So that, in a nutshell, is the whole plot of Batman and Robin. He's like, I wanna signal in the sky. I wanna change my grinder handle. I wanna have people over. So it just, it is what it is.

Batman and Robin is pure camp. It's, it's so dumb, but so is the 1960s Batman. With Adam West and Burt Ward.

And that's what I think they were emulating more than anything else. Because wasn't it after Batman Returns like a lot of the parents were all like, oh my god This is too dark for my kids. So I guess Warner Brothers was all like, okay. Well, we can't go that dark again.

Joe Schumacher. How about you do something? And then he's like, I got y'all.

Gosh, I'm so glad we

and Val Comer is actually a really good Batman. I will say

Oh yeah, he's really good. There's deleted scenes in [00:05:00] Batman Forever that they should have kept that go into a lot of his pathos. That, when we review Batman Forever, I don't know when, but we need to review it at some point. I'll get into how Batman Forever kind of gets lost in the shuffle when we talk about Batman films.

Because it, it does a lot of things right.

And one more thing about the Batman movies. We watching them very recently, the type of woman I'm interested in can literally be described to all of the women of the Batman movies from Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman to Nicole Kidman's Meridian Chase to Uma Thurman, to Poison Ivys.

So yeah

I feel like you guys can talk forever about this stuff and I'm super here for it, but I'm gonna quickly Turn our direction into the X Men of us all. So Keith, you're obviously here to cover X Men 97 with us. So would you just fill us in about your sort of background in history? I know you're a little bit more into the comics and stuff like that, where we're potentially going to talk about the movies at some point in the future.

Like, would you just fill us in on like where your love for X Men started and how it's sort of manifesting in the show right now?

[00:06:00] my love of X Men actually started with the the 90s show. It was X Men, Batman, and Spider Man were the three shows I watched as a kid. So where those were the ones I was all like, I mean, I know there was a Fantastic Four show and I know they had some other shows, but those were like the three I love. Yeah. And then the movies came out in like, what the first one was 2000, 2001. So like, I was fourth grade, so I was like that prime, that prime age to get it, and then, like, my love of X Men just like started going up from there to where then I started reading the comics more. I really got back into the comics more recently during the Kur the Kurkoa era. With Jonathan Hitman's Krakoa Era, which I love so much.

And I, there was even a nod to it in this recent episode that I can't wait to talk about in a bit. But yeah this is where I became, I became a fan of Scott Summers. Not through the movies, but through the comics, because

We've made that very clear, that we don't like movie Cyclops. We

I have come to the conclusion, I don't

just did him so

[00:07:00] any of the movie X Men because they've kind of ruined every single one of them wrong even

even Wolverine who like they kind of focus on They kind of got him wrong Hugh Jackman did an amazing job as Wolverine and still continues to do that but i'm all like

that's

He's gotten a lot of swings.

No one's gotten more at bats than Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

but yeah, no, but X Men has kind of just been the thing x men and batman were the things that kind of just kept kept me coming back to For more and more so yeah

I love it, I, when Keith and I would work together, and I would go in to teach a class. Keith would leave me notes about his opinions on the X Men at the bottom of my roster. So one day, I wasn't expecting it, and I just walk over, and I just see a big Magneto was right underneath my roster, and I just start laughing, and no one knows why. That's the, that's the kind of shit we're here for. So let's get into it. Let's talk about this episode of X Men 97, episode seven in this first season titled Bright Eyes. It was released on April 24th, 2024, written by Charlie Feldman and J. B. [00:08:00] Ballard, directed by Emi Yonemura episode is Psycopse focuses the X Men on finding Bolivar Trask.

However, when the team locates the Sentinel Inventor, they realize that they have all been played by a mastermind. And here is where I proudly pass the ball off to Charlie to guide us through the plot of the episode.

Dun na na na na na na. Alright, so, right away, we know shit's about to pop off, because whoever does the previously on is the emotional center of the episode, and this episode, it's my girl Rogue. Ronae Marie,

she even sounds

pissed. She's like, previously on X Man. So we get into it with her. There's no new changes to the credits.

And also I was a little surprised that Storm and Professor X didn't reappear in the credits. I was like, Oh, okay. Are they going to come at the end? I wasn't sure about that, but I like, I like that they're making us wait for it because I'm [00:09:00] excited

for Storm to reappear. Be in the credits in her new costume.

I think that's gonna be cool. I'm excited for Professor X to be in the credits I'm also wondering if at the very end of the season We're gonna get a title card for Sunspot when he finally uses all of his powers and gets that black Aura around him and that'll probably be a big get up and cheer moment.

They'll probably have his card be right after Jubilee's card, too I'm calling it.

You've been right a lot. So you've been right a lot I

bet you're right about

but you know what I don't want to be right about? Gambit and his mother let's talk about this motherfucking funeral. So,

first off, it's raining, so the animators right away just want to hit us in the feels. It's like, all right, we can't we can't get no good weather? So, all the X Men, minus Charles and Storm, are gathered for Gambit's burial. Rogue is notably absent, which makes Jubilee angry and sad. [00:10:00] Nightcrawler, cutting Rogue some slack, says the Massacre on Genosha impacted all of them in different ways. And, we see the way that it impacted Rogue, because right away, we cut to Rogue.

Flying at supersonic speed. This felt very anime inspired. She confronts Thaddeus Ross after breaking into a bunker powerful enough to contain the Hulk. Whoa. This was awesome. I want to say two things before I ask the question. One, I love how powerful Rogue is throughout this entire episode. And to be real, I forgot how powerful Rogue is.

Because Rogue is so, she has such a big heart, and she's so sensitive, she might be a cancer, that's my assumption, but she's just so, She's so loving, and I really do think that she is the emotional core of the X Men, to the point where she started off as a villain, and [00:11:00] Cyclops and Madeline trusted her to deliver their baby.

That just shows how important Rogue is to this family. They fuck with her heavy. I fuck with her heavy. But what I really love we see her use a kick or a move from marvel versus capcom. She does

She like does this acrobatic move in the air then she's like, ah, and it looks really epic I want that gif on my phone And she takes down a bunch of the tanks.

She throws them around and we get What I believe and correct me if i'm wrong boys what I believe is our first Non X Men Marvel cameo of the season. She breaks into the bunker and Thunderbolt Ross, who is one of Hulk's biggest antagonists because Hulk is dating his daughter. She breaks into that bunker and she corners him and gets the information that she wants.

So, what did you both think of [00:12:00] Rogue going nuclear? What are your thoughts?

When like that, so that clip actually got released I think the day before the actual episode came out so, When I just watched that, and I think it cut out right before she got into the bunker. I was watching, I was all like, wow, we were cheated out of an amazing rogue in these movies.

real. For real.

Even,

for real for

I was just like, my roommate and I were just watching the episode right before we hopped on here. And then like, right when that scene came on, he was all like, why couldn't she do this in the movies? I was like, don't get me started.

We cut to Cyclops speaking to a holographic image of Senator Kelly. Well, not Senator Kelly anymore, President Kelly, and I'll get into why that is.

Cyclops is trying to play diplomat and get more government aid and Genosha. President Kelly refuses. He wants to play politics now that humans are afraid of mutants again. Humans are afraid that mutants are going to retaliate after what was essentially a genocide. And [00:13:00] Cyclops is justifiably pissed. So, just to give our listeners some background, Senator Kelly appeared in the first season of the original X Men cartoon in 92.

He was very anti mutant, then he was kidnapped by Master Mold, and Master Mold threatened to replace his brain with a computer. Senator Kelly was definitely like, oh, hell no! Then the X Men Burst in, saved his life, and Senator Kelly ended up winning the presidency on a pro mutant stance. So, one of the things that I love about the show is that we're able to see humans on a different level of other tolerance, acceptance, or being radically loving toward mutants.

And I think Having President Kelly be as weird and awkward as he was about I don't want to lose voters But I do I don't hate mutants, but I'm also a little scared. What are y'all gonna do? What are your thoughts on this?

He'd drop that your kind on them pretty hard. [00:14:00] Real hard. President Kelly doesn't care about mutant people.

He really doesn't.

Is what I have. Just put him in front of the green screen right now.

This was the scene that made me, I was all like, this is my Cyclops. when he pointed to the screens, I was like, Oh, I bet if these screens looked at more human, y'all you would care about these death tolls. I was all like, got to call it, got to call it out. And like, that's the thing I love about Cyclops.

He is a great leader call people out when they need to get called out. Up until in the comics, even Professor X, he was like, no, you're wrong. you can tell Cyclops has like a good deep love for his mutant brothers and sisters to where I was all like, This is what I love to see.

There's been a lot of chat on the internets about this show potentially going down the storyline of Scott truly breaking away from Xavier's dream and kind of getting a little bit more towards the Magneto mindset. And I wonder if they're planting the seeds through two episodes ago of him blowing up on Trish Tilby and saying those [00:15:00] things about you're lucky you're still alive. If it wasn't for us and then also his seeing of Genosha and the refusal of humanity's help and I think we're just we're getting seeds. I mean, he basically said Magneto was right in this episode. He was like, Hey, Magneto called it like there's a crater in the ground and Magneto was telling us this was going to happen.

So I think we're seeing a Scott Summers. That's a little bit more cynical towards humanity. And I'm way more interested in that. Yeah. Scott Summers instead of the fucking Boy Scout

steve, I'm interested in both. I'm interested in both. I love squeaky clean Scott and I also love cynical, morally ambiguous Scott. I think that if done correctly, they're both interesting because I really love the smile on his face as he just said give him the forecast. To me, my X Men, like, I love that style of Cyclops really being here for the dream, if being done properly.

But like Captain America, who will get to? [00:16:00] Cause America's ass is in this episode. I think Cyclops, like Cap, can be interesting both ways. And if he swings back and forth, and it's written well, I'm here for it either way. I'm just here for the journey.

A lot of people compare Cyclops to Captain America and I do I do see where they're coming from because Like how, how Captain America kind of always, very, okay, very, in his defense, he does go up against the United States government multiple times in the comics and Winter Soldier. Okay, I have complaints about Winter Soldier, but I'll leave that alone for now. I think Captain America is a much more Boy Scout than Cyclops is, just simply for the fact of Cyclops is just a Boy Scout in terms of he will go hard for you.

Right,

does not care about the government. He doesn't care about bureaucracy. He's all like, I am here to help out my people. That's it. And kind of screw everybody else. Okay. Kind of, but yeah. [00:17:00] I am curious just to see if they are going to go the full morally ambiguous route of just all like, are we, are we going to go here? Cause a little later on, he is one of the ones that didn't say anything after Rogue did her thing to that guy.

you know to be fair most of them didn't say anything, Beast didn't say anything

split on how

didn't say anything, Cyclops didn't say anything, Gene didn't say anything, Gene could have caught him Gene literally could have, Gene literally was like,

So she said something.

You know

I missed.

the, the meme I saw online was it was all like, road drops of a jean just going like, Oh,

could anticipate what was about to happen I think that that was just kind of like her being like hmm. Oh, sorry. I had Jean had her notifications on mute

sorry.

Gene was, Gene was in the back quieting everyone down. So she's like, wait,

Yeah, yeah

This is, she's going to say something badass.

wait, y'all gon like this part y'all gon like this part [00:18:00] Chill chill chill 19

She passes the popcorn like, here you go.

Alright, let's move on so that we can get to that part and really dig into it even more. Cut to the X Men visiting Genosha, and we get a couple of scenes inside of this whole sequence, which I really like.

I like them breaking the X Men up so that we can see how everybody's processing that differently. So I'm gonna go through the scenes one by one. Roberto Reveals that he hasn't come out to his mom, and Jubilee agrees to accompany him on that. I like that Jubilee says, If my parents didn't know that I was a mutant, but I was killed in Genosha, they would be burying a stranger.

And that definitely gets to Roberto. I really, and I want to double click on Roberto for a second. I like him as our POV character to the X Men. He's the first character that we saw in the first episode this season. He isn't quite like Jubilee where he wants to get involved and jump into the fray. He's [00:19:00] somebody who has reservations.

Roberto is pretty much this show's version of a baby gay. Who Doesn't know how to come out of the closet, they're unsure of what clothes to wear, they're unsure of how to act and present themselves, they don't know how to talk to their family. So I think the show's doing a really good job of that. Boys, at any point, did you look at Roberto this season and get annoyed with him, or is the writing so good that you have sympathy for him each step along the way?

I've had sympathy for him kind of every step of the way he was a kind of annoying in the first episode just because he just seemed like a kind of a rich yuppie was all like I can pay for it. I can pay for it. I'm like, yeah, dude, that this isn't about money for them. But but as he's gone on, like, the writing has given us more dimensions to him, especially in the episode where it was revealed that Madeline was a gene and they were all like, she was kind of giving them all like horror images I always [00:20:00] assumed that he hadn't, Told his parents because, like, that was, like, his biggest fear was, like, his mom coming out the television saying, like, Oh, you're a mutant I always saw where he was coming from. I got it. and I, I was not mad at him except in, like, that video game episode to where Jubilee was all like, Fire back! We're running from Sentinels right now. What if somebody sees me? Not everybody is worried about you right now.

I agree with Keith to the point where I'm like girl jubilee chill like I understand the sense of it, but like we're suddenly forcing your boyfriend to come out to his parents because Like I guess that there has been this like terrible thing and I again like there's a Certain aspect that I can't identify with, but do you feel like if you are in Sunspot's position and you had a partner that you were finally intimate with and they suddenly really started pressuring you to come out, do you feel like that would be a lot for you to handle?

Or do you feel like that's the right kind of support that you would want

It's complicated, [00:21:00] but in the real world, it would annoy me. But also, I'm at a point in my life and my growth where I couldn't rock with a partner that wasn't out of the closet. It's a no for me because also, he wouldn't jive well with my community. Because we're all out. We're pretty much my friend group.

We are the x men. We're all out Like it's steve. You're the outlier in my friend group like the rare straight person like everybody else out here

Is queer and gay, you know, I would have to really have deep love and affinity for a person for me to really be partners with them if they're still You At a place in my journey that I've moved beyond.

I get where Jubilee's coming from. Because, again, It's not just a matter of them coming out for semantics. Jubilee and her family are thrown into life or death situations all the time. And if Roberto [00:22:00] is like, Oh, I don't want anybody to know, It's like, dude, Dude. You literally can do so much damage with your powers and you're gonna be running away while bullets are flying at all of us saying, but my parents can't find out I need to be discreet.

I would be annoyed with them too. I'd be like, come the fuck out, come out already. Like, because now I can't trust you in dangerous situations with me, because I don't know that you're gonna have my back the way that I need you to have my back.

And that kind of just also just goes into the point of, if I could date somebody in the closet, it's all like, I don't know if I could just simply for that fact that Charlie said, it's just all like, Are you going to have my back when like, when times really gets hard, can I really expect you to be there or are you just going to be all like, Ooh, I can't.

So yeah, yeah, I, I kind of agree with them to where we're just, I'm just at a different point to where I couldn't, that wouldn't be compatible.

Right on. I appreciate you guys wrestling

Yeah, yeah, I think Jubilee, last point I'll make before [00:23:00] moving on, I think Jubilee has patience for it because she's really young.

It's been multiple episodes at this

point, I suppose. It's been a whole season.

I don't think that a 28 or a 30 year old Jubilee would be putting up with this shit. This is somebody who has, she has the bandwidth to do it. So we'll let her have it and maybe hey, maybe he's putting it down putting it down. We're gonna move on To our next scene which is between scott and jean Scott and jean, they finally have a conversation About all of the stuff they need to talk about without taking cheap shots at each other You It's very mature, Scott apologizes for things getting complicated, Jean says that she understands, she has been through a lot of changes herself, so she understands when things get twisted and bent, but she's here for Scott, and Scott's here for her, but the scene is still left a little vague in terms of if they want to come back [00:24:00] together romantically, or where they are with that, I think that they are And I want your thoughts on this.

I think they're finding their way back toward each other as friends, first, and finding their footing and their connection together. Yeah, what are your thoughts on this scene between Scott and Gene?

I actually really loved it. my roommate, I've been catching up with him because he hasn't been watching it as much as me. So like, we're just catching up. He's so, we got past the Madeline Pryor thing and I was like, kind of just explaining all that. So he was like, wait, wait, wait. So Scott was cheating, but not really cheating.

Cause it was still technically Jean. And I was all like, yes. And so like, I, I honestly, when they were actually. Having their conversation. I was like, yeah, this is actually like a very difficult conversation to have. Do we know how long it's been since. it was revealed that Madeline was Jean and to now

how long it's I mean, it's boothed kind of fast. We went from almost two [00:25:00] episodes from her leaving the mansion to being deceased from the event.

because when Jean caught them in their little astral plane

I think a month was referenced when they asked when she asked how long it was going on for.

they said that was a month since he had moved out, but like, that's the thing I was like, okay, well, how long has this thing been going on?

And it's really not, it's really not as clear cut as it makes it seem. And even in their conversation. Their relationship has never been like that cut and dry.

She's all like, they're all like, oh, yeah, we've always, we've had our ups and downs. She's all like, when? When I sacrifice myself to the sun? Dark Phoenix? When, like, I

When I died.

It was all like, our relationship has never been, like, simple. It looks like they are trying to find their way back to each other. And I'm just, this is just my own personal thing. I'm really hoping this leads into the thruple of them and Wolverine. Cause like, that's,

Absolutely.

one of the things I love. That was the thing I loved most from the Kokoro era. I was all like, Oh no, they're a thruple actually with Emma [00:26:00] Frost. They were like a quadruple little thing going on right there.

But yeah,

speaking of Emma Frost, so Gene senses a telepath up ahead. And Scott's like, Madeline? But it's not Madeline, because I called this shit. Emma, in the comic books, has a secondary mutation to get diamond hard skin under duress. And she's pulled from the rubble, and Beast, Beast cracks me up. I adore Beast, he's so funny.

Beast is like, Oh! It appears that under duress, she's developed a secondary mutation which has never been shown before! And Emma Emma kind of reminded me of Samantha from Sex and the City in this moment. That's kind of how I picture her in my head. She was like, Darling, I've always done well under pressure.

Like, under the rubble, I feel like Emma had that line picked up. It's like, so when they find me, I'mma say. Like, she just I love Emma so much, and [00:27:00] I I love that now we have Grant Morrison's new X Men lineup here. We got Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Jean, and Emma Frost.

So, that could be where we're heading next season, but I can't be sure yet. But I'm here for Emma's redemption, Keith, let me ask you, are you familiar with Buffy?

Yes, of

Alright, so, Emma Frost is Cordelia Chase.

Oh my. Oh,

So, I think that they're gonna give Emma Frost the Cordelia Chase treatment and just show her starting to come around more, coming to her own, maybe everyone's annoyed with her, but I think that she's gonna work her way into the team's good graces.

But I do believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't like the the event in the comic that this is based on the E3 extension, wasn't this also her turning point as

It was her turning point.

cause not also, this is, she just, this is where she got her diamond of form at, but this is also where she kind of did have like that come around moment of she stopped messing around with the Hellfire Club.

It was all like, okay, you X Men, y'all, y'all are [00:28:00] kind of right.

Yeah, and what

kind of mess with y'all. Yes.

is that she's the middle point. And I think this is why her and Cyclops will start connecting. She isn't morally righteous, and she isn't superior, she doesn't have a superiority complex like Magneto, she's right in the middle, she's amoral. She's very like, okay, how does this impact me?

And then, that's how she works accordingly, which is what I love about Emma, because she's, Emma is flexible. And she will pull whatever strings she needs, but at the end of the day, she isn't a villain in a cut and dry sense. I would call Emma somebody who's chaotic good.

I would actually agree with that wholeheartedly.

Speaking of moral standing, we shift from her chaotic ass to Beast, who is kind of veering a little bit more towards neutral good, because we get this really sweet [00:29:00] scene, and before I get into this, I want to say that I really like Trish. I think that Trish's heart is in the right place, and what I like about Trish, and what I also liked about their portrayal of President Kelly, is that humans are on a journey.

Of figuring out how to be a good ally in this show. And politicians can't get it right, because they, like Emma Frost, are out for themselves at the end of the day. But Trish, what I like about her is that she's trying to get it right, but she keeps getting her foot stuck in her mouth. And I think that that's real, to Humanity.

I loved this moment of her saying but property damage isn't how You get your point across and if I did not think of the BLM protest, you know You know that that's where they were pulling from because Beast's reaction was my reaction too. It's like Let it burn like let

Right.

We are out here [00:30:00] dying, and you're over here mad about the Radio Shack, like, come on, like, what, what are we really doing here?

What did y'all think of that moment, and of Beast? Cause I think that it's the first, it's the first interesting moment that Beast really had in the show.

Beast is crushing the quotables in this episode. He's throwing out the Mr. Rogers. He's, he's really given Tilby the business. Man, I think, again, this episode does a really good job of starting to show shifts in viewpoints for the characters. And I think that begging for your tolerance was our first mistake as a shift in viewpoint for Beast. And clearly we've had this monumental moment that's going to be a world shifter, but seeing the ways in which the worlds are shifting for each one of the individual characters and how they're not happening in line with each other, and no one X Men is a monolith in this case, I think is really incredible, and again, a testament to the wonderful writing and [00:31:00] execution of the show. And I think this is one of Beast's turning moments. again, we're gonna get to this a little bit later in the episode, and we sort of referenced it before. We've now referenced two characters that are having these turning moments towards a little bit less humanity, look at us, tolerate us, and these were two people that stayed silent and rogue dropped Trass Ass off of the building, so. Let's, we're, we're drawing parallels here, baby.

That beast scene is probably the scene of this episode I've probably rewatched more than any other scene just because it was just all like, once she said, like, proper, like, it was just like, destroying windows or something, like, my mind was all like, and you literally, I think the animators even did that to where even beast even did like a side eye, like, okay, I'm really going to have to do this now.

Okay, it was. It was all like, all right, here we go. Like he was all like, I'm sorry. And I do love his final line. It was all like, excuse me. I've exhausted all of your tolerance. I have to go get back to helping my people right

Which yes, yes beast. Yes, hank mccoy [00:32:00] That is the proper response because it is not his job to teach her ass It is not her job to educate her Like who does she think she

all like, I got my people to go save you. You go do your thing over here. I'll be over

here. Enjoy.

She went to go post on Facebook that she's listening and

learning after that.

She posted her black square

Yeah, no, no, she posted her blue square For hank but yeah, it was just It was so But you know what? You know what? And I think, it's so funny, I'm gonna be vulnerable right now and just say how my viewpoints have, since BLM, shifted to become a little bit more cautiously wearily optimistic when it pertains to people who want to be allies, but don't know how to quite get there.

I Have not a lot, but some, some space for people who want to get it right. That doesn't mean that I'm gonna hold your hand through it. I'm gonna tell you to go figure things out, but I [00:33:00] also think that It's important for people like Trish Tilby to be put in their place and to say, yo, that was out of pocket.

You need to figure some shit out. I have love for you. But I cannot educate you and I cannot placate you and make you feel better about yourself while you are harming me with your misguided viewpoint of what's happening right now. So I think this honestly felt like the blackest scene in the show and I really appreciate how Beast didn't commit self betrayal by just saying, oh no, it's fine.

It's fine because I think That part of my journey as a queer black person has been not committing self betrayal when these moments pop up. But still, maintaining my love for a person who's clumsy in their efforts to figure it out. Because I think the other side of the coin is we can't forget our love for people whose hearts are in the right [00:34:00] place.

But at the same time, we have to come first and we have to say, Your misinformation is harming me right now. So until you come correct, we can't have the same level of a relationship. So I'm setting a boundary right now. But I still see you. And I'm rooting for you. And once you've figured a few things out, then I can rock with you again.

Because I think that that is That's not the way that all of us should operate. That's the way that I've chosen to operate. That's the way Because I don't believe in cutting people out of my life Unless they really really deserve it and they've shown that they're not trying to learn and grow but Yeah, that's what I got out of that scene

I've said it once and I'll say it a million times, I would love for there to be a million more Charlie Peppers walking the planet.

Of course, of course, where's my madeleine pryor

I'm working on it. Leave your trust in Sinister!

Oh my god. while assisting in the [00:35:00] recovery efforts at Genosha, the X Men are contacted by Trask, who tells them that he is in Madripoor. He wants to help them, he has information, the X Men were kinda, eh. About it, very quickly, yes or no from either of you did you think this was a trap?

no, just simply for the fact of how that episode, that previous episode ended. Of him like legitimately being afraid of a sinister and well, who now we come to know as Bastion, we're chasing him. I was shaking my head when Morph was all like, so let me get this straight. He's calling this over here. He's the leader of this person. Yeah, this is a trap. I was all like, you know, it may be a trap, but at the same time, you don't really have any other like leads right now. So. You gotta go.

call me Admiral Ackbar, cause it's a trap! It's like, yeah, for sure, like, without a doubt. But, again, you have to go. Like, if, if Trask is phoning you up, you gotta be on guard, and you gotta

Mhm,

Plus, Madripoor, that's [00:36:00] fun.

Yeah, Majapor is amazing. The last time we saw Majapor in the MCU was Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Shoutout to Falcon and the

Winter Soldier.

MCU

Keith, do you have opinions about Falcon and the Winter Soldier?

show in the MCU, but it had moments that I enjoyed. And by moments I enjoyed, I mean the moments of sexual tension where I thought they were gonna make out.

And I'm just gonna leave that there.

Charlie, true or false, every show would be better if two dudes made out at

some point or another.

True. Sorry, did I say that too quickly? Alright, I'm sorry.

No, you didn't. I'll even cut it to make it faster.

But honestly, if I have to be forced to watch a man and a woman kiss all the time, then why can't the media reflect what other parts of reality look like? But, I'mma leave that alone, cause they're not ready for that shit. So,

Right.

we move on to Captain America. Rogue has a tete a tete with none other than Steve [00:37:00] Rogers.

He gives her useful information about Guy Ritchie's whereabouts. Unfortunately, Cap refuses to go into another country. He cares too much about how his actions would reflect on America. Rogue flings his shield miles and miles away in retaliation. So I want to pull up, I never thought I'd say this on the show, but I want to pull up something Of a good interaction I had on Facebook on a nerdy forum about this moment because a stranger who I want to shout out made a really really good point about Steve Rogers's thinking in this moment, and I want to share it with both of you. My boy dean varney on facebook said People are forgetting when this is taking place The late 90s was a time when the u.

s. And mexico were not friendly And Cap was being written to be very vocal about not liking that the U. S. was sticking its nose into geopolitics. If I [00:38:00] recall, he was written as being very outspoken about being against the Gulf War, etc. I can understand this show writing him this way. If I recall, canonically, he was unthawed in what, 1991?

So this is a cap that was unthawed in 1991. This show, like its title, is X Men 97, so we're in the year 97. So it's only been six years out of the ice, and Cap's politics are still treading on the side of I don't know. This is also a pre 9 11 world, so we don't have the dark flavor of Cap that we've come.

Accustomed to what did you both think of this iteration of cap and him trying to play politics and what he said to rogue

Okay, so when this scene first started I was all like, first I got hype, and then I got disappointed. I was all like, okay. Cause, still, full disclosure, Captain America [00:39:00] is far from like my favorite hero. Even after Winter Soldier and Civil War, I'm all like, yeah, no, you can still beat it. I'm kind of good on

you.

So I was like, kind of just hoping Rogue would just like smash his face in and take his shield and do whatever she needed to do. That being said, I'll let that go. I'll let my personal feelings aside. I actually really liked this scene just for that thing. Like, he was like, how would it look if I was in there smashing the heads? In Mexico, she was like, it will look like you're on the mutant side. It will look like you stand with mutants, which was like, yes, you stand for the downtrodden. And it was like, I can't do that. I was all like, really? And like, this is where, like, it kind of aggravated me where people kept comparing Cyclops to Captain America.

I was like, this is not where they're aligned. Cyclops would go and help. if you are a mutant, he doesn't care if you are a high born mutant of The Hellfire Club or wherever, or you're part of the Morlocks. He is willing to help you no matter what, no matter what [00:40:00] country borders say, no matter what governments are saying.

He's all like, no, we're about to go help out because it's the right thing to do. this kind of just seemed like the Captain America to where the very standard status quo Captain America of like, got to do everything by the book. And I was just all like, beat his ass, Rogue, beat his ass.

Yeah, the only thing I want to add to that is the the line read of, Oh look, it's America's top cop was just like, Absolute chef's kiss. Tell him how you feel with your scripting. And also it was right. I mean, he's straight, he's straight laced. And while the X Men are kind of bursting at the scenes with emotion and action, He's still tied to his government, and so I loved, loved seeing the dichotomy between them there. And he mentions his team, the Avengers, perhaps. So, I'm going to predict now that we get an Avengers team. Appearance before this season is over. I think they're gonna come back in one way or another Did you [00:41:00] notice his motorcycle outside of the compound when Rogue pulled up? I didn't notice it the first time around so his appearance was a fun surprise

very fun appearance I'm gonna step outside of my audience hat and i'm gonna put on my writer hat Writing wise. I love the way that cap was done I love the way that Cap was written, because it makes sense for the time period of the show.

I think, like Val, he is also trying to get it right. And I think that showing him being rigid about the politics of it all showed that he is America's top cop, so Rogue wasn't wrong. this is where I miss Chris Evans Captain America. I Because something about that cap that I really liked is that he didn't like bullies.

He was very against underdogs getting picked on because that's how he started out. He started out getting picked on. So if this were a different cap in the multiverse, if the caps were switched out, if this [00:42:00] were Chris Evan, he'd be like, Oh hell no, we're doing something right now because this is messed up.

This is a group that's being severely, severely oppressed. Like, think of how hard he went for Wanda in Civil War. And Wanda is the closest thing that the MCU has to a mutant, even though she's a witch, which I really do like. But originally, Wanda was a mutant and Magneto's daughter. But I don't want to get too sidetracked with that.

But I, I like how Cap was written as this version of him, just to show that this show. isn't going to adhere strongly to what the MCU did with that character. So I, I was here for it. Moving on, I really like Rogue confronting Gyridge in Mexico and draining his memories. She hasn't been this proactive in media for a very long time.

Like you both said, where was this Rogue in the movies? She's terrifying and I'm here for it. Do we think that the US government's going to retaliate [00:43:00] on Rogue? Because of how reckless she was. Cause she kinda, she came off as untouchable in a lot of this. But again, I think that she got her comeuppance by the end of the episode with the OZT when that prime sentinel or that human sentinel or whatever kind of blasted her.

But what do you think the government's reaction is going to be to what the X Men are doing?

not gonna be happy.

There's it. I mean we're gonna find out if What's her face is alive after this probably what's her name the the

CIA lady the the government lady that Val Cooper there it is

Cuz we don't know if

yeah that theoretically because we we don't know if she's alive yet. There's been some theories that she's actually on OZT's side Floating around out in the universe.

So it'll be it'll be interesting to see how the government reacts to to Rogue, quite literally going Rogue on them and destroying a secret facility of theirs. I mean, Ross isn't gonna let that go. Have you ever known Thunderbolt Ross to

let anything

he's still [00:44:00] hunting the Hulk just for dating his daughter.

I know, if he doesn't leave Bruce Banner alone, all Bruce Banner wants to do is just fuckin watch Bill Nye the Science Guy and eat cereal. Like, leave Bruce Banner alone. But

trying to smoke weed so he can stay calm and then,

like, government agencies keep trying to track him down every single time.

Yeah, and smoking weed, it's the most

doing, and then He's just trying to chill, and then government agencies come popping in, He's all like, oh crap, here I go again, and then it's like, Let me Hulk out, and I gotta destroy this house I just built, so thank

That's amazing. I now want that to be one of the character traits that Mark Ruffalo's Hulk has. It's like, how do you think I stay calm all the time? But yeah, so, something interesting happens. Later, Rogue wakes up on the streets of Mexico to be comforted by Nightcrawler. And apparently he and the other X Men tracked her down on their way to Madripoor.

They comfort her rather than judge her. It's a very lovely [00:45:00] moment, and Rogue finally breaks down in Nightcrawler's arms. I wanna say, this moment was so lovely, and the voice acting really sold it for me. Like, Rogue was sobbing, just, her heart just pouring out in Nightcrawler's arms. And then that shot of Gene and all of the team just looking at her and not saying a word.

I thought that was so beautiful. That is Chosen Family. That's what the X Men's about. And I was really just taken with that moment.

I really did love that scene. There were just two things. I was just all like, and this is only a thought I had after I'd seen it a couple times. Where is Genosha in the world? Is it like, if I'm correct, isn't it off like the coast of Madagascar?

So they were in, they were in Genosha. then they were going to go to Madripoor to go get trashed, but then they made a stop in Mexico to go get rogue. I'm all like, Jesus Christ. That's a lot of, that's a lot of flying around. Okay.

They got that Taylor

Swift jet

they're [00:46:00] getting they're doing it for the points.

what I really did love about this scene though, or at least it made me chuckle, was just how Morph and Wolverine were just like kicking out just like standing right next to each other just like that. I also like Morphs just seems like the non binary smart ass just to Logan's just kick ass assness, so they just like kind of just meld well together.

you get a moment of how much Wolverine cares about Morph a little bit later on in the episode as well. Which is a good indication that maybe it goes both ways, which we were hoping, at least.

I really did like that scene. For once, with the exception of X Men Evolution, we actually get, like, confirmation that Rogue and Nightcrawler, they're

right!

And, like, they actually, like, and Nightcrawler actually confronted her, like, or comforted her like an actual, like, a brother would to a sister. And, like, he knew the, he knew the right things to say. It was all like, you didn't just lose Remy, you lost Eric, too. and like being confused, that's perfectly okay with

Hmm.[00:47:00]

And so I, I love that, like that brother sister dynamic that it, we never got that before and it was just so perfect and so beautiful.

And I think that was the thing that like really helped Ro specifically in that moment.

Pound for pound, I'm not sure a character has been given better lines and delivered them better than Nightcrawler has so far in this

Agreed.

Between Remember It, and then this episode at the funeral, and at this moment where he's talking to his stepsister, like, Nightcrawler is absolutely firing on all fronts. I want to quickly rewind back into the moment where Rogue is accessing Geyerk's memories, because there's a connection back to one of the first episodes when Madeline, then thought to be Jean, is in Cerebro. Also piercing Gairick's mind, and remember we were like, she falls into this vision and sees what we now know as the destruction of Genosha and a few other things that we weren't totally sure that we're like, maybe they're gonna explain this eventually. And so the second time, when Rogue is accessing Gairick's mind, [00:48:00] she sort of falls into that same vision of where we get that combination of Nimrod. Which we keep seeing in those opening scenes, and we're not still 100 percent sure how he connects back to all of this. And also, we're starting to get those seeds planted of Bastion coming into the fold as well.

So this is a really cool callback into episode 1 with that Cerebro moment with Madeline, not Jean. And then showing that Gyrick's mind is compromised, not by Sinister, but by somebody else.

Yeah. I also, I wonder if Rogue was possessed by Bastion because of absorbing so much of Guy Ritchie's mind. She was holding onto him for a while. She was like, stop fighting me! Stop fighting me! And I wonder if next episode we're gonna see that Rogue did something while she blacked out. Because she woke up.

On the street and she was pretty confused about where she was. No idea where she was. So I think that that is gonna be an [00:49:00] ace up the show's sleeve. Like what did she do? when that happened, but

wait.

yeah,

It's just so good.

they're going to do. If you guys ever watched that show young justice in the first season, the main villain was Vandal Savage. He He brainwashed everybody into Justice League, but he took the main seven and then just sent them off world and we had no idea what it was.

And he had them literally committing war

So like, that's why I'm curious if they're going to do something like that, where it's all like, no, we literally have you on camera, literally what, destroying Mexico or something like that. It was all like, see how dangerous these mutants are so I'm curious if that's what they're going to do something like that.

I mean the last three episodes I believe are called Tolerance is Extinction. So I think That could we could see that come to bear fruit, but moving on

Before we get to Madripoor, we get the coming out scene. Roberto and Jubilee visit Roberto's mother and tell her that he is a mutant. She [00:50:00] asks him to keep his identity a secret. Shareholders are rattled by anything mutant related, especially after the awfulness in Genosha. She wants Roberto to be discreet.

Still, she doesn't have a terrible reaction and has always known. He set fire to four homes since he turned 16. I like this. His mom is definitely wrong for that. She needs to stop thinking of herself. For somebody to have their kid come out to them and their first reaction to be, Oh, well, don't rub it in people's faces.

That's gonna cause shame within the child. I think that that is no bueno. But I also, I wanna point out that X2 did a version of this scene before where And I think that this scene is a better version of that because it has more layers. What did y'all think?

Have you ever tried? Not being a mutant.

Yes, this scene actually did have more layers because like usually. Stereotypically and like storytelling when it's like, I'm [00:51:00] the person usually comes out to see either, Oh my God, I love you. And I accept you or get out now. So this was like a very detailed things. Like, I love you and I accept you, but we also have this financial, like responsibility to where these stockholders.

And if they found out that one of you in here, we can't have that. So stay in the closet. While she is completely wrong, I at least do see where her mindset is for that way of

thinking. While I don't agree with it, I at least can understand how she came to that conclusion because, So that certain generation of people, it doesn't matter.

Like optics are the thing that matters more than anything else. Like your family could be like complete disarray, but as long as to the outside, it looks completely fine. That's all that matters to them.

good writing.

I'd like to yes and that and say that I think in a way that she is In her mind showing love to her son in this [00:52:00] moment, she feels like she's protecting him, not just from public scrutiny, but she's trying to future proof him financially. She's trying not to have the bottom line be affected and have them lose whatever fortune they have because this, their stockholders got scared and all of a sudden their business is in the tank.

So in a way, It's like, again, I clearly agree with the two of you. This is the wrong way to go about it. You're going to create trauma inside of the person that you're trying to protect. But I think that that is part of the reasoning that she's thinking through in that moment. Is that like, oh, I'm protecting you.

This is actually love that I'm showing you right now, even though it's a misguided form of love.

we've already seen that trauma kind of bleeding through just in just in this episode earlier today where they were back on Genosha and like his literal line to Jubilee was, look what happens when we're out there throwing it in people's face. It's all like

Yeah,

that doesn't excuse genocide if I do, but like, yeah, but that you can see, like, that's where his frame of mind would come from, like [00:53:00] literally that line of thinking.

We get to Majapor, and The X Men learn that Sinister and a mysterious OZT organization have been developing a highly advanced Sentinel program.

Rogue drops Trask to his death, unknowingly activating programming that turns him into a human Sentinel hybrid. Cable arrives, defeats Trask, and explains that Sinister is working with a greater threat that they must stop. His timing is much better here than it was on Genosha, that's all I'm gonna say.

Let's talk about this moment when Rogue dropped Trask. I was shocked. I was very I was shocked because the writing tricked us into thinking that she was on the mend. We had that whole moment with Nightcrawler talking to her. Nightcrawler was there, and I was thinking, okay, he'd anchor her. Also, Superheroes do nothing but catch people falling off buildings.

So to see somebody [00:54:00] drop someone off a building, Even though, even though, it's complicated by the fact that he was gonna do that shit anyway! You know, so it's like, rogue did not push him. She did not throw him. She validated him. It's like, oh, okay. Like, you do what you're gonna

like, wait, is there anything else you want to tell us first? Nope. Okay,

Bye. And everyone's reactions were interesting. Cyclops looked gobsmacked. He was so shocked, but he did not reprimand her. Very interesting. Wolverine was like,

Well, Wolverine was like, we wanted to do that shit.

Yeah.

I'm glad somebody finally did it.

Right, well, Wolverine's always been the one, he'll say something, then the Psycopts will be all like, Wolverine, that's not us, we don't do that. But like, even this time, he was all like, well,

Mm hmm. You got Jean. Jean's sipping her tea in the background like, y'all gonna love this part. Watch her, watch her, watch my [00:55:00] girl, watch my girl. We got Morph, who, interestingly enough, was like, is this who we are now? Morph was the most horrified, which I thought was really interesting, and, Usually Beast is the moral center of the X Men, which really works well with his appearance in Nightcrawler., but we then get into this fight scene that was so incredible. I gotta give props to my girl Jean Grey. She is doing a much better job in this show Much better job.

You don't have her going, UGH! Like after, UGH!

nnnnnnnnnisssssssssssssssssssssssss nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Scott! You don't have her doing all of that after lifting a pencil across the room. You have her really fucking shit up. She really, And Keith, I'll be honest with you, my favorite version of Jean Grey before X Men 97 was the X Men Evolution Jean, because she got shit done.

What I liked about that [00:56:00] version of Jean Grey, and I'll post on this in our social media, she started off not being able to do much, but without the Phoenix Force, without the Phoenix Force, grew into such a powerhouse, and was throwing a tantrum. Massive shit. She threw Juggernaut and she didn't faint.

Like that's how powerful Jean grew on evolution. I thought that was great. I am both impressed, but also a little confused about Morph's powers though, like

Is he the strongest

X Men?

Also should Rogue absorb him so that that she can now be the strongest X Men? Maybe

her killing him. So I don't think she may be down with that. But, If you were to compare Morph to Mystique, so Mystique can just simply like She can just like look like Wolverine versus like Morph who can like literally actually get like Antimantium claws.

Is that correct? Am I seeing that right? Because [00:57:00] it seems like every time we see him like transform into literally anybody from Blob to Archangel to Colossus, he gets their powers as well. And that's never been like Mystique's sort of thing. She just like kind of looks like somebody.

I feel like he can replicate matter. Like, he can just replicate matter. Like, when he morphed into Psylocke in Episode 2, He Swords aren't part of her body, But he was able to get swords, So I think,

Same with

with

And Lady De wasn't he Lady Deathstrike 2?

When they fought when they fought January 6th? Yeah.

pretty much, pretty much. Let's call it what it is.

In Lady Deathstrike, canonically, she has adamantium talents as well, so I think that's interesting. Yeah, we, we should open it up to our audience and hear what their thoughts are on Morph's powers and report back. after that scene, [00:58:00] we go to Bastion and Mr. Sinister. This thread is Bastion who reveals to Sinister that Xavier is alive in space and that Magneto, presumed dead in Genosha's attack, is also alive in Bastion's Prisoner.

I was gagged seeing him come in and just shave Magneto. I knew he wasn't dead. I knew he wasn't dead. The credits could have fooled me, but Xavier would have sensed that in Outer Space and he didn't, so.

Just with that fight. This is like really shown. Mm hmm. Since, like, the evolution of animation from the X Men when they actually made it in the 90s to now, the influence of anime that has taken place on this

Mm hmm.

it's been amazing from the earlier episodes, especially with, like, that Madeline Pryor transformation.

I was like, oh, so the animators were all like, have you seen Sailor Moon? So this this fight episode between Gene and Trask, This thing like it turned into Dragon Ball Z literally for a couple of

Where they were like,

[00:59:00] hundred percent.

yes

I was like, oh, this is Dragon Ball Z and I'm like living for that.

So like, sorry That was like one thing I wanted to make sure like the anime influences on this show is something that I'm really living for.

And just to continue to give Jean her flowers at that moment where they jump off the building and Scott's like, You get the building and I'll get the debris. And Jean was like, Bitch, I'll get both and save your ass. And I'll just like, have a little moment. Cause I think that's really good there.

And something like that. She has that moment where it's like, takes a breath, and I think that would have been the moment where she passes out into Scott's arms, but she's actually like, no, I'm good. I'm up. I'm going to go turn Super Saiyan and fight this Prime Sentinel now.

She's such a boss, and she's so lovely. Like, she has such a big Like, I love that they're getting the compassionate side of Jean right, because she is somebody who feels so deeply and cares. And I like that she is more powerful from caring, because you don't have to Be unsympathetic and cynical to be strong.

You can still be caring [01:00:00] and friendly and loving and be a powerhouse.

Well, that's gonna do it for our coverage of this episode, Bright Eyes, from X Men 97. Now, one thing that this show has done an amazing job of, and it's something that we've been covering here, is the fact that It's just absolutely a treasure trove of easter eggs, and Marvel content is always full of easter eggs. But, something that's really, really apparent here is that the writers and the creators of the show just had so much love for the history of the X Men, and the comics runs, and the old animated series where they've come from. So, there's just like, too much. In this episode and all of the other episodes to cover so in the show notes from this episode and all of our episodes moving forward We're gonna put our sentinel trophies our little Easter eggs that we uncovered or that we saw or that we discovered in our research that we weren't able to cover In the time of this episode specifically, but if you're interested in those [01:01:00] extra easter eggs Go dive into those show notes. If you want to add your own opinions about what you saw, about what you think some stuff is, join us on Instagram at Charlie and Steve watch stuff pod and get yourself into the discussion. We would love to hear what you thought about this episode and without further ado, let's give our final answers on what we thought about this episode in the form of our Sentinel ratings.

Keith, as our guest, we would love for you to go first. What would you rank bright eyes? Out of five sentinels.

of five Sentinels, I would give this episode I'm not going to give it a 5 all the way because like that's something like remember it I think is like a perfect episode and this isn't quite perfect but like if I would give it anything it would be a 4. 5.

I'm gonna give it 5 Sentinels, but not for the same reason I gave Remember It 5 Sentinels. One of my biggest grievances about the original X Men cartoon is that it's so busy, and that it feels [01:02:00] borderline made for children with ADHD to keep their attention by throwing so many things at it every second, and that's the reason why, and Keith, you're probably gonna cry bloody murder right now, I find the original X Men cartoon unwatchable.

There, I said it.

you get, no, I've tried re watching it and I'm all like, this

It's so cringe because I think when I was a kid I loved it because I thought, oh, an explosion. What I hated about the old cartoon, well, hate is a strong word. What didn't jive with me is that we didn't let the characters have quiet moments and they weren't able to juggle everything in a very skillful way.

What I like about this episode is that it feels like they are doing what the old show sought out to do really well. A lot happened, but everything was balanced. The rhythm was [01:03:00] on purely for the writing and for them juggling multiple things and for it holding my attention and nothing feeling too rushed.

I'm gonna give it a five. Sentinel rating, and the five is for craftsmanship.

I walked into this recording ready to give it a four and a half, and through this discretion, I realized I had nothing to knock it half a point for. So I'm gonna give it five sentinels as well. I'm gonna stick on my streak of being the same as Charlie every single time we rate one of these things.

But it's sort of glad why I went off the top ropes and gave Remember It a proverbial six, an extra sentinel, because I feel like this is also a five in its own right. As you said, it's crafted really lovingly and really Like top notch, the fight scene at the end was amazing. All the dialogue was on point.

Every character cooked in their own way that I thought was just really catered to and really cared for in a way that we just didn't get in those old X Men series and [01:04:00] in a way that we don't really get now. So once again, this show is just, it's, it's really just firing on all cylinders and I'm loving every second of it. Well, that's gonna do it for this episode of Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff. I'd just like to thank my good friend Keith Jones one more time, sincerely, for coming on and nerding out with us for a little bit.

Keith where can the people find and follow you on the social medias?

social medias, I really only have Instagram and like my Instagram is keith underscore jo39 and you can just get me on there. I'm usually just chilling, posting pictures sometimes or posting hilarious stuff, maybe a little geeky stuff every now and then, but yeah, you know, come follow me. Say hi.

Appreciate you spending some time, my friend. So, for our guest, Keith, myself, Steve Selnick, and my good friend, Charlie Peppers, we will look forward to seeing you on the next one.

Bye.

friends!

Bye.