Back in the Bayou.
Last time on X-Men: The Animated
Series, Wolverine is forced home. He’s lured to Canada by a message from an
old friend named Heather Hudson. He’s instead jumped by Heather’s husband,
James aka Vindicator, and the Canadian Superhero Team Alpha Flight. He’s
captured by the group and taken to a lab. Why? His old commander General Chasen
wants to punish him for leaving Alpha Flight and Department H by rather
painfully trying to figure out how the adamantium was bonded to his skeleton.
We also get some flashbacks to Logan’s escape from the Weapon X facility where
the metal was fused to his bones, meeting the Hudsons and joining Alpha Flight.
Vindicator and Chasen are both dead set on punishing Logan for leaving to the
point that Chasen orders them to operate on Logan to figure out the process.
Heather, who made sure she oversaw this project to protect Logan from
additional harm, says no. As do the rest of Alpha Flight. A brawl breaks out,
and Logan almost kills Vindicator, but Heather begs for her husband’s life.
Logan lets him live, for her, but makes it clear that if Alpha Flight tries
this again, he won’t play nice. And in the Savage Land, Charles and Magneto
meet and just barely escape a woman named Vertigo, a ‘Mutate’ that Magneto
created when he was last in the Savage Land that now works for Sinister. Enough
recap. Let’s get to it.
The episode opens with Cyclops next
to a crashed ship. He, Rogue and Jean are attacked by an unspeakable cosmic
horror. It’s basically a mouth with tentacles.
Cyclops blasts it to pieces, freeing them somewhat easily. Cyclops then
yells at Gambit to turn up the program’s difficulty. Yeah, it’s a Danger Room
scenario. Turns out Cyclops is the only person in there. Gambit teases about
Cyclops not liking him going easy and starts making modifications to the
program before leaning back and shuffling cards. The Danger Room’s phone rings
and Gambit answers, a man Pierre is looking for Remy. …I do believe this is the first time that the
name “Remy” has been used for Gambit in universe. Season 2 is all about giving
the X-Men their civilian names. Gambit
is so shocked by this man looking for him, that he accidentally shifts the
Danger Room’s level to maximum. That involves Cyclops alone battling Omega Red,
Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, and Juggernaut. Oh, and one random monster. Pierre,
meanwhile, tells Gambit that someone named Bobby is in trouble and needs his
help. Gambit isn’t interested in helping, though and seems to hate this, Bobby.
Pierre tells Gambit that Bobby disappeared, and something called the tithe is
coming up. Apparently, something really bad is going to happen if that tithe
doesn’t show that night. In the Danger Room Cyclops did reasonably well for a
while but is quickly overwhelmed by the villains and monsters arrayed against
him. He’s almost killed by a quartet of blasts and the tentacle monster when
Rogue sees him getting attacked on the Danger Room monitor. She rushes into the
control room, sees Gambit staring off into the distance, and shuts down the
program. She starts yelling at Gambit for letting Cyclops get hurt like that,
but Gambit can only say that he has to go home and save his brother.
Jean rushes into the Danger Room
and checks on Scott. He’s hurt but alive. Rogue flies in and tells her that
something spooked Gambit and it’s about his brother. Gambit takes one of the
small jets and flies back to the bayou, calling his brother a fool, a thieving
fool. He flashes back to the previous Tithing he was at. The Tithing, it seems,
is a once a decade meeting between Gambit’s family, the Thieves Guild, and the
Guild of Assassins, their rivals. Every ten years they need to present a
tithing to a being called the External, who then blesses the families with
protection from mortal men that bring the Tithe. At the last meeting, the
Thieves’ Chosen One was late by minutes and for that transgression was banished
from time and space. Damn. A woman from the Assassin’s and Remy’s brother Bobby
were chosen to represent their families at the next tithing. The External says
that if either side misses the tithing next time, their whole family will be
punished with them before disappearing.
Back at the Mansion, Cyclops is
laid up in bed with Rogue and Jean hovering over him. He says he’s feeling
better but they’re doubtful. Rogue says they’ll round up Gambit while Cyclops
recovers. Jean says that she scanned Gambit’s mind as he ran to the jets and
felt a sense of dread from him unlike anything she’d felt before. Wolverine
comes in and says he hears they need help tracking a Cajun. He teases Cyclops’
injuries but Rogue tells him to shut it and they need to hurry.
Gambit touches down in the bayou
and immediately finds Pierre. Pierre greets Gambit and they take off in a boat.
Pierre says that the Assassins have both Bobby and their Tithe. Supposedly,
while they’ve been at war for centuries, there’s never been an instance of
fighting like this on the day of the Tithe. Gambit doesn’t really care about
the ceremony, saying they’ve been doing this for 300 hundred years and asks
when it stops. Pierre says that the Assassins don’t want to kill Bobby, they
want to exchange Bobby and the Tithe for Gambit.
The X-Men touch down and find
Gambit’s plane. Rogue says that gambit has always been adamant that he never
wanted to visit the bayou again and is concerned at his change of mind.
Wolverine tracks their scent to the water, but then it dead ends. World’s greatest
tracker everyone. Jean says that she wishes Gambit had asked for help… but we
all know that’s not really his thing. She starts scanning around for minds,
Wolverine adding that Gambit doesn’t trust anyone.
We cut to the old plantation where
the Assassin’s make their home. Pierre warns Gambit that he might have been
gone a while but he’s still a Thief to these guys. He introduces himself to the
guards using his full name, Remy LeBeau, and he’s let inside. Bobby is being
kept in the lower levels of the mansion. Gambit finds Bobby and basically yells
at him for two minutes for pulling him back into this Assassin and Thieves game
again. He says that the Assassins will let him deliver the tithe and asks who
has it. It’s revealed to be the woman chosen one from years ago, Bella Donna. She
shows off her dress to him, which as it turns out was the dress she was going
to wear for their wedding. Gambit explains that they both knew it wouldn’t
work, they wanted to bring the Guilds together with their wedding, but knew
they’d actually be killed for that stunt if they went through with it. Bella
points out that he could have brought her with him, Gambit says that he
was young and scared, but ya know… copout. Belle says she’s still wearing his
ring, and if he wears the ring that she has for him, she’ll let Bobby deliver
the tithe. Gambit puts the ring on, and Bobby is released and given the tithe.
He says he’s sorry as he goes. Once alone, Bella Donna reveals that the ring lets
her cause Gambit pain and keep him from using his powers. She says he left her
once and she’s not going to let him do it again.
And somewhere Rogue is suddenly
extremely angry.
Rogue, Jean and Wolverine find
Gambit’s old mansion. The mansion is like the Assassin’s plantation, old and
derelict. They make it only a few feet inside before a trap door opens and they
drop into a nest of Thieves. They ask what the X-Men are doing here, and a
fight breaks out because, well, Wolverine is there. Pierre runs in before
anyone is hurt and tells them that Bobby and Remy made the switch for the
tithe. Pierre is unimpressed by the X-Men, until Wolverine grabs him and sticks
his head between his first and third claw, saying that Gambit isn’t a piece of
meat to be traded, and that they better bring them to Gambit. Bobby says that
Bella Donna will bring Gambit to the Tithing.
Back at the Assassin mansion, Bella
Donna makes Gambit model a suit for her, saying that he’ll wear it for their
wedding. Gambit asks her why they’re pretending as the Thieves won’t let him
stay with her. She uses her power to make his ring burn and reveals that she
gave Bobby a fake tithe box. After tonight there will be no more Thieves Guild.
The X-Men and Thieves have already
gathered at the Tithing site. Pierre wonders aloud where the Assassins are when
the Tithing starts in five minutes. Wolverine asks why he cares, since if they
don’t show up, the External will destroy them and the Thieves take over. Pierre
says that he doesn’t trust Bella Donna and that he won’t be comfortable until
this is over. The Assassins arrive, Gambit in tow. Bella Donna introduces
Gambit as her husband, and you can see the knife twisting in Rogue’s heart.
That is until Gambit immediately shoves her over and says that their Tithe is a
fake. Bella starts hurting Gambit, but Rogue shoots over and knocks her away.
Bella blasts Rogue back, calling her a seducer. Wolverine tries to peel the
ring off Gambit, but Bella makes it red hot and burns his metal claws as well.
The Thieves and Assassins all pull their various blasters on each other, but
Jean takes them all away with her telekinesis, saying that she can’t make them
stop hating each other but she can slow down their fight. The two groups start
brawling. Rogue gets up and rushes Bella Donna, saying to hand over the Tithe
box or she’ll take it. She says that Bella Donna can blast her back a thousand
times or more, but Rogue will get her eventually. Bella Donna claims that
Gambit is hers and that the Thieves Guild will soon be no more. Wolverine tries
to jump her but gets blasted skyward. Jean pulls him back down, saying that
fighting won’t solve anything, they need to find the tithing box. Wolverine
admits he doesn’t care which Cajuns get blasted by the witch, he’s here to stop
a wedding. The External arrives. She determines the Tithing is false and calls
the Chosen to order. The Assassins have their tithe and thus have their powers
increased. Bobby tries to explain that the Assassins interfered but the
External doesn’t care. The X-Men jump the External, but she blasts them back,
being an order of magnitude more powerful than them. The External begins to
pronounce sentencing, but Jean interferes and telepathically shows the External
how the Assassin’s cheated and dishonored the Tithing. The External is rightly
upset by this and grabs Bella Donna with her powers. She asks the Thieves what
they want the sentence to be. Bobby says kill them all, but Gambit shoves him
aside and tells the External to take Bella Donna’s powers, not her life. The
External does so and vanishes. Bella Donna begs Remy to not leave her again,
but Remy says that this Bayou isn’t his home anymore. He’s not an Assassin or
Thief, he’s an X-Man. The X-Men march off.
Back at the Mansion, Scott wonders
why Gambit didn’t come to them for help in the first place. Jean says that they
all have parts of their pasts they want to keep private. Scott says that being
an X-Man means trust, to which Jean counters that Trust takes time and that
with Charles gone the two of them need to be the ones to show Gambit they
deserve trust. As they talk, Rogue joins Gambit on the front step and sits with
him.
Meanwhile, in the Savage Land,
Charles and Magneto are still walking. I have to imagine this is the most work
Magneto’s gotten out of his legs since he’d figured out how to fly. They
arrived at a deserted village, Magneto saying that the last time he was here
the “Fall People” were living at this site peacefully. Both men lament that war
seems to find it’s way to humankind regardless of where they live. They’re
interrupted by a four armed man and two Pterosaur guards. The man, Barbarus,
says that Magneto once taught them that the fight goes to the most powerful.
Barbarus says that the Mutates follow a new Master now, and that they must
surrender to him. Charles and Magneto run, the guards in pursuit. Charles
knocks a guard from his Pterosaur, but Magneto is grabbed by Barbarus. Charles
sees a beehive over them and throws a spear at it. As Barbarus is distracted by
swatting bees, Charles and Magneto limp away.
It’s funny to me that this story is
probably adapted from a 1992 comic book, since Gambit at time of the show’s
writing he was so new. And boy did they stuff a lot of his backstory into this
one episode. We learn of his history with these Louisiana cults, how he was a
thief that loved an assassin until he got fed up with the lifestyle and ran.
Apparently on his wedding day, which… dick move Remy. Despite not wanting to be
part of this world anymore, he still has enough loyalty to his brother and
friends he comes back to save them. Bella Donna is a very cliché jilted lover
turned psychopath, but she has a nice flare to her. It takes a real crazy swamp
lady to wear a wedding dress to a meeting that could end in her death with the
most minimal of screwups. There was also a nice character moment here for
Logan, as he spends most of the episode complaining about Gambit, but the moment
he learns about the whole ‘married against his will’ thing, Logan’s animal fury
was targeted at freeing Remy. The Cajun might not be his favorite person but
he’s an X-Man to Logan. I will say that a cult of Assassins and Thieves paying
tribute to some sort of swamp goddess for increase in their power is not the
weirdest comic book origin I’ve ever heard but it’s at minimum in the top ten. The
Savage Land plot is very simple but effective. It’s really just a repeat of
last time, the Savage Land is pretty but dangerous, and Charles and Magneto are
being hunted by former minions of his. I’m curious if they’ll distinguish the
Mutates as Marvel comic’s Mutates or if these are all just Savage Land Mutants
who got their X-Genes activated by Magneto’s experiments. … for those who don’t
know, in Marvel Vernacular, Mutants refer to a specific subgroup of humans that
gain superhuman powers due to the existence of the X (sometimes called Essex)
Gene in their DNA. A Mutate refers to basically any otherwise normal human that
was exposed to some substance that gave them powers. So Wolverine = Mutant,
Spider-Man = Mutate, Iron Man = Dude in a suit. Get it? Got it? Good. We’ll see
more of this next time. Have a good night.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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