I don’t even know where to start with X-Men ‘97’s fifth episode. It’s titled, very simply, “Remember It.” And you will.

It’s another Wednesday morning, which means X-Men ‘97 dropped its most recent episode, and that episode was unbelievable. They packed so much into this 30 minutes. It’s like 28 or something stupid like that. It’s ridiculous. There’s so much that happens in this thing that I’m really struggling to keep up with them, and I know I sound almost like a crazy person.

This is an amazing episode, but at the same time, wow.

Two Sides of the Story

The episode starts very plainly. We open on a news report. It’s Trish Tilby, and the team is being interviewed, and people are there, and it’s all because they’re the heroes. Everyone’s kind of having their moment. Beast is there, obviously. Scott’s there. This is the least important aspect of the episode, but only kind of, because it dovetails into Scott having sort of a freak out where he lashes out.

Meanwhile, the X-Men have been invited to Genosha, because Genosha has officially been recognized by the UN. It has joined the UN. It’s been ratified as a nation. That’s where the thing splits off. Cyclops, Wolverine and Beast are back in Westchester at the manor, being interviewed and dealing with the news. Magneto, Rogue and Gambit are on the Blackbird heading to Genosha. So there are literally two sides of the story.

Scott, Jean and Madelyne

On the Scott side of it, he lashes out. He gets really upset. He’s frustrated, he’s dealing with a whole lot of stuff, and that comes out.

After the freak out, he’s talking to what looks like Jean about Nathan and about the trauma they’re feeling, only to suddenly be interrupted by Jean. “If you’ll excuse us, Madelyne.”

Scott’s been in the mental rapport that he and Jean share, which now Madelyne and he share. He’s been doing, I guess you could say, the equivalent of emotional cheating? I don’t know. How do you cheat with the mother of your child? I don’t know.

At one point Wolverine confronts the real Jean. She’s at a lake, practicing her powers, and she actually kisses him. She’s frustrated because Scott’s clearly putting up mental blocks against her. And ultimately he’s like, yeah, go back, remember your boy Scott, go make it right.

Don’t forget that at one point Cable shows up. Cable shows up, and Madelyne is able to look him in the eye, and right before he’s about to bodyslide, because his timer goes off, she realizes it’s him. And he says, “I’m sorry, mother.” I assume he goes back to the future.

There’s something happening with Jean and Madelyne and their brains, too. There’s so much happening here.

Genosha Is Wakanda

Genosha is like Wakanda in Black Panther. It’s exciting. It’s happy. There are people going back and forth. It’s an idyllic scenario, especially where mutants are concerned.

Magneto’s been invited to go talk to their council, and the council invites him to be chancellor, their version of, I guess, a king. He’d kind of be a figurehead, but at the same time he’d actually be the administrative leader. And he says he’ll do it on one condition. He wants Rogue to be his queen.

Rogue’s upset at first, and then we get Rogue’s full backstory, because Rogue has to tell Gambit. She goes to meet him, they have a conversation, and you get Rogue in her old outfit. It’s the solid green one with the black, from the comic books. They don’t do her crazy old hair from back in the day, which is good. I’m glad they didn’t do that.

She explains to him that it’s more than just skin deep, if you will. And ultimately he’s like, all right, no problem. I guess we’re just going to be friends. I’m content just to be friends with you, and that’s fine.

This Is Where the Episode Episodes

Then we cut to the actual main party, and this is where the episode episodes.

First, we get to see the sky above Genosha with fireworks. In that, there’s a hidden image. Blink and you’ll miss it. The Watcher is watching over events. That should have been the first thing to tell me that something was going to go down. But I didn’t think about it. It was unreal.

We go down and you get to see Magneto make a grand entrance, and the lady from the UN is all kinds of upset because they’ve put a terrorist in charge. Rogue shows up, and she and Magneto have this beautiful dance in the sky, the whole bit. They even kiss, the whole nine yards. And Rogue essentially tells him, listen, I’m really sorry, Gambit’s right, there’s so much more to all this.

“But Remy was right. Some things are deeper than the skin.”

Rogue rejects Magneto. The assumption is for Remy.

That’s when all hell breaks loose.

The Fall of Genosha

Amidst the fireworks, there’s an explosion. Right as Rogue is telling Erik that this is not going to happen (I was going to say breaking up, but they weren’t even together), there is this massive green explosion.

Nightcrawler, by the way, was in this episode, and Nightcrawler is wonderful. The voice actor who plays Kurt does a wonderful job, and he hearkens back to the old series.

They’re being attacked by some sort of Master Mold. It’s a three-headed Master Mold that’s just decimating Genosha. A lot of this has shades of a few different stories. I feel like they melded a few different storylines in this thing. It’s a wreck.

Nightcrawler barely rescues Magneto and Rogue and Gambit. Magneto goes to fight. The Morlocks are trapped, so he sends Rogue and Gambit to go save them while he keeps Master Mold busy. And it is an unrelenting, unbelievable fight. Magneto at one point picks up a train and uses it like a whip. Just a blunt object. Wham! Just hitting this thing with it.

And Gambit and Rogue have the most amazing moment where nothing can stop them. Rogue is just decimating everything she hits. Gambit’s doing the same. They manage to rescue the Morlocks, until Magneto is suddenly thrown nearby. He puts up a shield to protect the Morlocks as the Master Mold begins shooting at his area with this massive energy, and at one point he uses a little bit of his power to protect Rogue and Gambit and seal them off in a big metal thing.

The little Morlock kid is right in front of him, and he speaks to him in German. He says be brave, or it’ll be okay, or it’s all going to be over soon. Something like that. It was amazing.

To say nothing of the fact that at the very last moment Gambit is running toward Master Mold, and he’s doing an amazing job, and he gets pierced in the side. And then he charges up the whole thing and blows it all to hell.

When it’s all said and done, Genosha is left a shell of itself. And Scott and them see that something has happened.

Everybody Is in This Thing

There are just so many people in this episode. We get to see Emma Frost, and we get to see Sebastian Shaw from the Hellfire Club. You get to see Jamie Madrox, and you get to see Archangel. Just everybody. At one point I’m pretty sure we got to see Exodus, which was awesome, and he’s a dancing fool.

So there you go. Now you know, and if knowing is half the battle, you’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.

The Verdict

X-Men ‘97 Episode 5, “Remember It,” is a solid 10 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.

Every single episode continues to hit on all cylinders. You have everything from Magneto and his conviction, bred from Nazi Germany and being a survivor of the Holocaust, to Rogue and Gambit, will they, won’t they, with Rogue finally making a decision. The Watcher was present for it. Everything is happening, and it’s unrelenting and unbelievable.

I think it’s appropriately titled, because you will absolutely remember it.

Were you shocked and stunned by everything this episode had? Tell me in the comments on the video above.