X-Men '97's fifth episode 'Remember It' is exactly what I was worried would happen with the show

Before I get into what I'm so mad about, I'm going to quickly give the marketing team of X-Men '97 some props for how they displayed the episode on the Disney+ site. Starting the episode off with a series of interviews for TV and having the episode description be about how the team gets interviewed is such an amazing switch I almost wish every show would do that. Like, way to bury the lead.

But now for the lead. And, obviously, spoilers for episode 5 of X-Men '97 "Remember It" are ahead.

SPOILER CITY BELOW

So, I've said I've had a problem with the way the show has been taking famous X-Men moments and just trying to get through as many as possible to the point where it, essentially, destroys all the major moments of the original by removing context.

I mean, having Madelyne Pryor decide on the name "Goblin Queen" before actually seeing a Goblin? What? Tearing full tilt into the Storm/Forge relationship? It's...it's bad you guys. And I swear, sometimes I feel I'm the only one who sees it because everyone else keeps talking about how well the scenes are animated and whatnot but what about the context though?

Episode 5 tried to shoehorn so many stories into one

Firstly, and most obviously, in one episode they introduced the mutant island of Genosha in its positive form AND immediately back-flipped into the "E is for Extinction" storyline from 2001. And that, right out the gate, is terrible. Not because "E is for Extinction" isn't something that happened in the 90's but for what the event was.

"E is for Extinction" was the moment in which a heartless attack on the mutant nation of Genosha took the lives of over 3 million mutants. Yes, that many. There's actually a part in the story where Professor X is watching this unfold via Cerebro and in one panel the number goes from 3 million something to a little below 800. It was heartbreaking.

But it wasn't just heartbreaking because of the insane amount of death. That would be callous to just throw in all this fictional violence and then be like "BE MAD". It was heartbreaking because the nation took FOREVER to get underway. It grew. It evolved. It became a place where several old-school mutant foes like the White Queen, learned to be better people and have a positive impact on the world. Where MANY characters went through changes like "maybe this could be our future." They absolutely made sure that Genosha stuck around for a while to the point where it actually did feel safe.

X-Men '97 went through all that in half an episode. They flew Magneto in the "Master of Pessimism," made him king, he creepily wanted Rogue to be his queen for political reasons (sure), and then suddenly the city was thriving. For a few minutes.

But not before they added more unwelcomed nods than an earthquake in a bobblehead factor.

Firstly, there were characters there that just absolutely weren't in the original. Right before the massacre begins and right after the scene where Gambit tells Rogue they're just friends we see The Watcher in the sky looking all sad. It didn't happen in the comic but it's on brand for Marvel's Fivehead so I'll allow it. But Cable runs in, finds Madelyne, lets her know something is about to happen, reveals that he's her son Nathan but grown up, and teleports away. I literally counted how long all these things happened. It was 34 seconds. The time between Cable showing up yelling "Stop the music" to him teleporting away saying "Sorry mom". In half a minute they shoehorned Cable's whole deal. Cable wasn't even there for this in the comics.

Secondly, they shoehorned the Morlocks into it. Making sure that we knew that they, specifically, got killed like they tried to just throw in the Mutant Massacre storyline while they had a moment. That's fun. How DARE you do Leech dirty like that.

Third, Gambit is clearly one of the top three reasons people wanted this show back. Gambit, Rogue, and of course, Jubilee. So the fact that they would fully off him is INSANE. And with the most recent intro to episode 5 revealing that Apocolypse is going to show up pretty much guarantees they'll be doing the Four Horsemen storyline from 2006 in which Gambit becomes the Horseman of Death.

There was so much just lobbed in here where I could go on for days. The needless appearance of Valerie only to remind us that she's DEFINITELY not just Mystique in disguise by practically turning white every time someone says something that even sounds like "Rogue". Characters like Blob Herman and Pixie that would have been babies in the 90's. The clear setup for Casandra Nova. It's insane. It's like a fever dream PowerPoint presentation of old storylines and I just wish they'd pick one and stay there.

Just, you know, not "E for Extinction." You should never EVER mess with that. But, on a bright note, we at least got confirmation that Blob Herman survived so it wasn't ALL bad.