Kissed by a witch

So I am enjoying this season overall but I do have two major issues with it.

1. It feels too rushed. There is far too much story and too many characters in too few episodes. I get why and I do enjoy a fast pace and getting to see a variety of characters (some of whom have never been given the chance to make the jump from page to screen before). It does mean some of the emotional fallout gets swept aside though and some characters can feel short changed (I see you there, Beast). I just wish they could take it down just a notch. The first season had the same issue, but I think it took just a few more breaths.

A big example was Wolverine getting his adamantium back. There should have been more emotional fallout from what Magneto did to him. I wish we could have seen even a fraction of that.

2. Myopic characterisation. I think this goes along with point 1. We are constantly being told that the X-Men are a family, but we rarely see them interacting outside of little set groups. Again, the first season was guilty of this too, but we still got a few moments here and there.

I was not a big fan of Magneto/Rogue but I still find her suddenly not even blinking at his death to be an odd example of this too. It just doesn't seem like a good emotional throughline as a viewer. I guess only Xavier is allowed to think about Magneto now.

Episode 8 had me longing to see Storm or Wolverine or Jubilee reacting to and interacting with Gambit, but there just seems to be no time for friendship in this show - and that is a huge shame!

I do think that the two points above are really the cause of the aspects of Episode 8 that might have disappointed me a little. Like I wanted it to last longer, move more slowly and have time to hit. I wanted a little more angst and more feeling from the team as a whole.

That said, I kind of DO like that I had my expectations for Deathbit subverted. I expected him to be angry, vengeful, malevolent. Instead we were given a sort of Dark Romance. It was both toxic and intoxicating and yeah, it does feel very true to Remy. I loved the look of the house and the bayou. I actually paused the TV to look at the tree outside Rogue's window. Real Southern Gothic vibes.

I loved the unexpected sweetness of him in every moment he shared with Rogue - even as he was doing some actually very sinister stuff, once you stopped to think about it. Like "yeah, sure he kidnapped her and mindcontrolled her brother, his ex and his family and attacked their friends and murdered someone so he could force immortality onto her... but he did it really cutely!" 🤣

X-Men '97 sadly has the poorer version of Gambit's family to draw from in X-Men: TAS. This episode did make me long for Jean-Luc and Tante Mattie, but I don't think they exist in this universe.

Possessed Nightcrawler was amazing btw, speaking of family. One of my favourite parts of this whole episode was seeing just how epic he can be in battle with the safety off! I adore Kurt so much!

I had beef with X-Force in this episode, but I kind of get it with Cable, given everything he went through. Archangel also has legitimate trauma but is also the one person you would think might understand there is still hope.

So is Gambit all OK now and is Deathbit all over? I don't think so. I mean, the boy is still in a coma with Apocalypse inside him and Xavier warning he can't suppress him much longer. X-Force still have him on their hit list - as do X-Factor and Val Cooper (who I still think might be Mystique in disguise). It for sure seemed like they have not so nice plans for Gambit.

Not to mention that Rogue has that jewel in her chest! What the hell is with that and why do I think Apocalypse planned exactly for that to happen?