Episode Forty Nine - Cajun Spice

Aired: October 4, 2003

Stars: Rogue and Gambit

Appears: Xavier, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Pyro

Cameos: Multiple, Magma, Berzerker, Iceman, Cannonball

Guests: None

First Appearance(s) of: Jean Luc (Gambit's Father), Julien

Written by: Michael Merton and Greg Johnson

Summary

On the way to school she runs into Kurt who is acting distant. She apologizes for pushing Mystique off of the cliff. Kurt walks away. Rogue turns to leave school and ends up running into Gambit. He drugs her with some sleeping gas before she can fight back. She wakes up later on a train all tied up. Gambit tells her he's helping her get free.

After school Kurt realizes that Rogue is missing and raises the alarm. Logan goes around sniffing and catches Gambit's scent. At the Acolytes base, Pyro is sitting alone watching a tape of Magneto imploding over and over as he laughs like a maniac. Logan shows up and they fight. When Logan roughs Pyro up a bit he finally tells him that the Acolytes have pretty much broken up. Colossus has gone back to Russia and he doesn't know where Sabertooth or Gambit are. When Logan leaves, Pyro goes back to watching his tape.

Gambit and Rogue talk and he tells her if she's ready to let him help her he'll untie her. She agrees, but when he does she jumps him and they fight. He tells her to absorb his memories and she'll find out that he doesn't mean her any harm, but she pulls away saying she doesn't want him in her head.

Xavier tracks the two heading south and the X-Men take off to follow them. Rogue and Gambit make it to New Orleans' and it happens to be during Mardi Gras. They eat in a little jazz club where they run into some of Gambit's old acquaintances. They get into a fight and Rogue ends up absorbing Julien. She finds out that Gambit is a member of the Thieves Guild and that Julien is a member of a rival gang called the Rippers. The Rippers have kidnapped Gambit's father and are holding him in their base in Bloodmoon Bayou.

The X-Men show up at Mardi Gras, but the miss Rogue and Gambit. Rogue offers to help Gambit, saying she can show him where they're holding his father. They go by boat and on the way they talk about what lousy parents they had and how much they have in common.

As they're sneaking up to the house, Rogue accidentally touches Gambit and realizes that he's been using her all along. She gets mad and stalks off. Gambit heads in and saves his father, who it turns out is really not a nice guy. Rogue returns to help them after all. With the memories she absorbed from some more Rippers she leads them out of the house where they meet up with the X-Men.

They all take off by boat with some of the Rippers following. A chase ensues. Most of the boats are wrecked along the way and when Rogue is dumped in the water and almost attacked by an alligator, Kurt saves her. Gambit takes out the last Ripper boat by charging it from the water.

When Gambit climbs to shore, Logan jerks him up and is going to dice him. Rogue stops him and tells Gambit she's going back with the X-Men. He gives her his lucky Queen of Hearts card and leaves with his father. Kurt asks Rogue is she's okay and she says yes as he leads her away with the X-Men.

Summary written by Denaill for her site -

Quotes

Rogue: I don't know what made me do that to Mystique.
Kurt: It's pretty clear Rogue. There's only one reason to push someone off a cliff.

Pyro: I am real glad you dropped by since I've been bored out of my skull.
Logan: Where's your buddies?
Pyro: Since Magneto's gone, Colossus bailed and went back to Russia, Sabertooth's out playing with a big ball of yarn somewhere, and Gambit didn't leave a note on the fridge.
Wolverine slams him back into his chair and walks away.
Pyro: Okay, take care, so long. Don't get all weepy on me. Let's not drag this out or anything. Ugh, Ahhh I know just how to turn this frown upside down.
He starts playing the Magneto tape again.

Rogue: What is it with you and cards?
Gambit: Well, it's like having fifty two explosives tucked away in one little pocket.

Quick Review

Never been a Rogue/Gambit fan so I wasn't impressed with this one. The plot was overly clichéd and expectable. I'm pretty sure at least three different people on the forum predicted that Gambit would kidnap Rogue and Kurt would come to the rescue thus realizing how important she is to him, yadda yadda yadda and guess what, that's exactly what happened. I think it was back in Mutant Crush or something that I mentioned how much I liked Evo Rogue because she had no angst, well that's all changed. Rogue is like an angst sponge. I'm just so tired of her character, it seems like every time we see her it's something.

The only thing I did like about this episode was the scene with Pyro. It's so nice to have a simple character with no deep ulterior motives. He's so much fun.

Beyond Evolution Copyright © 2004 Denaill.