| Retreat | |
| Season Two, Episode 14 | |
 | |
| Air date | February 16, 2002 |
| Written by | Michael Merton |
| Directed by | Frank Paur |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous Shadow Dance |
next The Hex Factor |
- "Out here, in this place, I'm enjoying the animal I've become, but I don't want to. This is not who I am."
- —Beast
Premise[]
In order to help a depressive Beast out of his slump, Shadowcat arranges a field trip with the New Mutants which includes Spyke, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, and Iceman. However, hunters catch Beast, thinking him to be Bigfoot, and the young mutants must save their teacher from life in captivity.
Summary[]
Learning..ish.
Beast is out having a midnight run, while trying to stay quiet; his size scares a cat away. He is then spotted by some cops and they start following him. He ends up at the school and peeks into one of the windows. The memories must become too much for him, because he loses his temper and smashes up some trees. The cops close in on him and he does some damage to their car and takes off.
The next morning, he's apologizing to Xavier for his behavior. Xavier tells him that his need to get out is natural. Beast is still having a hard time reconciling his new life to his old personality. Kitty is in the hall with Bobby and asks if he knows anything about the Redwood Forest, then she overhears their conversation and with Xavier's help they talk Beast into taking some of the kids on a field trip to the Redwood Forest. Beast chooses to take Bobby, Rahne, Roberto, Evan, and Kitty.
Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!.
In the forest, the kids and Beast are shown enjoying nature and doing research. Rahne and Sunspot flirt a little, and Evan goes through serious readjustment problems. He ends up with poison ivy. Beast is romping around having the time of his life, but then he becomes depressed. Kitty asks him what's wrong. He tells her that he's beginning to enjoy the animal he's become, but he doesn't want to, that it's not who he is. Kitty tells him then maybe it's who he's meant to be.
Kitty goes off to gather up the other students, while Beast wanders off thinking. He's spotted by some hunters and is videotaped without realizing it. Back at the hunters camp they all get excited over the footage. Turns out they're a bunch of Bigfoot hunters. They all gear up to go and capture Beast.
Summer love.
Beast gives the kids an assignment and tells them to meet him back at their camp in four hours. Rahne teases Roberto about being an overachiever. Beast takes off again, but he soon runs into some of the hunters. He takes out one group, but the two most macho hunters tranquilize him. He ends up getting trapped in an electrified cage. Back at the hunter's camp they all ogle the Beast. The macho hunters talk about getting him stuffed. The resident scientist is outraged.
Meanwhile the kids are out searching for the missing Beast. Rahne morphs into a wolf and tries to track his scent. Beast ends up talking to the scientist when they're alone. The scientist is shocked at first, but realizes that he's not really Bigfoot and is going to release him when the macho hunters return. They tell the scientist to pack up that they're leaving. The scientist whispers to Beast that he'll find a way to free him.
Transforming.
On the road, a major rain storm has started. The hunter's trucks are taken out by a mud slide. Beast ends up washed into the flooding river and his cage sinks with him still trapped inside. The kids show up and Bobby creates an ice dam while Roberto powers up and saves Beast. Once he's safe they all go back to help the hunters who are still trapped. When the macho hunters are free they immediately go after the Beast again. The kids destroy their guns and scare them so badly that they take off running. The scientist tells Beast he wants to know more about them. Beast tells him one day he will, and the scientist smiles and nods.
Later the macho hunters try to tell the others about the kids, but the scientist shows up and tells them that it all sounds very interesting, but it's really not any proof.
On the way home in the X-jet, the Beast tells the kids that they're not the only ones that learned something on the trip, and that they all are who they are meant to be.
Quotes[]
Beast: I never asked to be a mutant. Why me?
Xavier: In order to find that answer, each of us is faced with a unique journey of discovery.
Beast: Journey? Where do you go when you can't be seen by the public?
Kitty: What do you know about Redwoods?
Bobby: Only that they make great hot tubs.
Bobby: Me? But my grades are improving!
Beast: Uh-huh. With the speed of a glacier. You, too, Evan.
Evan: Aw, come on, teach! Can't I bring my grade up some other way? Like going to the park! There's green stuff there!...does this forest have any sidewalks?
Roberto: The first five is like a cake; everything after that is like icing, and I love icing!
Rahne: I thought you put on a little weight. (Roberto rubs his 6 pack)
Hunter 1: Where can I get one of those?
Hunter 2: Go to the Bigfoot shop on 5th. Ask for Mulder. (X-Files music plays)
Hunter 1: I’m telling you, he talked! And those kids weren’t human!
Hunter 2: One of them, he shot spikes from his body! And one froze a gun in my hands! (The first hunter turns to him and nods as he speaks)
Hunter 3: Listen, we may be obsessed Bigfooters, but we ain’t stupid.
Beast: As a young girl once told me, we are who we are meant to be.
Notes[]
- Only 3 out of the 8 main cast members appear in this episode.
- O'Malley the ally cat makes another appearance.
- Cannonball, Magma, and Jubilee all appear, but have no dialog. [1]
- This is the first episode in which Roberto (Sunspot) has dialogue.
- This is the first (and only) episode where Rahne Sinclair has any real dialogue.[2][3]
- This episode also aired with the title, "The Real McCoy".
- Wolfsbane finally transform into her transitional hybrid form. Prior, she only transformed into a wolf.[2][3][4][5]
- Kitty mispronounces Rahne's name as "Ronnie", whereas Logan pronounces it as "Rain". [6]
- Sunspot's skin color changes from tan, to light non-stop.
- Rahne seems to be romantically interested in Roberto.
- This is one of the very few episodes where Jean Grey and Cyclops do not appear.
Trivia[]
- This episode along with "Shadow Dance", "Hex Factor", and "Day of Reckoning I & II" are available on the DVD X-Men Evolution: Mystique's Revenge.
- When one of the bigfoot hunters ask for Mulder, he was referring to Fox Mulder who is a character from "The X-Files" with an interest in paranormal activities.
Cast[]
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Main Cast |
Recurring Cast
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References[]
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