Shadowed Past | |
Season One, Episode 11 | |
Air date | March 31, 2001 |
Written by | Bob Forward Jules Dennis |
Directed by | Steven E. Gordon |
Episode Guide | |
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- "Just in case you're curious: he turned out to be a very fine lad."
- —Charles Xavier
Premise[]
Rogue's nightmares seem to show images from Kurt's past, but in them he's far too young to remember. It turns out that when she absorbed Mystique's memory of her prior plan of keeping her away from the X-Men, she also absorbed many more memories, allowing the X-Men to find out that Mystique is Kurt's biological mother.
Summary[]
Rogue and Kitty are sharing a bedroom. Rogue is talking on the phone as Kitty climbs into bed and snuggles a stuffed dragon (Lockheed). Rogue thanks someone for a book she's borrowed and tells them she has to go, she has finals tomorrow. She turns in too, but starts to have a nightmare.
A woman is yelling at someone, calling them a monster and asking what they've done to a baby. She runs from a castle carrying the baby, but wolves start to chase her. A man comes after her as well. She ends up on a rope bridge as the wolves catch up to her. She tries to keep the baby away from them, but she ends up dropping him into the river below. Rogue wakes up screaming.
Everyone rushes into the girls' bedroom to find out what's going on, and as Rogue is telling them about the nightmare, she realizes that the baby in her dream was really Kurt. Xavier asks Jean, Rogue and Nightcrawler to come down to the library where he reads Rogue's mind. The Xavier is able to see the woman's face and realizes it's Mystique. He also watches as a couple scoop Kurt out of the water and Mystique watches them from a distance and then turns and walks away.
Xavier tells them that Rogue is really experiencing the repressed memories of someone that she's touched, someone that has knowledge of Kurt's past. Kurt believes that they're his memories and he wants the Xavier to read his mind and see if he can find out more about his real parents. Xavier tells them not tonight that he'll try to find out more tomorrow., but he doesn't tell any of them that it was Mystique in Rogue's dreams.
The next day at Bayville High School Xavier goes to see Raven Darkhölme at the high school. He asks her what they were doing in the castle and about Kurt. She thinks he's bluffing, but some of the memories come back to her. Xavier asks if it was worth the loss of her son and she yells at him to get out. Before he goes, he tells her, her son has turned into a "fine young lad". As he leaves he telepathically communicates with Logan with the location of the castle and Logan takes off in the Blackbird.
After school Rogue and Kurt talk about finding their real parents and Kurt gets upset, claiming he can't go on, not knowing, and teleports away as Jean and Scott walk up. The three leave together. and Mystique, who was disguised as another student and overheard Kurt, walks around a corner and morphs into herself. She looks really upset.
She sends Pietro into the Xavier Institute with a note for Kurt to meet her in the new mall construction area. When Quicksilver asks her what it's about she tells him it's none of his business. He speeds into the mansion and shoves the note under Kurt's door. Xavier senses Quicksilver in the mansion. Kurt finds the note under his door and 'ports away. Outside Quicksilver calls Magneto and tells him about the note. In his castle Magneto watches the blackbird land on his security system.
Wolverine makes his way into the castle and finds that it has been used as a DNA lab, but everything there has been trashed. He finds a bomb, and is just able to make it out of the castle before the whole place comes down. Xavier send Jean and Scott into Kurt's room to find out about Quicksilver's visit. Jean finds the note, and a missing Kurt.
At the construction site Kurt finds Mystique, but she's wearing a cape with a hood over her head. He asks her who she is and she pulls back the hood and calls him son. Kurt freaks out, and demands answers from Mystique, but before more can be said The Brotherhood show up. Mystique tries to get rid of them, but Quicksilver says they have "higher orders now". They knock out Kurt, but the other X-Men show up and a fight ensues. Rogue steals Avalanche's power and tries to stop Mystique from running off. Mystique tells her it's too late for answers and when Rogue causes a quake she turns into a raven and flies away.
Back at the Xavier Institute, Xavier tells Logan, Scott and Jean everything he knows about Mystique and Kurt and about Magneto doing genetic research. It turns out that the dreams Rogue was having were really Mystique's memories. Xavier believes that they may have been picked by Rogue when she touched Mystique back in the cave. He says they may never know for sure if Mystique is really Kurt's mother, or what was done to Kurt in the lab. They decide not to tell Kurt what they've learned.
In his room, Kurt talks to Rogue about Mystique and finding out the truth about his past and his real parents. He's sure that the Prof is not telling him everything and Rogue tells him it's probably for a good reason. Rogue tells him that they can keep looking together and that they will find the answers someday. She leaves to get ready for school. Kurt watches the sun rise and looks very upset.
They cut to Ms. Darkhome looking from her window with the same look on her face. She watches as a girl climbs out of a car and thanks her mom for the ride to school. She looks even more depressed and bows her head.
Quotes[]
Charles Xavier: What were you two up to in that dreary castle? Was it worth the loss of your son?
(Mystique drops her book in shock, flooded by memories of what happened that night. Severely rattled, she turns back to Xavier)
Ms. Darkhome: Get out! Get out now!
(Xavier turns to go, then stops at the door)
Charles Xavier: Just in case you're curious: He turned out to be a very fine lad.
Mystique: (showing her true self to Kurt) You already know me...son.
Kurt Wagner: I still can't believe it. Mystique is my mother?
Rogue: Listen, Kurt, who really knows? I mean, that's one seriously disturbed lady. Maybe she's just messin' with ya.
Kurt Wagner: I guess, but there is a certain resemblance...
Rogue: Hey, look, that doesn't mean anything. Let's just wait until the Prof finds more answers for ya then you'll know for sure.
Kurt Wagner: Somehow, I think he already knows more than he's willing to tell us.
Rogue: Maybe. But if he does, then he probably has good reasons for not tellin you.
Kurt Wagner: Yeah, sure.
Rogue: Listen Kurt, I really do know what you're going through. We'll both keep looking and we'll find our answers together someday, okay?
Kurt Wagner: (smiles) Yeah, okay.
Notes[]
- Rogue's Dream
- Kitty is seen sleeping with and holding a stuffed dragon. In the Marvel Comics, Kitty Pryde has a pet dragon named Lockheed that originally belonged to Illyana Rasputin, also known as Magik.
- Lockheed also looks like Duggly, from Duggly the Dragon.
- Kurt was the object of an unexplained genetic experiment done by Magneto.
Trivia[]
- This episode's original titles were originally "Bad Dreams Can be Happening (or The Nightmares Will come True)" and "I Dream of Rogue" before it was named Shadowed Past
- In Marvel Comics, when Kurt Wagner was born, Mystique was under disguise, but after the people saw her baby they thought he was a demon, and the panic caused her to reveal her true form. She ran away from the angry mob, but her only way out was to morph into a farmer, pretend "he" caught the blue woman and threw her off a cliff, and then tossed the baby from the cliff as well. Kurt was saved and handed to Margali Szardos. Wagner was the name of Mystique's dead husband and not of Kurt's adoptive parents. [1]
- When asked what exactly Magneto had done to baby Kurt in Shadowed Past, head writer and producer Greg Johnson said "The way we see it, Magneto experimented on him in an attempt to trigger the X-Gene, and succeeded." [1]
Cast[]
Main Cast |
Recurring Cast
Guest Cast |