Rogue begins having strange nightmares of a life not her own — nightmares that it turns out are memories absorbed from Mystique. These memories may reveal something very interesting about Nightcrawler's past.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: "Was it worth the loss of your son?"
- Between My Legs: Rogue framing Mystique as she tries to escape.
- Big "NO!": Mystique, when she accidentally drops the infant Kurt into the river.
- Break the Haughty: Mystique is all smug about Xavier being in the dark for once, until he asks her about the ultimate price of the experiment.
- Downer Ending: Nightcrawler is left with a lot of questions about his mother and origins, while Mystique sadly reflects on the child she lost.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: Rogue, due to having gotten these memories from Mystique.
- Fiery Cover-Up: the castle/lab blows up minutes after Wolverine comes to investigate it.
- Futile Hand Reach: Mystique, over the bridge, after she loses Kurt.
- Give Him a Normal Life: Mystique tracked Kurt downriver and saw his adoptive parents pull him out. Presumably, this was her reason for not interfering.
- In the Hood: Mystique in both Rogue's flashbacks and in the present.
- Kurt, I Am Your Mother: Mystique's secret.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: Wolverine investigates the castle from the memory and says that it "looked like a place Dr. Frankenstein would have been at home in."
- Properly Paranoid: Rogue suggests Mystique was just pulling some kind of con, but Nightcrawler isn't so sure.
- Savage Wolves: While escaping Magneto, a pack of hungry wolves chase after Mystique.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Nightcrawler notes there's a certain resemblance between him and Mystique.
- Tell Me About My Mother: Kurt is pretty excited when he finds out that the dream is part of his past and spends a good part of his scenes wanting answers.
- This Cannot Be!: This is Nightcrawler's reaction when Mystique reveals that she's his mother.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Xavier telling Mystique how Nightcrawler turned out.
- Visual Pun: Mystique escapes by taking a form that references her real name: a raven.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Professor X asks Mystique at the end of the episode whether her work with Magneto was important enough to lose her son.
- You Are Not Ready: Xavier doesn't immediately tell Nightcrawler about his suspicion's about Mystique, due to not knowing enough about the experiment. In the end, Nightcrawler suspects Xavier is deliberately keeping information from him, but Rogue says that might be for the best for now.
- You Monster!: Mystique does this to Magneto in the nightmare, crying out, "Monster! What have you done to him?"
