In the aftermath of the Mansion's destruction and the outing of mutants, Jean is about to confess her strong and deep mutual romantic love to Scott when Mystique (who managed to escape from Area 51 and is out for revenge) abducts Scott and abandons him in the desert in Mexico without his ruby quartz glasses. Jean, who has vivid telepathic visions of him in peril, tracks him down, but Mystique is determined to kill them both.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Jean telekinetically stops Mystique's final attack and gives her a deserved smackdown.
- Bullying a Dragon: A group of thugs confront Scott over what he did at the hospital, never mind the fact that they clearly saw he's capable of emitting destructive energy beams from his eyes.
- Though one of them was Mystique in disguise, the other two should have known better.
- Continuity Nod: Mystique's reason for wanting revenge.
- Disability Immunity: Scott's ruby visor is stolen by Mystique, and he can't open his eyes without destroying whatever's in front of him, effectively blinding him. But he manages to even the odds by blowing up the lights in a basement, effectively blinding Mystique.
- Everyone Can See It: Storm, Wolverine, and Professor X are very aware that Scott and Jean have developed feelings for one another.Wolverine: Well, it's about time.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: Mystique tries to trick Scott by pretending to be Jean coming to his rescue. She claims Cerebro led her to Scott's exact location, but Scott knows that Cerebro doesn't have pinpoint accuracy.
- Mutual Disadvantage: Taking a beating, Scott blasts the floor to send both him and Mystique into a basement. As expected, it's too dark for Mystique to see, which gives Scott a better chance to fight her off.
- Power Incontinence: Cyclops, as usual, and it makes for a major problem because Mystique stole his visor.
- The Power of Love: Jean somehow knows something is wrong before any of the other X-Men get alarmed, and she finds Scott with little difficulty even though Cerebro can't pinpoint locations within more than a few miles.
- Psychic Link / Mindlink Mates: Jean mentions when she finds Scott that they seem to have a "bond" in their minds.
- Psychic Radar: Jean uses her link with Scott to pinpoint his location.
- Revenge Myopia: Mystique. She strands Cyclops in the desert, without his visor, as revenge for his leaving her behind in Area 51 a few episodes ago. She forgets that he did that because she had nearly killed him and the new recruits, had been impersonating Professor X for an unknown length of time, and had refused to tell him where the real Professor X was.
- Relationship Upgrade: Scott and Jean finally become a couple, much to the delight of Wolverine, Storm, and Professor X.
- Rescue Romance: Jean saves Scott from getting killed by Mystique and not so soon afterwards become a couple.
- Single-Episode Handicap: Scott is left basically blind after Mystique swipes his special glasses and then leaves him for dead in the middle of Mexico.
- Villain Ball: Mystique could've simply killed Cyclops after knocking him out. Instead, she wanted to make him suffer, which gets her both a loss and a thrashing in the end.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Although she isn't technically his girlfriend yet, Jean goes into this mode for a while when she finds Mystique picking on Scott. The shape shifting supervillainess even lampshades it.Mystique: Aw, how sweet. Girlfriend to the rescue.
Jean: You got that right, lady!
