Jubilee, Storm, and Gambit wake up in a containment facility, wearing beeping collars. They are brought outside, to a dam being constructed, where a group of Genosha officers informs them that the collars will explode if they try to remove them and that if they try to escape, the collars will be reactivated. Storm attempts to escape when the collars are desactivated but a officer turns the collars on and she's captured by a Sentinel. Henry Gyrich appears and it seems he is reponsible not only for the Sentinels but also the power-suppression collars. Storm is locked away in a "box" while Jubilee and Gambit are sent to work.
While they work, a forest fire occurs and Jubilee takes the moment to steal a small piece of steel. Later in her cell she uses it to escape and try to convince Gambit to join her in attempting to flee but he and other inmates refuses. Realizing she's out of time Jubilee returns to her cell before the guards realize she's gone.
Back at the X-Mansion, Scott, Jean, and Rogue are worried, since they have had no contact with the team and the Genosha Phone Company has not been helpful. Wolverine has also returned from his trip to Canada. Scott, Jean, Rogue decide to go to Genosha to see if the trio are ok.
Next morning, the other mutants agree with Jubilee's plan of escape, and, while they succeeded in stealing a control, it fails to deactivate the collars. The rebellion fails and Jubilee is thrown into a box. Gambit seemingly betrays the other mutants and is sent away to another facility, but his convoy is attacked by a revolutionary called Cable. After being informed by Gambit that the Leader is at the Sentinel factory, Cable leaves, but not before giving Gambit a key to unlock the collars harmlessly.
Inside the factory, Bolivar Trask and Henry Gyrich are discussing the new robot, Master Mold - an Artificial Intelligence capable of building countless Sentinels as long it's provided a constant stream of electric power. Gyrich shares his plans with Trask to use Master Mold to create an army of Sentinels to capture all mutants in the world, but is interrupted when Cable attacks them. Meanwhile, Gambit succeeds in rescuing Storm and Jubilee, and they attack the guards at the dam, releasing the other prisioners in the process. Realizing that they need to stop the Sentinel production, Storm unleashes a storm to destroy the dam, releasing all the water in a powerful wave that destroys the Sentinel factory and Master Mold.
At that moment, the Blackbird arrives and the X-Men leave Genosha. However, when they arrive back at the X-Mansion, they find it in ruins...
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: The mutate process, which stripped mutants of free will to make them into slaves, is adapted out and instead mutants are simply kidnapped and forced into slavery with power-negating collars. The Genoshan characters from the comics are also all adapted out, with the leadership being reduced to a single generic dictator figure and no Genegineer in sight.
- Adaptational Villainy: Henry Gyrich, continuing from his appearance in "Night Of the Sentinels", who now is not just funding the construction of genocidal robots but also actively aiding in the enslavement of mutantkind.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: To the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Forgotten", which also features the hero getting kidnapped and sent to a slave camp that uses the Punishment Box to enforce discipline.
- Anything but That!: Played for Drama. As punishment for trying to escape, Storm is locked away in a "box" which, considering her claustrophobia, is nothing short of torture.
- Big Brother Is Employing You: A mysterious male-sounding voice tells the enslaved mutants he loves them at the end of the work day.
- Big Damn Heroes: Rogue saves Storm, who has fallen off the broken dam after exhausting herself by unleashing her powers.
- Brought Down to Normal: Genosha employs power-suppressing collars as part of their mutant enslavement program.
- The Cameo: Thunderbird, Rictor, Feral and Domino all make cameos as slaves in Genosha. Thunderbird in particular is an eyebrow-raising case, as he is (and remains) among the evil mutants who charge the X-Men in the show opener, yet this is his only appearance in the show itself, and he doesn't return again until the later comic-only sequel series X-Men '92.note
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: To prevent her from being killed for her escape attempt, Gambit tells Trask that Storm has the power to control the weather.
- Captain Obvious: Master Mold when it deadpans one of the most narmalicious lines of the season:Master Mold: (about to get flooded out, gets up to leave but) ... I AM STILL PLUGGED IN!
- Claustrophobia: Which hits Storm hard when she gets sent to the box.
- Cool, but Inefficient: Master Mold is a Humongous Mecha Mook Maker, but it requires enormous amounts of power to the point of needing to be constantly plugged into Genosha's power grid.
- Day of the Jackboot: Genosha is under a military dictatorship.
- Defector from Decadence: Cable apparently turned against the Leader when he realized that Genosha isn't as supportive to mutants as it advertised itself to be, and rebels against its government:(Bursts into the Leader's office and grabs him)
Cable: I don't mind being wrong, general. Just so long as I get to correct my mistakes. - Early-Bird Cameo: Blob and Mystique, future members of the villainous Brotherhood of Mutants, show up as some of the enslaved mutants.
- Northstar and Aurora, who will later be featured in "Repo Man" as members of Alpha Flight, are also part among the enslaved mutants.
- Caliban, who will play a bigger role in "The Fifth Horseman" and retconned into a Morlock, makes his first appearance this episode.
- Sunfire, who will play a bigger role in the finale episode "Graduation Day", makes his first appearance this episode.
- More of an early name drop, but Moira MacTaggert is mentioned by Professor X when he is trying to contact Muir Island.
- Master Mold also appears for the first time. He goes on to be the season's Big Bad and a recurring antagonist in later seasons.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Cable, normally a time-travelling hero, is here a former mercenary who rebelled against The Leader and started his own revolution. Of course, later episodes show that not everything is what it seems...
- Fake Defector: Gambit is revealed to be the traitor. He says the other prisoners don't care for him, so he had no problem betraying them; he also offers to show Gyrich's team where the X-Men are hiding. It's actually a ploy to get out of the secure facility. First chance he gets, he makes a break for it and (after some help from Cable) returns to free Jubilee and Storm. Of course, he doesn't mind messing with Jubilee.Jubilee: I should've known you'd never really be a traitor.
Gambit: How do you know that, Petite? Maybe you've been fooled again. - Foreshadowing:
- Xavier calls Moira on Muir Island, which sets up his time away for the next couple episodes.
- The Leader mentions a scientist in Scotland developed the collars, which sets up Dr. Adler.
- Gambit being coy about possibly being a traitor will come back to bite him.
- I Was Just Passing Through: Cable happens to be nearby when Gambit tries his escape attempt, and covers him when he runs into some trouble, but he refuses to go with him to liberate the slaves in favor of his own vendetta, although he does give Gambit a key to unlock the collars as well as a rifle to assist in that.
- Idiot Ball: Storm decides to make an attempt at escaping after being informed that the Genoshan officers have total control over the collars. Naturally, she fails.
- Officer and a Gentleman: The dictator of Genosha is a colonel who dresses up as an 18th century aristocrat.
- The Power of Friendship: Storm never once doubts Gambit's loyalty.
- Power Nullifier: The mutants in Genosha are outfitted with these to bring them down to baseline human level. Can't forcefully remove them or they'll explode.
- Properly Paranoid: Gyrich is skeptical of Gambit's turn because he was identified as one of the mutants who saved Jubilee at the Salem Center Mall. Gyrich also suspects Gambit was one of the mutants who attacked their Sentinel facility.
- La Résistance: A one-man resistance in the form of Cable.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: Subverted with Jubilee's attempt at escape but later played straight.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After being freed by Gambit, Storm unleashes her full powers against the guards of the dam as payback for her imprisonment. She's still against outright murder, though.
- Sanity Slippage: Storm cracks up while in the box.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Genosha enslaves mutants to exploit their powers for various economic projects, such as infrastructure building.
- Slave Liberation: The X-Men not only free themselves but also the other mutant slaves.
- Smart Ball: Gambit realizes that they cannot use their powers to escape or else the collars will be turned on (or worse, explode) and holds Jubilee back during Storm's ill fated attempt at escape.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Master Mold realizes the water is rushing towards it and attempts to escape. However, he realizes the greatest flaw in that plan: his foot is still connected to the power supply.Master Mold: I AM STILL PLUGGED IN!
- Weather Manipulation: This is the first episode where Storm is shown using her powers in large scale.
- You Are Fat: Gambit just can't resist while carrying Jubilee out of the prison.Gambit: How do you sweat so much, Petite, and not lose weight?
Jubilee: Oh, I hate you! - You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Gambit correctly predicts that were he to tell Gyrich all about the X-Men, he would suddenly no longer be needed. To buy time, he offers to take Gyrich's men to the base instead of just telling them where it is.
- Your Head Asplode: The power-suppressing collars would explode if the mutants tried to remove them.
