The Gist of It: Note: the beginning of this episode didn't record, so, naturally, that part's not gonna be in the review. I think my tape starts a short while after the opening credits, but I don't know.

Okay! So, anyway, this episode "opens" with the Professor telling the X-Kiddies about their return to school, and reminds them not to use their powers. Naturally, they're all a bit apprehensive about going back, and also a little angry at the public's reaction (mostly Evan is. Being thought of as a monster doesn't exactly please the lad). Anywho, Kurt's got mixed feelings because the newspapers labeled him "identity unknown" in his blue form, which means that holowatch Kurt is a-okay!

Cut to: Bayville High. The X-Men walk through a crowd of jeering students who tell them they're not wanted (in a manner much akin to the desegregation of schools way back when... only sans the national guard). For some reason, Griff (Lance's buddy from "The X-Impulse") seems to be in Bayville amongst the students. That or he has a distant relative who looks almost exactly like him. That or I'm imagining things. Evan's reminded to stay calm by Scott, who then gets the cold shoulder from Taryn. Anywho, Duncan comes up to Jean and is like "We can work past your problem!" This doesn't please Jean, who calls him a lughead and breaks up with him, dragging Scott along with her. I almost feel sorry for Dunc here because remember, kiddies, Duncan's stupid, not malicious (at this point, anyway). Meanwhile, Kurt's avoiding being seen with them mutie kids and blends in with the crowd and allllll the while Principal Kelly's watching this with an unhappy look from his car. An unhappy look of... eeevil.

Cut to a random Wolverine motorcycle ride! He seems to be chasing another motorcyclist... one who can make his hand all metal 'n stuff (hmm... who could that be!). Anywho, Metal-Hand-Man wreaks some havoc by punching a truck and whatnot, and more chasing ensues.

Meanwhile, at the Brotherhood home, Lance is being pissy about Kitty not talking to him anymore, and so Freddy and Todd tease him about it. Wanda's conveniently missing from this scene, but what really makes the scene lacking is the absence of Pietro. It's just not the same without him! Ah well... Anywho, Lance gets even more pissy about the Kitty thing and shakes the house, but that doesn't really stop Todd and Freddy from bugging him. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, prompting Todd to wonder "Is that Kitty?" Alas, no, it's Principal Kelly, inviting the boys back to school. They don't really wanna go back, saying they never go anywhere they're not wanted (yeah right), but then the Principal says that the students won't bother them because they're afraid of them. Todd quotes his dear ol' mama, and so they're like "Sure, we'll come back!"

Back at school, Kurt's being extra super duper loud and friendly with those darn Homo Sapien students, then freaks out when Amanda comes up to talk to him, afraid that she'll blow his "I'm not a mutant!" cover. He drags her aside and explains that nobody knows that he's Mr. Blue and Fuzzy from the newspaper. He's all "I'm normal for once!", but Amanda's not exactly sympathizing with him, because she thinks he should stand by his friends instead. Kurt insists that they're okay without him.

...or not. As we soon see, outside, Duncan and his two cronies are trying to make Scott use his powers by fighting him. Why? Because if Scott does, it's "bye bye, Bayville High" for Scotty. But, Scott soon proves that he can kick ass not only without his powers, but also with his eyes closed. And then, before anything else can happen, Kitty and Rogue show up to join the party. Duncan then loses interest in fighting Scott (for the time being. I suppose he finds a Goth-Valley Girl teamup to be quite intimidating!), and walks off, leaving a vague threat or something. Meanwhile, Kurt's watching this from afar, and is spotted by Kitty. Some random dudes ask him if he's pals with the mutants, and Kurt says that he's not, but he used to be, then runs off, bumping into Kitty and Rogue who overheard this. Being the delightfully wussy lad that he is in this episode, he avoids confrontation by saying "Hi, Kitty, bye, Kitty!" and runs off again. All the while, Principal Kelly's watching this from his office, and asks Dorothy to call Duncan in to see him.

Back to Wolverine and the "Mysterious Biker With the Metal Hand"! "Mysterious Biker" stops in a random barn and takes his helmet off and is revealed to be-- GASP!-- Colossus! Wolvie runs into said barn, which prompts Colossus to go all metal and have a mini-fight with him, which involved motorcycle throwing (damn, now how's he gonna get home?)

Meanwhile, Principal Kelly talks to Dunc about the fight. Duncan's all "Ahhh hahaha, we were just playing!", but Kelly's all like "I'm serious. All mutants stick together. You can't hate just Scott, you must hate ALLLLL of them!!! Ahahhaaa-- I mean. I'm... uh... just concerned for your safety. Oh look! More mutants (aka, the Brotherhood)! You know what, you have something in common with them. They also hate Scott Summers." Duncan realizes what the Principal is hinting at, and smirks... which makes him look like a big dumb blonde Pietro.

Back to the barnyard fight with Wolverine and Colossus! Colossus says that he's supposed to deliver a message from Magneto inviting Wolvie to go join them when he tires of the persecution of mutants. Wolverine makes a comment on how he's not gonna be a lackey, which prompts our pal Piotr to say "I am not a lackey!" (defensive much?) and then says all sad-like that he has no choice. Wolverine then turns the tables by inviting Colossus to join the X-Men, but Colossus turns him down by saying "I cannot" and leaving.

Back at Bayville High, the Brotherhood boys enter the school all "We bad, we tough, yo!" Lance, who seems to have been taking lessons from one of those pigeons in Animaniacs, stops a guy and does the "You laughin' at me? Do you think I'm funny? Funny like a [insert various things here], funny? Do I make you laugh?" And so forth. I miss Animaniacs... especially the pigeons. Anyway! Yeah, so the BH's like "Who knew school could be so fun!" Fun for them, anyway...

While all that is going on, the girls basketball team is practicing in the gym. Jean makes a basket and is accused of cheating, so she's told to hit the bench blah blah. Jean is sad. She walks out of the gym and sees Principal Kelly removing a bunch of trophies from the trophy case, who says that they were probably won through EVIL VILE MUTANTS CHEATING! Jean gets mad, and he's like "See! Mutants have no control over their emotions!! I must protect the NORMAL students!" And walks off.

Later, at the school board meeting on mutants, Professor X tells Jean that he wants her to speak on the mutants' behalf. She doesn't know if she can do it without the others there, but says that she will. And Kurt's off to the side, as he doesn't want to be seen with her and X. Outside, Scott, Evan, Rogue, and Kitty are about to go in and watch the meeting, but they're stopped by Duncan and the Brotherhood, who're lookin' for a fight.

And so, a huge fight scene ensues as Jean's giving her speech. She talks, the X-Geeks fight without powers, and the others attack with powers... except for Duncan. Because he has none. Yeah. Fighting. Anyway, Lance goes crazy with the avalanchin', which destroys the parking lot, endagers lots of people and their cars, and prompts Todd to make a lame rock pun in Lance's place because the other boy's too busy grunting and going "ARGH!" The people all run outside to see what's going on, and so Kelly does the whole "Mutants are dangerous! Told ya so!" thing, but is then shown to be wrong when Professor X points out that his students are still not using their powers, despite their desire to do so. Finally, the innocent people are put in danger, so Kurt bamfs to save them, and the X-Men begin to use their powers to help the people not get crushed by cars. The Brotherhood sees them all working together and runs off, leaving the parking lot all wrecked.

Next morning, the X-Men are sad. They're like "They probably voted us out of school", but no! Not so! Because they saved people's lives and Jean gave a speech, the people voted to keep mutants in public school. The X-Men aren't really happy about this, so X gives a speech and that's the end of that!

Brotherhood Moments: Ohh there are quite a few indeed! The BH boys are first at home, being stupid, then they're at school being stupid, then they're in the parking lot... being stupid.

My Opinion: First off, I wanna say that I think the Brotherhood Boys' intelligence goes down with every episode they're in. Secondly, how stupid is Lance? He's basically doing the same thing in this episode as he did in "Growing Pains" last season (that is, causing a big mutant scene in public). And why did Freddy, when he said "We ain't afraid to use our powers", punch a dent into what appears to be Lance's jeep? Whyyy? And... I like the X-Men's new civvies... I wish they kept them.

Overall, I liked this ep. Kurt ticked me off, but he was only acting as a lot of people would (yeah, people like to say that they'd stick by their friends no matter what, but relatively few actually will), so I probably shouldn't be too annoyed with him. Uhh what else... Scott made me pleased! I'm glad when he's not all super-angst boy and stuff! Oh yeah, and Duncan's dumb, but eh. He smiles like Pietro and I think it's funny.

And Lance is stupid.

Rating (out of 5): 4. Quite good

BH Babble:

: Wait a sec, did anybody notice anything weird?
: Uhh apart from my looking like a cheesy anime villain in one scene?
: Dude, we teamed up with Duncan! Duncan, who made fun of my weight!
: Duncan, who almost beat the shit outta me for stealing other people's money! Not like it was his own...
: Duncan, who-- oh wait. I'm still not wanted here, am I? Uh... heheh... I... *zips off*
: Uhh...
: Uh... yeah... anyway... We teamed up with Duncan!!
: Damn... we sold out to "the man"....