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Brief Summary
Main Plot: New Mutants all throughout the city are being infected with a virus, losing control of their powers, and dying. Adam and the Mutant X team had to join forces with Eckhart and the GSA to stop this d eadly virus. Jesse and Emma contract the disease while treating another mutant in Sanctuary. Adam discovers that the key to beating the virus is in the DNA of Charles Marlowe, a mutant with the power of Cellular Regeneration.
Sub Plot:: Brennan is quarantined in a safehouse with a married couple, Todd and Jerri, who are trying to use the Underground as a way to desert each other. As Todd and Jerri learn they have both been being unfaithful, they force Brennan into the middle of their marital dispute. Brennan, always eager to help, reveals to Todd and Jerri that their “new red hot lovers” were actually GSA Agents that were trying to seduce them into status pods.
 Themes in the Episode
Survival, The need of a person or mutant to survive against the odds.
Mortality, How would a person react if they were unable to die?
Plot Holes (Inconsistencies in the Mutant X Timeline)
None! (Yes, I was surprised too!)
Creepy Moment of the Episode
When Charles Marlowe realizes that he is able to bleed and just starts laughing at the fact that he once again had mortality. It was nice and good for Charles, but Shalimar looked uncomfortable in this situation. I hate to say it, but I shared her feelings about that part of the scene. A close second was when Marlowe would run up to the dying mutants asking them what death felt like. Would you want a man asking you how it feels to be the last thing that you see in the world?
The Best Character Award 
I give the Best Character Award to Charles Marlowe in this episode. Marlowe is actually related in some way other than just his mutation to Adam's past. With some of the GSA Agents of the week it’s like 'yeah you made me a mutant now I have to kill you'. However, with Marlowe it was more 'because you felt it was necessary to change my DNA I didn't die and I won't die, and I hold you personally responsible for me not being with my family.' Marlowe was faced with both of the themes of this episode. You rarely watch an episode and root for the main characters in the episode to die. However, after Marlowe was shot you wanted him to die so that he could once again be with his wife and child.
Was it centric?
There was about equal screen time for the characters of Brennan, Jesse, Emma, Mason, and Shalimar in this episode. I would say that this episode was slightly centric on Adam, because the guest mutant of the week tied back to his days at Genomex. This episode kept coming back to the New Mutants and Adam’s research at Genomex. Therefore, Adam and his research kept being mentioned. Other than that tie, the episode had basically an equal amount of screen time for all of the Mutant X characters.
Unexplained Events?
Nope, everything mentioned and everyone in the episode was clarified for the team. They even gave a background to Alice, the random mutant that died from the disease. She had been placed in the Underground the year prior.
 Things We Noticed
~ Even though Marlowe’s powers are to regenerate his cells, how come his clothing didn’t burn off him when the pyro-elemental blew up?
~ How was Jesse injured by Emma’s projection of a snake around his neck? The actual choking caused by the snake wouldn’t be an emotion that Emma could project. For her to project the feeling of a snake choking you, she would have to be an illusionist. Choking is simply not an emotion.
~ In this episode, the lackey of the week, Charles Marlowe acts like Mason Eckhart’s equal. Marlowe fiddles with Mason’s personal belongings and he doesn’t even get a mild glare. It was very shocking for the fans to see, considering we are used to seeing Mason Eckhart intimidating the Agents that worked for him. When you take away a person’s fear of death, how can you hold intimidation factors over that individual?
~ Why didn’t Adam think of using Marlowe before he knew about the cellular regeneration? He was exposed to the plague numerous times and Adam never realized that he maybe some how connected to the cure? I thought Adam was supposed to be the smartest man in the world…
~ Adam looked surprised that Eckhart wanted to kill him after he found the cure. Wasn’t Eckhart the big bad guy that killed everyone? Adam admitted earlier in the episode that Eckhart hated him, with that supposed reputation, wouldn’t you think that he wanted to kill him. Or, is this proof that Eckhart really wasn’t all that bad? Adam did know him the best out of everyone. Maybe Eckhart was simply misunderstood.
First Appearance of
~ The “Running Road Scholar of GSA Employees and their Informants” according to Brennan. Why wasn’t this used more often to identify who the enemy was? Or what types of mutants were on the GSA payroll and could cause certain things? Also why did we never see them update this running database on the GSA?
~ The Hazmat Suit! How did fashion live without it? In the image above Shalimar is demonstrating what a Hazmat fashion statement looks like. We never see the suit again, but Mutant X fashion will never forget it.
~ This episode was also the first appearance of Adam in a white lab coat. And to think, we only thought that he wore black…
~ The Force Field around the Medical bed in Sanctuary. That was pretty cool. You can keep disease quarantined in a relatively small space. It’s nice to know they have disease control in the hole in the ground. It could be very dangerous if someone was sick in Sanctuary with a contagious life threatening illness. Think about it, there is only one air ventilation system in the place, it could be very easy for disease to travel in this situation. Luckily they now have that Medical bed Force Field.
Best Line:
“Back-off or he’s dead.” ~ Shalimar Fox
“Like I give a damn.” ~ Charles Marlowe
Worst Line:
“You made a deal with the devil.” ~ Emma deLauro talking to Adam after making a deal with Eckhart. I don’t know about other Purists, but I don’t see Mason Eckhart as the devil…
Purist Reaction
4 1/2 out of 5 Wadjets
 
The only reason this episode didn’t get five Wadjets was the fact that it came too soon in the progression of the Mutant X episodes. Purists just didn’t care enough about the characters yet to really care if they lived or died due to the disease. The show was just still too new. They did care about the relationship exhibited by Shalimar and Adam in the episode. These two characters showed that they truly understood one another and that they were there for one another. It made Shalimar appear to be the team member closest to Adam at the time of this episode in the Mutant X timeline.
The actors that played all of the characters did a very nice job in this episode. Especially Anthony Lemke did a wonderful job of portraying Charles Marlowe. The biggest impact on the fans from this episode was the very end, when Adam and Shalimar talk about the outcome and impact of the disease. We, the fans, were able to see that Adam feels guilty and responsible for what happened to the mutants. Seeing that side of Adam brought a real and human aspect to his character, making this episode memorable.
Shalgal
For Further Discussion of this episode go to the PureMX Forum.
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