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Since it’s still Femslash February and I’ve been thinking about my beloved X-Men: Evolution even more than usual, I decided to list my top five moments of more-than-platonic subtext between female characters on the show. (During the years that XME was airing and I saw it for the first time, most if not all of my ships were het. I’ve since rewatched it multiple times, on purpose, and with a more open mind.)
1. Kitty and Rogue dancing (“SpykeCam”)
This scene happens when Rogue has absorbed some of Kitty’s dancing ability through brief physical contact, while practicing for their school’s production of Dracula: The Rock Musical. (Yes, really.) One of the producers has stated that the animation was based on a memorable nightclub sequence between Buffy and Faith – a massively popular femslash pairing – in the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
2. Rogue saving Jean’s sanity by absorbing her memories (“Power Surge”)
Speaking of Rogue’s powers… in this episode, they granted her the most intimate possible insight into someone she’d always resented. Even if that storyline was partially intertwined with their romantic rivalry over a guy, Rogue’s epiphany about Jean (“She’d have done the same for me”) wasn’t necessarily centered around him at all.
3. Pretty much every scene involving the Bayville Sirens, but especially the musical montage (“Walk on the Wild Side”)
Mutant powers are often read and/or written as an allegory for queer identity (among other marginalizations; I do not think any one group has a claim on it), and this episode adds another layer to the metaphor: the girls are leading secret, transgressive, nocturnal lives that give them new confidence, using their powers with little regard for secrecy, and, yes, dancing even more closely than Kitty and Rogue in the previous season. Your mileage may vary about whether that sequence is in good taste, and the actual gender politics of the episode are a mixed bag (Jean actually admits at the end that she took “the whole ‘girl power’ thing” too far), but if the story sparks discussion and multiple interpretations, I consider it a success on at least some levels. It also initiates what has since become one of my favorite f/f pairings in this or any other fandom…
4. Amara and Tabitha bonding (“Cruise Control”)
I have no proof that the show’s creators intended for us to interpret these two as a couple when Tabitha said “do I know what my girl needs?” while lounging with Amara in a hot spring, but I would not be at all surprised.
5. Kitty and Danielle’s psychic connection (“Ghost of a Chance”)
I really like how this episode handles the “it was all a dream” cliche, and more screen time for Dani is definitely on my list of things I’d have liked to see in the Season 5 that never happened… a Tuesday Top Five entry for another time, perhaps!
1. Kitty and Rogue dancing (“SpykeCam”)
This scene happens when Rogue has absorbed some of Kitty’s dancing ability through brief physical contact, while practicing for their school’s production of Dracula: The Rock Musical. (Yes, really.) One of the producers has stated that the animation was based on a memorable nightclub sequence between Buffy and Faith – a massively popular femslash pairing – in the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
2. Rogue saving Jean’s sanity by absorbing her memories (“Power Surge”)
Speaking of Rogue’s powers… in this episode, they granted her the most intimate possible insight into someone she’d always resented. Even if that storyline was partially intertwined with their romantic rivalry over a guy, Rogue’s epiphany about Jean (“She’d have done the same for me”) wasn’t necessarily centered around him at all.
3. Pretty much every scene involving the Bayville Sirens, but especially the musical montage (“Walk on the Wild Side”)
Mutant powers are often read and/or written as an allegory for queer identity (among other marginalizations; I do not think any one group has a claim on it), and this episode adds another layer to the metaphor: the girls are leading secret, transgressive, nocturnal lives that give them new confidence, using their powers with little regard for secrecy, and, yes, dancing even more closely than Kitty and Rogue in the previous season. Your mileage may vary about whether that sequence is in good taste, and the actual gender politics of the episode are a mixed bag (Jean actually admits at the end that she took “the whole ‘girl power’ thing” too far), but if the story sparks discussion and multiple interpretations, I consider it a success on at least some levels. It also initiates what has since become one of my favorite f/f pairings in this or any other fandom…
4. Amara and Tabitha bonding (“Cruise Control”)
I have no proof that the show’s creators intended for us to interpret these two as a couple when Tabitha said “do I know what my girl needs?” while lounging with Amara in a hot spring, but I would not be at all surprised.
5. Kitty and Danielle’s psychic connection (“Ghost of a Chance”)
I really like how this episode handles the “it was all a dream” cliche, and more screen time for Dani is definitely on my list of things I’d have liked to see in the Season 5 that never happened… a Tuesday Top Five entry for another time, perhaps!
