Recap / X-Men S3 E14 "The Dark Phoenix Saga, Part 1: Dazzled"

• Adaptation Distillation: Dazzler appears with her 1980's, short-hair look rather than her original Disco-inspired outfit.
• Adaptational Mundanity: In the comics, the Hellfire Club know about the Phoenix in part because they sent the supervillain Warhawk to hack the X-Mansion. Here, Emma manages it herself simply by taking advantage of Charles's fatigue and distraction through "The Phoenix Saga".
• Call-Back: A good chunk of the episode is Emma Frost recounting the events of "The Phoenix Saga" to the rest of the Inner Circle, for anyone who came in late.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After Wyngarde drives off with Jean, Dazzler just vanishes from the story.
• Compressed Adaptation: While the other three episodes of the story are pretty faithful to the original Dark Phoenix Saga, this episode covers much of the events of issues #129 to #131, and a few details get left out.
  • Issue #129, which follows on immediately from the Proteus storyline, has Professor X having one of his Jerkass Ball moments, treating the X-Men like kids rather than competent adults for a prolonged period.
  • Emma Frost does not attack the X-Men at any point, nor does she capture them, and her fight with the Phoenix which supposedly ends with her death is removed, allowing Emma to take part in the next episode as well.
  • The small role Angel and his love interest Candy Southern play, helping the X-Men recuperate after their capture and getting them an invite to the Hellfire Club, is excised. Instead, the X-Men just have Logan track Jean and then force entry.
  • Due to the compression, a plot point about the increased dangers of Jean going dark (brainwashing the Prydes into compliance, murdering some Hellfire goons, engaging in some Dirty Mind-Reading) are left out, as is a scene of Jean's powers having grown so much, she can hold Scott's eye beams back.
  • Mastermind's futzing with Jean in the comics is a process that goes on for months, but here he only gets into her mind three times, all in the space of a single night.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: The Phoenix force causes Jean to be this, lashing out angrily when Scott mentions going to check on Dazzler at the club.
• The Corrupter: The Inner Circle want to be this for Jean Grey as she is possessed by the Phoenix Force.
• Et Tu, Brute?: When Phoenix attacks the X-Men, Storm can only ask Jean why, but as Phoenix tells her, Jean's gone.
• Evil Laugh: Dark Phoenix lets out a demented cackle when Moira tries asking Jean what happened inside the sun.
• Explosive Instrumentation: Moira trying to get a scan on Jean doesn't work; the Phoenix's sheer power causes all the computers to bust.
• Foreshadowing: When Jean travels to New York to find Scott, her Phoenix outfit has already changed from the prior green and gold to the blood red of Dark Phoenix.
• It Must Be Mine!: Wyngarde's motivation is to get Jean, but Emma and the rest of the Inner Circle figure that power like the Phoenix's must belong to them.
• The Nose Knows: Wolverine tracks Jean across New York via scent and gets pretty defensive when called on it.
  Wolverine: The nose knows. I don't make any mistakes about Jean.
• Robotic Reveal: Scott's eye beams just bounce off Pierce with some loud clanks, before a shot hits his arm, tearing off the sleeves and the flesh beneath, revealing an entirely robotic arm.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The Phoenix Force to Jean.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Cyclops doesn't comment on Pierce being a cyborg, which is understandable given that he's an X-Man, but Dazzler doesn't make any remark either. Apparently, the New York nightclub circuit holds some weird sights.