"I don't care about which spirit ladies do what to which Cajuns, I'm here to stop a wedding."
One of the gradual changes apparent in season two's more episodic format, with more zoomed-in, character-centric stories is the corresponding zoom-out on human-mutant relations as a unifying theme. That's not to say it's gone entirely by the wayside - domestic terrorist group the Friends of Humanity and President Kelly's unpopular newfound support for mutants were introduced as conflicts in the season premiere and continue to simmer in the background. The more globe-trotting adventures of subsequent episodes are less overtly concerned with these familiar social dynamics than with the exploration of character backstories, but they can still be read as having something to say about the issue, albeit through more of a geopolitical lens (i.e. the oppression or exploitation of mutants by the state, as dictated by wavering national interests). So while the societal angle might have ceased to be the driving force of every plot, it has managed to play some small part at least in all of this season's one-and-done installments.
That is, until "X-Ternally Yours."
Here we have the first episode of X-Men to be completely divorced from the social implications of mutants in the world at large. That's not necessarily to say the plot is worse off for it -- just that it is undeniably laden in backstory and melodrama. It's Gambit's turn to play protagonist, in a tale of star-crossed lovers with a little Cajun flair. There's perhaps an irony to be observed in the fact that the Thieves and Assassins, so caught up in their insular, centuries-old feud, fail to recognize how the existence of mutants could drastically shift the balance of power, absent the involvement of an ...external... benefactor. As it stands, both Guilds are completely indifferent to Gambit's status as a mutant, which could serve as a convincing motive for the Thieves in particular to bring him back into the fold. The episode has no time for that, however, as it must devote its runtime to establishing the stakes between these warring factions, the role of the tithing ceremony, contrivances to undermine said ceremony, Gambit's history with his jilted bride-to-be, and the X-Men doing their level best to untangle it all. Much of this is deeply silly, of which the script seems keenly aware as it gives Wolverine in particular some choice one-liners that threaten to invalidate the entire conflict. And yet, "X-Ternally Yours" manages to remain more charming than it is disposable by taking advantage of a fun setting and ratcheting up the soapy entertainment so intrinsic to some of the most memorable X-Men comics.
Marvel was understandingly eager to capitalize on Gambit's growing popularity at this time as a new, breakout star character. Striking while the iron was hot, and in an effort to gauge the X-Man's potential as a solo headliner, an eponymous limited series was published that would provide much of the source material for "X-Ternally Yours." In another serendipitous example of cross-media symmetry, said series wound up being released concurrently with the episode's airing (issue #3 of 4 was a little over two weeks away from hitting stores and newsstands). As a standalone television episode, it is less successful than its comics counterpart in giving Gambit a mythology to call his own. That said, given Gambit's versability as a natural lead in any number of genres, from action, to adventure, to romance, to crime, it's curious why Marvel felt that such convoluted world-building was additive in the first place. Regardless, positioning Gambit as a spin-off character was less of a concern for the animated series. Factoring in the production timeline for comics versus that of animation, the show staff would've been working from incredibly early drafts and concept art. When taken as an adaptation of a story that had yet to even be told, it could've turned out a lot worse.
X-TRA: Ghost Rider, who "appeared" as a brief mental image during Gambit's mind scan in "The Final Decision" (S1E12), regrettably does not factor into this blast from the past. Other than serving as one of the series many cameos inserted by director Larry Houston, character's significance to Gambit is presumably referencing an unlikely comics crossover: the team-up between Ghost Rider and the X-Men against parasitic aliens the Brood set in New Orleans! Spanning X-Men #8-9 and Ghost Rider #26-27 during the tail end of Jim Lee's tenure as X-Men co-plotter and artist in 1992, this story features the first appearance of Bella Donna Boudreaux and introduction of the Guilds, setting the stage for Gambit's 1993 limited series and its deep dive into the lore.
