Not a Cassandra Clare Book: “City of Stone”, Part One

“Isn’t this exciting Luna? It begins again!”–Phoebe

Written by: Michael C. Reaves (Story); Brynne Chandler Reaves & Lydia C. Marano (Teleplay)
Original Air Date: September 15, 1995
Introduces: The Weird Sisters Phoebe, Luna, and Selene; Findlaech, Gilcomgain/The Hunter; Duncan; Gruoch; Bodhe; Terrorists
Timeline placement: September 30 – October 1, 994; 1020; November 9, 1995
TMNT episode I could make a forced comparison to: “Tale of Master Yoshi”, “Secret Origins”

Fighting Fate: “Vows”

Written by: Shari Goodhartz
Original Air Date: September 14, 1995
Introduces: Princess Elena; Petros Xanatos; Judge Ian Roebling;  Norman Ambassador; the Phoenix Gate
Timeline placement: November 1, 975; October 1, 994; November 5 – November 6, 1995

Beauties and the Beasts: “Eye of the Beholder”

“If Xanatos speaks the truth…if someone like him can love, perhaps there still is hope for this world.” — Goliath

Written by: Steve Perry
Original Air Date: September 13, 1995
Introduces: N/A
Timeline placement: October 1 – October 31, 1995
TMNT episode I could make an incredibly easy comparison to: Ep. 7.04: “The Engagement Ring”

Gargoyles Noir: “The Silver Falcon”

Written by: Cary Bates
Original Air Date: September 12, 1995
Introduces: Martin Hacker; Dominic Dracon; Pal Joey (unidentified); Mace Malone (Mentioned only)
Timeline placement: October 27- October 28, 1995
TMNT episode I could make a forced comparison to: Ep. 4.01: “Cousin Sid”

Rumble in the Jungle: “The Shredder Strikes Back” Part Two

“Like the phoenix, I have risen from the ashes.  And into my fire, you shall fall.“–The Shredder

Written by: Erik Luke
Original Air Date: June 14, 2003
Recap Narrator: Splinter

This One’s for the Fan-Artists and ‘shippers: “The Mirror”

Note: This might be a tad optimistic of me, but since I’m working under the assumption that there are at least a few readers who haven’t actually seen Gargoyles, I’d much appreciate it if commenters would keep that big honking spoiler under your hats.  You know the one.  Thank you!

“You serve the human,  now you can serve me.” –Demona

Written by: Lydia C. Marano

Original Air Date: September 11, 1995

Introduces: Puck

Timeline placement: September 27-September 28, 1995

Reading is Good: “A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time”

Hudson: Magic book.

Robbins: Aren’t they all?

Written by: Brynne Chandler Reaves, Lydia C. Marano

Original Air date: September 3, 1995

Introduces: Banquo, Fleance, Robbins, Macbeth’s awesome gun, Macbeth’s stupid cannons,

Timeline Placement: September 7, 1995 (First Scene); Sept. 23-Sept 24, 1995

Synopsis:

At an unspecified location (somewhere in Britain, apparently, given the context), two archaeologists are exploring a cave when they hear a strange sound. They follow it into what appears to a living area, complete with man-made wall and several artifacts, including a harp that plays itself—the source of the sound. Duane, one of the archeologists, ignores this, however, heading straight towards a small chest; after reading the inscription written into it (“The seeker of knowledge need fear nothing here; the destroyer, everything.”) she opens the container, causing light/wind to emanate from it. The apparition congeals to form the visage of a bearded man before quickly returning to the chest. Duane opens the chest again, revealing its contents: the Scrolls of Merlyn.

Manhattan. Clocktower. Lexington is reading aloud from a scientific journal, informing the rest of the clan (including Elisa) about the Scrolls of Merlyn’s imminent arrival to Manhattan. Brooklyn, who is himself reading a magazine, asks about Merlyn, and Goliath gives him the broad strokes: white wizard, 5th century, yadda yadda yadda. He entreats Brooklyn to check the library downstairs if he’s interested in more information, a comment that causes Broadway to derisively comment that there’s no use in trying to read the books when one could get the same information on video. It’s revealed that he can’t read, and is somewhat proud of the fact. Brooklyn asks Hudson for a comment on the discussion, which the old gargoyle dismisses: Celebrity Hockey is playing on TV.

Elisa turns to leave—she and Matt have been assigned to protect the scrolls as they make their way into Manhattan. She mentions rumors that the scrolls contain magic. Dun-dun-DUN…

Later, Elisa and Matt meet up with Duane aboard the H.M.S. Churchill, which is carrying the scrolls to shore. The trip isn’t peaceful for long, though, as soon enough a pair of Harrier jets (notable due to their ability for vertical takeoffs and landings, as Lexington later notes) attack the ship. Lucklily, the gargoyles quickly arrive at the scene.

The harriers land on the ships deck. Their two pilots, Banquo and Fleance, armed with guns that appear to shoot electricity, shoot their way into the bridge, where they overpower Elisa and Matt and steal the two canister containing the scrolls. They return to their planes and are beginning their takeoff when they are attacked by the Gargoyles.

As the plane piloted by Banquo rises, Hudson breaks its windshield and attempts to grab the scroll–the remaining Gargoyles, meanwhile, deal with Fleance’s plane. Hudson manages to grab the canister when Banquo activates a defense mechanism which shocks the old gargoyle, causing him to fall into the river, scrolls in hand.

Banquo and Fleance make their retreat, leaving the gargoyles in the dust—almost. Broadway is still hanging on to the underside of Fleance’s jet. The gargoyles, assuming that Hudson must be doing the same with the remaining jet, leave the scene.

Later, after the Churchill has docked, Morgan takes Duane’s statement about the theft. Meanwhile, Elisa makes her way deeper into the port, where she meets up with Goliath. Elisa’s pissed—Xanatos made her look like an amateur, and she’s got no proof linking him to the crime. Goliath promises that they’ll handle it.

Meanwhile, in another part of New York (don’t know where—my NY geography knowledge is sketchy at best) an exhausted Hudson washes up at a beach, then falls unconscious.

Elsewhere, the two harrier jets land inside a hangar inside a castle. Banquo notes that he lost his canister. Fleance opines that one out of two isn’t all that bad, until she realizes that a hole has been made in her plane and that her canister is gone as well. Unseen, Broadway, the ‘goyle responsible, hides in the shadows.

Inside Castle Wyvern, Owen Burnett is working at a computer terminal when he’s approached by Goliath, Brooklyn and Lexington, who demand to know where Hudson and Broadway are. Owen declines an answer, so the gargoyles decide to search the castle for them.

Hangar of Harrier Jets and Mercenaries. Broadway decides to make his escape and makes himself known. He manages to make his exit, only to find himself with Macbeth and his bagpipes, who quickly takes down the gargoyle and retrieves the canister. He can’t celebrate yet, though; the scroll contained within turns out to be the second of the two, making safely reading it an improbable proposition. Macbeth asks his subordinates where the first scroll.

The first scroll (and Hudson) are still at the beach, where they’re found by Gilly the seeing-eye dog and her owner, a blind man who, believing the gargoyle to have just been mugged, asks Hudson—who is just regaining consciousness—whether he needs a doctor. Hudson declines, saying he’d prefer a place to stay until dawn. The man, who identifies himself as Jeffrey Robbins, invites the gargoyle into his nearby house, and supports Hudson as they walk their way there.

Macbeth’s airship has taken off in search of the first scroll, with Banquo and Fleance as its pilots and with Macbeth and a captive Broadway as its passengers. Banquo expresses skepticism at their chances of finding the scroll, given that he’d caused Hudson to sink into the ocean; Macbeth replies that if that’s the case, the two hired thugs will join it.

Casa de Robbins. Inside a reading room, Hudson asks Jeffrey about a Purple Heart framed and placed atop a table. Jeffrey explains the he got it in Vietnam, where he got injured due to shrapnel. Noting Hudson’s unfamiliarity with the war, he notes his surprise—he’d gotten the feeling that Hudson, like him, had been an old soldier.

Changing the subject, Hudson asks Robbins what he does now. The man explains that he’s a novelist—or used to be, until his creative well ran dry. He hands Hudson one of his works, first in braille and then in print, which causes Hudson to remark that to him there’s no difference between the two. Jeffrey intuits the truth: Hudson can’t read.

Inside Macbeth’s airship—which has now begun searching the shore, in case Hudson or the scroll have washed up there—Broadway derisively asks what’s so important about the scrolls and the man who wrote them—he’s “just another stupid magician” in the gargoyle’s eyes. Macbeth corrects him, explaining that Merlyn was

A singular spectacle…bearded old man who took a ragged boy and with magic and wisdom turned him into the greatest king this world will ever see. A king who ruled with justice and compassion…took the torn remnants of warring tribes and knit them into a country of beauty and civilization…with Merlyn always by his side, until it fell. Merlyn’s magic was stronger than anything, except the human heart.

Broadways is entranced by this description, which he believes comes from a man who experienced these events first hand. Macbeth again corrects him—he’s not that old, the man says, before turning back to his scanning equipment, which has located the stone gargoyles which adorn Robbin’s garden.

Castle Wyvern. After a fruitless search, the gargoyles return to Owen and again demand information on their missing comrades. Xanatos’ Aide-de-campe informs them that while Xanatos’ Harrier jets are all in the shop, Macbeth may be the man they’re looking for.

ロﾂビンスの家は。 Hudson protests that he’s too old to learn to read, an objection Robbin’s dismisses—he learned to read Braille when he was nearly forty, and when the time came, he’d learn a new way to read. Hudson admits that he’s ashamed of his illiteracy, which he has never told his clan about. Robbins offers to teach him, adding that there’s no shame in being illiterate, only in staying that way.

Dawn approaches, so Hudson makes an excuse to leave, and places himself next to the gargoyle statues in the garden, canister in hand. The gargoyle then turns to stone in the daylight (the canister remains intact), leaving behind a confused Robbins. Someone who isn’t confused is Macbeth, whose ship hovers above.

Macbeth lands and begins inspecting the gargoyle statues. He’s not unnoticed, however, as Gilly announces his presence to Robbins. ‘beth introduces himself as “Lennox Macduff”, and claims that he’s a worried friend of Hudson’s. Robbins tells him the truth as he perceived it—that Hudson had just left—and so Macbeth turns to leave. But not without first spotting the canister and retrieving it.

Dusk. Hudson explodes from his stone shell, and his presence is almost immediately noticed by Gilly. The gargoyle greets a pleased-to-see-him Robbins, and apologizes for the fact that he can’t stay long. He asks after the canister. Robbin replies that he hasn’t seen it, but that his so-called friend Lennox Macduff may have taken it. Problem is, Hudson doesn’t know a Lennox Macduff.

Robbins, for his part, isn’t very surprised to hear this: he tells Hudson he’d recognized the names from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which made him think that it wasn’t the man’s real name. At hearing Macbeth, Hudson puts 2 and 2 together and turns to leave, until he realizes that he doesn’t have a clue where to start looking. Robbins, ever helpful, turns to the least dramatic option possible: the phonebook. Bingo.

Macbeth’s castle. Atop the parapets, Banquo and Fleance are waiting for trouble while Macbeth makes necessary preparations in order to open the Scrolls. Broadway is chained to a wall, to be used as a guinea pig for Merlyn’s spells. Goliath, Brooklyn and Lexington arrive at the outskirts of the castle and are joined by Hudson who informs them that no, he was not with Broadway and hasn’t seen him since the robbery.

The gargoyles take to the skies and begin their assault. Macbeth, who has broken the seal on the first scroll, asks his hired muscle to take care of the intruders, so the two mercenaries take to a couple of surface-to-air laser cannons which, while cool looking, turn out to be a marvel of total engineering FAIL, as nobody thought of putting in a mechanism to prevent it from firing into the castle itself. In the end, thanks to gargoyles’ maneuvering, Banquo and Fleance manage nothing except to hinder their employee and wreck his place until they’re defeated. Despite these hindrances, Macbeth manages to open the scrolls, and begins reading…

…only to find that the scrolls contain no spells; they’re “merely” Merlyn’s diary. Disappointed, Macbeth doesn’t even care when Goliath attacks him and recovers the scrolls. Macbeth dares the gargoyle to burn the scrolls if he wants, but before he does just that, he is stopped by Broadway, who tells Goliath that the scrolls do contain magic, far to precious to destroy: the written word.

Macbeth, with no desire or reason to fight the gargoyles, frees Broadway and asks them to leave, which they do.

As they return to the clock tower, Goliath tells Broadway that if they like, he can read the scrolls to him before returning them to Elisa. Hudson pipes in to say that that won’t be necessary: they’ll read them themselves, when they learn how.

Chez Robbins. Robbins puts down the newspaper he has just finished reading and tells Gilly that he’s been inspired: thanks to all the news about the Scrolls of Merlyn, he’s got a new book in mind. He picks up his tape recording and begins talking: “The Sword and the Staff: A Book of Merlyn…”

—-

Continuity Notes:

• This is Macbeth’s second appearance.  The first was in the season 1 episode “Enter Macbeth“.
• Celebrity Hockey will appear once again in the third issue of the Gargoyles comic book spin-off Gargoyles: Bad Guys.  Because nothing in this series ever appears only once.
• The electric guns sported by Macbeth and his goons will become Macbeth’s trademark weapon, appearing in every subsequent appearance of the character.  Macbeth’s stupid surface-to-air laser cannons will reappear in “The Price”.
• Likewise, Banquo and Fleance will continue to be Macbeth’s go-to pair whenever muscle is needed.  They will later join the anti-gargoyle group The Quarrymen.
• Jeffrey Robbins also become a recurring character.  His next appearance will be in the episode “City of Stone pt. 2″.
• The library Goliath mentions was briefly seen in the season 1 episode “The Edge“.

Macbeth is back, in a story that seems more notable for what it sets up than for what actually occurs during it.  The whole Scrolls of Merlyn bit seems to be the purest example of a Macguffin in the series, never really brought up again (although both Merlyn and Arthur will be) and only used to set up some character development.

The first character to get developed is Broadway, who by the end of the episode seems to be the series regular most changed from the way we first saw him.  It’s also the story I’m least fond of, since his about-face seems to be too complete too quickly.  Yhen again, the character seems prone to those–see his similar (albeit more justified) about-face regarding guns in “Deadly Force”.  I do wonder, however, it the story might have felt better if his illiteracy had been a factor in earlier episodes.  One also wonders why he’s the only one of the trio not to know how to read, particularly since it raises some questions about how gargoyles are educated in the first place.  Did Brooklyn and Lexington learn of their own volition?  Were they taught by someone?  Given that Hudson, his biological father, hadn’t learned to read either, is this a sign that biological ancestry is more important to the gargoyles than they’ll admit?

A better story is Hudson’s, since it seems more restrained and more honest.  The “monstrous-looking person bonds with the blind” is an old and familiar trope–TMNT will make use of it during its first season, in an adaptation of an older comic book story–but there’s plenty more going on here than that: in the end, it’s a story of two men bonding over their similarities, and finding common ground in a world that seems to be passing it by.  Speaking of coincidences, it’s interesting that the last TMNT episode I reviewed featured the blossoming of a similar friendship–although Robbin and Hudson’s will be the more lasting of the two.  Here, Robbins comes across as one of the more perceptive and intuitive characters in the series, which makes for nice chemistry with the more taciturn Hudson.

On the other hand, Macbeth, our third focus character this episode, doesn’t change much over the course of the episode; instead, we learn a few small but important bits about him.  First, he given an official alias and address, henchmen with appropriately Shakespearean names or aliases (if the former, one wonders how exactly he went about it–did he put an ad in the paper specifically requesting mercenaries named after characters from the play?  If so, ), and a consistent weapon of choice (lightning gun!), all of which give him a more consistent, solid character.  Second we begin seeing that, although his current role in the series is that of antagonist, he, like Xanatos, has no particular animus against the gargoyles.  He’s more willing to do nasty stuff to them and is generally less affable, so their philosophies aren’t quite the same, but the point remains that his status as “enemy”, like Xanatos’, won’t last.

This is also the  episode in which we first see inklings of the Arthurian legend in the Gargoyles-verse, which, along with Shakespeare will form the backbone for much of the series’ mythology.  Eventually we get King Arthur himself, plus Excalibur, Peredur/maybe Percival, the Lady of the Lake, Avalon, etc, ect.   I’ve actually just started taking a university course on The Arthurian Legend, so this aspect of the series has suddenly become rather more interesting to me.  Here, however, we only get hints–Merlyn apparently exists, and is capable of some nifty magic.  Aside from that, we don’t know much–for all of the grandeur Macbeth implied, there really isn’t the evidence to back it up…yet.

Random thoughts:

 

• Macbeth’s laser cannons are the stupidest things ever.  They just…gah.  Who the heck designs weapons with so obvious a flaw?

Magic Tech: “Legion”

“Without trust there can be no clan.”–Goliath

Written by: Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir
Original air date: September 6, 1995
Introduces: Desdemona, Iago
Timeline placement: September 6, 1995 (Coldstone’s auto-repair activated) – September 20, 1995

Note: I’m going to try something a bit different here and combine the synopsis with my actual thoughts—it seemed to smooth things over when writing about the episode.

Out from below, and into a one-person apartment: “Notes from the Underground” Part Three

“You know, if there’s one thing that creeps me out more than monster movies, it’s a city of the dead.”–Michelangelo

Written by: Greg Johnson
Original Air Date: May 24, 2003
Recap Narrator: Raph
Introduces: The Entity

Somehow, “I Told You So” Seems Inappropriate: “Metamorphosis”

Written by: Brynne Chandler Reaves & Lydia Marano
Original Air Date: September 5, 1995
Introduces: Maggie; Anton Sevarius; Fang; Claw
Timeline placement: ? – Sept. 11, 1995

Synopsis:

In the streets of Manhattan, a homeless woman looks on at a group of equally homeless men, as she converses with a sympathetic, well dressed, probably not homeless man.  She explains that she is not like them (they never are)–her situation is just a temporary setback.  Fortunately, the sympathetic man just happens to have a job opening for people just like her, and she offers homeless woman the position.

The next day, inside a private airport, Detective Elisa Maza watches  a glider swoop down from the sky. Its pilot is one Derek Maza, her brother. Once Derek lands, Elisa comments on how Derek missed on family dinner night, and asks if Xanatos was responsible for his abscence, starting another round of the “working for Xanatos is a baaaaaad idea” argument and the subsequent “I’m pretty sure Xanatos is not a Nazi” comeback.  Fortunately, he discussion doesn’t get too heated, and Elisa finishes by asking her brother to tell her if there is any trouble, which he promises by punctuating it with the old “cross my heart, hope to die” swear.

Night.  Inside a building labeled “Gen-U-Tech”, something not quite human is causing a stir, as we hear alarms ring and security guards running to the scene.  We see a lithe, winged creature attack the guards and escapes into the night.

Brooklyn and Broadway are gliding through the city when they spot our winged catgirl inside an alley.  Suspecting Demona–after all, there aren’t many winged females in Manhattan–they decide to land and check it out, and find out that they’re quite wrong: cat girl isn’t nearly as intimidating, and is in fact completely terrified of them.  The gargoyles don’t get enough time to explain themselves, however, as a couple of “ambulances” arrive at the scene, carrying the goons from before, armed with tranquilizer guns and other non-lethal ordnance.  Brooklyn tries to save catgirl, but only manages to make her drop the bracelet she’s wearing.

Eventually, the goons managed to recapture the beast.  At Brooklyn’s insistence, both gargoyles try to fight the goons and rescue the mutate, but a well placed shot from a tranquilizer puts the Gargoyles’ lancer out of commission, forcing Broadway to abandon the attempt and carry his rookery brother to safety.

Castle Wyvern.  Xanatos’ helicopter is making its landing and is met by Owen, who informs Xanatos of some “fascinating expense reports” coming from Gen-U-Tech: apparently, the head of one of Xanatos’ “special projects”, Dr. Sevarius, has been hiring mercenaries behind X’s back.  The billionaire decides that he’ll have to pay his employee a visit, and Derek, concerned about the mercenaries, decides that he’ll go as well.

Clocktower.  Brooklyn and Broadway have finished telling the clan (+ Elisa) of the night’s misadventures.  The two ‘goyles have one notable disagreement: while Brooklyn is convinced that the cat-creature wanted their–particularly, his–help, Broadway points out that everything he saw suggested the opposite.  Broadway also shows the clan the bracelet catgirl dropped, which Elisa identifies as a tracking device–”digital, long-range, expensive”–and which she nots is marked with the Gen-U-Tech logo, leading us to…

Gen-U-Tech.  Xanatos is asking Dr. Sevarius–whom we now see is the man from the opening scene–about the project he’d been charged with:  designing a creature using gargoyles as a template.  Sevarius exposits that since cloning gargoyles or working off their DNA was not an option, he had to merge the genes from several species into a chimera that managed to replicate their key traits; combining genetic material from bats (for their wings), jungle cats (for their strength, speed, and agility), and eels (for their unique energy source) he finally achieved a measure of success.

Derek, not terribly impressed with the doctor’s expospeak, comments that while it’s all very nice theory, it doesn’t explain why he’s been hiring mercenaries.  Sevarius nonchalantly explains that they were needed to recover escaped test subjects.  Also non-chalantly, he explains that said test subjects were humans taken from the streets and mutated.

Sevarius, soon realizing that his initiative and creative problem-solving skills are apparently not the qualities Xanatos was looking for in an employee (wait…), gets defensive, pulling out a dart gun and shooting Derek with it. This doesn’t down him, though, and the bodyguard earns his keep by disarming the mad scientist. As Derek notes that Sevarius’ dart seemed to have no effect, Sevarius gloats that the dart did not contain sedatives, but the mutagenic formula he’d used on the human subjects.

Xanatos demands an antidote for Sevarius’ mutagenic formula.  The scientist counters that while he can produce one, he needs time to actually make it, and has no desire to do so—he does not wish to destroy his work.  A lab assistant/goon announces that there are two policemen—Elisa and Matt—at the door, giving Xanatos the ammunition he needs: if Sevarius doesn’t work on the formula, he’ll just invite them inside to see the doctor’s work for themselves.  Terrified by that possibility, Sevarius stutters that Xanatos, being equally or more responsible for everything, would be in equal or greater trouble than himself.  Frankly, Sevarius, Xanatos doesn’t give a damn: he’s perfectly willing to go down for this, should Derek give the word.  Fortunately for the billionaire, Derek declines, asking for Sevarius to cure him first.  It’s going to have to be quickly though—he’s already changing.

At the clocktower, Elisa muses on how Gen-U-Tech is hiding something, and how there’s not enough evidence of probable cause to do anything about it.  Brooklyn murmurs how his ties, as the sun turns him to stone for the day.  At least he didn’t get interrupted midsentence.

Transitional scene: As Derek’s mutation progresses, Sevarius works on a cure under Xanatos’ eye.

The Manhattan Clan wakes up, and Brooklyn is raring to go rescue  cat lady, because “she needs [his] help”—something he believes wholeheartedly, despite any evidence to support the assertion.  Goliath sensibly tells Brooklyn that rushing in to rescue her without a plan won’t help her—fortunately, he has one. A plan.

The gargoyles make their way inside Gen-U-Tech and find Brooklyn’s “girlfriend”, but she’s in no mood to be rescued; using the intercom built into her cell, she calls for security, and, as Goliath frees the mutate, we find out that “security” is the Xanatos goon squad, last seen in “Deadly Force” (and although it’s not explicitly said, it’s patently obvious that they are also the men in white coats).  A quick shot from a tranquilizer gun sedates the mutate, forcing Brooklyn to carry her to “safety”.

At Sevarius’ lab, the bad doctor is about to give Derek the antidote when the gargoyles burst in, followed by the goon squad.  The battle resumes, and the general chaos causes Sevarius to drop the antidote.  Derek dives to save it, but fails.

Their task completed, the gargoyles make their escape.  Sevarius, trying to safeguard his creation, grabs Goliath by the leg, but the gargoyle effortlessly kicks him aside.  Unfortunately, the force of the kick causes Sevarius to crash against the eel tank, breaking it, and spilling both the animals and the water.  Dazed, the mad geneticist grabs, and gets the shock of his life.  ^_^

The gargoyles now gone, Xanatos makes his way towards the fallen doctor and checks for a pulse that is no longer there.  Sevarius is dead.

Derek’s bad day has just gone from horrible to worse; if he only had one more second, he believes, he’d have been cured; now, thanks to the gargoyles’ intervention, he’s fated to remain a mutant forever.  He vows his revenge on the creatures.  Xanatos, ever calm, suggest they make their exit before the police—including, most likely, Elisa—find them.  The billionaire promises he will find a cure for him and the others.

Inside the clocktower, the female mutate regains consciousness and finds herself surrounded by the clan.  “Were you human once too?” she asks, clearly scared out of her wits.  Upon hearing the negative, she insists that she is not like them—she’s a human “Maggie…Maggie Reed.”  The gargoyles try to console her, but she doesn’t believe them; she just wants things to go back to normal.

Goliath notes that sunrise approaches, and the gargoyles take their positions atop the clocktower roof.  Maggie watches as the six “monsters” turn to stone.  She does not take it well.

Sevarius’ lab, Gen-U-Tech.  The police, including Elisa and Matt, are making their way through the crime scene.  Notably, Sevarius corpse is nowhere to be seen, nor is the chalk outline which would indicate that his body had been removed by the police.  Elisa is looking through the company papers and finds what we already know: Xanatos owns Gen-U-Tech.

Sundown.  The gargoyles wake, only to find that Maggie’s gone, and had probably left just after the ‘goyles had turned to stone.  Goliath orders Hudson and Bronx to stay behind while the rest go to the castle.

At the castle, Derek, who is acting as the makeshift clan’s leader, takes his fellow mutates—including Maggie—for a gliding session.  As Xanatos watches, he instructs Owen to find him the best geneticist on the planet.

As they glide through the Manhattan sky, the mutates see the gargoyles approaching.  At seeing the people (he believes are) responsible for his condition, Derek orders his no-longer-men to attack.

As the two groups fight, Brooklyn tries once again to get through to Maggie.  No dice: the cat-lady still believes that he wants her to remain a monster.  In desperation, manages to emit electricity from her hands, a feat that Derek is able to recreate with Goliath.  Apparently, the eel D.N.A. isn’t just for energy.  Shocking.

Elisa arrives at the castle battlements and points her gun at Derek, stopping the fight between he and Goliath.  The policewoman asks the mutate why he’s attacking her friend; Derek, who identifies himself as “Talon”, explains that Goliath is responsible for his situation.  Elisa categorically denies Talon’s claim and offers to help him, doing the “cross my heart” swear…which Derek instinctively replies to, giving the game away.

Immediately, Elisa blames Xanatos’ for Derek’s fate; Talon defends the billionaire, saying it was an accident.  He accidentally shocks Elisa, which causes him to grow even more despondent.  Derek takes to the sky, followed by his fellow mutates.  The gargoyles, at Brooklyn’s insistence, decline to follow; clearly, their help is not wanted.  Chin up Brooklyn: you might have lost a potential girlfriend, but in exchange you got a clue.

With Derek gone, Elisa threatens Xanatos: “Now it’s war, Xanatos.  You’re going down for this, I promise you.  No matter what it takes.”

Not a tag: Xanatos is at his office when he Owen enters the office, leading a man in a trenchcoat and hat, whom the majordomo introduces as “the best geneticist on the planet”.  Geneticist removes his hat and coat; although he doesn’t look quite like him, Xanatos refers to him as Sevarius, so I guess that’s who he is.

Sevarius talks about his “death scene” with some pride; Xanatos thinks he overplayed it (yes).  They go on about how the plan was a complete success, even if it took months for the gargoyles to become aware of the mutates; although their four victims still have free will, the fact that they know Xanatos is the only person who could ever provide them a cure

Meanwhile, at the Clocktower, Elisa cries, alone.

—-

This episode is both a breakthrough and a disappointment. Its animation is rather terrible, the plot stretches believability to its breaking point, several of its details just don’t make sense, and its rewatchability is nearly nil. And yet…and yet…damn. What a punch in that last scene.

One of the things that people most mention about Batman: The Animated Series was its ability to make its villains tragically human. Two-Face, Scarface, and Clayface (the similarity in names is coincidential–I think) weren’t just villains, they were regular guys who couldn’t deal with the bad hands given to them by life. It gave their existence an element of tragedy that hadn’t been seen in cartoons before. Even so, they were still villains. We knew that they were going to become villains, the writers knew they were going to become villains, and once it inevitably happened, that element of pathos eventually faded away from their continuing narratives.

Derek’s story in this episode takes the Batman approach one step further, with one key difference: his fate is not a foregone conclusion, and in no way certain. Additionally, his status as Elisa’s brother and as a recurring cast member (his appearance here is his fourth, which means that at this point he’s appeared more than The Pack and just as many times as Matt Bluestone) means his story can’t just be ignored; his tragedy and how he adapts to it will continue to be a part of the series as long as it continues. What’s more, there’s the fact that this is indeed a tragedy, one that involves a good guy and which will not be resolved in half an hour. What other cartoon was doing that, at the time? Even with all its flaws, the episode carries a tremendous punch.

Last episode portrayed Xanatos as his villainous best, as he enacted a plan which was brilliant, atypical, and yet completely plausible in its execution—the prototypical Xanatos Gambit, as TVTropes would eventually call such plans. This episode, however, his plans take one step further and head into implausibility, into what would later be called a Xanatos Roulette—a plan so dependent on random chance to work that it requires omniscience to plausibly be conceived and executed successfully. And this one’s a doozy, requiring not only lots of improv, but riding entirely on no one being able to save Sevarius or his “cure”. While there’s indeed a nod to the role chance played—Sevarius mentions that it’d been months before the gargs’ took their bait—it’s still stands out as the series’ most implausible plot.

The whole plan to turn Derek also stands out for portraying Xanatos at his cruelest, reminding us that while he may be awesome, he is in no way good.  Until now, none of his plans had any real, notable consequences; his worst act–driving the gargoyles from his home–was also perfectly legal (note that we won’t learn of the extent of the whole Cyberbiotics thing until Outfoxed).  Here, he’s kidnapping people, lying to them, mutating them against their will, and possibly killing them (we don’t know how many test subjects Sevarius went through before perfecting his formula to make viable mutants–given science and his particular methods, I think “a lot” is a safe bet).  And, as I’ve mentioned before, it also proves that he’s lying when he claims to be above revenge.  After all, why specifically target Derek if not to get at Elisa?  Heck, had he wanted to, he could have rather easily gotten willing test subjects.  Imagine, for example, a man with a terminal disease, who can’t afford to care for his kids–surely, the odds are better than fair than he’ll find being turned into a mutant in exchange for security for his sons an acceptable deal, particularly if he can get rid of his disease in the process (not that we know if the mutagenic formula can do that, but it seems a logical-enough assumption).  All in all, while he’s not a complete monster, he’s nowhere near as cool as some would portray him.

Speaking of revenge, Elisa’s vow turns into one of the series’ rare series details that never got a proper follow-up.  Given her eventual sting to finally take down Tony Dracon, one would have expected Elisa to consider doing something similar to Xanatos, but nothing really comes off it.  It’s also somewhat difficult to reconcile an Elisa who hates Xanatos for what he did to her brother with the Elisa who seems accepting to the clan’s decision to return to his castle, and indeed who accepts party invitations from the guy.

This episode also expands the series’ rogues gallery by introducing Anton Sevarius to the mix. He’s a fun guy, Anton, very much in the mold of The Joker–he’s amusing until you realize he’s also a complete monster.  The fact that he’s voiced by Tim Curry–who was originally going to be the voice of Batman:TAS‘ version of the Joker–merely makes the comparison more apropos.  I have to say I don’t really get the design switcheroo.  We eventually find out that he’s still working publically as Anton Sevarius, using his look from the end of this episode, so…what was the point?

Random thoughts:

* Notable detail: While the woman in the first scene is obviously Maggie, she never really identifies herself until she’s already a mutate.  Technically, there’s nothing stopping Weisman from suddenly revealing that Maggie and the woman are different people.  Heck, if one where to run with it, it begets the question: what happened to her?

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As all of you must have noticed, this post is unforgivably late in the coming.  I’d been working on this post, but between schoolwork, driving lessons (yes–only 9 years too late), hip-hop and capoeira classes, and meeting new people, mean that by the time my day gets done, I just want to go to sleep .  So yeah.